THE WORLD PORTAL

AIR INDIA PILOT’S STRIKE

All airline passengers are happy to hear the news is that the famous airliner Air India’s pilots canceled their ongoing strike. They called off their strike after the assurance against salary cuts given by the Aviation minister Praful Patel.  Patel gave the assurance that salaries of the employees will not be deducted without consulting with them. Air India would pay productivity-linked incentive (PLI) to all sections of employees on October 7.

ABOUT THE STRIKE

Air India(AI) Pilot’s strike was started on 26th September 2009. Air India’s management reduced the Productivity Linked Incentives (PLI) of executive Pilots by 50 per cent. To objecting to this decision, a section of 300-odd strong executive pilots of Air India began the strike by reporting to be sick.  The strike was continued on five days. In the first day of the strike, Air India canceled the flights from New Delhi to Mumbai and Kabul. On the second day of the strike, AI canceled 13 flights including 6 international flights and 7 domestic flights. In the talk between Air India management and agitating pilots, AI management reportedly offered an agreement to withdraw the incentive-cut. The executive pilots decided to strike on the third day  even after this agreement. In the third day, the talks between Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav and a representative of the striking pilots, Captain V K Bhalla was collapsed after both sides refused to move on stated positions. Then the strike entered on the fourth day. The crisis was deepened on the fourth day, because 101 domestic and 14 international flights were canceled and suspended bookings for the next 15 days. To solve this crisis, Prime minister Manmohan Singh met Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel. Then Patel requested the pilots to return to work by midnight otherwise take any action against them. In addition, the government asked other airlines not to increase fares to exploit the situation and to accommodate passengers whose flights had been canceled. To overcome this crisis, the Indian Railways also assured that it would set up train passenger reservation counters at all important airports throughout the country for the convenience of stranded passengers who want to travel by trains. On the fifth day of the strike, 30 flights were canceled. On this day, Air India’s pilots called off their ongoing strike after the assurance against salary cuts given by the Aviation minister Praful Patel. In this strike, almost 240 flights were canceled, and it caused many inconveniences to the passengers in this festival season.

TSUNAMI HITS SAMOAS

Huge tsunami waves formed by a powerful earthquake hit on American Samoa. It killed more than 100 people and leaving dozens of  workers missing at National Park Service facilities. Cars and people were moved to the sea with the fast flowing water. The quake is about a magnitude between 8.0 and 8.3. It struck around dawn about 32 kilometers below to the ocean floor, 190 kilometers from American Samoa, a US territory that is home to 65,000 people, and 200 kilometers from Samoa. Because of the power of the waves and the unavailability of communication facilities, the officials struggled to realize the casualities and damage. A number of coastal villages were also swept away. The reports show that the number of death toll will rise. The seismologist reported two further quakes measuring 5.6 and a third of 5.8 in the South Pacific. The reports show that the villages at the south coast of Samoa’s had been completely damaged by this tsunami. About five hours after the first quake the Radio New Zealand reported that the tsunami warning has lifted. The Civil defense officials in New Zealand announced a warning for tsunami for the country’s entire coastline.The reports show that about three children were also included in the dead. The main village on another small island, Manono, was reported to be underwater but most residents made it to higher ground before the tsunami hit. It causes a lot of agony to the country in this morning. Another dreadful tsunami occurred in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004.It was the worst on record.

INDIAN OCEAN EARTHQUAKE

The Indian Ocean earthquake was occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on December 26, 2004 on the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. This earthquake is of magnitude between 9.1 and 9.3, it is the second largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. It is lasted for 8.3 to 10 minutes. It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 cm and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska. This earthquake results in big tsunami waves. About 230,000 people from 11 countries killed in this tsunami. It was one of the dreadful natural disasters in the world history. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand were the hardest hit. This tsunami causes extraordianary damages.At least 654 villages were destroyed, more than 500,000 people lost their homes, and more than 150,000 children were left without schools. Now the Communities have regathered, cities and towns are bustling and the people  are thriving, almost five years after the huge earthquake and tsunami waves claimed 167,000 lives.