Unfortunately the influenza epidemic does not show any indication of abatement in Madras City and in the mofussil. Official figures in regard to the latter are not available, but in the City, the Health Officer has reported that in the week ending with the 5th instant, the number of deaths …
Read More »Daily Archives: October 12, 2018
The Food Control. New Machinery.
The Government of India have decided to discontinue further purchases of wheat for export overseas other than (1) Wheat which is absolutely necessary on military and Government account and (2) supplies to Mosopotamia, and they have under consideration the question of reducing these commitments. The Government of India further propose …
Read More »Silent and suffering
Manual scavenging remains a social reality despitea 2013 act calling for its abolition One manual scavenger dies every five days, according to official data. Recently, the Delhi High Court gave the authorities two months to identify manual scavengers in the national capital. The order proved two things — one, manual …
Read More »Whither inclusiveness?
The Windrush scandal has raised questions on Britain’s attitudetowards immigrants In the 1960s, hundreds of immigrants reached the United Kingdom from the West Indies, on the ship, the Windrush. They came to provide an essential service. Sadly, they were not properly integrated into the U.K. and recently many of them …
Read More »#UsToo
The movement to make workplacessafe for women must involve us all In what has been called India’s MeToo moment, the social media is thick with women coming forth with stories of sexual harassment. In the quick aftermath of actor Tanushree Dutta’s allegations, in an interview in end-September, of harassment at …
Read More »An economics fix
The Nobel to work on growth and long-run sustainability frames a crucial priority American economists William D. Nordhaus and Paul M. Romer were jointly awarded the 50th economics Nobel prize this week in recognition of their work on economic growth and its long-run sustainability. The Nobel committee noted that the …
Read More »Not without her consent
The #MeToo outpouring demands a new, fair system that delivers brisk justice At last count, Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar had been accused of sexual harassment by at least 10 women journalists. These accusations fall in a large spectrum — from inappropriate behaviour to acts of physical …
Read More »Has the SC missed a chance to keep criminals out of polls?
The verdict is a disappointment — what we need are untainted MPs The September 25 verdict of the Supreme Court on criminalisation of politics left much to be desired. The Election Commission (EC), frustrated by its own helplessness in the matter, has been crying hoarse to the government, political parties …
Read More »The great Indian abdication
The judiciary alone cannot take forward the mission of deepening democracy and protecting social freedoms Unless… philosophers become kings in the cities… there can be no cessation of evils… for cities nor, I think, for the human race . — Plato, The Republic After the slew of verdicts by the …
Read More »Record fast radio bursts detected from deep space
Australian researchers on Thursday said they have detected a record number of radio waves from space, including the closest and fastest one that may help understand the matter between galaxies. They said they found 20 fast radio bursts in a year, almost doubling the number detected worldwide since they were …
Read More »‘Ancient pigment can boost energy efficiency’
A colour developed by Egyptians thousands of years ago can boost energy efficiency by cooling rooftops and walls, and could also enable solar generation of electricity via windows, scientists say. Egyptian blue, derived from calcium copper silicate, was routinely used on ancient depictions of gods and royalty, according to the …
Read More »Hawking’s final paper on blackholes released
Stephen Hawking’s final scientific paper — which was completed days before the British physicist’s death — has been written and posted online by his colleagues at Cambridge and Harvard universities. The paper named Black Hole Entropy and Soft Hair, tackles with what happens to information when it falls into a …
Read More »Of mice and men: scientists develop babies from same-sex mice pairs
A team of researchers has produced viable offspring from same-sex pairs of mice, using a novel technology that involves stem cells altered to remove certain genes. While the applications of the research are largely theoretical for now, they could include improving existing cloning methods for mammals and even eventually fertility …
Read More »Study tries to find heading-dementia link
Research team is comparing the medical histories of 10,000 former football players with nonplayers Does heading a football give you dementia? That’s the question neuropathologist Willie Stewart is attempting to answer by comparing the health of thousands of former footballers with non-players. Football authorities have been accused of dragging their …
Read More »Durga Puja diplomacy plays out in Bengal
Most Consulates are participating in the celebration and see it as an opportunity to enhance ‘cultural ties with eastern India’ The participation of foreign envoys in Durga Puja festivities in Kolkata saw a new upsurge on Thursday with the arrival of U.S. Ambassador to India Keneth I. Juster in Kolkata …
Read More »Soyuz crew survives emergency landing
The two-man crew of a Soyuz rocket made a successful emergency landing on Thursday after an engine problem on lift-off to the International Space Station, in a major setback for the beleaguered Russian space industry. U.S. astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin were rescued without injuries in Kazakhstan. …
Read More »Indians top list of overstayers in U.K.
India accounts for the largest number of individuals staying in the U.K. illegally, and the number of those subjected to forced returns to India has fallen by 50% in three years, Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office has said. The problem of “visa overstayers” was highlighted by the department in its …
Read More »Ogyen Trinley Dorje meets rival in France
Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, met with Trinley Thaye Dorje, a rival claimant in the Tibetan movement. While the Dalai Lama has on several occasions in the past endorsed Ogyen Trinley Dorje as the future of the Tibetan movement, the other Buddhist leader has also laid claim to …
Read More »1 in 5 Indian children ‘wasted’, says GHI
At least one in five Indian children under the age of five are ‘wasted,’ which means they have extremely low weight for their height, reflecting acute under-nutrition, according to the Global Hunger Index 2018. The only country with a higher prevalence of child wasting is the war-torn nation of South …
Read More »Fears of flooding as rain pounds Odisha
Cyclone ‘Titli’ that left a trail of destruction in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha on Thursday was not as intense as Phailin and Hud-Hud that wreaked havoc in 2013 and 2014. However, high-speed winds and rain severely damaged the road network in both States. Around 100 houses collapsed in Bhamini, Jalumuru, …
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