Monthly Archives: February 2019

Union Cabinet reshuffled

Without dropping anyone or inducting any new incumbent, the Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi has made a major reshuffle of her 23-month-old Central Cabinet on the eve of the Budget session of Parliament. The Prime Minister has divested herself of the portfolio of External Affairs and has transferred the charge …

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Bad call

Failure to win ought to hurt less than outright loss, but try telling that to B.S. Yeddyurappa. Unable to reconcile himself to the failure to wrest Karnataka from the grip of the Congress in last year’s Assembly election, the BJP strongman is adopting desperate measures to get another shot at …

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Well oiled

It is easy to see why the Saudi Crown Prince has chosen to include India in his Asia tour Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits India next week at a time when both countries are seeking to deepen bilateral cooperation. For MBS, as he is widely known, the visit …

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A political stand-off

Amid a grim economic crisis, the power struggle weakens Venezuela further What is happening in Venezuela? Venezuela has been going through a turmoil for the past couple of years amid an economic meltdown and growing Opposition protests. The crisis took a dangerous turn on January 23 when Juan Guaidó, president …

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The PM-KISAN challenge

This year’s Interim Budget is being regarded as a big spread for farmers. The government announced its decision to transfer Rs. 6,000 every year directly to 12 crore farmers holding cultivable land up to 2 hectares through the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme. While this is a progressive …

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Every drop matters

A ready supply of safe blood in sufficient quantities is a vital component of modern health care. In 2015-16, India was 1.1 million units short of its blood requirements. Here too, there were considerable regional disparities, with 81 districts in the country not having a blood bank at all. In …

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A clarion call to combat climate change

When almost all news about climate change concerns catastrophic events, there are a few shining lights in the U.S. and Europe. One is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 29, the newly elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives. The other is Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swede whose school strike outside the Swedish …

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Dealing with the thought police

On February 5, an Additional Sessions Judge in Punjab sentenced three young men to life in prison. Arwinder Singh, Surjit Singh and Ranjit Singh were convicted under a little-known provision of the Indian Penal Code concerning “waging war against the government of India”. In what heinous manner had the three …

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WHO issues guidelines for audio devices

More than one billion young people risk damaging their hearing through excessive use of smartphones and other audio devices, the UN has warned, proposing new safety standards for safe volume levels. In a bid to safeguard hearing, the World Health Organization and International Telecommunications Union issued a non-binding international standard …

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Blink and miss: Kerala’s mystery frog

Forget dense forests. Even roadsides could be harbouring new species that are hard to find. Scientists from the University of Delhi have discovered a new amphibian — a mysterious narrow-mouthed frog, that makes only a four-day appearance in seasonal roadside puddles every year in Kerala’s Wayanad district — according to …

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