Digital Marketing is the promotion and marketing through digital sources and as well as it also means that it’s an approach of pull marketing instead of push marketing.
There are many specialization areas of Digital Marketing:
SEO
SEO means Search Engine Optimization and its basic function is to increase the traffic on the website. The company with an effective SEO ranks at the top of search results.
Advantages and Disadvantages of SEO Career.
Though implementing SEO takes a lot of time and research but once it is done your website ranks at the top. This helps us to easily sustain in a competitive market.
The SEO’s result mainly depends on the quality of content they are presenting to the audience as it is the only source that can attract the audience. No SEO expert can rank irrelevant content in SERPs in the search engines such as Google, Yahoo.
SEO has to keep an eye on everything. The SEO has to maintain the website and update new things to maintain the rank of a webpage and also be in sync with the updates by the search engine like Google.
What are the requirements for SEO?
People who want to grow their career in SEO should have some technical knowledge because the work of SEO is to keep focus on the technicalities of a website such as the website architecture, errors and user experience.
If the SEO has patience and invests time, s/he can be successful because this field requires time and patience and one has to learn all these aspects to stand in the market.
An SEO doesn’t require good communication skills but has to manipulate the data and can do good research and with an analytical mind
Why choose SEO as Digital Marketing Specialization?
Every business requires an SEO who can maintain the website and increase the traffic, so there is a lot of requirement for SEO services
Consequently, there are a lot of requirements for SEO job opportunities as well.
At the beginners level, an SEO receives decent pay. Soon after a year or two year s/he gets their salary hike of around 60 to 80%.
If you are successful in many projects and have mediocre experience, then also no one can dare to take your job. You can’t be replaced easily and your position will be secured.
SMM
SMM means Social Media Marketing is another area to grow in digital marketing specialization. Everyone has different interests in their career, some of them want to spend their whole day and night on social media.
Social Media when used for marketing by enterprises, then it comes to a different level. SMM can be used to increase the traffic on the website or on social media account.
Companies that use different social platforms have few goals in mind:
Improve communication with users
Increase brand visibility
Reach out to more customers
Having a social media presence also increase the credibility of the company.
Advantages and Disadvantages of an SMM career.
Sometimes the demand of the clients is so tricky that it becomes difficult to meet the same.
You can analyze client behavior and demands, according to which the SMM expert will plan the services that should be provided to the audience.
There is no time bound work as working hours are flexible. You can work from anywhere, but we have to make sure that you are available 24*7 and keep updating on the client’s pages.
What is expected?
Great communication skills
Creative bend of mind
Keeping up with the trend
Able to handle, address users and queries.
Be creative and think about something different.
Why choose SMM as digital Marketing Specialization?
The first thing is that you work on social media and your work should be creative.
You will get an opportunity to handle the company’s brand even at the beginner level
This work can is done in flexible hours and has no time bound limit.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is simply engaging, retaining and eventually converting the ideal consumers via mail. People think email marketing is an old concept but it is an efficient process to do marketing.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Email Marketing Career
Everything should be effectively planned and consistency is a must.
Connections are build up with corporate houses.
No matter how good your content is but there will be always a pressure of sales
What is expected at the beginner’s level?
Strong language skills, understanding each concept and trying to convey a message in the least possible words.
Must be aware of the leading capturing cycle.
Technical knowledge of the tools
Content Development
Analytical Skills to understand reports and figures.
Why choose Email marketing as an area of digital marketing specialization?
It’s a deep and vast field in itself
Part of digital and who has basic knowledge of sales and marketing
Good income after some experience
Content Marketing
Content marketing is done through creativeness in writing, it usually depends on the words one is using. Creativeness in words sometimes attracts the audience and they start showing interest.
Advantages and Disadvantages as a Content Marketing career
This requires a high level of creativity in work, should have a good knowledge of each and everything.
Developing content that is relevant but sometimes it’s tricky.
Research, planning and scheduling of the content are done in advance to assure ease.
Why choose Content marketing as a Specialization in Digital Marketing?
If you’re creative with your mindset or you get brainstorming ideas
You like writing and creative work
Good pay at beginner level.
In my opinion, I would suggest that SMM marketing is best because it has flexible timings and we can work from anywhere and as well as it is an online platform, so we don’t have to carry papers or any physical documents.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has turned out to be an extensive topic. With Google bringing new changes there are many different things that are affecting SEO. Here are some SEO trends that will definitely help you improve your website ranking.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:
Firstly, we need to understand what Artificial Intelligence (AI) is. Artificial Intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence processed by machines or the intelligence that’s shown by machines. This approach changed the way people were interacting with online content. In the last few years, Engine Optimisation underwent many changes, the drastic one was after Google introduced Rank Brain. Rank Brain is a machine-based learning search algorithm that helps Google to process the search result. Now artificial intelligence will help in improving the keyword search method and look after the fields like AI search, AI content writing, and AI technical on-page analysis.
VOICE SEARCH:
Voice search has become the new engagement in the field of SEO. As the number of mobile users increases, the voice search also reflects a massive growth. Google Home, Siri, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa, exemplify this phenomenon. We can optimise our content to make it voice search-friendly by using the natural language with concise answers to satisfy the users. We can also include long-tail keywords and practice writing longer content as it is observed that voice search queries are longer than typed queries. It is noted that from the last year the voice search of near me has rapidly increased. Hence, it is preferable to include the correct address or location so that your data looks more correct and structured.
MOBILE SEO:
Mobile SEO is again becoming a priority and Google had started a full mobile index in March 2021. The website owners should be prioritizing mobile SEO keeping in mind that the content site performs well from a mobile perspective. Some of the mobile SEO best practices are optimizing your page to increase your mobile page speed score by reducing the redirect Browser caching and implementing Mini fight quotes. We can also add a special effect mobile page with the use of HTML5 instead of using plugins because they are not supported by small screen pages. Further, simplicity should be the key to designing and your website should be designed for responsive pages by using better UI/UX on mobiles.
VIDEO EDITING:
Including video content has become a new trend in Search Engine Optimisation. It gives a better engagement for customers and also gives a better look to your product and to the visitor’s content. It is not the cheapest form of content but it is highly engaging. Using it we can design creative content and give a good picture of your product in the minds of customers. You can effectively use social media for video content, for instance: Facebook Live, Instagram TV, and reads. Moreover, you can even create your own YouTube channel and take the advantage of YouTube SEO through YouTube videos. One can also attach the web link to the video but while making a YouTube video we should add a good title thumbnail and Metadata to it.
INTERLINKING:
Interlinking is new to SEO, it is time-saving as compared to external link building, so interlink is better. It is rather quick and free and helps to improve the ranking of the page. While using the internal link you should confirm that your link is on the correct and relevant anchor text and should decide the page on to which the internal links will be placed. Finally, the quality of the content on the linking page should also be checked properly.
These trends are on the list of SEO trend 2021 that should be kept in mind. Trends help up in the building and updating the website and to improve its ranking. The trends should be followed accordingly, the website should have proper voice-friendly searching & supporting functions like video content. It should also have a long-term localised search goal to facilitate the ranking of your website.
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is the informal strategic dialogue between India, the USA, Japan, and Australia with a shared objective to ensure and support a “free, open and prosperous” Indo-Pacific region.
China’s unilateral claim on the Nine-Dash Line within the South China Sea; rapid warship building its first overseas base in Djibouti; and its surface and subsurface activities in the Indian Ocean beyond the Malacca Straits have alarmed regional countries like India and Japan about increasing Chinese ambition. In this context, the thought of Quad was first mooted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007. However, the idea couldn’t move ahead with Australia’s continuous interruptions, apparently thanks to Chinese pressure.
In December 2012, Shinzo Abe again floated the concept of Asia’s “Democratic Security Diamond” involving Australia, India, Japan, and therefore the US to safeguard the maritime commons from the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific. In November 2017, India, the US, Australia, and Japan gave shape to the long-pending “Quad” Coalition to develop a replacement strategy to keep the critical sea routes within the Indo-Pacific free of any influence (especially Chinese). Quad is criticized by China as an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The Quad: the United States, Japan, India, and Australia
Quad Nations and China
The USA had followed a policy to contain China’s increasing influence in East Asia. Therefore, it views the coalition as a chance to regain its influence within the Indo-Pacific region. The US has described China, along with Russia, as a strategic rival in its National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy and the Pentagon’s report on Indo-Pacific Strategy.
Australia is concerned about China’s growing interest in its land, infrastructure, politics, and influence over its universities.
Within the last decade, Japan has expressed concerns associated with China’s territorial transgression within the region. Trade volume with China remains the key lifeline to the Japanese economy, where net exports contributed exactly one-third of Japan’s economic growth since the start of 2017. Therefore, considering its importance, Japan is balancing its economic needs and territorial concerns with China. Japan has also agreed to get involved in the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI) by participating in infrastructure programs in third country. In this way, Japan can mitigate Chinese influence in those countries while improving relations with China.
Opportunities for India under Quad Arrangement
CHECKMATING CHINA:
An enormous chunk of Chinese trade happens via the Indian Oceanic routes that undergo maritime chokepoints. In the event of any Chinese aggression on borders, India by cooperation with Quad countries can potentially disrupt Chinese trade. Hence, unlike within the continental sphere where India seems facing a ‘nutcracker-like situation’ thanks to China-Pakistan collusion, the maritime sphere is wide hospitable India to undertake coalition building, rule sets, and other sorts of strategic exploration.
EMERGING AS A NET SECURITY PROVIDER:
There’s a growing world power interest within the maritime sphere, especially with the arrival of the concept of Indo-Pacific. For instance, many European countries have recently released their Indo-Pacific strategies. With India, located right at the center of the Indo-Pacific, geopolitical imagination can realize the vision of a ‘broader Asia’ that can extend its influence away from geographical boundaries. Moreover, India can build around collective action in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, monitoring shipping for search and rescue or anti-piracy operations, infrastructure assistance to climatically vulnerable states, connectivity initiatives and similar activities. Further, India with Quad countries can check imperialist policies of China in the Indian Ocean region and ensure Security and growth for beat the region.
Challenges for Quad
CHINA’S TERRITORIAL CLAIMS: China claims that its historical ownership over nearly the whole region of the South China Sea, which provides it the proper to manufacture islands. However, the International Court of Arbitration rejected the claim in 2016.
CHINA’S CLOSENESS TO ASEAN: The ASEAN countries even have a well-knit relationship with China. The Regional Cooperation Economic Partnership (RCEP) may be a recent example of China’s increasing influence over ASEAN nations.
ECONOMIC POWER OF CHINA: Considering the economic might of China and therefore the dependence of Quad nations like Japan and Australia on China, the Quad nations cannot afford to have strained relations with it.
CONVERGENCE AMONG QUAD NATIONS: The nations within the Quad grouping have different aspirations, aims at balancing their own interest. Therefore, coherence within the vision of Quad nation as a grouping is absent.
Way Forward
NEED FOR CLEAR VISION: The Quad nations got to better explain the Indo-Pacific vision in an overarching framework with the target of advancing everyone’s economic and security interests. This will reassure the littoral States that the Quad will be a factor for regional benefit, and a far cry from Chinese allegations that it is some sort of a military alliance. The forthcoming Ministerial meetings can be an opportunity to define the idea and chart a future path.
EXPANDING QUAD: India has many other partners within the Indo-Pacific, therefore India should pitch for countries like Indonesia, Singapore to be invited to hitch within the future.
NEED FOR A MARITIME DOCTRINE: India should develop a comprehensive vision on the Indo Pacific which might ideate on the present and future maritime challenges, consolidate its military and non-military tools, and engage its strategic partners. In order to secure national and regional interests, India should now specialize in the maritime sphere also. In this context establishing a replacement division under the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to affect the Indo-Pacific may be a step in the right direction.
The day-4 didn’t start on a good note, as it was a big disappointment continuously by Indian players by their performances at the international level. Team India had a heartbreaking day in badminton and shooting today. Indian shooters Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary topped their mixed team air pistol qualification stage 1, but finished at 7th in stage 2, and eventually missed the medals. Afterward, the day grew worse for Indian shooters as neither Divyansh\Elavenil nor Anjum\Deepak duo made it to the rifle finals.
Still, some good news awaited the Indian followers, as the men in blue gave a superb performance in hockey and defeated Spain by 3-0. A relief after a long time. Meanwhile, boxer Lovlina Borgohain stepped into the quarter-finals and is a step closer to the medal in Tokyo 2020. She will face Chen-Nien-chin on Friday. This going to be a huge match for team India. Our shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won on Tuesday, they finished 3rd in group A, but failed to make it to the quarters. The 39-years old Achanta Sharath Kamal ended India’s table tennis campaign by losing from the reigning champion Ma Long.
-ABOUT THE MATCHES:
-AIR PISTOL: The Indian pair of Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker caved in under pressure and failed to qualify for the final of the 10m air pistol mixed team events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The duo finished seventh in Qualification 2 after topping the first phase with 582 at the Asaka Range. They lost the plot completely when the top eight teams battled it out in the second phase. The duo totaled 380 across two series each in the second phase of the qualification.
-AIR RIFLE: India’s Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar compete in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team shooting event today. The Indian duo failed to qualify for the 2nd stage. The two Indian pairs participating in the 10m air rifle mixed team event crashed out in the first qualifications stage, missing out on yet another final after an outing that left a lot to be desired in the Tokyo Olympics.
The duo Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar finished 12th with a total of 626.5 across three series each, while Anjum Moudgil and Deepak Kumar ended 18th out of 29 pairs with an aggregate score of 623.8 at the Asaka Range. The mixed events are making their Olympic debut.
-BOXING: Lovlina Borgohain became the first Indian boxer to enter the quarterfinals with a 3-2 win over German welterweight Nadine Apetz. Both boxers, two-time World Championship bronze medallists, had received byes into the last 16. Borgohain can now secure a bronze medal with a win over Chen-Nien-chin of Chinese Taipei.
The 69kg contest was the first Olympic bout for both the 23-year-old Borgohain and Apetz, 12 years her senior. The German took up boxing out of curiosity at 21; Borgohain had a bronze each at the Asian Championships and World Championships by that age.
-BADMINTON: Indian shuttlers Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy emerged victorious against the England pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in their final Group A match but still missed out on qualifying for the quarterfinals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Ranked 10th in the world, the Indians beat the world number 18 team 21-17 21-19 in a 44-minute Group A men’s doubles match at the Musashino Forest Plaza.
-TENNIS PLAYER: Ma Long, the World No. 3 men’s singles table tennis player. The three-time Olympic gold medalist then walked towards his coach. He looked worried, an expression he usually forces opponents into. But after 19 minutes, when Sharath drew level to make it 1-1, Long had been given reason to worry in Tokyo 2020.
A short while later, Long called for a time-out at a serious moment of the match. He was leading 12-11 in the third game and Sharath was about to serve, then he started to turn the screws in what became a 4-1 (11-7, 8-11, 13-11, 11-4, 11-4) win for the World No.3.
Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT) established in early 2004, has been at the forefront when coming to opposing and raising voices against the destructive developmental programs, especially dams. ACT is an organisation consisting especially indigenous people of Sikkim, Lepchas, formed after coming up of dams in Dzongu. ( Dzongu is a reserved place for Lepchas declared by the 11th chogyal of Sikkim, Tashi Namgyal, as per notification of 1956. People from outside Dzongu has to obtain a permit to get inside Dzongu from the administration.)
Since its inception, the organisation has been very vocal about raising issues of dams and their impact around.
The movement gained momentum after 2007 when ACT decided to go for the hunger strike, led by both from the side of young and old generations; Dawa Lepcha, Tenzing Gyatso Lepcha, and many others, for 915 days (June 22nd, 2007- September 27th, 2009). After which ACT was able to scrap four dams in the state. This was one of the successful movements by the indigenous people counted around the world. The movement continued even after 2009 in a soft way voicing concerns but yet again it was reinstated in the ground after 2016 under the guidance of ACT’s co-founding members, NGOs, Women’s SHG groups, elected Village Councils, and Civil society groups.
The movement was renewed after the state government decided to reintroduce Teesta Stage IV dams in Dzongu built and operated by the state-owned corporate, NHPC, one of the most controversial companies.
In early 2020, just a few months after coming up of new government under the direction of Shri Prem Singh Tamang, the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha(SKM) party had led a massive campaign promising to stop building dams in the Holy land of Lepchas, was seen by many as going back to their promises made during the election. In March 2020, CM Tamang met with the chairman of NHPC after which the company had released a press statement stating ‘CM has given full assurance in completion of Teesta Stage IV’. But as soon as this statement came to light ACT flagged off the campaign on social media under the name “SaveTeesta” whereby people from different backgrounds and different parts of the state-supported the organisation. Social media was flooded with counterattacks filled with handles like #saveteesta, #stopstageiv, etc…
Such was the pressure that CM Office had to come out in the open to clarify the statement and said, ‘fabricated one’. To get clarification openly from the CMO isn’t an easy task.
Teesta Stage IV project is in itself a very controversial project in many ways, it is going to be a dual tunnel project each of 6km and 5.6km, the first of its kind in the country or you can even say the experimental project of the dual tunnel. Why this dual tunneling is problematic and controversial is because the Himalayas are made out of the young fold Mountain and consists of a very fragile ecosystem, full of rich biodiversity moreover region falls under seismic zone stage IV.
Teesta Stage IV comes under a radius of 10km within Kanchendzonga National Park, a UNESCO recognised biosphere reserve in July 2017, this violates the code of national park reserves. Besides, such environmental and ecological perspectives this Teesta River is extremely important to the indigenous community, Lepchas and it holds a religious significance too.
It is considered to be a very sacred river, they believe that once Lepcha dies their soul is taken back to the lap of their ancestors in the Kanchendzonga, Lepchas doesn’t believe in the concept of hell and heaven, and at that time this very River Teesta, which Lepcha called it as Ronggyong, will guide the soul to its place.
In the same way, Mutanchi Yuntandokpun (MYDP), a community club, one of its infamous quoted quotes reads “Teesta is our asylum, tranquillity, identity & pride. She proudly presents the distinctiveness of us who resides in the land where she flows.” This reveals how sacred the River Teesta is not just for the Lepchas but also for the whole Sikkimese.
ACT in the fight is advocated by many international communities and organisations like; UNESCO, International Rivers, International Peoples Movement for Self Determination and Liberation(Philipines, United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Fridays for Future and various other local, regional groups like Sikkim Progressive Youth Forum (SPYF), DLYA and people living in the downstream of River Teesta, Rafting association…etc
Picture coursey: Karma Lepcha (Darjeeling Lepcha Youth Association was among the very first organisation to join the save river Teesta campaign)
Mr. Shanker Sharma, Sikkim Progressive Youth Forum’s CEC wrote on his personal Facebook handle on the backdrop of ACT completing its 14 years of environmental activism; “I feel they have not received the support they deserve from the rest of the people. Their representatives have betrayed them time and again. There have been attempts to divide people, create proxy conflict among the people. The leaders have been detained, tortured, and harassed. Unfortunately, we see their struggle as only theirs. But their fight is not just for themselves but for the entire Sikkim and the global at large. Man’s exploitation of nature is a burning international issue, recklessness may lead to the extinction of life on earth.”
ACT hopes to come over this stage iv dam ( and stop the fifth dam in the way) and remains optimistic. Recently, state Forest minister’s latest interview with The Hindu, he was caught stating “The widening of roads to Nathu La, which is of strategic interest to us (bordering China), and the hydel power plants in north Sikkim, should also take into account the environmental concerns of locals. We are not against such activities, but it should not come at the cost of our biodiversity, ACT has warmly welcomed his statement.
ACT General Secretary, Gyatso Lepcha, on his Facebook handle has wrote “ACT welcomes the Forest Minister’s statement !!! tiny Sikkim is home to 27% of India’s flowering plants revealed by the Botanical Survey of India !!! the most interesting and fantastic piece of news is that on the occasion Forest Minister of the State (Shri Karma Loday) made a very interesting and deeply measured statement this validates the protest that ACT has been doing against the construction of a dam in Teesta River Basin, particularly North Sikkim… we thank the minister for keeping the facts surrounding the challenges to our fragile state’s ecology. We look forward to better ecology of the state !”
‘SaveTeesta’ campaign has been launched with the massive involvement of youths. A new team of ACT has been formed led by Mr Sandup Lepcha as president and many youth-oriented wings have been created too; social media wings, Cultural & artist wings, student wings…etc On the sideline of the SaveTeesta campaign, I interacted with the young minds of ACT and tried to know about their thoughts on the ongoing campaign.
‘Since I have taken birth in this land, Dzongu, it’s my utmost duty or I must say it’s my love for my motherland and secondly, I have seen the sufferings of my elders my parents struggling for our land so I feel as a second-generation I should give my shoulders to them now..’ Says Kingchum Lepcha, a college student hailing from Hee Gyathong, one of the many places which are going to get affected by the Teesta Stage IV.
An interesting fact is that Hee-Gyathong GPU has rejected Stage IV by not allowing the FRA to get passed in the village council meeting.
Picture courtesy: Gyatso Lepcha on Save River Teesta
If this Teesta Stage IV is actually constructed then it endangers the River Teesta, the very last free-flowing stretch of Teesta will be damaged too. Similar concerns were expressed by Rungnyuu Lepcha, another youth involved in the movement, ‘No one would want to witness their motherland being sold, nor I. We do not want to live every day, in fear of the consequences which might be brought by the dam. Most importantly, the last stretch of Teesta which flows freely right now will not flow as it does, which eventually may lead River Teesta to perish in the future.’
Rungnyuu Further added “River Teesta is an identity to the whole State and not just of cultural importance to the Lepcha tribe”
It’s a sad fact that we are really out here trying to convince the people of our own state to join us in the movement for our Teesta which has given us, the people of Sikkim so much. We should be coexisting with nature.
“We should look up sustainable development.’ One of the youth said.
‘Teesta is not just a river but emotions and if Teesta remains our identity sustains. River Teesta is equally important as Mt.Kanchenjunga and as holy as the river Ganga as considered by Hindus. When the Kanchenjunga expedition was allowed people stood up to protect our Kanchenjunga but shouldn’t we people come forward and protect our Rivers as we did to protect our mountains?’ Sangay Chopel, a college student, hailing from an affected valley due to coming up of Teesta stage III at Chungthang quoted and questioned. Sangay also feels strongly against the Teesta Stage Iv because he says, ‘… its the last stretch of Free-flowing portion of river Teesta and geographically when we look into our mountains and landforms it’s not that strong enough to hold such water capacity (referring to reservoir). But what it does is, it destroys the ecosystem and submerges the main fertile land where people mostly grow their cash crops.’
The same kind of issue of the reservoir, Mr. Wangchuk Bhutia, a feature writer of Talk Sikkim had pointed out in his November 2015 article. He wrote “But the people affected by the Teesta Stage V reservoir are experiencing it in real, with their safety and durability of life and property threatened. There seems to be no sincere and concerted effort, either from the state authorities or from the NHPC officials, to find a long-lasting and effective solution to the challenges and risks to life and property being experienced, almost daily, by the people living by the NHPC Teesta Stage V.’ On being asked about, how ACT’s activism is different from the past Kingchum replies, ‘well I would say ACT during past years have done a very commendable work nevertheless they have done with the fullest of their capacity and their limits .so now it’s our time what I have seen is that there is a mixture of many young innovative minds giving creative ideas for the protest.
Like we are going through every aspect, right from legal matters to educating individuals from every nooks and corner of State. and I also would like to add we should not forget the leaders of past though we are advancing even then youths can walk faster but elders know the road. Coming off more youth is like adding up another finest upgradations in the spaceships.
Mingmar Ongkit, a student of NBBG College from L. Dzongu residing near Tung Kyong Dhu [lake] mentions ‘My commitment towards this movement is 100% and ready to bear any consequences if tomorrow government pushes this dam.
Tung Kyong Dhu is a very sacred lake for the Lepcha clan called Hee-Youngmingmoo. Lake accommodates a very unique kind of fish, it is believed that the population of the Hee-Youngmingmoo clan plunges or expands according to the number of fishes present in the lake. Stage IV endangers this very lake because tunnels run below this lake and people fear that the lake will get dry up because of the seepage.
Tung Kyung Dhu, Picture coursey: Dr Sonam Rinchen Lepcha on Save River Teesta
Many have questioned, especially the pro-government party, about ACT activism and not providing an alternative to the government but it has been a long-known fact that ACT has been trying to convince the government to declare the last free-flowing stretch of Teesta as “river sanctuary and its peripheries as butterfly hotspot area” one of a kind in the country.
Courtesy-22 November 2020, Sikkim Express edition on Save River Teesta.
Today, ACT isn’t just an organisation fighting to save our rivers and fragile ecosystem from disastrous development but has become an institution and people from outside are willing to hear and learn from the struggles of ACT. “Dzongu, Sikkim in Northeast India. The land of the Lepcha (Indigenous Peoples) – beautiful and rich in biodiversity. All are under threat with the construction of the Teesta IV hydropower dam. The Lepcha are leading the fight to stop the project under the Affected Citizens of Teesta and Save Dzongu. If successful, this would be the 5th dam the communities have stopped since 2010. The IPMSDL was privileged to have visited and met with some of the affected villages. The Lepcha and their oneness and struggle are inspiring for other people in struggle.” _Beverley Sakongan L. Longid, Global Coordinator, IPMSDL (Philippines), wrote after visiting Dzongu.
An unfortunate incident occurred in North-East India yesterday evening when both the police forces of Mizoram and Assam clashed over at Lailapool of Cachar district, which has been known as a flashpoint of inter-state border clashes for decades. This time, it took an extremely barbaric turn when alleged Mizo assailants loaded with Light machine guns ( seen in different videos) fired on the Assam side leaving 5 jawans of Assam police dead on the spot and injuring around 65-75 more people.
IPS Vaibhav, SP, Cachar was shot too after which he was admitted to the ICU of Silchar Medical College. He may be flown to Mumbai for higher treatment. Meanwhile, the PSO of DC, Cachar was shot at to which he succumbed.
Both Assam Govt and Mizoram Govt have narrated their version of the story. But, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma strongly condemned the inhumane, undemocratic move of Mizoram Police and has talked with Mizoram CM over the incident. While CM Sarma thinks that this issue can be solved over discussions after satellite imaging surveys, he has also allowed Assam Police to retaliate and open fire from now on.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, on Monday, urged Chief Minister of Mizoram Zoramthanga to investigate this matter saying why civilians from his states were holding sticks and trying to incite violence on the Assam-Mizoram border.
He said, “Honble Zoramthanga Ji, could you please investigate why are civilians from Mizoram holding sticks and trying to incite violence? We urge civilians to not take up law and order on their own hands and permit peaceful dialogue to take place between governments.”
The Assam Govt has announced 50 lakh compensation for the family of every Jawan deceased in this unfortunate incident that rocked the Nation and has promised Govt a job for a person in the family of the deceased. He has also declared to raise a Commando- Batallion of 3000 soldiers for the protection of Barak Valley.
Just like any other day, news of data leaks has become a norm in the digital age. In this series, weeks into the leaking of scrapped data of Facebook and LinkedIn users were leaked, a cybersecurity expert claimed that the phone numbers of Clubhouse users-an an audio social app has been leaked and are available for sale on the dark web. This information was shared by Jiten Jain on July 24. He further claimed that in total 3.8 billion phone numbers from the phonebooks of Clubhouse users are available on a database.
Clubhouse
The clubhouse is a popular socio-audio application where users can communicate with each other in voice-only chatrooms. Initially, it had an invite-only system to register for the app but recently the founders of the app announced that the social media app was going wide, out of its beta version, and will allow users to register without an invite just like any other SM platform. This app was released during the last year after the onset of the Covid Pandemic in April 2020. It had gained popularity as due to lockdown people were packed in their homes and it gave them a wonderful place to talk to people including strangers.
This app has been earlier into controversy when Stanford University in the USA cautioned the users that the app may be leaking out the audio data of users’ conversations to the Chinese Government. Also, as claimed by Stanford Internet Observatory, the app is getting backend infrastructure support from Agora, a Shanghai-based company. Earlier, in April also there was a news which claimed that the data of 1.3 million Clubhouse profiles has been leaked online. The company had later called such news false and misleading.
Clubhouse denied it
The self-proclaimed hackers in their claim have said that they were able to evaluate the level of a network of each phone number and have the ability to do a ranking of phone numbers. They also said that the list includes the phone numbers of some very influential people and valued the user data at $3 billion.
However, contrary to the claim, Clubhouse in a statement to IANS has denied all such claims and stated that “There are a number of bots, generating billions of random phone numbers. In an event, one of these coincides with the users’ data is a purely mathematical coincidence, Clubhouse API returns no user identifiable information.” Many cybersecurity experts have said the leak claim to be fake and denied breach allegations. Further, the SQL database being alleged claimed as the user information was termed as a bad sample by the hackers’ forum, as it had a lack of personal information which can be used to target specific users.
We recommend the readers update their passwords and try to use multiple-layer encryption for all the social media apps. Further, you should not provide any personal information on-call or online messaging and also don’t open any link received from non-trusted sources.
Day-3 preview-Though with a good start of day-3, it didn’t end well for India. Where other countries were adding up medals in their tally, India was struggling between winning and losing. Some players were outshining but others were disappointing by their performances in Tokyo. In the beginning, India’s first Olympic fencer Bhavani Devi delivered a great match by debut win but lost her round of 32 matches to get knocked out. Indian archers were let down again today, Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav, and Tarundeep Rai lost to Korea in Q-finals. A win did come for team India by Sharath Kamal in his second match against Portugal but it was an end for fellow paddler Sutirtha Mukherjee. In badminton Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty went down in their men’s doubles second round. Later in the evening, the women’s hockey team lost from Germany by 0-2, they lost their second match after Netherland. Elsewhere, boxer Ashish Kumar was defeated by Erbieke Tuoheta 0-5 in the round of 32.
While swimmer Sajan Prakash finished 24th in men’s 200m butterfly, he did well but failed to reserve his place in the semi-finals. Tennis player Sumit Nagal lost his round 2 to world no.2 Daniil Medvedev. Agand Vir Singh ended 18th and Mairaj Ahmad Khan ended 25th in the men’s skeet event. A star player Manika Batra lost 4-0 in the third round, a big loss for team India.
Vishnu Saravanan who was 14th in the laser class after day 1, moved down to 25th while Nethra Kumanan down from 27th to 28th in the sailing qualifiers.
-ABOUT THE MATCHES
-FENCING: Bhavani Devi’s Olympic debut campaign ended in a fighting second-round defeat in the women’s individual sabre event, the trailblazing Indian fencer bowing out with much promise here on Monday. The 27-year-old Bhavani, the first fencer from the country to qualify for the Olympics, began her campaign with a confident 15-3 win against Tunisia’s Nadia Ben Azizi but bumped into world number three and Rio Olympic semifinalist Manon Brunet in the next round, which she lost 7-15.
-ARCHERY: Indian archers faltered at crucial moments against the mighty Koreans to make a quarterfinal exit from the men’s team event at the Tokyo Olympics, here on Monday.
After beating Kazakhstan 6-2, the Indian trio of Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai lost in straight sets against the top seeds at the Yumenoshima Park. They had won a silver medal at the 2019 World Championships and did respond well in the second set with a series of four 10s but Das faltered with an 8 in the last arrow, as Koreans looked on a roll.
It was some high class shooting in the third set after the Kazakhstan team stepped it up with three perfect 10s as the Indians too matched them riding on two 10s by Das but an 8 by Rai cost them the set.
-TABLE TENNIS: Indian table tennis player A Sharath Kamal overcame a low start to beat Portugal’s Tiago Polonia in the men’s singles second round but Sutirtha Mukherjee was overwhelmed by Portugal’s Yu Fu in the Olympics. The 39-year-old Sharath struggled in the first game but pulled himself up just in time to win 2-11 11-8 11-5 9-11 11-6 11-9 in 49 minutes to set up a clash with defending champion Ma Long from China. The world number 10 Indian duo could never get into any kind of rhythm and lost 13-21 12-21 in 32 minutes against the top-seeded team.
-BADMINTON: Sumit Nagal was blown away by world No 2 Daniil Medvedev’s in the men’s singles second round as India’s tennis challenge all but ended at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday.
-MAN’S SKEET: India’s Angad Vir Singh Bajwa finished 18th while his senior compatriot Mairaj Ahmad Khan ended 25th in the men’s skeet event of the Tokyo Olympics in Tokyo on Monday.
The 25-year-old Angad shot 120 across five series and Mairaj could manage only 117 at the Asaka Range. His scores read 24 25 24 23 24. On the other hand, Mairaj was could not improve on his overnight position and ended the competition with scores of 25 24 22 23 23 for a total of 117.
-TABLE TENNIS: The star Indian player, Manika, who had stunned world number 32 on Sunday, did not have the game to challenge the 10th seeded Sofia Polcanova from Australia. Manika, who had made a comeback from 0-2 down in her second round match, failed to throw a challenge to the attacking left-hander from Austria. She lost 11-8, 11-2, 11-5 and 11-7 in straight games. A BIG LOSS FOR TEAM INDIA.
-BOXING: Ashish Kumar became the first boxer to lose in the first round of Tokyo, 2020 as he went down fighting against China’s Erbieke Tuoheta in the men’s middleweight Round of 32 clashes on Monday.
All five judges scored in favour of the Chinese pugilist in the first two rounds which helped him gain a massive advantage. Ashish fought back to clinch the third round but looked dejected after the bout as he realised that he lost well before the final result was announced.
-SWIMMING: Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash failed to qualify for the men’s 200m butterfly semifinals at the Tokyo Olympics after finishing fourth in Heat.
Prakash, who clocked a personal best of 1:56:38 in Italy last month to breach the ‘A’ mark for Olympic qualification, could only manage 1:57.22 to finish 24th among 38 swimmers. The top-16 progressed to the semifinals Prakash will compete in the 100m Butterfly on Thursday. The other Indians at the Olympics, Maana Patel, and Srihari Nataraj have already exited the competition.
-WOMEN’S HOCKEY: Germany beat India 2-0, Rani Rampal & co suffer consecutive defeats – Rani Rampal-led team India have lost the crucial group stage contest 0-2 against Germany. The continuous loss for India makes it tough for them to make it to the quarterfinals. Nike Lorenz scored the opener for Germany in the 1st quarter and Anne Katarina Schroder doubled the lead in the 3rd quarter. Adding to India women’s hockey team woes, Gurjit Kaur missed a penalty stroke in the 3rd quarter.
Nethra Kumanan was placed 27th after two races while Vishnu Saravanan was at 14th after his first race as the Indian sailors opened their campaign in the Tokyo Olympics here on Sunday.
Kumanan finished 33rd in the first race of the women’s laser radial before recovering a bit by taking the 16th spot in the second for an overall 27th place with 49 net points. Saravanan then finished 14th in the men’s laser event before the second race was postponed due to bad weather conditions.
The Chinese electronic intelligence installation that’s widely in news recently is that the maritime reconnaissance and electronic intelligence station on Great Coco Island. The island group is located in the Bay of Bengal almost 300 kilometers south of the Burmese mainland.
These islands belong to Myanmar but are taken on lease by the Chinese Government for a long.
Historical Background
The islands were named by Portuguese sailors. The islands had tons of coconuts growing which is why these were called Coco islands. The East India Company had occupied the Andaman and Nicobar islands within the 18th century and had built Penal colonies there. The food and essentials were brought there through Coco islands. The Jadwet family was given the Coco islands on lease. They were a respectable family of Burma. Britishers gave control to Burma thanks to the remoteness of those islands. In 1937 when
Burma was separated from India, the islands were made a self-governing Crown Colony. In 1942 Coco Islands were appropriated by the Japanese and these became politicians a part of Burma when it received freedom from the British in 1948. General Ne Win found out a penal institution within the islands and it had been called the Devil’s Islands.
Chinese Availability in Coco Islands
The Chinese Army is additionally building a base on Coco Island within the Alexandra Channel. The water body lies between the Indian Ocean and therefore the Andaman Sea north of India’s the Andaman Islands. The two islands of the Coco group are leased to China since 1994. These are located at an important point in traffic routes between the Bay of Bengal and therefore the Strait of Malacca. The Coco Islands are often wont to monitor Indian naval and missile launch facilities in Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the south and movements of the Indian Navy and other navies throughout the eastern Indian Ocean. The construction of the good Coco Island station started in late 1992 by placing, 45-50 m antenna tower, radar sites, and other electronic facilities. These formed a comprehensive SIGINT collection facility. In mid-1993, 70 Chinese naval personnel began operation of the new radar equipment. It was by the summer of 1994, the PLA, the radar, and SIGINT facilities were complete and prepared to be used.
Coco Island: Strategic Significance
China has been performing on an expansionist policy since the 1990s. It is supported by Sri Lanka and Myanmar alongside Bangladesh within the Indian Ocean and therefore the Bay of Bengal. China wishes its expansion to be both economic and political.
Sanat Kaul has said that India has untapped resources within the name of Andaman and Nicobar islands and thanks to the imposition of sanctions by the West, Myanmar has come up as a support to China.
China took advantage of this and established a robust military presence on Coco Islands. Myanmar lets China access its naval routes and ports and also features a troubled port at Kyaukpyu within the Bay of Bengal. It has installed an 85-meter jetty, naval facilities, and Electronic Intelligence systems at Great Coco Islands.
There is an enormous number of Chinese military technology and men supported these islands. The presence of the Coco islands may be a way for the Chinese Blue Water Navy to become a reality. It is a neighborhood of China’s decision to encircle India through the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean. China also has its oil and energy supplies being shipped through the Strait of Malacca route. India, the US, Japan, and Australia are all concerned about China’s presence everywhere.
India men's archery team lose to South Korea in quarterfinals.(REUTERS)
The Indian trio of Pravin Jadhav, Atanu Das, and Tarundeep Rai failed to rise to the tough challenge against South Korea in the quarter-final of the men’s archery team event here at the Yumenoshima Ranking Field on Monday.
The South Korean team comprising Kim Je Deok, Kim Woojin, and Oh Jinhyek defeated the Indian team 6-0 to reach the semis in Archery. The Koreans put immense pressure on India from the first arrow as they shot 10-10-9 for a 29 and India responded with 8-10-10. Korea then proceeded to shoot 10-10-10 to capture 2 points.
In the second set, India responded well as they started with 9-10-10 and 10-10 but an 8 from Das on the last arrow handed another 2 points to the Koreans. The Koreans gathered two 59s in two sets.
The Koreans kept their cool and captured the third set with ease as they scored 56 even though they did hit the first 8 of the game in Archery. But in the end, it was enough as the Indian trio had filled their sheet with 8s and 9s and lacked consistency.
Earlier, the Indian team had defeated the Kazakhstani team of Abdullin Ilfat, Gankin Denis, and Mussayev Sanzhar 6-2 to reach the quarters
They advance to the semi-finals of the men’s team shooting event.
