On the joy of reporting on new species of plants and animals Every year on World Environment Day, the Botanical Survey of India and the Zoological Survey of India, set up in the colonial era in Kolkata to record the flora and fauna of the country, publish a list of …
Read More »Daily Archives: November 1, 2019
Millionaire for a day
A computer drove a Frenchman to the brink of a nervous breakdown by making him a multi-millionaire and then rendering him penniless overnight. The hapless Frenchman, trapped in the heartless electronic signals of his bank’s computer, now risks prosecution under France’s tough dud cheque laws. The Paris Commercial Court heard …
Read More »Another election
The December polls are an opportunity for Labour to clarify its views on Brexit As Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s European Union (EU) withdrawal agreement hangs in the balance, the general election he has called for December 12 is, self-evidently, to obtain a mandate to deliver Brexit. Indeed, the Tory government’s …
Read More »Relief for Pehlu’s sons
The finding that they weren’t smuggling cows exposes the perversity of blaming the victims The Rajasthan High Court’s order quashing the cow smuggling case against the sons of Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer lynched by cow vigilantes in 2017, grants much-needed relief to the family. The Khans are yet to …
Read More »Cleaning up the Kashmir mess
Nehru can’t be blamed for the flawed policies that New Delhi designed for J&K since the 1990s The Prime Minister and Home Minister have cited two reasons to justify the dilution of Article 370. The first is the need for a new approach to end the violence in Jammu and …
Read More »Substance across the Arabian Sea
Even by its volatile standards, our Southwest Asian sub-region has lately been unusually turbulent, as reflected in issues ranging from India-Pakistan tensions to the approaching denouements of crises in Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan. The oil market, too, has been inclement. Against this disorderly context, it is no small wonder that …
Read More »Deciphering Greta’s climate message
There is more to the Swedish teenager-activist’s point of view than mere emotion and passionate commitment She is being looked at as an emotionally charged icon of environmental struggles, but there is more to Greta Thunberg’s point of view than mere emotion and passionate commitment. If we decipher all the …
Read More »Do voters differentiate between State and national polls?
The Modi factor looms large in national elections, but States are more competitive The fact that the BJP and its allies won the Assembly election in Maharashtra with a reduced majority and the BJP emerged only as the single largest party in Haryana has raised questions about whether a section …
Read More »Louvre in push to display ‘missing’ Da Vinci: culture expert
The Louvre museum has made an “offer” to the owner of the world’s most expensive painting, Salvator Mundi , to allow it to be displayed in a Leonardo da Vinci exhibition in Paris, said Chris Dercon, president of the French government-run cultural body Rmn Grand Palais. The painting has not …
Read More »‘Hero’ dog to get a warm welcome
The “hero” dog wounded in the U.S. commando raid that culminated in the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is getting a White House homecoming next week, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday. Mr. Trump revealed that the military dog, a Belgian Malinois, is named “Conan” — …
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