DailyOh! Why Twitter blocked Ravi Shankar Prasad, to what CM Kejriwal's fault is

A prank? Giving it back? Well, whatever it was, Twitter denied Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad access to his own account for almost an hour, he alleged today. The minister said that the denial to access was on the "ground that there was a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the USA." Apparently, Ravi Shankar Prasad had used video clips of some of his interviews, which Twitter found in 'violation' of DMCA.

Eventually, the microblogging site allowed him access to his account. Prasad, as you know, has been the Central government’s face in the war against Twitter over the new IT Rules.

Now coming to the other news that has been hogging the headlines since last evening. The all-party meeting on Jammu and Kashmir. The key factors discussed were the Centre’s commitment to statehood for J&K, and for the delimitation process, as Home Minister Amit Shah said after the meeting.

The delimitation part is especially important here because constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir did not undergo delimitation in 2008 like the rest of India. In fact, the last delimitation in J&K was carried out in 1995-96. As it was expected, former J&K CM Omar Abdullah expressed his reservations in the meeting yesterday over delimitation, asking why the UT was singled out.

So much talk on delimitation and so much heat around it, but what exactly does it mean? Oxford Dictionary defines delimitation — our Word Of The Day — as “the action of fixing the boundary or limits of something.” It originates from the Latin word dēlīmitō that translates to ‘mark out the limits’.

In the case of Indian politics, it is the act of redrawing of boundaries of the Assembly or Lok Sabha constituency to reflect changes to the population of a region. It is done by the Delimitation Commission, which is an independent body and the executive and political parties cannot interfere in its functioning.

We move to West Bengal now, where the CM Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government is doing all it can to oust Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar from the state. So much so, that the party is now planning to pass a resolution demanding the removal of Governor Dhankhar. But can it do so? The short answer is ‘no’. The long answer (again, no), is here.

While the Bengal government and the Governor fight it out, the Delhi government is fighting a battle in the Supreme Court. What for? About the audit committee's report on the use of oxygen in Delhi. According to CM Arvind Kejriwal's own words, "My fault was that I fought for the breath of two crore people." What is the dissent and controversy all about? Read here to find out.   

Now, to Russia, where no love is lost between it and Britain. Russia has issued a stern warning to Britain asking it to respect its territorial waters in the Black Sea and refrain from breaching it. You might wonder what if Britain says 'we give a damn'. Well, Russia says it will then bomb British ships.

The drama around the Black Sea is nothing new. It has for centuries been a flashpoint between Russia and its Mediterranean competitors including Turkey, France, the UK and the US (obviously). But, but, but... does the Black Sea even belong to Russia? Legally not. The Black Sea and its waters are a part of the Crimea peninsula. After Moscow illegally seized and annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, it has started considering and using the areas around the peninsular coast to be Russian waters. Read more on the geostrategic importance of the Black Sea here.

Now, some lighter facts about the Black Sea. For starters, did you know where it gets this unusual name from? There are many theories, ranging from the ancient Greeks terming the water body inhospitable (and therefore “blackening” the name). However, there are two most accepted theories. The first one is from the perspective of sailors: the sea looked black due to severe storms in the winter. Hence, Black Sea.

The other theory, more acceptable to scientists and science-prone minds: when metal objects from ships, dead plants and other animal matter sink deeper than 150 meters for a long period of time in the sea, it becomes covered with black sludge. This is due to the high concentration of hydrogen sulphide in the sea, which, when combined with the iron in the sinking materials, creates the black sludge. Hence, Black Sea.

Also, did you know that the water level in the Black Sea remains the same all the time? This is because of the absence of any high or low tides that gives the sea no fluctuation in the water level, keeping it as a calm, quiet and serene sea on the surface.

We wish Russia could learn something from the Black Sea.

Moving to the Ganga's water level now. It has risen because of the continuous rains over the past weeks. So much so, that the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have received 171 per cent and 158 per cent above normal rainfall respectively.

The rising water levels is a cause for alarm in itself. What makes it worse, however, is that subsequent erosion of the sand at the river banks has resulted in bodies that were buried there coming to the surface and getting swept into the river.

And if that wasn't enough to open your eyes, watch Before the Flood — a documentary that will leave you horrified on the effects of climate change.

But we don’t want to leave you on that depressing note, however pertinent it may be.

So we leave you with these stunning images of the Strawberry Moon from last night, ICYMI.

Have a great weekend. See you Monday.

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Also Read: A wishlist for PM Narendra Modi's Cabinet reshuffle