The country’s political economy looksall set for a rightward shift The far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro could not have got closer to Brazil’s presidency in a more convincing manner in the first round of elections, that took place on Sunday. The former army captain who belongs to the Social Liberal Party …
Read More »Daily Archives: October 13, 2018
By extension
An NRC for Tripura will riskcreating new fault lines in the State Just three months after the final draft of the National Register of Citizens for Assam was released, the Supreme Court has tagged a petition seeking a similar process for Tripura. The petition now tagged to the Assam case …
Read More »As the rupee spins downwards
The government’s measures for arresting the rupee’s slide have failed. The approach needs a rethink In the unenviable sequence of conceptually-flawed economic policies – to which also belong demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax’s (GST) rate structure and collection system — the latest is the government’s response to the …
Read More »A university’s culture is its most valuable resource. Feeding a repressive culture bodes ill for India
Two recent developments draw our attention to the state of India’s universities. The first is the release of the annual ranking of the world’s universities by the Times Higher Education ( THE ). The other is an announcement by the Prime Minister, as reported in the press, which has an …
Read More »A parched land, in a sea of sewage
In June, farmers in water-starved Kolar were overjoyed when the newly inaugurated KC Valley Project began supplying treated sewage water from Bengaluru . But things went horribly wrong in July when the pipeline began to spew out raw sewage, contaminating the land, the lakes and the groundwater. Mohit M. Rao …
Read More »Record fast radio bursts detected from deep space
Record ‘radio bursts’ detected from 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 …
Read More »‘Ancient pigment can boost energy efficiency’
Egyptian blue was used for cooling walls 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 …
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
Further studies may lead to fertility treatments in same-sex couples 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 …
Read More »Study tries to find heading-dementia link
Research team is comparing the medical histories of 10,000 former football players with non players 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 …
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
Russia’s rocket developed engine glitch midflight 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 …
Read More »Indians top list of overstayers in U.K.
Visa policy seen as hostile, warn submissions to a parliamentary inquiry on post-Brexit ties 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 …
Read More »Ogyen Trinley Dorje meets rival in France
Tibetan monks vow to ‘heal divisions’ 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 …
Read More »1 in 5 Indian children ‘wasted’, says GHI
Country’s ranking drops 3 places inthe index for 2018 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 …
Read More »Fears of flooding as rain pounds Odisha
Rising rivers prompt fresh evacuation in Odisha; in A.P., around 100 houses collapse, power supply cut off 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 …
Read More »U.S. sanctions Act no hurdle: Russian envoy
Kudashev hints at more defence deals with India after the conclusion of the S-400 Triumf missile purchase India and Russia’s defence deals won’t be affected by the United States’ threat of sanctions, and several more defence deals are expected to be completed after the S-400 Triumf missile deal concluded on …
Read More »Antibiotics to grow farm animals raise superbug risk
A probe by The Hindu and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism finds a veterinary drug producer promoting their misuse in poultry farming The world’s biggest animal drugs company has been accused of double standards and of exposing consumers in India to “higher levels of risk” by selling antibiotics for purposes …
Read More »HC quashes amendment to PF pension order
The scheme had drastically reduced pension to employees A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday set aside the Employees Pension (Amendment) Scheme (GSR609(E) effecting various changes in the schemes that have drastically reduced pension payable to employees. The Bench comprising Justice K. Surendra Mohan and Justice A.M. …
Read More »