Monthly Archives: October 2018

Turf battle

The RBI makes a valid case against the proposal for a separate payments regulator

The RBI makes a valid case against the proposal for a separate payments regulator The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Union government are once again at loggerheads over the legitimate extent of their powers. In a rare gesture, the central bank last week made public its reservations against …

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The value of a health scheme

The value of a health scheme

The challenges for the success of Ayushman Bharat are more than just at the financial and infrastructural level On September 24, the government launched the grand government-funded healthcare scheme, the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY). While some see its ambitious goals as its main strength, others are sceptical …

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Ripe for prison reform

Ripe for prison reform

Political will is crucial to reform India’s criminal justice system In an acknowledgment that the more than a century-old system of prisons in India needs repair, the Supreme Court, late last month, formed a committee on prison reforms. Headed by former Supreme Court judge, Justice Amitava Roy, it is to …

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Populism confronts reality

Populism confronts reality

With Pakistan seeking an IMF loan, Imran Khan will struggle to keep up his rhetoric It is two months since Imran Khan became Pakistan’s Prime Minister with the very partisan and public support and assistance from Pakistan’s military and its clandestine organisations, when his main opponent, Nawaz Sharif, and his …

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The judiciary’s #MeToo moment

MeToo moment

It is an opportunity to ensure that the defamation law is no longer used as a tool for harassment In Isaac Asimov’s famous Foundation novels, one of the protagonists often explains that “violence is the last refuge of the incompetent”. In India, the fallout of the #MeToo movement has recently …

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New hope for drug-resistant TB patients

New hope for drug-resistant TB patients

A new treatment for a deadly drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis can cure more than 90% of sufferers, according to a landmark clinical trial whose results were revealed exclusively to AFP. Doctors in Belarus treated 181 patients with the new drug, bedaquiline, in combination with other antibiotics. Of these, 168 — …

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‘Blood vessels may be 3D printed in future’

Blood vessels may be 3D printed in future

Scientists have developed a 3D printing technique that can recreate the complex geometry of blood vessels, and could one day be used to produce artificial arteries and organ tissues. A study, published in the journal Nature Communications , outlines a layer-by-layer printing method that features fine-grain, programmable control over rigidity. …

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A woman of many words

A woman of many words

Will a “feminist dictionary” help men and women get a better understanding of contemporary rights movements and shift in laws — the #MeToo campaign and the ruling on Section 377, to name a few — that are changing the fabric of society? Women’s studies scholar H.S. Sreemathi thinks so. She …

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That gut feeling on probiotics

That gut feeling on probiotics

Even before the microbiome craze — the hope that the bacteria in your gut holds the key to good health — people were ingesting cultures of living microorganisms to treat a host of conditions. These probiotics have become so popular that they are being marketed in foods, capsules and even …

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Tejas wins Rs. 111 crore Indian Navy order

crore Indian Navy order

Tejas Networks, a maker of networking products, has received an Rs. 111-crore purchase order from Sterlite Technologies to implement Indian Navy’s country-wide next-generation digital communications network. Tejas Networks would supply its terabit capacity DWDM systems and high-performance layer-3 multi-gigabit ethernet switches for Navy’s pan-India network, according to a statement. Source …

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Most equity funds underperformed benchmarks: study

Most equity funds

As many as 88% of the large-cap equity funds underperformed their benchmarks over the one-year period ending June 30, according to the latest analysis by S&P Dow Jones Indices. Further, 62% of mid-cap/small-cap equity funds and 83% of government bond funds underperformed their respective indices as well in the same …

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China’s first private university inaugurated

first private university

China’s first private research university has been officially inaugurated in Zhejiang Province’s Hangzhou city, official media reported on Monday. Five Nobel laureates attended the founding ceremony of Westlake University in Hangzhou on Saturday. Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/chinas-first-private-university-inaugurated/article25291881.ece

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An African island’s troubled waters

troubled waters

A rounded, rocky outcrop covered with metallic shacks, Migingo Island rises out of the waters of Lake Victoria like an iron-plated turtle. The densely populated island is barely a quarter of a hectare large. There’s little else but a few bars, brothels and a tiny port. Nevertheless, for over a …

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