India’s rapid urbanisation has been proceeding apace for decades, but policy solutions have been shots in the dark. For the thousands who come to the cities every day, cheap housing in slums is often the springboard to better lives. However, studies show that these migrants often get stuck in a …

Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat’s view that it is not possible to hold simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies soon is a realistic assessment of the humongous task ahead of the Election Commission before it can embark on such an ambitious venture. Mr. Rawat has, in …

With Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his main challenger Prabowo Subianto announcing their running mates for the April 2019 election, the stage is set for an extended campaign. These will be the fourth direct presidential elections since the end in 1998 of the three-decade-long military-backed dictatorship of Suharto. Both candidates …

There is a well-thought-out reason for naming the community, faith, or gender of a victim for certain stories in The Hindu . Some readers, especially students, have written to us asking why some headlines mention the words “Dalit”, “Muslim”, and “Dalit woman” in the case of violent acts, while others …

The emergence of a raging controversy around a Carnatic singer who recently announced a concert dedicated to Christian songs is an issue to ponder over. He was hounded — subjected to abuse on the phone and on social media — till he cancelled the programme. Another group of eminent artistes …

Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Pakistan policy was an open book. He wanted improved relations with Pakistan without sacrificing India’s interest. He wanted the people of the two countries to live in amity and friendship as good neighbours. Vajpayee had been pragmatic in respect of his Pakistan policy. On a visit to …

In the larger scheme of things, highway markers — the reflective stickers on railings that guide traffic on Bhutan’s steep mountain roads — should not be a big issue. But when the Border Roads Organisation, which helps build Bhutanese roads under Project Dantak, decided in July to make those markers …

Dodgy lip sync dubbing could soon become a thing of the past as researchers have developed an Artificial Intelligence-based system that can edit the facial expressions of actors to accurately match dubbed voices. The AI system, called Deep Video Portraits, can also be used to correct gaze and head pose …

Scientists have discovered a beetle trapped in amber that dates back to 99 million years, a finding that may help better understand the relationship between ancient flowering plants and pollinators. A group of unusual evergreen gymnosperms, known as cycads, may have been the first insect-pollinated plants. A study published in …

Robots that can diagnose diseases, play badminton and wow audiences with their musical skills are among the machines China hopes could revolutionise its economy, with visitors to a Beijing exhibition offered a glimpse of an automated future. The popular stars of this year’s World Robot Conference, which ended on Sunday, …

Financial aid for drought-stricken Australian farmers will be increased to Aus $1.8 billion as they endure the driest conditions in half a century, the Prime Minister said on Sunday. Farmers in eastern states are struggling with extreme aridity that has turned green pastures into dust, with the economies of local …

The sight of a basking shark’s brooding silhouette gliding through the waters off western France is more than just a rare treat for sailors — it is a boon for scientists trying to trace its secretive migrations across the globe. It may be the world’s second largest fish, growing to …

At Google, there are thousands of projects, supported by machine learning. They are impacting so many products from Gmail, Smart Reply, autonomous driving, Google Assistant to cloud AI functions. Google has been pushing forward a few core aspects related to AI. The first is data, it is so important to …

The ‘clean banking’ drive has started showing results with public sector banks (PSBs) increasingly adopting prudent business approach, replacing aggressive lending practices, said Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar. “The NPA crisis brought an opportunity for the introduction of responsible and responsive banking. All the PSBs, which [collectively] have about 75% …

With the rupee recently weakening past Rs. 70 to a dollar and hovering about that level since, concerns over the impact of the devaluation on economic indicators are intensifying. Here is what happens when the rupee falls: What happens to inflation? One of the first visible effects of currency depreciation …