A new beginning While the Kartarpur corridor is a welcome move, the ceremony was marred by the raking up of the Kashmir issue (“Kashmir the single issue, says Imran,” Nov. 29). It is unfortunate that the Pakistan Prime Minister talks about dialogue for peace on the one hand, but is …
Read More »Monthly Archives: November 2018
Helicopters to track naxalites
The police are planning to use helicopters to locate the hide-outs of the extremists in inaccessible places amidst the dense Wynaad forests. This is intended to save the time and labour involved in tracking the lawless elements over widely dispersed areas. Official sources here [Trivandrum] said that the Navy was …
Read More »Distress in Bombay
H.E. the Governor presided this evening [November 29] at a huge meeting held in the Town Hall [in Bombay] to draw attention to the need for co-operation in the measures for the relief of distress through famine conditions in the presidency and made an important speech on the subject. He …
Read More »Sabarimala politics
How a religious incantation has been transformed by the BJP into apolitical slogan in Kerala A new political slogan has come up since mobs took to the streets of Kerala opposing the Supreme Court verdict that allows women of all ages to offer prayers at the Sabarimala temple: “Swamiye Saranam …
Read More »Number theory
Backcasting, or reworking past national accounts statistics based on the latest base year, is a regular exercise that governments carry out. Mainly done to enable precise comparison and analysis, it is a difficult exercise prone to contestation as it involves the inclusion of newer data sources, exclusion of outdated ones …
Read More »Cool it
The staggering loss of an estimated 153 billion hours of labour during 2017 due to rising temperatures around the globe is a reminder to governments that they are not doing enough to dramatically curb greenhouse gas emissions. The Lancet countdown on health and climate has reported that India was particularly …
Read More »Walking the tightrope
The six-month waiver on sanctions granted by the U.S. to India and seven other countries importing oil from Iran highlights the importance of economic factors in the India-U.S. strategic partnership. The exemption also puts the spotlight on the link between economics and strategy. No special treatment The waiver gives India …
Read More »The case for a progressive international
Only a global alliance can reshape the regulatory regime to make it more democratic Earlier this year, it was revealed that India is facing legal claims from international investors in as many as 23 arbitration cases, before various tribunals. These claims, worth billions of dollars, arise out of bilateral investment …
Read More »Will Ayodhya be an issue in the 2019 elections?
Whether Ayodhya matters to the electorate or not, it will be made to matter by the BJP-RSS combine and the Vishva Hindu Parishad in the run-up to the 2019 general election. The question is this: what will be the modality of foregrounding the Ayodhya issue in a context that is …
Read More »’Mini human placenta’ may help prevent reproductive disorders
Scientists have successfully created ‘mini-placentas’ that can provide a window into early pregnancy and help transform our understanding of reproductive disorders such as still-birth and miscarriage. The placenta supplies all the oxygen and nutrients essential for growth of the foetus. It may also be used for screening the safety of …
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