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🗃️ @Evening: Twitter Files, 1971 Heli-Bridge And More
1. 📰 Catch Up
Kerala assembly adjourned after heated debates over drug menace between ruling LDF and opposition UDF.
All candidates of Aam Aadmi Party forfeit deposit in Himachal Pradesh assembly elections.
NASA's Perseverance rover collected wind-blown sand and dust sample from the Martian surface.
30 Indian Air Force airfields have been modernised since 2011 and the modernisation of 37 more airfields is "under progress".
The Bombay High Court permitted cutting of around 20,000 mangrove trees for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project.
2. 🗃️ The Twitter Files Part Two
The revelations: Bari Weiss, an independent journalist, posted a series of tweets about Twitter's secret blacklists and the thread was shared by Elon Musk.
It was revealed that teams of Twitter employees built blacklists, prevented disfavored tweets from trending, and actively limited the visibility of entire accounts or even trending topics—all in secret, without informing users.
It was also revealed that Twitter engaged in "shadow banning" by curtailing the reach of certain users and the Twitter executives and employees call ited “Visibility Filtering” or “VF.”
Who were targeted: Standford University's Dr Jay Bhattacharya, who argued that Covid lockdowns would harm children, was secretly placed on a “Trends Blacklist,” which prevented his tweets from trending.
At one point, Twitter also slapped popular American right-wing talk show host, Dan Bongino, with a “Search Blacklist".
Further, the account of conservative activist Charlie Kirk was set to "Do Not Amplify" among others.
3. 🎬 A biopic on Vijay Sankeshwar
Vijayanand is a Kannada movie which has been released pan-India in five languages: Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi.
It is directed by Rishika Sharma and has Nihal and Siri Prahalad in lead roles.
It based on the life of Padma Shri awardee Dr Vijay Sankeshwar.
It narrates the story of a 19-year-old boy who starts his transport business at a very young age from Gadag, a small city in the heart of North Karnataka.
Vijay Sankeshwar is the founder of VRL Logistics which currently has the largest fleet of commercial vehicles in India with 5,111 vehicles.
He started the company with a single truck and VRL gradually expanded its services to Bangalore, Hubli and Belgaum.
He is a member of BJP and was honoured with Padma Shri in 2020.
4. 📸 EOS-06 images Cyclone Mandous
About the image: The image has been captured by EOS-06 which was launched on 26 November with eight nano-satellites.
This image combines the cloud structure provided by Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM) with wind vector data derived from the Scatterometer.
EOS-06 is third generation satellite in the Oceansat series and is equipped with OCM, scatterometre, and sea surface temperature monitor.
Cyclone Mandous is set to cross Tamil Nadu coast at midnight today.
Under the influence of the cyclonic storm, several areas witnessed heavy rainfall, while light to moderate rains were observed in other regions.
The cyclonic storm will have a maximum sustained wind speed of 65-75 kmph gusting to 85 kmph near coasts, during midnight and early hours of Saturday.
Mandous is an Arabic word and it means treasure box and the name was reportedly picked by the United Arab Emirates.
5. ️🚁 This week in the 1971 war
The Heli-Bridge breakthrough: Between 7 and 15 December 1971, a small fleet of Mi-4 helicopters flew over 400 sorties and airlifted nearly 4000 troops and 100 tonnes of load across various rivers in the then East Pakistan.
This was the first time that Heli-Borne operations of this scale were launched in India.
The Mi-4 crew flew day and night, from unprepared grounds, with very little time for preparation.
How it helped: It ensured the Indian Army's rapid movement across major water-obstacles, especially the Meghna river.
The Heli-Lift of such a large force to Sylhet, Raipura, Narsingdi and Baidya Bazar gave a strong impetus to the Indian Army's advance to Dhaka.
The operations remain a remarkable example of astute planning, audacious execution and seamless jointmanship.
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