Major News and Events of 18 May 2016

A major fire broke out in the forests of Trikuta Hills in Katra town, Jammu & Kashmir. The incident happened near the famed Vaishno Devi shrine in Reasi district. Indian Air Force choppers have been pressed into service to assist paramilitary forces in dousing the wildfires. As a precaution, all civilian helicopters ferrying pilgrims from Katra to Vaishno Devi shrine have been shifted to the campus of Mata Vaishno Devi University.

Torrential rains and heavy landslides in Lumding-Badarpur hill section of southern Assam have disrupted rail services in southern part of the state along with Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram. Northeast Frontier Railway officials said that railway workers have been working round-the-clock to clear the mudslides and stones covering large portions of the railway tracks. It may take another three-four days to resume rail services in the region.

The draft Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016, , which plans to bring in a set of regulations regarding the geospatial information of India, has become the cause of a diplomatic war between India and Pakistan as the former “firmly” rejected Pakistan’s objections to the draft Bill. According to Vikas Swarup, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, the proposed bill is an internal legislative matter of India and Pakistan has “no locus standi in the matter”.