Friday 25 December 2015
Tuesday 1 December 2015
Hurricane Anna (1961)
Hurricane Anna impacted Central America and the Windward Islands in July 1961. The first tropical cyclone and first hurricane of the hurricane season, Anna developed on July 20 from an easterly wave located in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) over the Windward Islands. Initially a tropical storm, it moved westward across the Caribbean Sea. Favorable environmental conditions allowed Anna to reach hurricane intensity late on July 20. Early on the following day, the storm strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. Intensification continued, and later on July 21, Anna became a major hurricane,[nb 1] upon reaching Category 3 intensity. After attaining peak intensity on July 22, the hurricane slightly weakened while brushing the northern coast of Honduras. Further weakening occurred; when Anna made landfall in landfall in Belize (then known as British Honduras) on July 24, winds decreased to 80 mph (130 km/h). Anna rapidly weakened over land and dissipated later that day.
As a developing tropical cyclone over the Leeward Islands, Anna produced strong winds over Grenada, though damage was limited to some crops, trees, and telephone poles. Other islands experienced gusty winds, but no damage. Passing just north of Venezuela, the hurricane produced strong winds over the country, peaking as high as 70 mph (115 km/h). Strong winds caused widespread damage in northern Honduras. Throughout the country, at least 36 homes were destroyed and 228 were damaged. Severe damage in the Gracias a Dios Department left hundreds of people homeless. Additionally, high winds toppled approximately 5,000 coconut trees. Overall, Anna caused a fatality and $300,000 in damage (1961 USD),[nb 2] primarily in Central America.
The origins of Hurricane Anna were likely from an easterly wave located over Africa. On July 16, Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) imagery showed a cloud mass situated about 1,020 miles (1,640 km) west-southwest of the southernmost islands of Cape Verde.[2] The existence of an easterly wave was not confirmed by United States Navyreconnaissance aircraft and ship reports until the following day, at which time the system was located over 445 miles (715 km) east ofAntigua. Although no circulation existed while the wave approached the Windward Islands, significant amounts of deep convection was associated with the system and located near the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Early on July 20, ship reports indicated a developing circulation between Grenada and Trinidad;[3] squalls on the former island produced wind gusts as strong as 50 mph (80 km/h).[4] According to HURDAT – the North Atlantic hurricane database – the system developed into Tropical Storm Anna at 0000 UTC on July 20,[5] as confirmed by a reconnaissance aircraft flight.[4]
Situated about 25 miles (40 km) east-northeast of Tobago with an initial wind speed of 40 mph (65 km/h),[5] Anna immediately began to strengthen while moving slightly north of due west. The first advisory on Anna, issued at 1330 UTC on July 20, reported sustained winds of 60 mph (95 km/h). Later that day, the storm was upgraded to a hurricane after a reconnaissance aircraft reported hurricane force winds.[3] Anna then deepened more steadily, becoming a Category 2 hurricane early on July 21. Later that day, the storm became a major hurricane by 1800 UTC, after reaching Category 3 hurricane intensity. At 1200 UTC on July 22, Anna attained its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) and a minimum barometric pressure of 976 mbar (28.8 inHg). Early on July 23, Anna weakened to a Category 2 hurricane while beginning to brush the northern coast of Honduras. Weakening continued, and by early on July 24, the storm deteriorated to a Category 1 hurricane. Around 1200 UTC, Anna made landfall in a rural area of Stann Creek District, Belize with winds of 80 mph (130 km/h). Late on July 24, the system weakened to a tropical storm and then dissipated.[5]
Preparations[edit]
The United States Weather Bureau issued tropical cyclone watches and warnings for Venezuela, Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba.[6] In Jamaica, meteorologists forecast that the storm would bypass the island to the south without causing any effects.[7] As Anna continued westward, it was predicted to make landfall in either northern Nicaragua or southeastern Honduras. Residents in those countries were advised to take precautions ahead of the storm.[8][9] Central Americans residing along Gulf of Honduras were also warned about 10 feet (3.0 m) tides and strong winds.[10] As the storm neared Honduras, small boats and other water craft were advised to remain in port.[11] Additionally, a hurricane watch was posted for the Swan Islands.[12] In Belize, the threat of the storm forced 100 residents to evacuate their homes, while numerous businesses were closed down. At Belize Harbor, many ships and boats were moved upstream inland.[13] The hurricane was also forecast to bring heavy rainfall to the mountainous areas of Belize, causing a concern for flash flooding.[14] Additionally, Belize's Church Welfare Service began to ship clothing and other materials in anticipation of the hurricane.[13]
Impact[edit]
In Honduras, damage from Anna was moderate and limited to the Atlantic coast. A weather station in Tela recorded rainfall of 0.29–1.5 inches (7.3–25.4 mm) over a two-day period, and another station in Puerto Cortés measured 2 inches (51 mm).[16] In Plaplaya, the storm damaged 215 homes. In Trujillo, a number of buildings suffered damage.[17] At Limón, nine houses were destroyed and eighteen more were left uninhabitable.[17] Serious damage also occurred in Gracias a Dios Department, where hundreds of people were left homeless.[18] On the Bay Islands, nine houses were demolished and thirteen suffered damage. High winds toppled about 5,000 coconuttrees on Útila.[17] Damage from Anna in Honduras amounted to $300,000.[4] The hurricane killed one person and injured 12 others, and victims required food and medical aid in Anna's wake.[18] In Belize, Anna produced waves 7–10 ft (2.1–3 m) and gusty winds.[14] Though unspecific, there were reports of considerable damage in the country.[4]In Grenada, Anna produced wind gusts of 50 mph (80 km/h).[4] Damage from the storm's impact on Grenada was limited to banana crops, trees, and telephone poles.[7] Winds were light on Barbados and Saint Lucia, reaching only 29 mph (47 km/h) on both islands.[2] Damage on Trinidad was minor.[15] In northern Venezuela and the ABC Islands, the storm produced winds of 50–70 mph (80–113 km/h) inCuraçao, Los Hermanos and La Blanquilla;[6] A weather station in Aruba reported winds of 50 mph (80 km/h).[15]
Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination
The number of students taking the examination increased substantially each year with over 485,000 sitting IIT-JEE 2011. This represented an increase of 30,000 students (6.5%) from 2010.[9]
The availability of seats in recent years is as shown below:
| Institute | Intake (2003) | Intake (2007) | Intake (2008) | Intake (2009) | Intake (2010) | Intake (2011)[10] | Intake (2012)[11] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IIT (BHU) Varanasi | 568 | 686 | 766 | 881 | 1057 | 1057 | 1057 |
| IIT Bhubaneshwar | 120 | 120 | 120 | 120 | 120 | ||
| IIT Bombay | 600 | 574 | 648 | 746 | 880 | 880 | 880 |
| IIT Delhi | 552 | 553 | 626 | 721 | 851 | 851 | 851 |
| IIT Gandhinagar | 120 | 120 | 120 | 120 | 120 | ||
| IIT Guwahati | 350 | 365 | 435 | 498 | 588 | 615 | 615 |
| IIT Hyderabad | 120 | 120 | 120 | 140 | 140 | ||
| IIT Indore | 120 | 120 | 120 | 120 | |||
| IIT Kanpur | 456 | 541 | 608 | 702 | 827 | 827 | 827 |
| IIT Kharagpur | 659 | 874 | 988 | 1138 | 1341 | 1341 | 1370 |
| IIT Madras | 554 | 540 | 612 | 713 | 838 | 838 | 838 |
| IIT Mandi | 120 | 120 | 120 | 120 | |||
| IIT Patna | 120 | 120 | 120 | 120 | 120 | ||
| IIT Rajasthan | 120 | 120 | 120 | 160 | 160 | ||
| IIT Roorkee | 546 | 746 | 884 | 1013 | 1155 | 1155 | 1155 |
| IIT Ropar | 120 | 120 | 120 | 120 | 120 | ||
| ISM Dhanbad (to be converted into IIT)[1] | 444 | 658 | 705 | 923 | 1012 | 1034 | 1034 |
| Total | 4583 | 5537 | 6992 | 8295 | 9509 | 9618 | 9647 |
| Attendance | 455,000 | 485,000[9] | 512,000 |
From 2008, six new IITs were opened with 120 seats each, increasing the total number of seats to almost 7000. For 2009, admissions were made to two more IITs, namely IIT Indore and IIT Mandi (Himachal Pradesh) taking the seat count to almost 8300. In 2011, with additional courses in several old and new IITs, the total seat count crossed 9600.
Criticism
In 2012, Super 30 founder and mathematician Anand Kumar criticised the New Admission Norms, saying that the decision of the IIT Council to give chance to students having top 20% from various boards in the class 12 examinations, was a decision in haste. "This is one decision that will go against the poor, who don't have the opportunity to study in elite schools," he added.[12]
IIT-JEE was conducted only in English and Hindi, which was criticised as making it harder for students where regional languages, like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Urdu, Oriya,Bengali, Marathi, Assamese or Gujarati, are more prominent. In September 2011, the Gujarat High Court acted on a Public Interest Litigation by the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, demanding the exams be conducted in Gujarati.[13] A second petition was made in October by Navsari's Sayaji Vaibhav Sarvajanik Pustakalaya Trust.[14] Another petition was made at the Madras High Court for conducting the exam in Tamil. In the petition it was claimed that not conducting the exam in the regional languages is in violation of article 14 of the Constitution of India. PMK, political party in Tamil Nadu holds a demonstration at Chennai for conducting IIT-JEE and other national entrance exams in regional languages also, particularly Tamil in Tamil Nadu.[15] Pattali Makkal Katchi party has filed Public Interest Litigation in Madras High Court for conducting IIT JEE entrance exam in Tamil also. They submitted that every year 7.63 lakh students were completing 12th standard in Tamil Nadu, 75% of them from Tamil Medium. They had to take the entrance exam in English or Hindi, neither of which was their medium of instruction nor their mother tongue, and so were denied their fundamental right to take up the entrance exam in their medium of instruction, based on their mother tongue.[16][17]Shiv Sena urged MHRD to conduct IITJEE and other national undergraduate entrance exams in regional languages, particularly Marathi language in Maharastra.[18]
Amitabh Bachchan [Career ,Rise to stardom: 1973–1983]
Career
Early work: 1969–1972
Bachchan made his film debut in 1969 as a voice narrator in Mrinal Sen's National Award winning film Bhuvan Shome.[19] His first acting role was as one of the seven protagonists in the film Saat Hindustani directed by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and featuring Utpal Dutt, Anwar Ali (brother of comedian Mehmood), Madhu and Jalal Agha.[20][21]
Anand (1971) followed, in which Bachchan starred alongside Rajesh Khanna. His role as a doctor with a cynical view of life garnered Bachchan his first Filmfare Best Supporting Actor award. He then played his first antagonist role as an infatuated lover-turned-murderer in Parwaana (1971). Following Parwaana were several films including Reshma Aur Shera (1971). During this time, he made a guest appearance in the film Guddi which starred his future wife Jaya Bhaduri. He narrated part of the film Bawarchi. In 1972 he made an appearance in the road action comedy Bombay to Goa directed by S. Ramanathan. Many of Bachchan's films during this early period did not do well, but that was about to change.[22]
Rise to stardom: 1973–1983 In 1974, Bachchan made several guest appearances in films such as Kunwara Baap and Dost, before playing a supporting role in Roti Kapda Aur Makaan. The film, directed and written by Manoj Kumar, addressed themes of honesty in the face of oppression and financial and emotional hardship and was the top earning film of 1974. Bachchan then played the leading role in film Majboor, released on 6 December 1974, which was a remake of the Hollywood film Zig Zag. The film was a success at the box office.[24] In 1975, he starred in a variety of film genres from the comedy Chupke Chupke, the crime drama Faraar to the romantic drama Mili. 1975 was also the year when Bachchan appeared in two films regarded as important in Hindi cinema history. He starred in the Yash Chopra directed filmDeewaar along with Shashi Kapoor, Nirupa Roy, and Neetu Singh, earning him a Filmfare nomination for Best Actor. The film became a major hit at the box office in 1975, ranking in at number 4.[25] Indiatimes Movies ranks Deewaar amongst the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films.[26] Released on 15 August 1975 was Sholay, which became the highest grossing film of 1975 and also of all time in India, earning INR 2,364,500,000 equivalent to US$60 million, after adjusting for inflation.[27] in which Bachchan played the role of Jaidev. In 1999, BBC India declared it the "Film of the Millennium" and like Deewar, has been cited by Indiatimes movies as amongst the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films.[26] In that same year, the judges of the 50th annual Filmfare Awards awarded it with the special distinction award called Filmfare Best Film of 50 Years.Director Prakash Mehra cast him in the leading role for the film Zanjeer (1973) as Inspector Vijay Khanna. The film was a sharp contrast to the romantically themed films that had generally preceded it and established Amitabh in a new persona—the "angry young man" of Bollywood cinema.[4] Filmfare considers this one of the most iconic performances of Bollywood history.[22] The film was a huge success and one of the highest grossing films of that year, breaking Bachchan's dry spell at the box office and making him a star.[23] From then onwards, Bachchan became one of the most successful leading men of the film industry. He earned his first Filmfare nomination for Best Actor for Zanjeer. The year 1973 was also when he married Jaya, and around this time they appeared in several films together; not only in Zanjeer but in films such as Abhimaan which followed and was released only a month after their marriage and was also successful at the box office. Later, Bachchan played the role of Vikram, once again along with Rajesh Khanna, in the film Namak Haraam, a social drama directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and scripted by Biresh Chatterjee addressing themes of friendship. His supporting role won him his second Filmfare Best Supporting Actor award.
In 1976 he was cast by Yash Chopra in the romantic family drama Kabhie Kabhie. Bachchan starred as a young poet named Amit Malhotra who falls deeply in love with a beautiful young girl named Pooja (Raakhee) who ends up marrying someone else (Shashi Kapoor). The film was notable for portraying Bachchan as a romantic hero, a far cry from his "angry young man" roles like Zanjeer and Deewar. The film evoked a favourable response from critics and audiences alike. Bachchan was again nominated for the Filmfare Best Actor Award for his role in the film. That same year he played a double role in Adalat as father and son. In 1977, he won his first Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance in Amar Akbar Anthony where he played the third lead opposite Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor as Anthony Gonsalves. The film was the highest grossing film of that year. His other successes that year include Parvarish and Khoon Pasina.[28] He once again resumed double roles in films such as Kasme Vaade (1978) as Amit and Shankar and Don (1978) playing the characters of Don, a leader of an underworld gang and his look alike Vijay. His performance won him his second Filmfare Best Actor Award. He also gave towering performances in Yash Chopra's Trishul and Prakash Mehra's Muqaddar Ka Sikandar both of which earned him further Filmfare Best Actor nominations.
In 1979, Bachchan starred in Suhaag which was the highest earning film of that year. In the same year he also enjoyed critical acclaim and commercial success with films like Mr. Natwarlal, Kaala Patthar and The Great Gambler. Amitabh was required to use his singing voice for the first time in a song from the film Mr. Natwarlal in which he starred withRekha. Bachchan's performance in the film saw him nominated for both the Filmfare Best Actor Award and the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer. He also received Best Actor nomination for Kaala Patthar and then went on to be nominated again in 1980 for the Raj Khosla directed film Dostana, in which he starred opposite Shatrughan Sinhaand Zeenat Aman. Dostana proved to be the top grossing film of 1980.[29] In 1981, he starred in Yash Chopra's melodrama film Silsila, where he starred alongside his wife Jaya and Rekha. Other films of this period like Shaan (1980), Shakti (1982) which pitted him against the veteran actor Dilip Kumar were not successful at the box office but Ram Balram (1980), Naseeb (1981) and Lawaaris (1981) were successful.[30]
In 1982 he played double roles in the films Satte Pe Satta and Desh Premee which succeeded at the box office.[31] In 1983 he played a triple role in Mahaan and starred in the top grossing film of that year Coolie.[32]
Amitabh Bachchan [Early and personal life]
Bachchan was born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, in north central India. His ancestors hailed from a village called Babupatti in the Raniganj taluka of Pratapgarh district in Uttar Pradesh. His father Harivansh Rai Bachchan was a Hindi poet and his motherTeji Bachchan was a Punjabi Sikh from Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), Punjab. Bachchan was initially named Inquilaab, inspired by the phrase Inquilab Zindabad popularly used during the Indian independence struggle. In English, Inquilab Zindabad means "Long live the revolution." However, at the suggestion of fellow poet Sumitranandan Pant, Harivansh Rai changed the boy's name to Amitabh, which means "the light that will never die." Although his surname was Shrivastava, Amitabh's father had adopted the pen name Bachchan ("child-like" in colloquial Hindi), under which he published all of his works. It is with this last name that Amitabh debuted in films and for all other practical purposes, Bachchan has become the surname for all of his immediate family. Bachchan's father died in 2003, and his mother in 2007.
Bachchan is an alumnus of Sherwood College, Nainital. He later attended Kirori Mal College, Delhi University. He has a younger brother, Ajitabh. His mother had a keen interest in theatre and was offered a feature film role, but she preferred her domestic duties. Teji had some influence in Amitabh Bachchan's choice of career because she always insisted that he should "take the centre stage."
Bachchan is married to actress Jaya Bhaduri. The couple have two children, Shweta Nanda (wife of businessman Nikhil Nanda) and Abhishek Bachchan (actor and husband of actress Aishwarya Rai).
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