Friday, June 28, 2019

NASA : Search for Alien Life on Saturn’s Moon

On Thursday NASA announced a mission to land a car-sized robot quadcopter on Saturn’s moon Titan in 2026. After it reaches Titan in 2034, the craft, called Dragonfly, will fly around Titan for two-and-a-half years to try and understand the processes that formed the 5150 km-wide moon.

Titan is considered significant because its atmosphere hosts complex organic molecules. The moon’s surface has mountains of ice and liquids seas of hydrocarbons (mainly methane and ethane), making it the only solar system object to sustain stable liquid bodies on its surface. Scientists also think there could be an ocean of liquid water under Titan’s icy surface. All these features mean that Titan could potentially harbour or sustain life.

Europe’s Huygens probe was the first to touch down on Titan, in January 2005.

India Won’t Bow to International Climate Pressure

In response to a query in the Rajya Sabha about steps being taken by the government to contain climate change, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said that India would not bow to international pressure and would protect its own interests first.

Saying that 70% of greenhouse gas emission was “due to the developed countries” while India’s contribution was just three percent, Javadekar added that wealthier nations had also not fulfilled their commitment of $100 billion and technology transfer to developing nations to help the latter deal with climate change.

He also said that the emission intensity of India’s GDP has decreased by 21% in 2014 from 2005 levels, and that 33 states and Union Territories have prepared climate action plans.

Europe Heatwave spiraling to Record

Europe is reeling under a heatwave caused by an unprecedented high-pressure weather phenomenon. Temperatures are at record June highs in Germany, France, Poland and the Czech Republic. In France, the mercury hit 42.3°C on Thursday, beating the previous record of 41.5°C from the summer of 2003 (when around 15,000 people died across the country of heat-related causes).

Poland’s Radzyń registered a new national heat record of 38.2°C on Wednesday. The same day, temperatures in the Czech Republic rose to a record 38.9°C, and to 38.6°C in Germany. All-time heat records were also set in Switzerland, Austria, and Italy on Wednesday and Thursday. In Spain, temperatures in excess of 40°C aided the spread of a wildfire in Catalonia that has burned about 54 sq.km. of land.

Experts think the heatwave is caused by a high-pressure weather system called an ‘upper ridge’ that is trapping warm air coming in from the Mediterranean and North Africa regions. The heatwave may continue over the weekend before easing next week.

PARIS, June 26, 2019: People cool off at a fountain in the Trocadero Gardens during a heat wave in Paris, France, on June 26, 2019.

Lightning Deaths Continue in Bihar;

Lightning Deaths Continue in Bihar; 30 Dead in Last 24 Hours

At least 30 people were killed and over a dozen others injured in incidents of lightning strikes across Bihar in the last 24 hours, an official said here on Thursday.

The deaths occurred in Bhagalpur, Begusarai, Saharsa, Purnea, Araria, Katihar, Jamui, Khagaria, Madyepura, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Sitamarhi, Mitigari and Gaya districts, the state disaster management department official said.

7 Mountaineers’ Bodies Recovered on Nanda Devi Peak

A team of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has found 7 mountaineers buried by an avalanche on the Nanda Devi Peak in Uttarakhand on May 26. An eighth body is yet to be found. Bad weather is posing challenges in the recovery operation, officials said.

The mountaineering team included seven foreigners and one Indian. Earlier efforts by authorities to locate the bodies from the air were unsuccessful.

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other details of Ministers in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly 2019

Press Release

Dear Friends,

Andhra Pradesh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all 26 Ministers including Chief Minister from Andhra Pradesh State Assembly 2019. For the complete report, please go to: https://adrindia.org/content/analysis-criminal-background-financial-education-gender-and-other-details-ministers-andhra

Summary and Highlights

Year	Number of Ministers Analysed	Number of crorepati Ministers	Percentage of crorepati ministers	Average Assets (Rs. in Crores)	Number of Ministers with declared criminal cases	Percentage of Ministers with declared criminal cases	Number of Ministers with declared serious criminal cases	Percentage of Ministers with declared serious criminal cases	Number of Women in Cabinet	Percentage of Women in Cabinet
Andhra Pradesh Cabinet 2014	18	16	89%	22.40	10	56%	4	22%	3	17%
Andhra Pradesh Cabinet 2019	26	23	88%	35.25	17	65%	9	35%	3	12%

Table: Analysis of Andhra Pradesh Cabinet (2014 vs. 2019)

Criminal Background

· Ministers with Criminal Cases: 17(65%) ministers have declared criminal cases against themselves.

· Ministers with Serious Criminal Cases: 9(35%) ministers have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Financial Background

· Crorepati Ministers: Out of the 26 ministers, 23 (88%) are crorepatis.

· Average Assets: The average assets of 26 ministers analysed is Rs 35.25 crores.

· Ministers with Highest Assets: The minister with the highest declared total assets is Yeduguri Sandinti Jagan Mohan Reddy with assets worth Rs 510.38 crores. The top three ministers with highest declared assets are:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Yeduguri Sandinti Jagan Mohan Reddy	Kadapa	Pulivendla	YSRCP	4,43,48,37,267	66,89,79,299	5,10,38,16,566 510 Crore+	Y
2	Peddi Reddy Ramachandra Reddy	Chittoor	Punganur	YSRCP	21,28,69,927	1,09,69,14,000	1,30,97,83,927 130 Crore+	Y
3	Mekapati Goutham Reddy	Nellore	Atmakur	YSRCP	13,76,47,301	48,19,22,775	61,95,70,076 61 Crore+	Y

Table: Top 3 Ministers with Highest Assets

· Liabilities: A total of 21 out of 26 ministers analysed have declared liabilities. The details of the top 3 ministers with highest liabilities are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Total Assets(Rs)	Liabilities (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Peddi Reddy Ramachandra Reddy	Chittoor	Punganur	YSRCP	1,30,97,83,927 130 Crore+	20,38,62,494 20 Crore+	Y
2	Cherukuvada Sriranganadha Raju	West Godavari	Achanta	YSRCP	44,18,37,720 44 Crore+	12,24,85,291 12 Crore+	Y
3	Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao	Visakhapatnam	Bhimli	YSRCP	35,57,13,877 35 Crore+	5,04,31,712 5 Crore+	Y

Table: Top 3 ministers with Declared Liabilities

· Ministers with High Income: 3 out of 26 ministers analysed have declared their total annual income above Rs. 1 Crore.The details of these ministers are given below:

S.No.	Name	Party Name	Constituency	District	Total Asset (Rs)	Self Source of Income	Spouse's Source of Income	The financial year for which the last income tax return has been filed by minister	Total income shown by minister in ITR (Self+Spouse+Dependent) (Rs)	Self income shown by minister in ITR (Rs)
1	Yeduguri Sandinti Jagan Mohan Reddy	YSRCP	Pulivendla	Kadapa	5,10,38,16,566 510 Crore+	MLA Salary,MP Pension, Rental income, other income (bank interest, dividend and agriculture income	Salary, Rental income, Capital gains other income(interest dividend and agriculture income)	2017-2018	38,71,47,777 38 Crore+	25,89,38,290 25 Crore+
2	Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao	YSRCP	Bhimli	Visakhapatnam	35,57,13,877 35 Crore+	Business	Business	2017-2018	3,45,95,990 3 Crore+	1,46,22,408 1 Crore+
3	Dr. Suresh Audimulapu	YSRCP	Yerragondapalem	Prakasam	16,22,92,753 16 Crore+	Salary,pension,property income,agricultural income, capital gains, business income etc.	Salary,pension,property income,agricultural income,capital gains etc.	2017-2018	1,00,68,833 1 Crore+	28,91,900 28 Lacs+

Table: Top 3 Ministers with high income

Other Background details (Education, Gender, Age)

· Ministers’ Education: 8(31%) ministers have declared their educational qualification to be between 8^th and 12^th standard while 18 (69%) ministers have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above.

· Ministers’ Age: A total of 12(46%) ministers have declared their age to be between 31-50 years while 14 (54%) ministers have declared their age to be between 51- 70 years.

· Women Ministers: Out of 26 ministers, 3 are women.

Contact Details

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