GS3

A 4. 5 km-long tunnel planned to reduce traffic congestion on the approach road to Mussoorie has led to several residents expressing concern that the project, envisaged two years ago, could be an “ecological disaster” and pose a threat to the hill town. The concerns, which were raised even when …

Earlier this month, the U.S. and India inaugurated their initiative on critical and emerging technologies (ICET). The promise of this initiative, if fulfilled, could have a transformative impact on India-U.S. relations. Since the 1960s, India has made many attempts to jump on the U.S. technology bandwagon. But all of them …

The divide between the rural and the urban has grown due to an inherent urban bias among policymakers and institutions, including the government. This happens because groups in urban areas are able to effectively influence these institutions in their favour. Second, the spill-over from markets in urban areas is also …

The world is indeed looking up to the Indian economy as a ‘bright star’, as the Finance Minister noted in the Budget speech on February 1. In 2020, India accounted for 20.6% of the worldwide population of 15 to 29 year olds. Which means that in the years ahead, one …

Although the high seas make up more than half of the surface of the Earth and 61% of all oceans, only 1% of international waters are under protection. Illegal fishing, overfishing and other forms of damage to the ecosystem, such as deep-sea mining, oil and gas drilling, can hardly be …

Miyawaki is a technique pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, that helps build dense, native forests in a short time. In this technique, various native species of plants are planted close to each other so that the greens receive sunlight only from the top and grow upwards rather than sideways. As …

In a historic step, the Supreme Court on Tuesday began live transcription of proceedings before a five-judge Constitution bench. Doint it (transcribing) in a live environment, as, it is an experiment. We will see how it works, to begin with in Constitution bench matters. It will create a permanent record …

After the passing of the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill last December, the Centre is now in the final stages of notifying an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that will require polluting industries to achieve certain standards of energy efficiency and permit them to ‘trade’ these improvements. The notification specifying which sectors …

Spraying aerosols in the stratosphere, especially radiation-scattering ones such as sulphates, does have a cooling effect. However, scientists warn us about its unintended consequences There is some reason to believe that the ‘summerless year’ that followed the eruption of Mt. Tambora in 1816 inspired the novels Frankenstein and The Vampyre. A sufficiently powerful volcanic …

From the beginning, social media platforms have trumpeted that they have ‘democratised’ self-expression. In important ways, this is true. Social media platforms have facilitated the circumvention of elite and/or authoritarian gatekeeping and have brought new voices into the public sphere. This has had a decidedly mixed effect on the public …