Daily Archives: September 9, 2018

Cloudy forecast

Developed countries, especially the U.S.,need to commit funds to limit climate change The conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bangkok last week, that was to draft a rulebook for the Paris Agreement ahead of a crucial international conference in Poland in December, ran into predictable difficulties …

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Holding up the mirror

Alan Rusbridger’s new book captures the troubling reality in the media ecosystem today I am never tired of saying that the best journalism is akin to Umberto Eco’s idea of balancing humility and pride as a means for academic excellence. Academic humility, according to Eco, is the knowledge that anyone …

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A greater transformation

In reading down Section 377, the Supreme Court has showed the way to deepen democracy In its decision in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India last week, the Supreme Court has finally struck down the colonial-era law criminalising homosexuality and the lives of LGBTQ persons. In a 493-page verdict, …

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Why not Dalit?

The government advisory on the use of the word shows its intent to further marginalise the community In pre-Independence India and after 1947, during the several unyielding movements for justice for Dalits, multiple terms have been used to convey the idea of the caste system which B.R. Ambedkar described “as …

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Too close for comfort?

Dialogue with the U.S. should not define India’s strategic future or its other bilateral relationships The India-U.S. 2+2 meeting on September 6 between the Defence and Foreign Ministers of the two countries appeared to be a singularly one-sided affair. Washington was calling the shots, and New Delhi was trying to …

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Fuel from air and water

Why not convert CO2 into solid carbonate rocks? As we have kept on burning more and more of organic fuel, such as coal and crude oil, over the last century across the world, the amount of the oxidation product, carbon dioxide (CO2), in the atmosphere has reached alarming levels, causing …

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Aptamer inhibits TB bacteria entry into cells

Despite being an attractive drug target, designing inhibitors against HupB protein has been largely unsuccessful till now By using a small single-stranded DNA molecule (DNA aptamer) that specifically binds to a single protein (HupB) present in TB bacteria, researchers have been able to achieve 40-55% reduction in the bacteria’s ability …

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Indonesia can best defend the rupiah by staying calm

Indonesia’s best defence of its currency may be a cool head. A dramatic sell-off in emerging markets has pushed the rupiah to its weakest level against the dollar since the 1998 Asian crisis. Policy-makers appear rattled, but measured approaches are available.Jakarta is better placed to defend the rupiah than it …

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Japan braces for its Y2K moment

In Japan, loyalty to tradition often wins out over practicability. A case in point is the Japanese language itself, which uses a mercurial combination of three wholly different scripts: hiragana , katakana and kanji . Another example, currently in the news, is Japan’s traditional gengo calendar system, a custom that …

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UN postal agency to issue special Diwali stamp next month

UN postal agency to issue Deepavali stamps The United Nations Postal Administration will issue special stamps here on October 19 to commemorate Deepavali. India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin welcomed the announcement with a tweet: Nice Diwali gift from @unstamps coming next month.PTI Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/un-postal-agency-to-issue-special-diwali-stamp-next-month/article24906046.ece

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A new score for Vaishnava Jana To

As part of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on October 2, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry is working on a new version ofVaishnava Jana To , the favourite bhajan of the father of the nation. Multiple singers will sing the bhajan at the Taj Mahal and other iconic …

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Transgender Odisha official plans marriage

She feels freed by SC judgment Emboldened by the Supreme Court’s verdict decriminalising homosexuality, the first transgender State- cadre civil servant of Odisha has announced plans to marry. Aishwarya Rutuparna Pradhan, 34, an officer of the Odisha Finance Service (OFS), had wanted to be recognised as belonging to the third …

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Nepal to skip BIMSTEC military drill in India

The Nepal Army has withdrawn from the first BIMSTEC military exercise to be held in India following a political row in the country over the participation in the event, a media report said on Saturday. Prime Minister K.P. Oli asked the national defence force not to participate in the drill, …

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Doubt if panchayat polls are on track: Mir

J&K Cong. to clear its stand next week Jammu and Kashmir Congress president G.A. Mir on Saturday expressed doubt over the holding of panchayat and local bodies elections in the State, saying the party would clear its stand after a review meeting next week. He said the administration had announced …

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