RAHUL GANDHI’S EXPULSION FROM PARLIAMENT TRIGGERS DRAMATIC TURN IN INDIAN POLITICS

• PARSA VENKATESHWAR RAO JR., Editorial Consultant at DNA & former journalist with Tehelka • If Rahul Gandhi fails in his appeal to reverse the lower court’s conviction, then the leader of the main opposition party would be in prison at the time of 2024 general election. The Congress would have to choose another leader to lead it in the electoral battle. It is too early to say whether Gandhi’s conviction and disqualification from the Parliament would evoke any public sympathy, or have any impact on the electoral outcome. The last two general elections of 2014 and 2019 have been one-sided affairs, where the BJP scored decisive victories. Read full story..

CELEBRATION OF SENSUALITY AND LIFE IN GHALIB’S POETRY

• HARBANS MUKHIA, Former Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University • Ghalib, the epitome of Urdu poets, is renowned for his poetry of sadness, loss and helplessness. He also amazes us with his celebration of sensuality and life. Seen as a counterpoint to the perception of life itself as a sin or punishment to atone for and avoidance of any sensual joy in some segments of human communities, Ghalib's poetry celebrates life itself, even a life immersed in sorrow. Read full story...

A Pi-FUL LIFE

• SANTIAGO SCHNELL, Theoretical and Mathematical Biologist • Pi doesn’t seem to have a practical utility outside of the world of geometry. So why does Pi - a geometrical constant - deserve a celebration? If we celebrate Pi, why don’t we celebrate any other number?  Well, Pi is different from all other numbers. It is a universal constant encoded in most processes occurring in the universe, including those in the life sciences! Pi, the number with no pattern, plays a role in the formation of pattern. Read full story...

THEORY AND OBSERVATION: TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN

• PETER EGGLETON, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University • Observational error can however be quantified: the same thing may be measured a dozen, or a hundred, times with slightly different answers each time. If the measurement, along with its spread, seems to agree with the theory, we cannot say that the theory has been confirmed, but at least it has not been refuted. If the theoretical result is discrepant by many times the observational uncertainty, we can probably claim that the theory has been refuted. Read full story..

REVISITING OLD BOOKS, PLACES AND TV SHOWS IS MORE THAN NOSTALGIA

• ALLIE VOLPE, Journalist • Strangely, it is but not nostalgia that drives people to rewatch. There is something else at play here. Nostalgia is a yearning for the past. It’s a desire to go back to a previous time. It’s not so much people yearn for the past. It’s that the rewatching experience allows them to appreciate how much they had grown. Read full story...

MOTHER LANGUAGE – CATALYST FOR A NATION’S ENRICHMENT

• MANSOOR AHMAD, Former Principal, Abhedananda Home, Higher Secondary Institution, Srinagar, J&K • Advantages of mother tongue in education abound. Children find it easy to pick up and learn additional languages. It not only helps develop a child’s personal, social and cultural identity, but also enriches their critical thinking and literacy skills. Children, learning in mother tongue, enjoy school more and learn faster as they feel comfortable to understand and express. Read full story..

INDIA UNION BUDGET, 2023-24: PREELECTION ALLOCATION THAT DISFAVOURED JOB GENERATING SCHEMES

• RAJIB SUTRADHAR, Assistant Professor, Deptt. Of Economics, Christ University, Bengaluru • The policy intent of the government is to revive the post-pandemic economy. However, for the first time over the past decade, the last budget prior to the 2024 general elections in India, government allocations for the MGNREGA program which is a massive means of employment generation, has significantly dropped.. Read full story..

CENTRAL ASIA’S CONTEMPORARY STRATEGIC ISSUES AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

• GAGAN BULATHSINGHALA, Former Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Afghanistan and veteran Comander of Sri Lanka Air Force • This final part of the tri series article narrates in detail about the various events that have unfolded in Central Asia over the years leading to a war torn Afghanistan and, highlights an overall outlook. Read full story..

BUILT BY WHOM, EXACTLY?

• BRIAN PAUL BACH, writer, artist, photographer and filmmaker • The commissioning, design, management, and supervision of the Raj Era buildings and infrastructure were British (and European) dominated, but just below the top echelon Indians made everything possible. What is especially objectionable though, is the automatic disregard for all the Indian labor which was utilized in the British undertakings. Read full story..

WatchO

• WatchO • Collection of Documentaries, Films, Theatres and more aggregated from various video platforms and creators and screened for the purpose of promotion, education and entertainment. Watch the shows..

THE WEST’S LIMITED MORAL HIGH GROUND

• GORDON HAHN, Senior Researcher, Centre for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies and Expert Analyst, CORR Analytics • Russia’s attack on Ukraine is an easy one to criticize. The pre-history of Putin’s blame for this catastrophe includes his occupation and annexation of Crimea and support for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The West's culpability is even more stark as they pitted Ukraine against Russia through their various political manoeuvres, false promises and underhand gameplans which consternated Kremlin. Read full story..

CENTRAL ASIA’S CONTEMPORARY STRATEGIC ISSUES AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

• GAGAN BULATHSINGHALA, Former Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Afghanistan and veteran Comander of Sri Lanka Air Force • This second part of the tri series article narrates in detail about the various events that have unfolded in Central Asia over the years leading to a war torn Afghanistan and, highlights an overall outlook. Read full story..

HOW TO MAKE INDIA SELF RELIANT AND ACCELERATE GROWTH

• AKHILESH KAUSHIK, Former Director, Indian Audit & Accounts Service, GoI • Public policy cannot remain static and must respond to the changes. Even the Constitution of India has undergone more than hundred amendments. Now, the economy has expanded, population has grown tremendously and the government does not have enough money to meet the huge investment needs of both the social and economic infrastructures. It makes sense to take up projects on public private partnership (PPP) basis and follow a policy of the government getting out of routine businesses that can be more efficiently run by the private sector. Read full story..

HOW DOES SANTA CLAUS DELIVER GIFTS ALL OVER THE WORLD IN ONE NIGHT? SCIENCE HAS THE ANSWER

• VICTOR INGRASSIA, Journalist & Lawyer • Millions of houses and gifts, and only about 30 hours to visit each one and deliver them. That is the expanse this mythical figure of Christmas has to cover. Mathematicians and scientists analysed the way how Santa Claus achieves this, thanks to numerous calculations. Read full story..

COVID-19: LESSONS FROM INDIA’S EPIDEMIOLOGY

• AMITAV BANERJEE, Professor, Dr DY Patil Medical College, Pune, Epidemiologist, Formerly with the Mobile Epidemiological Team of the Armed Forces, Central Epidemiological Surveillance Centre at AFMC, Pune, India • The message being played out in India mimicking the global experience is that one cannot prevent the natural course of a pandemic much by human interventions like lockdowns, physical distancing, school and business closures, or by desperate attempts at mass vaccination. Read full story..

CENTRAL ASIA’S CONTEMPORARY STRATEGIC ISSUES AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

• GAGAN BULATHSINGHALA, Former Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Afghanistan and veteran Comander of Sri Lanka Air Force • This first part of the tri series article narrates in detail about the various events that have unfolded in Central Asia over the years leading to a war torn Afghanistan and, highlights an overall outlook. Read full story..

LATA MANGESHKAR: THE GOD OF MUSIC WHO DWELLS IN ME

• PARTHASARATHI DESIKAN, Music Practitioner and Educator • Portrait by KUMAR JASAKIYA, Assistant Professor, Kala Bhavana, Viswa Bharati • Talent, hard work and meticulous training in Classical music made Lata Mangeshkar, the Queen of Melody. She believed, to excel in music training in the Classical genre is important. Read the story..

WEB CONCERT OF WORLD MUSIC ON THE EDITION

MUSIC FOR HARMONY Music unites. Music harmonizes the humanity and the world. So long as a musical performance is in session, the audience remains united. United in their mutual appreciation, in their understanding of the story being told, and in their acknowledgement of excellence. That is because music has the power and ability to stir …

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TRANS-AFGHANISTAN RAILWAY PROJECT: TRACK FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION IN CENTRAL ASIA

• PAUL FINLAY ROBINSON, Professor, International Affairs, University of Ottawa • Afghanistan is a veritable graveyard of ambitious infrastructure projects. In the unlikely event if the Trans-Afghan Railway project is built, the railway would be to the advantage of not only Afghanistan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, China and India will also benefit. Read full story..

VERIFY, THEN TRUST

• JEFFREY DVORKIN, Lecturer, Media Ethics, University of Toronto • In the current digital culture with fake news and information running viral as they seep into people's lives and destabilizes, in their virulent grip, the social order, it is always prudent to first verify and then trust any information. Read full story..

CHILDHOOD LOST

• KALYAN CHAKRABORTY, Director, Kerala School Of Mathematics • Sky high ambition of parents for the materialistic success of their wards, seeds of which they are planting, on a daily basis, in the minds of the minors, is creating a socially damaging rat race that is robbing the kids off their childhood, diverting them from growing up as healthy human beings, and turning them into obsolete professionals. Read full story..

LIES ABOUT UKRAINE CONFLICT ARE STANDING IN THE WAY OF A PEACEFUL RESOLUTION

• IVAN KATCHANOVSKI, Political Scientist, Teaches at School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa • The narratives that are propagated by the Western governments and the mainstream media concerning the origin and the nature of the Ukraine conflict are truly Orwellian. Read full story...

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THE NAGA CONUNDRUM: RISE OF NAGA DISSENT AND FORMATION OF NAGALAND

• LIEUTENANT GENERAL (Retd.) SHOKIN CHAUHAN, Indian Army • Historical events contributed, in different ways, to the growth of Naga dissent and subsequent start of the 'insurgency. Through formation of conventions, conceding to agreements, creation of various groups at different times, and marred by inter-factional clashes, Nagaland emerged as a full-fledged state within the Union of India. Read full story...

THE NAGA CONUNDRUM: UNDERSTANDING THE PAST

• LIEUTENANT GENERAL (Retd.) SHOKIN CHAUHAN, Indian Army • Northeast India is not a single entity with a common political destiny, This region shares an international border with the neighbouring countries, inhabit an area almost eight per cent that of India and is predominantly inhabited by tribes existing with a degree of diversity and autonomy even within themselves. Their existence was the result of ancient and continuous migrations from neighbouring regions. Further, what distinguishes these strategic tribal communities is that some of them have still not accepted the idea of India, resulting in the continuation of India’s longest insurgency. There is need to understand certain core issues of this extremely crucial matter and frame our response with sensitivity and wisdom and bring an end to this insurgency. Read full story

UNION BUDGET 2022: FOCUS ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND EQUITY MISSING!

• NITYA NANDA, Director, Council For Social Development & Former Associate Director, TERI • A country does not develop with physical infrastructure alone. Social infrastructures like health and education are equally important. In both these sectors, we have suffered a lot in the last two years. Failure to increase allocation in these two sectors is quite disappointing. Read full story...

UKRAINE CRISIS: BEGINNING OF THE END FOR NATO?

• HAIDER A KHAN, John Evans Distinguished Professor, University of Denver • While fissures for France and Germany are more open and public, several other NATO members except for UK, the Baltic Republics, Poland and Romania, have remained silent on the subject of opposing Russia, pointing to the decline of the attraction of NATO. Read full story...

LOOK AT WHAT NETAJI SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE LIVED FOR

• LEONARD A GORDON, Professor Emeritus, New City University, New York, and associated with Institute of South Asian Studies, Columbia University • A religious Hindu, Subhash believed religion should be delinked from political and public issues as he interacted with leaders of the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League and dreamt of creating a secular one India with one language and everyone working together in the public sphere. Read full story...

SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE, WIDELY DEBATED, YET PROFOUNDLY CELEBRATED

• TOMMY LAMONT, Historian and Professor, Groton School, Massachusetts • Despite his opposition to Gandhi, support of violence, collaboration with the aggressors of World War II, Bose’s determination in pursuit of the noble cause of making India independent from the British rule, is inspiring and still resonates. Read full story...

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CLIMATE AT STAKE, ACT NOW

RAM BHOOJ, CEO, Mobius Foundation & former UNESCO environment officer • Earth’s average surface temperature has already reached to about 1.10 C, hardly leaving any scope to allow more emissions. Countries of the world need to fast accelerate clean energy transition and curtail carbon emissions to net zero. Read full story..

BANGLADESH@50: AN INSPIRING ECONOMY

• AHMAD AHSAN, Director, Policy Research Institute, Bangladesh & Former Lead Economist, World Bank • The winds of significant national ambition and change came with independence in 1971. Subsequently with the right policies implemented by the democratically elected governments, Bangladesh now stands poised to become a rapidly developing middle-income country and achieve SDG goals empowered by the strength of a young population base which, if educated and trained well, can benefit from a demographic dividend. Read full story...

SATYAJIT RAY — GENIUS?

• ANDREW ROBINSON, Author and Journalist • Was Ray a genius? — a word which he himself used only for Charlie Chaplin and John Ford, among film-directors? Over seven years of researching and writing my biography, wherever he had gone in the seven decades of his life I tried to follow him in my mind. During this journey, I encountered many highly intelligent and creative people, including Nobel laureates, who keenly admired Ray’s films. Kurosawa told me: “Mr Ray is a wonderful and respectful man. I feel that he is a ‘giant’ of the movie industry”. Featured Image of Satyajit Ray by Raghu Rai. Read full story..

BOOKS – THE COVER STORY

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SENSE AND TECHNICS: ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF COMMUNISM

• BRUNO GULLI, Associate Professor, Philosophy, Kingsborough CUNY • This new something can be nothing other than communism based on the emancipation of all senses. Read full story..

TO MAKE OR TO BREAK AFGHANISTAN

• SAPAN K CHATTERJI, Brigadier (Retd.) • As governments around the world observe how the Taliban, a hardline religious faction, who has taken up an uphill task of governing the battered and barren Afghanistan, play out its cards, the Taliban seems to be viciously caught in the cross-currents of providing good governance to the Afghan nationals, yet restraining the terror groups from operating on Afghanistan's soil. Read full story..

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EINSTEIN: LIGHT OF GENIUS

• By KONRAD KLEINKNECHT, Professor, Physics, Johannes-Gutenberg University, Germany; Former scientist, CERN • In the last few years the Nobel committee has quite often awarded prizes in Physics for discoveries having solid foundation on Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity published in 1915. A century ago, although the committee decided not to award for Physics, they, however, honoured Einstein with the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1921, a year later, in 1922, for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect and, most remarkably, not for his relativity theory experimentally established by astronomers of an enemy state, which revolutionised the understanding of the universe toppling the two hundred years practice of Newton's laws of gravity. Read full story...

BOOKS – THE COVER STORY

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AFGHANISTAN: A TRAGEDY IN PERPETUITY

• MAJ GEN (RETD.) AJAY KUMAR CHATURVEDI • From triggering food shortage in Afghanistan to terrorism in South Asia, the Taliban government will not only render Afghanistan unstable but will also lead to deep ramifications in the geopolitics of the region. Read full story...

OUR MOTHER IS AILING

• V. SASI KUMAR, Former Scientist, Centre For Earth Science Studies, Kerala & Director, Climate Kerala • It seems the Nobel Foundation wanted to send a message to the world leaders that dealing with global warming rests on solid science. The political leadership of the countries of the world, too, should decide to take the climate crisis seriously and initiate action to curb carbon emissions on a war footing, failing which we could be in for genuinely serious consequences, some of which we have already started to experience. Read full story...

KUMARI PUJO – OFFERING OBEISANCE TO GIRL POWER

• PURNATMANANDA MAHARAJ, Principal, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, Dhaka, Bangladesh • As the Devi's more fierce personification, which is chiefly worshipped, is Durga, her more benevolent side is worshipped as Uma, and this facet of her character is represented as both beauty and light. Read full story...

OUR LORES: LAMENTATIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

• UDAYA NARAYANA SINGH, Dean, Faculty of Arts, Chair Professor of Linguistics, Amity University • Our lores are prevarications apparently removed from reality. As they traverse languages they get changed and recontextualized, adding colour to the recipient languages. Even though they do not mirror reality, yet they draw heavily from our context, the environment around us, and our vision of space and time. Read full story...

EXPERTISE IN CRISIS

• STEPHEN TURNER, Distinguished University Professor, University of South Florida • In the case of Afghanistan and Coronavirus induced pandemic, credibility of the experts concerned got a severe dent for their inability to analyse the core issues and as a result fallout of the two critical yet very different situations. What has not yet occurred is a rethinking of the processes of knowledge production. For our system doesn't pay for it. Read full story...

THE PREDICAMENT OF LEGAL INSTITUTIONS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

• NABAMITA DUTTA, Professor, department of Economics, University of Wisconsin, La-Crosse and SAIBAL KAR, Professor, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta and, Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn • Astuteness of legal institutions, especially in developing and transition countries often do not reflect in public policy judgments. One of the main factors behind this discrepancy is that legal institutions easily succumb to political pressures in such places. Consequently, an observer evaluating optimal socio-economic judgments might usually get frustrated. Positions of the legal institutions in matters of private property rights, competition policy, encroachment of public property, labor laws, etc do not necessarily satisfy principles of welfare economics. Read full story...

READING CAPITALISM PHILOLOGICALLY: THE HISTORY OF FONDACO

• JAIRUS BANAJI, historian and Research Associate, Department of Development Studies, SOAS, University of London • With the expansion of Islam, the funduq, transmuted form of the late Roman/Byzantine pandocheion, emerged as a purely commercial establishment. This is what is striking about it. In Basra in 943, al-Mas‛udi claims an ancient aristocratic abode built by one of the Prophet’s Companions had been reconverted to serve as the city’s leading funduq for ‘merchants, bankers (arbāb al-amwāl) and maritime businesses. Read full story...

COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATIONS

• ANURAG ANAND, Research Associate, CTIER-Pune & PREETI BHARTI, Research Scholar, Hannam University, South Korea • After the Covid-19 pandemic, many international organizations and institutions have come together for a feasible solution. New economic and social values are being designed. This virus has given a rich lesson to every country, to learn about global scientific collaborations by using their capabilities and provide some positive solutions. Read full story,,,

THE WHITE MAN’S BURDEN IS KILLING AFGHANS

• REVATI LAUL, Independent Journalist • A big international agency had decided on yet another save-their-souls strategy for Afghanistan, providing homes to people so they don’t get 'Talibanized'. But they didn’t trust the Afghans. So they only offered homes to those who had once fled the land and were in refugee camps. The agency provided bricks and cement and told the Afghan refugees they had to find their own money for the rest. What these homeless people ended up with were brick walls and windows covered with plastic because they could not afford to buy glass. Also, there was no provision for drainage or water or toilets. I leave the logic of this to your imagination, save for one word - imperial. 

I AM IN A HURRY AND UNDER DIRECT THREAT : FORMER AFGHAN GOVERNOR

• HALIM FIDAI, Former Governor of four provinces of Afghanistan • What Taliban political leadership say is different from what their military leadership do. As a Governor for four provinces Wardak, Loger, KHOST and Paktia, despite Taliban’s assurance that they will not enter the houses, they entered my home, searched, directly threatened my wife and children. I left the office of Paktia province which was my last province to govern.

THE WAY FORWARD : HOW INDIA CAN LEAD THE WORLD TOWARDS A BETTER FUTURE

• HIMANSHU RAI, Director, IIM Indore • A Vishwa Guru of the ancient world, India has been a treasure trove of valuable knowledge. The Indian way of ethical leadership, is what provides it the potential to again become the Vishwa Guru which can lead by example and create a deep impact and inspiration for other nations to follow and make universal harmony possible. The unique Indian understanding of the world and the suitable ethical conduct creates leaders who have the power to create impact, develop empathy and resilience. With consistent efforts, understanding of the changing world order, and being able to understand the nuances of ancient Indian sensibilities and values and creatively applying those to discover new solutions, India can create a better tomorrow, not just for itself, but for the rest of the world. Read full story...

INDIA@75 : LET US REMEMBER, UNITY IN DIVERSITY HAS BEEN THE BULWARK OF AZAADI

• ANUP KUMAR, Professor of Communication in the School of Communication, Cleveland State University, Ohio • By creating a federal democratic republic out of many subnational identities India has been what backers of the European Union have been aspiring for so long. Observers around the world were highly skeptical. They did not understand how leaders like Nehru were confident of pulling this through. To them, the horrors of Partition suggested that the "most dangerous decade" lay ahead. To many, the Partition was just a trailer of a bigger humanitarian disaster on the horizon. Nothing of the sort happened and India today is an epitome of unity in diversity. Read full story...

INDIA AT SEVENTY FIVE, NEEDS A CONSCIENCE

• EHTESHAM SHAHID, Journalist • What a nation may lack in natural resources, unkind weather, rowdy neighbour, even lazy workforce, it can surely compensate with wise policies, a functioning system, equitable allocation of resources, effective poverty-alleviation programs, and long-term investment in key sectors. Having come this far, despite our religious, cultural, linguistic, territorial differences – turning them into strengths instead – if we develop a collective conscience as a nation, progress will indeed follow. Read full story...

ELEVATED BENCHMARK FOR INNOVATION, AND STUDENTS THE TORCHBEARERS

• VIPIN KUMAR, Director and Chief Innovation Officer, National Innovation Foundation - India • It has become practically impossible for corporations or enterprises to survive without an innovative offering, and that too it must be a periodically recurring activity. No longer are the end users interested in mere imitation of the past and, hence, have not pardoned even global conglomerates like Apple, when features in the newly launched models bore minimal changes, but were not significantly modified from the preceding models. Read full story...

THESE HIBAKUSHA SURVIVED THE ATOMIC BOMB: THEY NARRATE THE HORROR

• VINCENT BERNARD, former Editor-in-Chief, and Hitomi Homma, Communication Officer, ICRC, Tokyo • Interviewed three hibakusha The Edition features the voices of three hibakusha, those who survived the nuclear bombings in Japan. These hibakusha have shared their experiences with the hope that the readers will understand the horrors of nuclear weapons use. They have each suffered and witnessed the horrific suffering of others caused by nuclear weapons, and their families may continue to suffer medical problems for generations to come. Each calls for assurances that nuclear weapons will never be used again. These are their stories. Read full story...

LESSONS INDIA NEED TO LEARN FROM THE 2020 TOKYO OLYMPICS

• KHALID UMAR, Writer, Lawyer, Human Rights Activists • Sports can become an integral part of the country's education system and the sporting framework should be made more transparent. Sports bring huge economic benefits to a nation. India should make a comprehensive national policy in promotion of sports to be in the top 10 in 20 years from now. Read full story...

INVOLVE ARMED FORCES IN THE PLANNING STAGE, NOT AFTER THE SITUATION HAS GONE OUT OF HAND

• VIKRAM PATKI, Former Colonel, Indian Army • Question arises, when our Forces are delegated the highest responsibility in times of national disaster, why are they not offered equitable representation in the crisis management body? Read full story...

ATOM BOMB AND THE ONE MAN DISASTER

• Douglas Neckers, McMaster Distinguished Research Professor emeritus and the founder of the Center for Photochemical Sciences at Bowling Green State University, USA • It makes no sense to give one individual the power to launch a planet-destroying war. Why was the system set up that way? It started with a good idea: Civilian control of the military. After Nagasaki was bombed on Aug. 9, the United States had one more A-bomb almost ready to go — and the generals wanted to use it. But President Harry Truman wisely said “no.” He had been misled about the Hiroshima bomb, which he had been told was being dropped on a military base, not a city. Read full story...

FACEBOOK CARRIES ITS DEEP-SEATED PROBLEMS EVEN AS IT TRANSITIONS TO THE NEXT BIG TECH, METAVERSE

• TIM DE CHANT, Senior Technology Reporter who teaches science writing at MIT • Zuckerberg has been thinking about this metaverse idea for a while. But the timing of Facebook’s announcement is interesting, to say the least. Facebook has “a history of doing these kinds of technical projects that look like they might be revolutionary at times when they’re being criticized for their lack of social responsibility. In many ways, the metaverse project is a fundamental shift away from what made Facebook successful even as its problems stick on. Read full story...

SCIENTISTS UNDERSTOOD PHYSICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE 1800S – THANKS TO A WOMAN NAMED EUNICE FOOTE

• SYLVIA G. DEE, Assistant Professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Rice University • Quantitative estimate of carbon dioxide-induced climate change was was understood well over a century ago. Scientific research has vastly strengthened the conclusion that human-generated emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are causing dangerous warming of the climate and a host of harmful effects. Politicians, however, have been slow to respond despite the fact, harm and costs will continue to rise. Read full story...

2020 NOBEL WORK IN PHYSICS UNVEILS A SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE AT THE CENTRE OF OUR GALAXY

• By AJIT KEMBHAVI, Emeritus Professor and Former Director, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics • When it comes to supermassive black holes, we usually associate them with active galaxies many millions of light years away. But a supermassive object has been found to be present right at the centre of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. This finding lead to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez being awarded half the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2020 while the other half of the prize went to Roger Penrose... Read full story.

“A BRIEF HISTORY OF NUMBERS” SAYS AS MUCH ABOUT THE FUTURE AS ABOUT THE PAST OF MATHEMATICS

• DORON ZEILBERGER, Board of Governors Professor, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, Rutgers University • Our mental block in mathematics would be the laughing stocks of twenty third century mathematicians much as our past generation mathematicians have been our laughing stocks... Read full story.

WEB CONCERT OF WORLD MUSIC ON THE EDITION

MUSIC FOR HARMONY Music unites. Music harmonizes the humanity and the world. So long as a musical performance is in session, the audience remains united. United in their mutual appreciation, in their understanding of the story being told, and in their acknowledgement of excellence. That is because music has the power and ability to stir …

THE HEAT AND DUST OF COVID-19: AN INDIAN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL ENIGMA

• AMITAV BANERJEE, Professor, Dr DY Patil Medical College, Pune and epidemiologist formerly with Mobile Epidemiological team of the Armed Forces Central Epidemiological Surveillance Centre at AFMC, Pune, India • As waves of the Corona virus keep hitting India, the pandemic, effectively, follows the classical pattern of communicable disease dynamics... Read full story.

THE 3 SECONDS DISASTER

• By SAMUEL OSBORNE, Journalist based in London, reports on international affairs, terrorism and refugee crisis • The world climate is in deep crisis. June 5 is a strong reminder of the global environmental disease. The ailment, perhaps, lethal than CoViD-19, is ticking away, literally, faster than time... Read full story.

WILL COVID-19 WAVE THREE ENDANGER CHILDREN IN INDIA?

• By RAJENDRA T NANAVARE, Chest physician, GTB Hospital, Mumbai • Following the first and the second wave of the 2019-SARS-CoV-2 virus that has ravaged India, the third wave speculated to lash on the country... Read full story.

BENGAL’S RESISTER IN CHIEF

• By NANDINI BHATTACHARYA, Professor of English, Texas A&M University, USA and illustration by AMIRUL MOMANIN CHOWDHURY, Professor of Fine Arts, Rajshahi University, Bangladesh • So, is Didi’s victory finally a ray of hope, a typhoon of fresh air? In that other ‘great’ modern democracy, the United States... Read full story

ON EARTH, WE LIVE IN A VAST OCEAN

• By SARAH BARMAK, American journalist and author • Just like an ocean, air also has got currents that distribute warmth throughout the world, and it also has creatures moving through it.

IN BENGAL ASSEMBLY ELECTION DOLE POLITICS LOFTED ONE REGIME AS IT WIPED OUT THE OTHER TWO

• By RAJAGOPAL DHAR CHAKRABORTI, Chair Professor, Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, Calcutta University • While sop propaganda doled out in well cut out manner worked in favour of the younger parties, it was out of sight, out of mind for... Read full story.

LOUISE GLÜCK AND THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

• By PETER ROBINSON, Professor of English, University of Reading, UK • People receiving awards might be divided into those who are enhanced by it and those who enhance the trophy by winning it. Louise Glück may well combine these categories... Read full story

INDIA’S HEALTHCARE GONE NUMB

• By RUMELA SEN, Lecturer, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University • The collapse of India’s healthcare can not be blamed on the severity of CoViD. It is a crisis long in the making... Read full story.

WHO WILL BENGAL INVITE? – VOICES

With political dynamics of an evolved order, the eastern Indian state of West Bengal recently wrapped up its 17th Assembly election. The 8- phase polling, spread over a month, was marked by exchange of vitriolic statements between opponents, violence leading to deaths of four people due to firing by the Central forces, and large scale …

A STRONG IMMUNITY CAN KEEP THE CORONA VIRUS AT BAY

Immune function in our body is an ongoing process and it is difficult to boost it in a very short time. Now that the Corona virus is knocking on the door of our immune setup, we can not make our immunity strong overnight. Lifestyle changes and de-addiction are the easiest ways to boost our immune …

BENGAL SET FOR A HUMDINGER OF A CONTEST

Trinamool Congress's poll strategist, Prashant Kishore is purportedly heard in an audio clip saying that there is anti-incumbency against the TMC and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is as popular as Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal. But the BJP lacks a popular face in the state level, writes ZAFRI MUDASSER NOFIL West Bengal is witnessing its …

THE GOVERNMENT’S LARGESSE TO THE VACCINE MANUFACTURERS

In any well governed economic system the government legislates laws to prevent industrial practices that are unfair and detrimental to the overall functioning of the national economy. In this respect all well governed nations have legislation to discourage monopoly practices and a commission to check this. India too has a similar commission, called the Competition …

VACCINE IS STRONG ARTILLERY – SHOULD BE DEPLOYED STRATEGICALLY IN THE WAR AGAINST THE PANDEMIC

• AMITAV BANERJEE • Professor at Dr DY Patil Medical College, Pune. An epidemiologist, formerly with the Mobile Epidemiological team of the Armed Forces Central Epidemiological Surveillance Centre at AFMC, Pune, India. Entrepreneur and multibillionaire, Elon Musk commented that he and his family will not take the Covid-19 vaccine. [1] However, this type of polarization …

THE DAMAGE IS DONE

In times like these, science needs to be the torchbearer. India is fast falling into the traps and clutches of the deadly virus that it has dodged to an extent so far. While the central and state governments can take certain drastic measures to save lives, such possibilities are fast disappearing now, as is evident …

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC HAS SHOWN THE WORLD IS POOR IN WISDOM

We are still not out of the pandemic. The humanity has to change its total outlook towards life, if they are to survive on this planet. All the manmade boundaries and faiths will perish. There will be a new dawn of humanity with the belief, "I am, because you are", writes KHALID UMAR. The Covid-19, …

BENGAL POLL – 2021: A SAFFRON SURGE

The way the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been positioning itself in this poll is not simply on the strength of an anti-incumbency wave or political rhetoric. It has meticulously planned its strategy. Never before have subaltern Hindus such as namasudras, bagdis, bauris, rajbangshis, matuas, santhals, mundas or upper caste Hindus been the main political …

TO TAKE OR NOT TO TAKE, WHICH SIDE?

It was difficult for me to decide which side ensured equal opportunities for all, and guaranteed planned development with a goal of positive economic growth in all sectors. But I never imagined only after three decades, religion would become central to West Bengal’s politics. As West Bengal rolled into the heat of the eight-phase election …

WHO WILL BENGAL INVITE? – VOICES

With political dynamics of an evolved order, the eastern Indian state of West Bengal moves into its 17th Assembly election. Nationalism and secularism being the mostly focussed themes of this election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who is strongly entrenched at the Centre has unleashed all its resources to apparently train it's electoral guns on …

AN IPL OF A BENGAL ELECTION

The upcoming Assembly Election in West Bengal have assumed the proportion of an IPL in terms of national attention. Elections are notoriously uncertain, so crystal ball gazing is a fool’s errand. Instead of getting into predictions, it would be more fruitful to try and develop some perspectives about what it is and what it is …

Hindutva’s Basilisk Stare

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has morphed Hinduism into the legendary evil serpent that petrifies victims with its stare. It spews toxic Hindutva that makes zombies of thinking people. It unleashes lynch mobs and reduces women to ciphers. It doesn’t aspire to grasp the Upanishad’s intellectual rigour but focuses on imposing a modern version of …

DUTCH TEACHER KNITS DOLLS TO REMEMBER HER PUPILS DURING LOCKDOWN

Miss Ingeborg Meinster-Van der Duin, the primary school teacher, missed her students so much during the lockdown that she took to knitting tiny dolls resembling all the 23 kids in her class. The Edition features the teacher on the International Women's Day. While most parents are at least a tiny bit upset about schools being …

CLIMATE AND HUMAN DIGNITY

• By Freddy Svane, Ambassador of Denmark to India • After the devastating pandemic, today our planet is stressed more than ever. Besides CoViD, climate changes are posing... Read full story.

UNION BUDGET 2021: LOOKS PEOPLE FRIENDLY, UNFULFILLING IN REALITY

The budget 2021 tried to tick all the boxes to appear bold but fell short of a demand booster, writes AMARENDRA SAHOO, Chairman, Grameen Pragati Foundation, Mumbai. The Budget 2021 has to be viewed not only in the background of the pandemic but also of the 2010-20 as the lost decade. The capital investment has …

AFTER THE PANDEMIC EASES WHICH WAY WILL THE WORLD TAKE?

There are very few people alive today who have any memory of the last global crisis - the Second World War. The apprehension since then has been to avoid any recurrence of such hostilities and needless loss of millions of lives. Little did we know that the next global crisis will be caused not by …

SHOULD UNIVERSITIES PROMOTING SOCIAL JUSTICE FARE HIGHER IN THE PERFORMANCE RANKINGS?

As the CoViD-19 pandemic unfolded, Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz wrote: “One of the reasons the United States has been afflicted with the highest number of cases and deaths is because it has among the poorest average health standards of major developed economies, exemplified by low life expectancy (lower now than it was even seven …

WILL NUCLEAR WEAPONS REALLY BE ILLEGAL?

On 22 January 2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entered into force. Adopted by 122 countries at the United Nations in 2017, it has, so far, been signed by 88 states, out of which 51 ratified it. This civil society initiative was supported by an overwhelming majority of countries except those …

BLACK HOLE – AN ENIGMA

• By AJIT KEMBHAVI, Emiritus Professor and Former Director, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics • The work on black hole was wholly theoretical and helped establish that black holes are natural and inescapable in Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity, which is known as the general theory of relativity. Penrose developed the first mathematical theorem of a series which established the result.. Read full story.

INDIAN CONSTITUTION HAS STOOD THE TEST OF TIME, IT WILL IN FUTURE TOO

A sore thumb in the current context is that the judiciary seems to be stepping on to legislature powers in the name of restoring order. But the travails the Indian Constitution has undergone in the last over 70 years and how it has worked to overcome those critical odds, SUBRAMANI RA MANCOMBU, on the occassion …

INDIA IS A HINDU STATE

Digging the roots of Hindu India from the accounts of Islam's greatest chroniclers The way history’s greatest storytellers have recounted their tales, India, through its 5,000-year long and eventful narrative, has always remained a Hindu state, except for a brief interregnum of 800 years. To read tea leaves, boil water first. Let this be said, …

JANAKINATH REMARKED, “SUBHAS, ONE DAY YOU WILL BE THE GARIBALDI OF INDIA”

On the occassion of the 125th birth day of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, SURYA KUMAR BOSE, reminisces the bits and pieces of the personal anecdotes about Netaji, which his father Amiya Nath Bose who was the nephew of Netaji, relayed to him at different times in his life. I grew up at 1 Woodburn Park …

CAN A VACCINE BE DEVELOPED SO FAST?

India has kicked off the world's largest CoViD-19 vaccination drive. While vaccines generally take years to develop through series of trials, interestingly, the Corona virus vaccines India is rolling out to its citizens, took less than a year to find their way into the human body. But, speculations abound if a vaccine can be developed …

DONALD TRUMP’S DEHUMANIZING SPEECH, THAT TRIGGERED RIOTS, THREATENED AMERICA’S DEMOCRACY

Outright refuting the US Congress's move of certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 US Presidential election, President Trump, goaded his supporters as "the real people" instigating them to acts of deadly violence. Writes dehumanization expert, DAVID LIVINGSTONE SMITH, historically, claims that only certain people are the "real human beings" have given rise …

AS AN INTERNATIONALIST, RABINDRANATH ALL HIS LIFE CHALLENGED ‘WALLS’ AS MUCH AS HE CHAMPIONED SOCIAL INCLUSION

Tagore resisted walls of the mind with his deep humanism and sense of the inherent dignity of all people that led him to question the primacy or superiority of any culture over another. At Santiniketan, he wanted to dissolve the walls between the inside and the outside where connections were made possible between the curious …

CRISPER-CAS9 : THE TOOL THAT CHANGES THE GENES

Even though the Nobel Prize is awarded decades after a discovery, the 2020 Nobel award winning technology CRISPR-CAS9, is yet in its nascent stage, and while this tool facilitates major benefits in cutting edge research in the field of biotechnology, vigorous studies, considering all the ethical and social inferences, are required to address the specificity …

THE PLIGHT OF THE COVID-19 LONG HAULERS

Long CoViD is not just with people taking time to recover from a stay in intensive care. Even people with relatively mild infections of the Corona virus can be left with lasting and severe health problems, writes RAJENDRA T NANAVARE. For most people, CoViD-19 is a brief and mild disease. While some are left to …

COVID CONTROL BLUNDERS: UNPREDICTABLE PITCHES, CLUELESS CAPTAINS

It will remain a mystery why the captains of public health policies of developing nations opted to chase, with killer lockdowns, a virus, whose lethality turned out to be much less than the endemic and neglected tropical diseases that have caused far greater number of deaths in those countries than CoViD-19, writes AMITAV BANERJEE The …

THE MORE YOU SLEEP, THE SAFER YOU ARE FROM CORONA VIRUS ATTACK

Sleep is at the root of treating an arsenal of diseases as it improves a host of health parameters, enhances body metabolism and, very importantly, the immune system significant for fighting CoViD-19, and recent research suggests, melatonin, the sleep inducing chemical, could emerge as the treatment of choice to thwart the virus, writes JAMES HAMBLIN. …

COVID-19 RIPPED OFF THE VEIL: HOW GLOBAL CAPITALISM CREATES POVERTY

As wealth accumulates at the very top, the crisis triggered by the pandemic will spur up greater global unrest which can be addressed by implementing green policies and people welfare measures, writes WILLIAM I. ROBINSON, Professor of Sociology, University of California at Santa Barbara, USA. Email: w.i.robinson1@gmail.com The coronavirus may not have been caused by …

FARMERS’ PROTEST UNDERSCORES NEED FOR GENTLE GUIDING HANDS

It might seem baffling that the farmers are protesting against laws which offer an array of benefits, but the reasons are not far to seek, writes BIMAN MUKHERJI. An eruption of farmers' fury over the introduction of three new laws have held the Indian capital Delhi in a gridlock for about a month as talks with the government have …

RAMEN PREET KAUR: THE LADY WITH THE LIGHT FOR THE NEEDY

• JOSEPH S. SPENCE, SR. • Ramen Preet Kaur is an ardent social activist who live and help the needy people of the north Indian town of Dehradun in India live a good life. She has become a messiah for them for her tireless endeavour to uplift the downtrodden in the region. She has been …

SOUMITRA CHATTERJEE AND I

• PARTHA GHOSE • Distinguished Fellow, Tagore Centre For Natural Sciences and Philosophy, and Rabindrasangeet exponent. He can be reached at partha.ghose@gmail.com I came to know Soumitra Chatterjee many, many years ago, first casually and distantly but later more closely. I used to see him frequently in the College Street Coffee House during the late …

AGRO REFORMS IN INDIA: HOW CAN THEY BE GAME CHANGER FOR OUR FARMERS

The 2020 Farm Acts, if implemented with a slew of flanking measures and minimum rules and regulations, can bring about the 1991 moment for the Indian agriculture, writes PRADIP S MEHTA Our farmers sell potatoes at five rupees a kilo. We, the consumers, buy them at 40 rupees a kilo. However, the recently adopted reform …

LAWS WITH PROMPT AND FAIR REGULATION WILL CONTROL COVID

Rules properly and timely actioned will make civil out of Indians which will not only help to lessen illegal activities but also mitigate the spread of Corona virus, writes ANJAN MUKHERJI In today’s world, across all countries, the basic problem appears to be the raging CoViD-19 virus. And of course, we discuss how the citizens …

NO FLAWS, NO GENIUS

• DENNIS MENDES • Former sports journalist with the Indian Express After all the histrionics, fans usually see beyond the flaws. They take their idol's theatrics in their stride. They want their man to get on with the game, as it were. Fall from grace: Maradona was an ace with the ball on field as …

THE INDIAN CONTEXT TO THE BLACK HOLE STORY

The two purely general relativity Nobel prizes, one for detection of gravitational wave in 2017 and the current one for the discovery of black hole formation, had strong Indian trail in the seminal works of some of the Indian astrophysicists. It was Newton who famously said, "If I have seen further than others it is …

VACCINE INDUCED HERD IMMUNITY KEY TO CONTROLLING COVID-19 CONTAGION

Vaccines create immunity without causing complications. Using the concept of herd immunity, vaccines have earlier successfully controlled deadly contagious diseases. Despite attaining herd immunity through vaccination has its own drawbacks, however, writes RAJENDRA T NANAVARE, herd immunity makes it possible to protect a population from infectious diseases. The CoViD-19 pandemic is perhaps the greatest healthcare …

ON GANDHIAN PRINCIPLES TODAY: A US PERSPECTIVE

I ask my students when was the last time they, as an individual or a professional, spoke out against injustice, not just committed against them or the group they belonged to, but against people in the society more vulnerable to violence and abuse, than they are. For me, at least, that is the very definition …

WAVES OF CHINESE ASSAULTS WILL LASH THE LAC, INDIA MUST REMAIN PREPARED

While China is flaring up tension along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to garner political mileage back home and shield the heat from countries across the world for allegedly spreading Corona virus, at the border, it is failing to drive home much of the benefits in its attempt to dominate and teach India lesson …

OUR VERY OWN PRANAB DA AND I

Pranab Da's charisma was unparalleled, always loving, caring, patient, and understanding. During our interactions with him, I was amazed at his vast knowledge and photographic memory, writes ANJU RANJAN, Consul General of India to Johannesburg, South Africa Pranab Mukherjee (Picture Courtesy: Getty Images) There have been many occasions when I personally met our late former …

GANDHI’S TRYST WITH STARS

Gandhi's interest in Astronomy, although peripheral, yet was intense. During one of his imprisonments he had picked up a telescope to observe celestial objects and talks of the inspirational night sky observations offered him a spiritual direction, writes NANDIVADA RATHNASREE The Gandhi 150 year celebrations have seen a convergence of many creative energies coming together, …

COVID-19: NOT JUST THE SCIENCE, SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY WILL SAVE US ALL

Serological surveys are a nation's strong indicator of the extent of virus spread. Result from these surveys would allow for mid-stream correction of tactics. Data gathered from the serosurveys for CoVid-19 spread help to understand the efficaciousness of lockdowns and calculate the real Infection Fatality Rate. Writes epidemiologist AMITAV BANERJEE, while outlining policy based measures …

AGRI BILL 2020: LIBERALISATION IN THE INDIAN FARM SECTOR OR THE POOR PEASANTS’ WOES?

Existing agri support systems like the Mandis and MSP falling out of favour now, it leaves to be seen how much the Farm Bill 2020 will drive a good harvest for the marginalised Indian farmers. SURAJIT SINHA, Economist and Professor at IIT Kanpur ploughs through the new legislation and analyses. An Indian peasant tilling the …

PRANAB MUKHERJEE, A STATESMAN PAR EXCELLENCE

• AMBASSADOR ASHOK SAJJANHAR • A former career diplomat, served as Ambassador of India to Kazakhstan, Sweden and Latvia, also as Secretary/Principal Executive Officer of the National Foundation for Communal Harmony, an autonomous Organisation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Held significant positions in Indian Embassies in Washington, Moscow, Brussels, Geneva, Bangkok, …

VISIT THIS SMALL TOWN, THE GLASSBLOWING HUB OF THE UNITED STATES

• By KATHLEEN RELLIHAN • Freelance travel writer and editor with Travel Channel. Kathleen recently climbed Kilimanjaro with over 25 women from around the world to celebrate International Women’s Day and a volcano in Guatemala . She tweets @k_rellihan Courtesy of Corning Museum of Glass The Corning Museum of Glass (CMoG) in central New York holds a …

AT THE WORLD PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS A YOUNG SWAMI VIVEKANANDA SPOKE WITHOUT FEAR, HELD HINDUISM HIGH, MADE HIMSELF EQUAL WITH HIS AUDIENCE

At a place far away in the foreign land and time when Christianity reigned supreme, Swami Vivekananda from India, at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, not only upheld the global relevence of Hinduism but also spoke to his white audience as an equal, writes JEFFERY D. LONG. The first World Parliament …

UNRESOLVED ‘DIFFERENCE IN PERCEPTION’ OF THE LAC LEAD TO OCCASSIONAL FLAREUPS BETWEEN INDIA AND CHINA

Border related skirmishes between India and China are repeatitive for decades. Following the 1962 Sino-India war, the next major bloodshed between the troops of the two nations happened in 1975. After a long lull, a Doklam in 2017 had again almost pushed the two nuclear powers on the verge of a full-scale battle although the …

BHANU BANDOPADHYAY, THE COMMON MAN’S COMEDIAN

In addition to being a loud and funny man, Bhanu, the ace comedian of Bengali films, also carried in his persona a political message – one that made his comedy the common man’s comedy, recounts SHARMISTHA GOOPTU on the comedian's birth centenary. Samyomoy Bandyopadhyay, whose stage name was Bhanu Bandopadhyay, was born on August 26, …

EVEN AS THE PLA STANDS AT THE BORDER READY FOR COMBAT, CHINESE AMBASSADOR SAYS “CHINA SEES INDIA AS A PARTNER INSTEAD OF A RIVAL”

Sun Weidong, Chinese Ambassador to India "Not long ago, an unfortunate incident happened in the border areas that neither China nor India would like to see. In this new century, bilateral relations should continue to move forward instead of backward. China has been India''s largest trading partner for many years in a row, while India …

HELIOPHYSICIST DIBYENDU NANDI SAYS, THE MARS SIZED SUNSPOT TURNING TOWARDS EARTH, CONTRARY TO SPECULATIONS, “WILL NOT BE DAMAGING”

Astrophysicists have reported begining of the 25th solar cycle, indicating a new 11-year period of electromagnetic activity on the Sun. In each cycle, the north and south magnetic poles of the sun are reversed leading to increased activity on the solar surface. This gives rise to sunspots. Sunspots They are manifestation of the complex, magnetic interactions …

ISRO AND IISC SCIENTISTS DEVELOP SPACE BRICKS FOR FUTURE CONSTRUCTION ON MOON

The 'space brick' developed by ISRO and IISc © Courtesy: Aloke Kumar Research scientists from the premier Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have developed a process to make bricks on the moon for habitation. "The process involves extracting lunar soil and using bacteria and guar beans to …

INDIA’S NEW EDUCATION POLICY FOCUSES ON SUPPLY SIDE, DOWNPLAYS DEMAND

The national education policy (NEP) 2020, resembles a dream plan designed in the mould of educational models of developed nations and hence, much like demonetization, some of its proposed clauses are removed from the practicality of its functioning in a country like India. MALABIKA ROY analyzes. Dream policy, suitable for developed countries with near 100% …

SURGING CORONAVIRUS INFECTION IN TEN STATES, PM TO HOLD VIRTUAL MEETING WITH THE CMs

Unbriddled Infection. Since the beginning of August, an average of 60,000 people across the country have been infected on a daily basis. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has said that a total of 10 states are a matter of grave concern. This includes West Bengal.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi will sit in a meeting with the …

FULL TEXT OF NAGASAKI PEACE DECLARATION ON 75TH A-BOMB ANNIVERSARY

The following is the full text of the Peace Declaration read on Aug. 9 by Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue at a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of the city on August 9, 1945. The true horror of nuclear weapons has not yet been adequately conveyed to the world at …

HARVARD SCIENTISTS GIVES CLUE HOW CORONAVIRUS ROBS OUR SENSE OF TASTE AND SMELL

The loss of taste and smell has proven to be the most distinctive symptom of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2. A quarter to a half of patients report ageusia and anosmia, as the two are respectively known, a symptom at least 20 times more likely to predict a positive test …

BICYCLE, HOPE OF A SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY IN INDIA’S POST PANDEMIC TRANSPORT ORDER

GEORGE CHERIYAN AMAR DEEP SINGH Despite bicycle being a mass utility vehicle for Indians which has aided migrant workers and common people ride miles to reach their homes during the CoViD-19 lockdown, the government has done little to promote this sustainable mode of mobility and need to shift their city planning from being car supportive …

THE HIMALAYAN STANDOFF: CHINA’S ANTI INDIA MACHINATIONS, MISGUIDED NEPAL AND NEUTRAL RUSSIA

• BRAJESH KUMAR • Major General (Retd.), AVSM, VSM, retired from the Madras Sappers, Indian Army. Alumnus of IIT, FMS and NDC. Has varied interests in the field of infrastructure, energy, water resources, geopolitics and strategic affairs. He can be reached at bkum1952@gmail.com and @bkum2000 Nepal’s relationship with India has been built over centuries. It …

VOTE, MIDDAY MEAL, ADMINISTRATIVE TASKS NO MORE A TEACHER’S JOB – TEACHERS WILL ONLY TEACH, SAYS CENTRAL GOVERNMENT’S NEW EDUCATION POLICY

NEP 2020: Teachers will no longer be able to engage in activities other than those directly related to teaching For long, teachers had been complaining about being engaged in non-teaching related tasks. With the new education policy, NEP 2020, Central Government has brought in good news for the teaching community. In the policy it has …

GRIEVANCE SYSTEM AT WEST BENGAL CMO GETS AWARD

The public grievance system at the West Bengal Chief Minister's Office (CMO) has been conferred with the Digital India Platinum Award by Skoch Foundation, a senior official said on Friday. There were 4,800 nominations in the category and out of that, the state won the award, he said. The award was a recognition to the …

SBI PROFIT SURGES 81% YOY: Q1 REPORT

This profit came in from a one-off gain of Rs 1,539.73 crore due to it's stake sale in the insurance arm, SBI Life. State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday reported an  81 percent year-on-year (YoY) surge in net profit at Rs 4,189.34 crore for the quarter ended June 2020, reports the Economic Times. In the …

PHOTO EDITING WITH LIGHTROOM MOBILE

BY SIMON RINGSMUTH Lightroom Mobile has been around for many years, with the earliest version dating all the way back to 2014. While it is not as popular as its traditional desktop-based counterpart, Lightroom Mobile has grown into a capable and feature-packed editing tool that can hold its own against many other programs. Editing with …

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA’S NEW EDUCATION POLICY 2020

The New Education Policy 2020 was drafted in 1986 and updated in 1992. The policy was part of the election manifesto of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before the 2014 elections. The Union Cabinet approved the New Education Policy 2020 and renamed the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) to the Ministry of Education. (Photo from …

ONE CAN’T GO TO WAR WITH THEIR OWN PEOPLE, SAYS KASHMIRI PANDITS DEMANDING RESTORATION OF STATEHOOD FOR J&K

Representational Picture An organization of migrant Kashmiri Pandits on Monday demanded the immediate restoration of statehood and special status for Jammu and Kashmir. "The Indian Constitution ensures right to equality that extends to individuals, communities, religions, regions and all social and political institutions. The right to equality ensures non-discrimination on basis of religion, caste, region …

UK’S JOHNSON GOVERNMENT ‘PRIVATELY’ HOPING FOR TRUMP TO LOSE NOVEMBER US ELECTION

Donald Trump and Boris Johnson (Getty Images) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government privately wants President Donald Trump to lose the November US presidential election to Joe Biden, according to a new report. UK government sources told The Sunday Times that Johnson's government had been trying to distance itself from the Trump administration in anticipation of a Biden victory. …

SAFE FOR SCHOOLS TO REOPEN DURING PANDEMIC?

• JIM MORRISON • As communities struggle with the decision over whether to open up schools, the research so far offers unsatisfying answers. Every year, children are a major driver of transmission for the viruses that cause the flu and the common cold. So this March, when the CoViD-19 pandemic hit different countries across the …

SIX DISTINCT ‘TYPES’ OF COVID-19 WITH DIFFERENT SYMPTOMS FOUND: NEW STUDY

A new study of COVID-19, based on data from a symptom tracker app, determined that there are six distinct "types" of the disease involving different clusters of symptoms. The discovery could potentially open new possibilities for how doctors can better treat individual patients and predict what level of hospital care they would need. Researchers from King's College …

WEST BENGAL IMPLEMENTS REDUCED BANKING HOURS AND A SPLIT TWO DAY WEEKLY LOCKDOWN TO MINIMISE COVID-19

West Bengal to impose reduced banking hours and two-day complete lockdown every week amid rising coronavirus cases. In an effort to contain the spreading of Corona virus, banks in West Bengal will remain closed on all Saturdays of the month from now onwards until further notice. This new directive was issued on Monday by the …

‘ASK YOURSELF’, JAISHANKAR URGES RAHUL TO INTROSPECT BEFORE ACCUSING GOVERNMENT OF FAULTY FOREIGN POLICY

India-China border dispute: Rahul Gandhi accuses Modi government in the dealings of geopolitical affairs. S Jaishankar hits back at Rahul and updates him on India's international relations. On Friday, Rahul Gandhi bashing the Central government regarding the government's Ladakh standing as a fallout of the face off between India and China, tweeted: Since 2014, the …

CHINA ACCUSES AMERICA OF LOSING ‘ITS MIND, MORALS AND CREDIBILITY’

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over the phone Friday the United States government has "lost its mind, morals and credibility."PAVEL GOLOVKIN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over the phone Friday that the United States government has "lost its mind, morals and credibility." …

OXFORD UNIVERSITY VACCINE FOUND TO PROVIDE ‘DOUBLE DEFENCE’ AGAINST COVID-19, LIKELY TO BE AVAILABLE THIS SEPTEMBER

Hopes for a successful coronavirus vaccine have been raised after University of Oxford researches signalled a potential breakthrough while testing their prototype. The news comes on the heels of similarly strong results from a study in the United States. (Picture: Oxford Vaccine Group) Oxford scientists believe they have made a breakthrough in early trials of an experimental coronavirus …

INDIA COMPETES WITH COVID-19 VACCINE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, INITIATES FAST TRACKING OF HUMAN CLINICAL TRIAL

In a major step taken to make a breakthrough with a sure-shot vaccine for Covid-19 in the nation, human clinical trials for a coronavirus vaccine have got underway in the country with approximately 1,000 volunteers taking part in the mammoth exercise for each of the two indigenously developed vaccine candidates, the ICMR said on Tuesday. …

SNAKEBITE CAUSED 1.2 MILLION DEATHS IN INDIA IN LAST 20 YEARS: eLIFE STUDY

With over 23 thousand deaths until now, as mortality due to one stealth killer, the Corona virus, continues to plague India, mortality due to another stealth killer is no less gruesome. About 1.2 million people have died in India in the last 20 years due to snakebites. This tallies to 60 thousand deaths per year …

CORONA VIRUS CRISIS MAY GET ‘WORSE AND WORSE AND WORSE’, WARNS WHO

Infection rose above 13 million across the world on Monday The new coronavirus pandemic raging around the globe will worsen if countries fail to adhere to strict healthcare precautions, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Monday. "Let me be blunt, too many countries are headed in the wrong direction, the virus remains public enemy number one," WHO Director General Tedros …

PEOPLE’S CONFIDENCE IN THE LEFT IS GROWING, OUR MOVEMENT AGAINST THE TMC NEED TO INTENSIFY: SURYAKANTA MISHRA

With an eye on the upcoming 2021 Assembly elections in Bengal, the Left Front is up in action. Representatives of the various districts have submitted, at a meeting of the CPI(M) West Bengal State Committee on Friday, reports of increasing public dissent against the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government due to the party's failure in dealing …

KMC’S MICROPLANS FOR COVID-19 MITIGATION IN CITY HOUSING COMPLEXES

"If the residential owners agree, Kolkata Municipality will work to control the corona virus spread in the city's housing complexes by implementing the micro-planning model as it has done in the slums," said Firhad Hakim, Administrator of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Hakim told reporters at the Municipal Head Quarters in Kolkata today that the city's municipality …

EXCEPT DOORDARSHAN, NEPAL BANS BEAMING OF ALL INDIAN NEWS CHANNELS AND URGES INDIA TO SHOW RESPECT TO THE NEPAL PEOPLE

Nepal Parliament - File photo collected EXcepIn the midst of India's border dispute with China, Nepal got further embroiled in conflict with India. Nepal on Thursday banned all Indian news channels from broadcasting. Only Doordarshan is excluded from this list. Nepali cable operators have reportedly banned signals of Indian news channels. In this context, a spokesperson of the …

GOOGLE MAPS LIKELY TO SHOW TRAFFIC LIGHTS IN ITS UPCOMING ANDROID VERSION

Google Maps is undoubtedly one of the most popular apps in Google’s portfolio, and the company often releases updates to make the service even better. Since its 15th birthday earlier this year in February, the app has received a ton of new features like Live View AR navigation, integrated menu scanning, a new real-time location sharing po=UI, YouTube Music integration, and much …

CORONA VIRUS ISN’T FROM CHINA, IT WAS ALREADY EVERYWHERE, DORMANT, WAITING TO EMERGE: OXFORD UNIVERSITY SCIENTIST

Based on data from around the world, a scientist at the University of Oxford believes that the coronavirus is probably not from China. According to one of Oxford University's principal investigators, the CoViD-19 may have been dormant around the world for a long time before emerging when conditions were favorable for its growth. What if …