weekendblogbydk

  India is one such country that is least ranked in the press freedom index. Some other countries with the same classification include China, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. According to a report from Niti Aayog , a French-based publishes yearly report purporting to evaluate the press freedom in 180 countries. The recently released 2020 press freedom index has ranked 142 out of 180 countries. A final qualitative analysis is combined with previous data on abuses and acts of violence against journalists during the period evaluated. The criteria evaluated in  the questionnaire  are pluralism, media independence, and other media indices that support the production of news and information.  source: Press Gazette Based on the data we have assigned each country a media freedom health rating based on a traffic-light system. Countries with a good track record on media freedom by international standards are awarded a green; countries where performance on media freedom raises cause f...

The canal across Egypt's Isthmus of Suez bridging the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea means linking the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. This man-made canal has been an essential vessel for global trade since the mid-19th century. Once the channel is blocked, European ships have to pass a long distance to reach Asia and do trading. The idea of bridging two continents via sea had excited the Egyptian rulers as well as the colonizers .  Pharaoh Senusret III(1887-1849 BC) built the first canal bridging the Erythraean Sea( today's Red Sea) and the Nile river and opening a waterway to the Mediterranean. Many new emperors tried to build new canals to reduce traffic. Many geologists believe that the coastlines of the Red Sea have moved southwards away from the lakes in Suez. Continuous accumulations of silt made it hard to maintain the water channel. For centuries, Egyptian rulers avoided this waterway until the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798 as part of his ...

  Joshua Sukoff on Unsplash Money is the mother’s milk of politics. Money always influences democracy. A study shows that over 90% of congressional races, the candidate who raises the most money wins. Why do campaigns need money? Are political campaigns fancy and costly? Here are the few areas where candidates spend money during campaigns. Most significantly, in the training of the party activist. Mass media communication. For policy development bodies. The process done by the election commission. Every candidate will visit the whole state so there comes the travel expenditure. Where does the money come from? Who supplies the huge amount? The normal citizen donate on a voluntary basis. The member of the party donates money as a membership token. But this method is not a reliable resource. So comes the plutocratic fundraising method. In plutocratic fundraising methods the elites, entrepreneurs, big cats, interest groups donate money. The more the interest group donates, the more it...

When we look out the window. The sky was tar-black and the large clouds were moving towards us. A tapping sound on the window and then it became a pitter-patter. People ran for cover outside and umbrellas were opened as the clouds spat out their beads of water. Puddles began plinking as the rainfall became heavier. But what if the tiny droplets are made of diamonds? Yeah you heard me right! it rains diamonds in Neptune.  Now it’s time to start exploring and learning more about intriguing diamond worlds of the Solar system. Harshil Gudka on Unsplash Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System (sorry Pluto). Neptune’s atmosphere is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, along with traces of hydrocarbons and possibly nitrogen; however, it contains a higher proportion of “ices” such as water, ammonia and methane. Neptune and Uranus are called the ”ice giants” of our Solar system because their outer two layers consist of compounds that include hydrog...

Srimathi Jayaprakash on Unsplash                                                                               If you were to ask an Indian women, to prefer between living in North India or South India, imagine what would her answer be? Most women would prefer to live in South India. And it shouldn't come as a surprise. In South India, women marry late, live longer and are more educated. The gender gap in education is 26% of the north and while for the south it is only 9%. Other than economic and social benefits, safety is another factor that could explain the woman's preference. Compared to North India there could be less crime against women in the South. It could be possible even in the states like Kerala, have high crime rates against women( According to data). But it is not clear why the cr...

Sheri Hooley on Unsplash Doors are meant to be opened. Well! not these doors. They are thought to contain anything from treasures to mummified remains and ancient curses. Some of the most visited places in the world have secret rooms and chambers sealed off by mysterious doorways. People won't talk about what is inside them. And once sealed they have remained closed but what exactly they are protecting us from. In Kerala, India, there is a grand structure known as Padmanabhaswamy temple. It was created in the 6th century and built upon until the 16 century by the kings of the Travancore royal family. The most valuable part of this ornate building is its 6 sealed underground vaults. But one of them remains unknown to this day. The vault sits behind ornately designed solid doors. Five of these doors were able to be pried open and inside they found 22 billion dollars worth of treasure including jewellery and solid gold idols. Vault B also called Bharata Conchal era is the only vault ...

  In many areas of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the price has exceeded rupees 100/litre. In many other cities, it is near the range of rupees 90/litre. Why are fuel prices changing so frequently? Why are petrol and diesel prices climbing up every day in our country? How much does the global crude oil price impact the domestic petrol price? C’mon let’s understand in depth.  Deregulation of prices In today’s time, the government in our country uses the dynamic pricing system to decide the price of petrol and diesel. The wat crude oil prices fluctuates in the global market similarly, petrol price fluctuates in the country. So, you can say it is deregulated. This is to say the government is not directly controlling the price of petrol. Rather the global market is controlling what should be the price of petrol. Reading this, A lot of questions will come up in your mind. I will answer those questions slowly. But historically, it wasn’t always so. Many years ago, the price of diesel...