GS-II

Earlier this month, British tabloid The Daily Express ran a headline lambasting British aid to India. The article pointed to the £98 million that Britain was set to spend on India between 2018 and 2020, which it insisted was roughly equivalent to the spend on the Chandrayaan-2 space probe. “The …

In Japan, loyalty to tradition often wins out over practicability. A case in point is the Japanese language itself, which uses a mercurial combination of three wholly different scripts: hiragana , katakana and kanji . Another example, currently in the news, is Japan’s traditional gengo calendar system, a custom that …

Negotiators say developed nations want to change rules on funding plans The United States, despite withdrawing from a landmark accord aimed at curbing climate change, is stonewalling vital UN talks over how to fund poorer nations as they battle against global warming, multiple sources said on Saturday. Protests were staged …

She feels freed by SC judgment Emboldened by the Supreme Court’s verdict decriminalising homosexuality, the first transgender State- cadre civil servant of Odisha has announced plans to marry. Aishwarya Rutuparna Pradhan, 34, an officer of the Odisha Finance Service (OFS), had wanted to be recognised as belonging to the third …

J&K Cong. to clear its stand next week Jammu and Kashmir Congress president G.A. Mir on Saturday expressed doubt over the holding of panchayat and local bodies elections in the State, saying the party would clear its stand after a review meeting next week. He said the administration had announced …

Most of their names don’t feature in the NRC, says activist-lawyer Baruah The Supreme Court’s judgment on Article 377 decriminalising same sex relationships may have been celebrated across the country but not by the transgender community of Assam. Rather, it was a “difficult and glum day”, said Swati Bidhan Baruah, …

After their long battle, Supreme Court orders filing of chargesheets in 1,528 cases of extra-judicial killings under the contentious AFSPA September 8 was the grim anniversary of the imposition of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, (AFSPA) in Manipur in 1980. Allegations of extra-judicial excesses and killings by security …

The pact gives both countries access to designated military facilities in specific areas The India-U.S. foundational agreement for mutual logistics support, the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), has been fully operationalised over the past few months, official sources said. Earlier this week, India concluded the third foundational agreement, Communications …

He won acclaim for Deliverance and Boogie Nights Burt Reynolds, the moustachioed heart-throb of 1970s cinema who won acclaim in Deliverance and a host of awards later in his career for Boogie Nights , died on Thursday. The famously suave 82-year-old, a huge box office draw at his peak who …

Tightrope of fairness After the initial confusion, questions continued to arise that the Academy found hard to answer. Was it fair for ABC, the network that broadcasts the Oscars, to lobby hard for such an award when its parent company (Disney) makes the sort of blockbusters that would probably crowd …