Author Archives: Sridhar P

Electoral Bonds Data Published on Election Commission Website, Initial Revelations

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The electoral bonds data published by the Election Commission of India on its official website reveals the donor side and the political parties but not connect who received from whom. However, initial data interpretation showed that political parties received more than Rs 12,769 crore as donations from corporates and individuals since 2019.

A total of 20,421 electoral bonds were encashed since 2019 and of these, 12,207 bonds were of Rs 1 crore each; 5,366 bonds (Rs 10 lakh each); 2,526 (Rs 1 lakh each); 219 bonds (Rs 10,000 each); and 103 were of Rs 1,000 each.

The BJP received a maximum Rs 6,060 crore as donations and encashed 5,854 bonds of Rs 1 crore each and 1,994 bonds of Rs 10 lakh each. Apart from bonds of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10,000, it also encashed 31 bonds worth Rs 1000 each.

The next recipient was Trinamool Congress which redeemed 3,275 electoral bonds of about Rs 1,609 crore of which 1,467 were of Rs 1 crore each and 1,384 bonds were of Rs 10 lakh each.

The Congress came third with 3,141 encashed electoral bonds of about Rs 1,421 crore, which included 1,318 bonds of Rs 1 crore each and 958 bonds of Rs 10 lakh each.

In all, there were 1,260 companies and individuals who purchased electoral bonds worth ₹12,769 crore. Ms SN Mohanty is the biggest individual donor on the list with total donations of ₹45 crore, followed by Lakshmi Niwas Mittal who donated ₹35 crore.

Ram Nath Kovind Panel Submits Recommendations on ‘One Nation, One Poll’

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The high-level committee, chaired by former president Ram Nath Kovind, has reportedly proposed amendments to at least five articles of the Constitution to facilitate the implementation of simultaneous elections across the country. The comprehensive report spans 18,626 pages.

Established in September 2023, the Kovind-led committee on ‘One Nation, One Poll’ was tasked with assessing and providing suggestions for conducting simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, municipalities, and panchayats. Since its formation on September 2 last year, the committee claims to have engaged with stakeholders, consulted experts, and conducted extensive research.

Key Recommendations of the Kovind Panel on ‘One Nation, One Poll’:

  1. The panel proposes conducting simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and state assembly elections as the first step, followed by local body polls within 100 days as the second step.
  2. In the event of a hung House or a no-confidence motion, the panel suggests holding fresh polls for the remainder of the five-year term.
  3. For the first simultaneous polls, the tenure of all state assemblies can conclude before subsequent Lok Sabha elections.
  4. The Election Commission, in consultation with state poll authorities, is recommended to prepare a unified electoral roll and voter ID cards for Lok Sabha, assembly, and local body elections.
  5. The panel advocates for the enhancement of equipment, manpower, and security forces to facilitate simultaneous polls.
  6. Synchronizing elections for all three tiers of government is believed to enhance the governance structure.
  7. Simultaneous elections are projected to accelerate the development process, foster social cohesion, and strengthen democratic foundations.
  8. The panel asserts that ‘One Nation, One Election’ will bolster transparency, inclusivity, and voter confidence.

The Kovind-led committee has submitted its report at a time when India’s election commission is expected to announce the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

In addition to Kovind, the committee comprises members such as Home Minister Amit Shah, former leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former chairman of the finance commission N K Singh, former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash Kashyap, and senior advocate Harish Salve.

Although Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was designated as a member of the panel, he declined, criticizing the committee as a mere facade.

Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu appointed new EC commissioners: Adhir Ranjan

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A committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday announced the selection of bureaucrats Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu as election commissioners, according to Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who shared the information insisting that he had raised objections at the selection process.

The decision follows the recent resignation of Election Commissioner Arun Goel just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The committee, which includes the Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition, and a designated Union Cabinet minister, opted for Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, as the opposition member, represents the Congress party on the three-member panel.

In addition to the Prime Minister and the Congress leader, Union Home Minister Amit Shah attended the meeting. However, Chowdhury criticized the Centre for a law that replaced the Chief Justice of India with a Union Minister on the selection committee.

“The Chief Justice of India should have been part of this committee,” Chowdhury remarked, expressing discontent over a law enacted last year that reduced the meeting to a mere “formality.”

Chowdhury further commented, “The government holds the majority on the panel. Their preferences prevail,” highlighting concerns over the selection process.

He disclosed that he received 212 names for review the previous night before the noon meeting. “How can one examine so many candidates in a single day? Then, I was provided with six shortlisted names just before the meeting. With the majority on their side, they selected the candidates they desired,” Chowdhury added.

Electoral Bonds: What to expect from SBI’s submission of details to Supreme Court today

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The State Bank of India (SBI) has reportedly indicated its readiness to disclose details regarding electoral bonds, as mandated by the Supreme Court. Following the Court’s directive on Monday, SBI was instructed to provide information on electoral bonds encashed by political parties to the Election Commission of India by the close of business hours on Tuesday, March 12.

Expressing dissatisfaction with SBI’s initial reluctance, the Supreme Court warned the public sector lender of potential consequences for non-compliance, emphasizing the seriousness of the matter. The five-judge constitution bench, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, dismissed SBI’s plea for an extension until June 30 to reveal the details, instead setting a deadline for disclosure to the Election Commission by 5pm on March 15, with publication on the Commission’s official website.

The court also said that matching names of electoral bond buyers with specific political parties was not required at the stage since it was cited as the sole reason government lawyer to the Supreme Court bench. Hence, all the available information on purchasers, bond denominations, and redemptions by political parties is readily available with the bank which is expected to be disclosed today by the end of working hours.

 

Supreme Court

 

The Supreme Court had previously invalidated the controversial electoral bonds scheme on February 15, deeming it unconstitutional and mandating disclosure of donor information, donation amounts, and recipients by March 13. The apex court also instructed SBI to furnish details of electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019, by March 6.

During the latest hearing, the Supreme Court addressed SBI’s request for an extension, as well as separate pleas seeking contempt action against the bank for alleged defiance of previous directives. Agency reports suggest that SBI’s submissions imply the availability of the requested information, further underscoring the importance of compliance with the court’s directives.

CAA Move: Home Ministry launches web portal to apply for Indian citizenship

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Following the enactment of rules governing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by the government, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) launched a web portal on Tuesday to facilitate applications for Indian citizenship from individuals persecuted on religious grounds in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

The newly introduced web portal (accessible at https:/indiancitizenshiponline.nic.in) coincides with the MHA’s notification of the rules under CAA 2019, now referred to as CA 2024. These rules extend Indian citizenship to refugees belonging to six minority communities – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians – who sought refuge in India before December 31, 2014.

Notably, the previous law required migrants to reside in India for ‘not less than 11 years’ to qualify for citizenship, a duration reduced to ‘not less than five years’ for eligible persecuted minorities under CAA.

According to the MHA’s annual report for 2021-22, a total of 1,414 individuals from these non-Muslim minority communities in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan were granted Indian citizenship through registration or naturalization under the amended Citizenship Act, 1955.

The original Citizenship Act of 1955 (57 of 1955) was instituted to regulate the acquisition and determination of Indian citizenship.

Against the backdrop of historical trans-border migration between India and the regions encompassing Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, millions of individuals of varied faiths from undivided India found themselves residing in what became Pakistan and Bangladesh post the 1947 partition.

A notable aspect is the designation of specific state religions in the constitutions of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, leading to persecution of individuals from Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian communities on religious grounds.

The severity of persecution prompted many to seek refuge in India, albeit often with expired or incomplete travel documents, rendering them technically illegal migrants under previous legislation.

To address their plight, the Central government exempted these migrants from penalties under the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, and the Foreigners Act, 1946, while also granting them long-term visas.

However, under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the government has extended eligibility for Indian citizenship to these persecuted non-Muslim migrants, specifying a cutoff date of December 31, 2014.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) streamlines the citizenship acquisition process for migrants from these communities, enabling them to apply for Indian nationality, subject to prescribed conditions and procedures.

Notably, the CAA provides immunity to these migrants against any ongoing proceedings regarding their migration status or citizenship matters, facilitating their citizenship applications.

Furthermore, amendments to the Third Schedule of the Citizenship Act allow applicants from these communities to qualify for citizenship by naturalization after five years of residency, instead of the previous requirement of eleven years.

Importantly, the CAA safeguards the constitutional rights of indigenous populations in northeastern states covered under the Sixth Schedule and those in areas protected by the “Inner Line” system of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.

 

Hindus in UK, US, Canada upbeat Over India’s Citizenship Amendment Act, Call it Human Rights Win

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Now that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has been implemented to offer Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities, reactions from all over the world are pouring in. A “big win for human rights”, say Hindu organisations across the US, the UK, and Canada, hailing the announcement of the Indian government.

The move was lauded by international advocacy groups. The India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a key promise of the ruling BJP’s 2019 electoral agenda, has drawn praise for its provisions to grant citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from neighboring countries.

The Hindu Forum Canada commended the Indian government’s decision, emphasizing India’s commitment to international human rights obligations. The group expressed hope for similar measures in Pakistan and Bangladesh to promote harmony among Indian nationals.

Likewise, the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA) hailed the CAA as a victory for human rights, stressing its positive impact on persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. CoHNA clarified that the act does not affect existing Indian citizens of any faith but expedites citizenship for approximately 31,000 religious minorities facing persecution.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah 

Highlighting the plight of minority communities in Pakistan, CoHNA cited instances of forced conversions and kidnappings, driving families to seek refuge in India. The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the necessity of CAA to protect vulnerable refugees and uphold human rights.

Comparing the CAA to the Lautenberg Amendment in the US, HAF’s Executive Director Suhag Shukla praised both countries for extending support to persecuted individuals based on their religion.

Similarly, a London-based Hindu advocacy group praised India’s dedication to religious freedom and equality, emphasizing its secular values.

Despite widespread support, the enactment of CAA in December 2019 faced opposition from Muslim communities and political parties, alleging discrimination.

 

 

 

 

Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra to enter Maharashtra today

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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (BJNY) will enter Maharashtra at Nandurbar on Tuesday, March 12, 2024 and will culminate at the Chaityabhoomi in Mumbai’s Dadar, where the cremation of B.R. Ambedkar, the Architect of Constitution, was held.

A significant aspect of the event will be the formal closure of BJNY at Chaityabhoomi, officially known as Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Mahaparinirvan Memorial, which features his bust and a statue of Lord Buddha. Chaityabhoomi holds reverence as a pilgrimage site annually on December 6, observed as ‘Mahaparinirvan Day’.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park holds historical significance, having hosted major meetings and gatherings during the British era and post-independence, drawing leaders from all political spectrums.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge will be among the key speakers at the INDIA bloc public meeting, marking the formal launch of the united campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Notably, former Congress President Sonia Gandhi addressed a massive rally at the same venue on December 28, 2003, ahead of the 2004 parliament elections, which saw the UPA, led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, come to power.

Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra to enter Maharashtra on March 12, 2024 (INC)

Kharge and Rahul Gandhi announced BJNY on December 27, 2023, the eve of Congress’ 139th anniversary, in the presence of top party leaders. Recently, a delegation of senior Congress leaders, including AICC Secretary Ashish Dua, Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar, Congress Legislature Party Leader Balasaheb Thorat, Mumbai unit party chief Varsha Gaikwad, met Director-General of Police Rashmi Shukla to ensure adequate security arrangements for Rahul Gandhi’s travel and the upcoming mega-rally on March 17.

Leaders such as Maharashtra unit party president Nana Patole, Working President M. Arif Naseem Khan, former CMs Sushilkumar Shinde, Prithviraj Chavan, among others, are finalizing Rahul Gandhi‘s BJNY route in the state and preparations for the CMS Park public meeting.

The BJNY, which started from Manipur on January 15, 2024 has traversed 6,700 km, spanning 110 Lok Sabha constituencies across 15 states. It will conclude with a public rally on March 17 at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park, where top leaders of the national Opposition INDIA bloc will be attending.

 

 

CAA comes into effect, Minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan to get India Citizenship

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The Union Home Ministry on Monday, March 11, 2024, notified the rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), providing for granting citizenship to people of certain faiths facing persecution in neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan and it applies to those who moved to India before 2015.

An MHA spokesperson announced that immigrants eligible for citizenship under the CAA must submit their applications online through a dedicated web portal. The CAA, a key component of the BJP’s 2019 Lok Sabha manifesto, facilitates citizenship for non-Muslims, particularly Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, and Parsis who migrated to India before December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution in neighboring countries.

Despite protests from the Muslim community and opposition parties, the CAA was passed by Parliament in December 2019. Home Minister Amit Shah reaffirmed that the CAA would be implemented before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in April/May.

Shah emphasized that the CAA, which excludes Muslims because they do not face religious persecution in their home countries, aims to provide citizenship rather than revoke it. He assured Indian Muslim citizens that the bill would not affect their citizenship status and urged the opposition not to politicize the issue along communal lines.

According to Shah, the CAA seeks to grant citizenship retroactively from the immigrants’ entry into India, closing legal proceedings against them and safeguarding their business interests. Expired passports and visas of eligible minorities will not be considered illegal.

Shah highlighted the decline of minority populations in Pakistan and Bangladesh due to persecution, leading many to flee to India. He attributed the necessity of the CAA to the failure of the Nehru-Liaqat pact in safeguarding minority rights in these countries after India’s partition based on religious lines.

Strengthening Bonds: President Droupadi Murmu’s Historic State Visit to Mauritius

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President Droupadi Murmu embarked on a significant state visit to Mauritius from March 11th to 13th, strengthening the longstanding ties between the two nations.

As a chief guest, President Murmu attended the National Day celebrations in Mauritius, underscoring the deepening bilateral relations. The visit saw the participation of a contingent from the Indian Navy, including two ships from the First Training Squadron, INS Tir and CGS Sarathi, in the festivities on March 12th.

The Ministry of External Affairs highlighted the milestone in India-Mauritius relations, emphasizing the significance of President Murmu’s presence at the National Day celebrations.

During her visit, President Murmu, along with Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, inaugurated 14 India-assisted projects, showcasing the diverse facets of India’s development partnership with Mauritius.

President Murmu’s visit followed the recent joint inauguration by Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Pravind Jugnauth of infrastructure projects in Agalega Island.

As the sixth Indian President to grace Mauritius’ National Day as Chief Guest since 2000, President Murmu’s visit symbolized the enduring bond between the two nations, as stated by the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.

President Murmu held bilateral meetings with Mauritius President Prithvirajsing Roopun and Prime Minister Jugnauth, besides engagements with other Mauritian leaders, including the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

The visit also witnessed the exchange of key bilateral agreements aimed at bolstering institutional collaboration and capacity-building cooperation.

President Murmu paid homage to Mauritian leaders at the Pamplemousses Botanical Garden and visited significant historical and cultural sites, including the Aapravasi Ghat and the Intercontinental Slavery Museum.

Addressing Mauritian youth at the University of Mauritius and engaging with socio-cultural organizations and the Indian diaspora highlighted the multifaceted aspects of the visit, fostering people-to-people ties between India and Mauritius.

96th Academy Awards: ‘Oppenheimer’ with 7 Oscar wins, ‘Poor Things’ with 4, dominate Awards

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As expected, Christopher Nolan’s film ‘Oppenheimer’ dominated the 96th Academy Awards, with seven trophies including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, while ‘Poor Things’ bagged four honors at the grand ceremony held in Los Angeles.

“We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb, and for better or for worse, we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world,” Cillian Murphy said while accepting the honor. The Best Director award went to him as a first, despite being nominated seven times previously.

He said: “Movies are just a little bit over 100 years old.. I would imagine being 100 years into painting or theater. We don’t know where this incredible journey is going from here, but to know that you think that I’m a meaningful part of it means the world to me.”

Emma Stone earned her second best actress Oscar for ‘Poor Things’. She thanked her director Yorgo Lanthimos, with whom she has just made another movie, ‘Kinds of Kindness’, as well as the rest of the film’s team.

Da’vine Joy Randolph was feted Best Supporting actress for her role as a grieving cafeteria manager grappling with the death of her son in ‘The Holdovers’.

Robert Downey Jr. won the Best Supporting actor for the Cillian Murphy-starrer. The actor, who struggled with drug addiction for much of the 1990s and early aughts before getting sober and launching his comeback, thanked Tom Hansen, his lawyer of 40 years, “half of which he spent trying to get me insured and bailing me out.”

Jonathan Glazer, director of the best international feature winner ‘The Zone of Interest’, a drama set in Auschwitz, spoke about violence in the Middle East and to draw parallels with the message of his searing look at the Holocaust.

‘American Fiction’, a satire that explores race and art, won Best Adapted Screenplay, while ‘Anatomy of a Fall’, earned Best Original Screenplay.

’20 Days in Mariupol’, won Best Documentary, its director Mstyslav Chernov drew attention to the human costs of Russia’s invasion.

Billie Eilish shattered records, becoming the youngest two-time Oscar winner at age 22 after earning best song for her ‘Barbie’ ballad ‘What Was I Made For?’

Jimmy Kimmel returned to host the Oscars for the fourth time. He started the ceremony with jokes about the Academy snub of ‘Barbie’ filmmaker Greta Gerwig, the excessive lengths of many of the nominated films and Robert De Niro’s much younger girlfriend.

Full List of winners:

Best Picture

American Fiction (Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers)
Anatomy of a Fall (Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion, Producers)
Barbie (David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, Producers)
The Holdovers (Mark Johnson, Producer)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi, Producers)
Maestro (Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers)
Oppenheimer (Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers) (WINNER)
Past Lives (David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, Producers)
Poor Things (Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, Producers)
The Zone of Interest (James Wilson, Producer)

Best Directing

Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall)
Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer) (WINNER)
Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things)
Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Bradley Cooper (Maestro)
Colman Domingo (Rustin)
Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers)
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) (WINNER)
Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction)

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening (Nyad)
Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall)
Carey Mulligan (Maestro)
Emma Stone (Poor Things) (WINNER)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction)
Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer) (WINNER)
Ryan Gosling (Barbie)
Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer)
Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple)
America Ferrera (Barbie)
Jodie Foster (Nyad)
Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers) (WINNER)

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

American Fiction (Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson) (WINNER)
Barbie (Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach)
Oppenheimer (Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan)
Poor Things (Screenplay by Tony McNamara)
The Zone of Interest (Written by Jonathan Glazer)

Best Writing (Original Screenplay)

Anatomy of a Fall (Screenplay by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari) (WINNER)
The Holdovers (Written by David Hemingson)
Maestro (Written by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer)
May December (Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik)
Past Lives (Written by Celine Song)

Best Animated Feature

The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki) (WINNER)
Elemental (Peter Sohn and Denise Ream)
Nimona (Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary)
Robot Dreams (Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal)

Best Documentary Feature Film

Bobi Wine: The People’s President (Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek)
The Eternal Memory (Maite Alberdi)
Four Daughters (Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha)
To Kill a Tiger (Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim)
20 Days in Mariupol (Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath) (WINNER)

Best International Feature Film

Io Capitano (Italy)
Perfect Days (Japan)
Society of the Snow (Spain)
The Teacher’s Lounge (Germany)
The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom) (WINNER)

Best Animated Short Film

Letter to a Pig (Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter)
Ninety-Five Senses (Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess)
Our Uniform (Yegane Moghaddam)
Pachyderme (Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius)
War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko (Dave Mullins and Brad Booker) (WINNER)

Best Live-Action Short Film

The After (Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham)
Invincible (Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron)
Knight of Fortune (Lasse Lyskjaer Noer and Christian Norlyk)
Red, White and Blue (Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane)
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson and Steven Rales) (WINNER)

Best Documentary Short Film

The ABCs of Book Banning (Sheila Nevins and Trish Adlesic)
The Barber of Little Rock (John Hoffman and Christine Turner)
Island in Between (S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien)
The Last Repair Shop (Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers) (WINNER)
Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (Sean Wang and Sam Davis)

Best Cinematography

El Conde (Edward Lachman)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Rodrigo Prieto)
Maestro (Matthew Libatique)
Oppenheimer (Hoyte van Hoytema) (WINNER)
Poor Things (Robbie Ryan)

Best Costume Design

Barbie (Jacqueline Durran)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Jacqueline West)
Napoleon (Janty Yates and Dave Crossman)
Oppenheimer (Ellen Mirojnick)
Poor Things (Holly Waddington) (WINNER)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Golda (Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby and Ashra Kelly-Blue)
Maestro (Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell)
Oppenheimer (Luisa Abel)
Poor Things (Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston) (WINNER)
Society of the Snow (Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé)

Best Original Song

“The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot (Music and Lyric by Diane Warren)
“I’m Just Ken” from Barbie (Music and Lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt)
“It Never Went Away” from American Symphony (Music and Lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson)
“Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon (Music and Lyric by Scott George)
“What Was I Made For?” from Barbie (Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell) (WINNER)

Best Original Score

American Fiction (Laura Karpman)
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (John Williams)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Robbie Robertson)
Oppenheimer (Ludwig Göransson) (WINNER)
Poor Things (Jerskin Fendrix)

Best Production Design

Barbie (Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis)
Napoleon (Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Elli Griff)
Oppenheimer (Production Design: Ruth De Jong; Set Decoration: Claire Kaufman)
Poor Things (Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek) (WINNER)

Best Film Editing

Anatomy of a Fall (Laurent Sénéchal)
The Holdovers (Kevin Tent)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Thelma Schoonmaker)
Oppenheimer (Jennifer Lame) (WINNER)
Poor Things (Yorgos Mavropsaridis)

Best Sound

The Creator (Ian Voigt, Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic)
Maestro (Steven A. Morrow, Richard King, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic)
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One (Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor)
Oppenheimer (Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O’Connell)
The Zone of Interest (Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn) (WINNER)

Best Visual Effects

The Creator (Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould)
Godzilla: Minus One (Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima) (WINNER)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams and Theo Bialek)
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part One (Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland and Neil Corbould)
Napoleon (Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco and Neil Corbould)

A big step toward producing rhino gametes

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To save the northern white rhinoceros from extinction, the BioRescue team is racing to create lab-grown egg and sperm cells of the critically endangered subspecies. The team has now reported a milestone in Science Advances: they have generated primordial germ cells from stem cells – a world’s first.

Thirty-three-year-old Najin and her daughter Fatu are the last surviving northern white rhinos on the planet. They live together in a wildlife conservancy in Kenya. With just two females left, this white rhino subspecies is no longer capable of reproduction – at least not on its own. But all hope is not lost: according to a paper published in the journal Science Advances, an international team of researchers has successfully cultivated primordial germ cells (PGCs) – the precursors of rhino eggs and sperm – from embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).


The last two surviving females live in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya./CREDIT:Jan Stejskal, Safari Park Dvůr Králové

This represents a major milestone in an ambitious plan. The BioRescue project, which is coordinated by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) and has been funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) since 2019, wants to save the northern white rhino from extinction. To this end, the scientists are pursuing two strategies – one of them trying to generate viable sperm and eggs from the skin cells of deceased rhinos. The idea is to implant the resulting embryos into closely related southern white rhino females, who will then carry the surrogate offspring to term. And so the northern white rhino subspecies, which humans have already effectively wiped out through poaching, may yet be saved thanks to state-of-the-art stem cell and reproductive technologies.

First success with an endangered species

To get from a piece of skin to a living rhinoceros may be a true feat of cellular engineering, but the process itself is not unprecedented: the study’s co-last author Professor Katsuhiko Hayashi leads research labs at the Japanese universities of Osaka and Kyushu in Fukuoka, where his teams have already accomplished this feat using mice. But for each new species, the individual steps are uncharted territory. In the case of the northern white rhinoceros, Hayashi is working in close cooperation with Dr. Sebastian Diecke’s Pluripotent Stem Cells Technology Platform at the Max Delbrück Center and with reproduction expert Professor Thomas Hildebrandt from Leibniz-IZW. The two Berlin-based scientists are also co-last authors of the current study.

“This is the first time that primordial germ cells of a large, endangered mammalian species have been successfully generated from stem cells,” explains the study’s first author, Masafumi Hayashi of Osaka University. Previously, it has only been achieved in rodents and primates. Unlike in rodents, the researchers have identified the SOX17 gene as a key player in rhinoceros PGC induction. SOX17 also plays an essential role in the development of human germ cells – and thus possibly in those of many mammalian species.

The southern white rhino embryonic stem cells being used in Japan come from the Avantea laboratory in Cremona, Italy, where they were grown by Professor Cesare Galli’s team. The newly derived northern white rhino PGCs, meanwhile, originated from the skin cells of Fatu’s aunt, Nabire, who died in 2015 at Safari Park Dvůr Králové in the Czech Republic. Diecke’s team at the Max Delbrück Center was responsible for converting them into induced pluripotent stem cells.

Next step: cell maturation

Masafumi Hayashi says that they are hoping to use the cutting-edge stem cell technology from Katsuhiko Hayashi’s lab to save other endangered rhino species: “There are five species of rhino, and almost all of them are classified as threatened on the IUCN Red List.” The international team also used stem cells to grow PGCs of the southern white rhino, which has a global population of around 20,000 individuals. In addition, the researchers were able to identify two specific markers, CD9 and ITGA6, that were expressed on the surface of the progenitor cells of both white rhino subspecies. “Going forward, these markers will help us detect and isolate PGCs that have already emerged in a group of pluripotent stem cells,” Hayashi explains.

The BioRescue scientists must now move on to the next difficult task: maturing the PGCs in the laboratory to turn them into functional egg and sperm cells. “The primordial cells are relatively small compared to matured germ cells and, most importantly, still have a double set of chromosomes,” explains Dr. Vera Zywitza from Diecke’s research group, who was also involved in the study. “We therefore have to find suitable conditions under which the cells will grow and divide their chromosome set in half.”

Genetic variation is key for conservation

Leibniz-IZW researcher Hildebrandt is also pursuing a complementary strategy. He wants to obtain egg cells from 22-year-old Fatu and fertilize them in Galli’s lab in Italy using frozen sperm collected from four now deceased northern white rhino bulls. This sperm is thawed and injected into the egg in a process known as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). However, Hildebrandt explains that Fatu is not able to bear her own offspring, as she has problems with her Achilles tendons and cannot carry any additional weight. Her mother Najin, meanwhile, is past child-bearing age and also suffers from ovarian tumors. “And in any case, since we only have one donor of natural eggs left, the genetic variation of any resulting offspring would be too small to create a viable population,” he adds.

The team’s top priority, therefore, is turning the PGCs they now have at their disposal into egg cells. “In mice, we found that the presence of ovarian tissue was important in this crucial step,” Zywitza explains. “Since we cannot simply extract this tissue from the two female rhinos, we will probably have to grow this from stem cells as well.” The scientist is hopeful, however, that ovarian tissue from horses could come in useful, as horses are among the rhinos’ closest living relatives from an evolutionary standpoint. If only humans had taken as good care of the wild rhino as they had of the domesticated horse, the immense challenge now facing the BioRescue scientists could perhaps have been avoided altogether.

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No more blood tests, now life-saving light beam to detect malaria

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A fast, needle-free malaria detection tool developed by a University of Queensland-led team could help save hundreds of thousands of lives annually.

Malaria is usually detected by a blood test, but scientists have devised a method using a device that shines a beam of harmless infrared light on a person’s ear or finger for five-to-10 seconds, it collects an infrared signature that is processed by a computer algorithm.

International team leader, Dr Maggy Lord from UQ’s School of Biological Sciences, said the technology would revolutionise how malaria is fought globally.

The malaria detection tool collects an infrared signature for a mobile phone to process./CREDIT:The University of Queensland

“Currently it’s incredibly challenging to test large groups of people, such as the population of a village or town – you have to take blood from everyone and mix it with a reagent to get a result,” Dr Lord said.

“But with this tool we can find out very quickly whether a whole village or town is suffering from, or carrying, malaria.

“The technique is chemical-free, needle-free and detects malaria through the skin using infrared-light – it’s literally just a flash on a person’s skin and it’s done.

“The device is smart-phone operated, so results are acquired in real time.”

The researchers believe the technology is the first step to eliminating malaria.

Tiger Mosquito of Asia is adaing to survive the state of Illinois’s harsh winters / CREDIT: JAMES GATHANY/CDC

“According to the World Health Organisation malaria report, in 2020 there were an estimated 241 million cases worldwide and more than 600,000 died from malaria,” Dr Lord said.

“Most of the cases are in sub-Saharan Africa, where 90 per cent of deaths are children under five years old.

“The biggest challenge in eliminating the disease is the presence of asymptomatic people in a population who act as a reservoir for transmission by mosquitos.

“The World Health Organisation has proposed large-scale surveillance in endemic areas and this non-invasive, affordable and rapid tool offers a way to achieve that.”

The technology could also help tackle other diseases.

“We’ve successfully used this technology on mosquitoes to non-invasively detect infections such as malaria, Zika and dengue,” Dr Lord said.

“In our post-COVID world, it could be used to better tackle diseases as people move around the globe.

“We hope the tool could be used at ports of entry to screen travellers, minimising the re-introduction of diseases and reducing global outbreaks.

“It’s still early days, but this proof-of-concept is exciting.”

UQ collaborated with the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil, led by Dr Rafael Maciel de Freitas, who applied the tool to detect malaria in patients in the Amazon region.

The work was funded by Fiocruz INOVA Ideias Inovadoras, Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro and by Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship and the National Health and Medical Research Council.

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Before Hitler, Jewish community faced violence many times: DNA Study

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Based on genome sequence data from six individuals excavated from the base of a medieval well at a site in Norwich, UK, a revised radiocarbon analysis of the assemblage has been prepared with these individuals being part of a historically attested episode of antisemitic violence on 6 February 1190 CE.
Researchers found that four of these individuals were closely related and all six have strong genetic affinities with modern Ashkenazi Jews. They identified four alleles associated with genetic disease in Ashkenazi Jewish populations and infer variation in pigmentation traits, including the presence of red hair.
“Simulations indicate that Ashkenazi-associated genetic disease alleles were already at appreciable frequencies, centuries earlier than previously hypothesized, they wrote. These findings provide new insights into a significant historical crime, into Ashkenazi population history, and into the origins of genetic diseases associated with modern Jewish populations.
After March 1349, the Jewish community of Erfurt was wiped out in a pogrom when the archbishop of Mainz, who had granted Jews the right to live and work in the medieval German city, tried the pogrom’s ringleaders, local merchants and city council members who owed money to Jewish money lenders. The city’s Christian population was forced to pay restitution.

Five years later, a new Jewish community took root in the narrow, winding streets and by 1354, the city funded new houses and a synagogue, drawing Jews from across Europe to Erfurt. “That must have convinced them it would never happen again,” says Karin Sczech, an archaeologist who works for the city.

For 100 years, Erfurt’s Jews flourished. In 1454, the town council revoked the rights of Erfurt’s Jewish population, forcing them to leave town. The city built a granary on top of their cemetery, destroying hundreds of graves and repurposing Jewish tombstones to build its stout stone walls, reports said.

Before the remains were reburied last year at a nearby cemetery, their DNA was extracted and it showed the origins of the Ashkenazim, the major Jewish population that emerged in Germany in the Middle Ages and later expanded into central and Eastern Europe.

The latest study on DNA from the six individuals from the Middle Ages unearthed in Norwich offers clues to where the Ashkenazim came from centuries earlier, and what happened along the way. The studies confirm that today’s Ashkenazi Jewish population, which numbers more than 10 million people spread around the world, has roots in about a few hundred who survived a population bottleneck in Europe more than 1000 years ago.

The mystery remains: Were the Jews of Erfurt belong to the Roman era? Or were they the descendants of some pioneers who crossed the Alps around 800 C.E. to found tight-knit communities along the Rhine, near modern-day Frankfurt?

“Ashkenazi Jews emerge in the Rhineland as migrants,” says Leonard Rutgers, a historian at Utrecht University and a co-author on the Cell paper. “But if they came from elsewhere, where did they come from?”

“Whether they’re from Israel or New York, the Ashkenazi population today is homogenous genetically,” says Hebrew University geneticist Shai Carmi.

An Orthodox rabbi approved plans to sample loose teeth, but not bones, from Jewish graves.KEITH PRUFER

Earlier, Carmi was pessimistic about studying DNA from ancient Jews. “I thought this would be impossible,” he says, “because there would be no permission to sample.” Searching for ancient DNA for analysis would mean grinding up tiny bits of bone for sequencing. Destructive sampling would also be needed for radiocarbon dating. “It’s a hard rule in Judaism that you don’t disturb the dead,” says Alexander Nachama, chief rabbi of the Jewish Community of Thuringia and head of the modern-day Jewish community in Erfurt.

Carmi pressed ahead, contacting historians and archaeologists in Europe to see whether suitable samples existed. “The historians thought I was crazy,” Carmi says. But a few got back to him—including Sczech, who had received rabbinical permission to measure bones from the Erfurt cemetery to determine their sex and ages at death, techniques that don’t harm the skeletal material. Carmi was able to sample the loose teeth of 38 individuals from the cemetery before the bodies were reburied in a 2021 ceremony.

The DNA results from Norwich and Erfurt both confirm that modern Ashkenazim are descended from a small founding population. Based on modern Jewish DNA, some researchers had speculated this founder group emerged from a population crunch in the 13th and 14th centuries, when the religious fervor of the Crusades and false accusations that Jews spread the Black Death sparked violent pogroms. But the new data point to a different scenario that played out earlier.

The partial excavation of an Erfurt cemetery in 2013 exposed dozens of graves.© M. SOWA/THURINGIAN STATE OFFICE FOR HERITAGE MANAGEMENT AND ARCHAEOLOGY

In the Norwich individuals—which DNA shows included three sisters and a young boy with red hair and blue eyes—geneticists found the same disease markers seen in modern Ashkenazi populations, at about the same frequencies.

At the same time, small differences among the dozens of Erfurt genomes suggested medieval Ashkenazi communities weren’t completely homogeneous, despite the earlier bottleneck.

That mixture of east and west “is exactly what we get from the genetic results,” Sczech says: After first branching out from a single, small founding population into small communities across Europe, including medieval Great Britain, the medieval Ashkenazim apparently mixed back together in places like Erfurt generations later.

The role of Jews as bankers, craftspeople, traders, and money lenders would have put them in constant contact with their Christian neighbors. In Erfurt, as in many medieval cities, synagogues, ritual baths, and Jewish houses were in the heart of town, right next to the city hall and at the intersection of two major roads.

Archival records show Jews and Christians went into business together and Christians served as wet-nurses to Jewish children. “Jews and Christians were constantly in each others’ lives. But it looks like they didn’t have children together,” Baumgarten says. “We as modern people don’t have the words to describe that complex sense of belonging.”

“It’s fair to say Jewish history is one big sequence of bottlenecks,” Rutgers says. But the Erfurt data suggests a brighter possibility: that long before the Erfurt Jews were laid to rest, somewhere in Europe a few dozen people flourished, passing their genes and culture to millions of people living today despite a history of brutal persecution.

Bangladesh jolted by 5.2M Earthquake

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A 5.2-magnitude earthquake jolted Dhaka on Monday, with the epicentre at 520 km away from Agargaon Seismic Centre in Dhaka at 9:02 a.m., according to athe Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD).

Kazi Zebunnesa, a meteorologist from BMD, told media that the epicentre of the earthquake was at a depth of 10 km in the Bay of Bengal and the reports of casualty and damage are still expected to be reported.

Bangladesh, which sits in a seismic zone, is prone to tremors.

President Murmu Announces Results of Swachh Survekshan 2022; Indore is India’s Cleanest City for 6th consecutive year

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  • Indore is India’s Cleanest City for the Sixth consecutive year, and India’s first 7-Star Garbage Free city.
  • Madhya Pradesh Cleanest State in >100 Urban Local Bodies(ULB) Category, Tripura Cleanest State in <100 ULB Category.India celebrated 8 years of Swachh Bharat Mission and the first anniversary of SBM-Urban 2.0 in grand style as President Droupadi Murmu  today felicitated the awardees of the cleanest States and cities at the award ceremony of Azadi@75 Swachh Survekshan 2022, hosted as part of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 by Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi. The award ceremony, organized to recognize the good work done for Swachhata by towns/ cities, States and Union Territories under Swachh Survekshan 2022 and certifications for Garbage Free Star rating for cities – saw more than 160 awards under various categories being given away through the day.The President formally released the Swachh Survekshan 2022 dashboard and gave away the top 12 awards. In an impressive display of sustainability and good governance,
  • Indore, the city of lakes and palaces, walked away with the Cleanest City title for the sixth consecutive year, in the ‘more than 1 lakh population’ category,
  • Surat was adjudged the second cleanest city, for the second time in a row.
  • Navi Mumbai bagged the third spot.
  • In the population category of ‘less than 1 lakh’, Panchgani and Karad  from Maharashtra bagged the first and third positions respectively, while Patan from Chhattisgarh bagged the second position.
  • Tirupati received the best city award in Safai Mitra Suraksha while Haridwar in Uttarakhand received the award for the best Ganga town in more than one lakh population cities. Shivamogga in Karnataka received the fast mover city award.Indore further cemented its position by emerging as India’s first 7-star Garbage Free city, while Surat, Bhopal, Mysuru, Navi Mumbai, Vishakhapatnam, and Tirupati earned 5-star Garbage Free certifications.

    The State awards saw a few surprises. Madhya Pradesh emerged as the ‘Cleanest State’ in the category of “more than 100 Urban Local Bodies”, relegating Chhattisgarh, the Cleanest State of the previous 3 years, to second place. Maharashtra emerged as third cleanest State.  Similarly, Tripura emerged as the Cleanest State award in the “less than 100 ULBs category”, dislodging Jharkhand, which had won in the last 2 consecutive years. Jharkhand and Uttarakhand received the second and third spots respectively.

    Over the years, Swachh Survekshan (SS) has emerged as an effective tool for transforming the urban landscape. This year’s Survekshan participated by 4,355 cities, also saw an unprecedented number of citizens’ feedback – over 9 crores, compared to 5 cores last year. In all, 22 States and 5 UTs received awards, of whom 8 States received more than 10 awards each. 8 States and 5 UTs have shown improvements ranging between 5 – 25% in their overall ground level performance over last year. Of them, 4 out the 8 North Eastern states have shown significant improvement in the overall performance over the last year. Moreover, 10 Cantonment Boards (against 7 CBs last year) and 2 Ganga towns received awards. A heartening feature of the awards was that smaller cities with population of less than 25,000 have performed admirably in the survey, with 40 of them receiving awards today.

    The vision of a Garbage Free India under SBM-U 2.0 was given further impetus by announcing the results of 7-star and 5-star rated cities under the Star Rating Protocol of Garbage Free Cities. The revised Star Rating Protocol of Garbage Free Cities was launched in 2021 to holistically evaluate cities across solid waste management parameters. This year, the number has gone up manifold with 3,600 cities applying for the assessment against 2,238 last year, and number of Star rated cities has gone up to 412 (with 11 five-star cities, 182 three-star cities, and 218 one-star cities), thus signifying how cities’ aspirations towards becoming Garbage Free is getting enhanced.

     

     

     

    Speaking at the event, the President said, “I congratulate all the awardee cities for their commitment to the cause of Swachhata”. The President had special words of praise for Indore who she said should become a role model for other cities . The President exhorted the citizens to join in the three-week long source segregation campaign scheduled to begin from 2nd Oct 2022 and expressed the hope that by 2026 India’s urban areas will become Garbage Free . The President complimented the citizens of the country and concluded with a wish for a ‘swasth’ ‘ sasakth’ and ‘swachh’ India.

    Hardeep S Puri, Union Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs and Kaushal Kishore, Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs also felicitated the awardee cities and States.  Congratulating the cities for their efforts, the Union Minister said, “achievements under SBM-U have been the result of the collective efforts of the citizens of urban India. Today, the Mission has taken the shape of a people’s movement, a true ‘Jan Andolan’. The Minister concluded his address by appealing to all citizens to begin a 3-week focused campaign of source segregation from 2nd Oct, on the occasion of Swachhata Divas, so that India’s journey towards Garbage Free status is accelerated manifold. The event was attended by over 1,500 guests comprising Mayors and other political representatives, diplomats, state and city administrators and senior officials, sector partners and brand ambassadors, academic institutions, industry associations, startups, NGOs and CSOs,  while citizens from across India joined virtually to witness this occasion. Cities had also put up screens in prominent places to enable their citizens to view the live ceremony.

    The spirit of celebration was further enhanced through the release of an audio-visual song and documentary, by the President, capturing the journey of SBM till date and the road ahead. The theme of the audio-visual song was ‘Garv‘, reiterating the pride in the goals attained so far and pride in finishing the unfinished too, and featured various celebrity ambassadors of the Mission such as P V Sindhu and Mithali Raj. The song is an effort to reinvigorate people to carry forward the SBM-U 2.0 journey in the days ahead.

    The Award ceremony was a platform for reaffirmation of commitment from cities and citizens to move forward with renewed vigour towards the vision of Garbage Free cities.

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Most Twitter users don’t follow political elites, but film stars: Researchers suggest

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While social media platforms are the primary source of political information for a growing number of people, a majority of Twitter users do not follow either members of Congress, their president or news media, a new study suggests.

They are much more likely to follow Tom Hanks or Katie Perry than an elected official.

“Those users who do follow political accounts on Twitter, however, stick to insular online communities and mostly follow and share information from their political in-group,” said Magdalena Wojcieszak, lead author and professor of communication at the University of California, Davis, and the University of Amsterdam.

In other words, speaking to ongoing debates about so-called “echo chambers” on social media platforms, the small group of users who do follow political elites display clear political biases and engage with these elites in a very one-sided way.

The findings come after researchers from UC Davis and New York University analyzed four years’ worth of data from a sampling of 1.5 million Twitter users.

Twitter

Researchers concluded that even though the group of social media users who display political biases in their online behaviors is small, it is nevertheless consequential. These users are much more vocal, participatory and active online, thus amplifying the general perception of unprecedented polarization.

“In this project, we focus on national political elites due to their visibility and national-level influence on public opinion and the political process,” Wojcieszak said. Yet, despite the prominence and impact of presidents, congressmen, journalists, pundits and the news media, researchers found that only 40% of Twitter users follow one or more political “elites.” The remaining 60% follow no political actors at all.

“Given that we analyzed over 2,500 American political elite accounts including Donald Trump, Joe Biden, prominent pundits including Rachel Maddow and Sean Hannity, and the most popular media outlets such as MSNBC and Fox News, the fact that only 23% of the representative sample of over 1.5 million users follow three of more of such elite accounts is revealing,” Wojcieszak said.

The authors found that those users who do follow politicians, pundits and news media follow their political in-group at much higher rates than out-group elites (around 90% vs. 10%) and share tweets from in-group elites overwhelmingly more frequently than out-group tweets (at about a 13:1 ratio). And when users share out-group tweets, they tend to add negative comments to these reshares, further reinforcing ideological biases online.

The research also reveals important ideological asymmetries: conservative users are roughly twice as likely as liberals to share in-group versus out-group content, as well as to add negative commentary to out-group shares.

Social Media/Photo:indiainternationaltimes

Surprising findings

“Overall, the majority of American Twitter users are not sufficiently interested in politics to follow even a single political or media elite from our list,” Wojcieszak said. Researchers wrote that they found this surprising, since it is generally believed that Twitter users are more politically engaged than the general population.

Given a growing radicalization in America, decreasing support for democratic norms, and rising support for political violence, concerns about political biases on social media platforms are valid, no matter how small the groups displaying those biases may be.

“At the same time,” Wojcieszak said, “we have to remember that these political biases are far removed from the everyday online behaviors of most politically disinterested Americans, who simply don’t care and prefer to immerse themselves in entertainment or sports. Our findings should help us all keep in perspective the concerns about the so-called ‘echo chambers’ online.”

 

RBI hikes Repo Rate by another 50 basis points to 5.9%

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  • GDP for 2022-23 projected to grow at 7.0%.
  • Internet banking facility to be started for Regional Rural Banks’ customers.
  • Regulation of offline payment aggregators proposed.

Repo Rate hiked to 5.90%

The repo rate, the rate at which RBI lends money to commercial banks, has been hiked by 50 basis points again. Considering the prevailing adverse global environment, resilience in domestic economic activity, uncomfortably high inflation level, the RBI has hiked the policy repo rate by 50 basis points, to 5.40%.

Consequently, the standing deposit facility (SDF) rate stands adjusted to 5.65% and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.15%. The Monetary Policy Committee has decided to remain focused on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation remains within the target going forward, while supporting growth, stated RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das.

The Governor’s address can be watched here:https://youtu.be/cb1it7TU8bk

RBI

Additional Measures:

The Governor announced a series of four additional measures, as given below.

1. Discussion paper on Expected Loss-Based Approach to be released for loan-loss provisioning by banks

Banks currently follow incurred-loss approach, where provisions are made after stress has actually materialized, this is to be replaced by a more prudent approach which requires banks to make provisions based on assessment of probable losses.

2. Discussion paper on securitization of Stressed Assets Framework (SSAF) to be released.

Revised framework for securitization of stressed assets was issued in Sep 2021, it has now been decided to introduce a framework for securitization of stressed assets, this will provide alternate mechanism for securitization of NPAs in addition to existing ARC route.

3. Internet banking facility for customers of Regional Rural Banks.

RRBs are currently allowed to provide internet banking facility to customers subject to fulfillment of certain criteria, to spread digital banking in rural areas, these criteria are being rationalized, revised guidelines to be issued separately.

4. Regulation of offline payment aggregators.

Online Payment Aggregators (PAs) have been brought under the purview of RBI regulations since March 2020. It is now proposed to extend these regulations to offline PAs, who handle proximity/ face-to-face transactions. This measure is expected to bring in regulatory synergy and convergence on data standards.

Growth Projection – 7.0% for 2022-23

The Governor informed that the central bank’s growth projection for the Indian economy for 2022-23 is projected at 7.0 per cent with Q2 at 6.3 per cent; Q3 at 4.6 per cent; and Q4:2022-23 at 4.6 per cent, with risks broadly balanced.

The growth for Q1 of 2023-24 is projected at 7.2 per cent.

Against the current challenging global environment, economic activity in India remains stable, stated the RBI Governor. “While real GDP in first quarter of this year turned out to be lower than expectations, it is perhaps the highest among major global economies”, he added.

Inflation

Inflation inched up to 7.0 per cent in August from 6.7 per cent in July, stated the RBI Governor. Global geopolitical developments are weighing heavily on the domestic inflation trajectory, he said.

The RBI Governor stated that monetary policy has to carry forward its calibrated action on policy rates and liquidity conditions consistent with the evolving inflation growth dynamics. It must remain alert and nimble, he stated.

Read the full statement of the Governor here; Statement on Development and Regulatory Policies here; and Monetary Policy Statement here.

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National level exhibition of traditional products from SFURTI Mela opens for Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav [Colourful products]

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Khadi and Village Industries Commission, a Statutory Body under Ministry of MSME, is organizing a SFURTI Mela at Dilli Haat, INA, New Delhi from 1st October to 15th October, 2022. This national level exhibition of traditional products from SFURTI clusters is being organized for the first time, also commemorating the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Under SFURTI, traditional artisans are organized into clusters for manufacturing value added traditional products to enhance their income. These clusters cover traditional sectors such handloom, handicrafts, khadi, coir, agro-products, etc. Government of India provides assistance for infrastructure development, capacity building, marketing and design promotion, etc. Till date, 498 clusters have been supported under SFURTI across the country directly benefiting around 3 lakh artisans.

During the SFURTI Mela, 100 artisans from 50 SFURTI clusters covering 28 States will be showcasing their traditional products of handloom, handicrafts, khadi, coir, agro-processing These include clusters such as- Sozni Embroidery cluster of Jammu and Kashmir, Cane and Bamboo cluster of Meghalaya, Channapatna Toy cluster of Karnataka, Natural Dye Cluster of Rajasthan, Madhubani painting Cluster of Bihar, Kolhapuri Traditional Jewellery cluster of Maharashtra, Coir cluster of Kerala, Carpet and Durrie Cluster of Uttar Pradesh, Millet Cluster of Odisha, Eri Silk Khadi Cluster of Arunachal Pradesh among others.

SFURTI–Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries/Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises

The purpose of this SFURTI Mela is to promote the traditional products from across the country among the citizens, during the festive times. Besides, this mela will also open new avenues for the artisans for marketing and sales of these cluster products.

Live demonstration of manufacturing processes of traditional products has also been organized in the Theme pavilion of this Mela.

Products Pictures

 

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PM Modi flags off new Vande Bharat Express between Gandhinagar and Mumbai

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The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi flagged off Gandhinagar- Mumbai Vande Bharat Express at Gandhinagar station and travelled on the train from there to Kalupur Railway Station today.

When he arrived at Gandhinagar station, the Prime Minister was accompanied by Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Bhupendra Patel, Governor of Gujarat, Shri Acharya Devvrat, Union Minister of Railways, Shri Ashvini Vaishnav, and Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri. The Prime Minister inspected the train coaches of the Vande Bharat Express 2.0 and took stock of the onboard facilities. Shri Modi also inspected the control centre of the locomotive engine of Vande Bharat Express 2.0.

The Prime Minister then flagged off the new & upgraded version of Vande Bharat Express between Gandhinagar and Mumbai and travelled on the train from there to Kalupur Railway Station. The Prime Minister also interacted with his co-passengers including those from the family members of Railways staff, women entrepreneurs and researchers and youngsters. He also interacted with workers, engineers and other staff who toiled to make Vande Bharat trains a shining success.

Vande Bharat Express 2.0 between Gandhinagar and Mumbai is going to be a game changer and will boost connectivity between the two business hubs of India. It will enable business owners from Gujarat to travel to Mumbai and vice versa without bearing the brunt of high-cost airline tickets while availing facilities that are available on air. One-way travel time of Vande Bharat Express 2.0 from Gandhinagar to Mumbai is estimated at around five and a half hours.

The Vande Bharat Express 2.0 offers a myriad of superior and aircraft-like travelling experiences. It is equipped with advanced state-of-the-art safety features including an indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System – KAVACH.

Vande Bharat 2.0 will be equipped with more advancements and improved features such as reaching the speed of 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in just 52 seconds, and a maximum speed up to 180 kilometres per hour. The improved Vande Bharat Express will weigh 392 tons when compared to the previous version of 430 tons. It will also have a Wi-Fi content on-demand facility. Every coach is equipped with 32” screens providing passenger information and infotainment compared to 24” in the previous version. Vande Bharat Express is also going to be environment friendly as the ACs will be 15 per cent more energy efficient. With dust-free clean air cooling of the traction motor, the travel will become more comfortable. Side recliner seat facility which was provided only to Executive Class passengers earlier will now be made available for all classes. Executive Coaches have the added feature of 180-degree rotating seats.

PM takes a ride in Vande Bharat Express

In the new design of Vande Bharat Express, a photo-catalytic ultraviolet air purification system is installed in the Roof-Mounted Package Unit (RMPU) for air purification.  As recommended by Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO), Chandigarh, this system is designed and installed on both ends of RMPU to filter and clean the air free from germs, bacteria, viruses etc. coming through fresh air and return air.

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A reliable smart app ‘DryEyeRhythm’ to assess Dry eye disease; What is the disease [Details]

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Dry eye disease (DED) is a condition characterized by an array of different symptoms, including dryness, ocular discomfort, fatigue, and visual disturbances. This condition has become increasingly common in recent years owing to an aging society, increased screen time, and a highly stressful social environment. There are about 1 billion people, worldwide, who have DED. Undiagnosed and untreated DED can lead to a variety of symptoms, including ocular fatigue, sensitivity to light, lower vision quality, and a lower quality of life. Given the widespread prevalence of the condition, this can further lead to reduced work productivity and economic loss.

Despite the obvious disadvantages of DED, a large portion of the population remains undiagnosed, which ultimately leads to increased disease severity. DED is currently diagnosed through a series of questionnaires and ocular examinations (which can be invasive). But this method of diagnosis is not ideal. DED examinations do not always correspond with  patients’ subjective DED symptoms. Furthermore, non-invasive and non-contact dry eye examinations are required in the COVID-19 pandemic. These flaws point to a need for a simple, reliable, and accessible screening method for DED to improve diagnosis and prognosis of the disease.

To answer this need, a research group, led by Professor Akira Murakami and Associate Professor Takenori Inomata of the Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, developed a smartphone application called DryEyeRhythm. “DryEyeRhythm leverages the cameras in smartphones to measure users’ blink characteristics and determine maximum blink interval (MBI)—a substitute for tear film breakup time, an important diagnostic criterion of DED,” explains Associate Prof. Inomata. “The app also administers Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaires, which are also a crucial component of DED diagnosis.”

The research team conducted a prospective, cross-sectional, observational, single-center study.

The study revealed that the J-OSDI collected with DryEyeRhythm showed good internal consistency. Moreover, the app-based questionnaire and MBI yielded significantly higher discriminant validity. The app also showed good positive and negative predictive values, with 91.3% and 69.1%, respectively. The area under the Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve—a measure of clinical sensitivity and specificity—for the concurrent use of the app-based J-OSDI and MBI was also high, with a value of 0.910. These results demonstrate that the app is a reliable, valid, and moreover non-invasive, instrument for assessing DED.

“Non-contact and non-invasive DED diagnostic assistance, like the kind provided by DryEyeRhythm, could help facilitate the early diagnosis and treatment of patients, as well as, DED treatment through telemedicine and online medical care,” says Associate Prof. Inomata. The research team plans to further validate its results by conducting a multi-institutional collaborative study in the future. They are also planning to obtain medical device approval and insurance reimbursement for the smartphone application.

The development of DryEyeRhythm is crucial step forward toward the management of DED and improving vision and quality of life among the population.