Arun has been associated with India International Times since 2018 and he has been a key reporter in covering science and space related stories. He can be reached at arunKnn@indiainternationaltimes.com.
Amid sexual harassment charges, University of California at Berkeley law school dean Sujit Choudhry has resigned, while the administration said it made a mistake overseeing similar allegations in July 2015. This is second in row that a famous faculty of the school resigned over sexual scandals.
Chancellor Nicholas Dirks and Provost Claude Steele said in a statement: “We must move in the direction of stronger sanctions, and in doing this we want and need the broad input of the campus community.”
Choudhry’s admin assistant, Tyann Sorrell, complained of daily kisses by Choudhry involving “rude and demeaning” conduct, hugging and other physical conduct — in a law suit she filed in Alameda County Superior Court. She said the sordid saga was going on since he took over as dean in July 2014.
She said she would keep her arms at her sides and make her body go limp until she thought he was done and in response to his kisses she would freeze and try to pretend it did not happen. She said she has repeatedly brought the issue up to superiors, but school officials failed to act on him.
While Choudhary resigned a day after her lawsuit, the administration said, “We believe the dean’s resignation is an outcome in the best interests of Berkeley Law and the university as a whole.”
“This incident highlights UC Berkeley’s history of insulating those who perpetuate sexual violence against members of our community and the culture that allows them to thrive,” student leader Sloan Patrice Whiteside said in an open letter. On his part, Choudhry said he agreed to step aside to prevent the lawsuit from becoming a distraction to the school.
“While I disagree with the plaintiff’s claims and allegations, and will defend against them, I am unfortunately unable to comment on the substance of the lawsuit,” he said in a statement. “However, I can say that I cooperated fully with, and take extremely seriously, the University’s confidential investigation into this matter and ensuing sanction. I will continue to cooperate fully with the University as matters unfold.”
Choudhry remains a member of the faculty though until the case is completed.In 2002, another dean John Dwyer was forced to resign from his post sexual harassment allegations by a former student. Another astronomy professor resigned following similar sexual harassment claims.
With one arrested in threatening posters case, another appeared in Delhi sending relentless death threats to JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, pointing at a move to keep the emerging leader under constant pressure not to seek out any political career.
This time the poster not only threatened Kanhaiya Kumar but also Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, who are facing charge of sedition. Earlier poster by a self-proclaimed Poorvanchal Sena had announced Rs 11 lakh on Kumar but he was arrested and jailed.
The new poster that appeared at Jantar Mantar said, “Shooting the traitors is a national duty. I shall shoot Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and Kanhaiya.” It bore the name of one Balbir Singh Bharatiya who claimed to have been a part of the Anna Hazare-led movement against corruption. The poster also contained a phone number and his photograph, posing a challenge to Delhi Police to chase him now.
The poster also threatened Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for extending support to the JNU students. It said, “I shall shoot all who celebrated the anniversary of Afzal Guru’s hanging.”
Delhi’s deputy commissioner of police Jatin Narwal acknowledged the poster’s appearance and said, “We have initiated an inquiry into the matter.” He said when policemen called the number a shop owner at Yamuna Bazar picket up the call but did not commit to have pasted the poster. He had admitted that he visited Jantar Mantar on Friday and that he will be questioned soon.
So, the question is threatening JNU student leaders some way or the other has become a national hobby now and it is increasingly taking an ugly turn of conservative rightists versus leftist forces and unless caution is shown by the authorities, it may spread like a contagious fire in the country, posing a bigger challenge to the nation than seen in the borders.
Although the causes of many age-related diseases remain unknown, oxidative stress has been linked to cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases including diabetes, hypertension and age-related cancers.
However, researchers at the University of Missouri recently found that aging actually offered significant protection against oxidative stress, suggesting that aging may trigger an adaptive response to counteract the effects of oxidative stress on blood vessels.
“Molecules known as reactive oxygen species, or ROS, play an important role in regulating cellular function,” said Steven Segal, at the MU School of Medicine and senior author of the study. “However, the overproduction of ROS can help create a condition referred to as oxidative stress, which can alter the function of cells and interfere with their growth and reproduction.”
To understand the effects of aging on the function of blood vessels when they are exposed to oxidative stress, Segal’s team studied the inner lining, or endothelium, of small resistance arteries. Resistance arteries are important to cardiovascular function because they regulate both the amount of blood flow into tissues and systemic blood pressure.
“We studied the endothelium from resistance arteries of male mice at 4 months and 24 months of age, which correspond to humans in their early 20s and mid-60s,” Segal said. “We first studied the endothelium under resting conditions and in the absence of oxidative stress. We then simulated oxidative stress by adding hydrogen peroxide.
When oxidative stress was induced for 20 minutes, the endothelial cells of the younger mice had abnormal increases in calcium when compared to the endothelial cells of the older mice. This finding is important because when calcium gets too high, cells can be severely damaged.”
When oxidative stress was extended to 60 minutes, Segal’s team found that the death of endothelial cells in the younger mice was seven times greater than those from the older mice. These findings indicated that with advancing age, the endothelium had adapted to preserve cellular integrity when confronted with oxidative stress.
“This finding contrasts with the generally held belief that the functional integrity of the endothelium is compromised as we age. Our study suggests that blood vessels adapt during the aging process to regulate ROS and minimize cell death when subjected to an abrupt increase in oxidative stress. This adaptation helps to ensure that the arteries of older individuals can still do their jobs.”
Selena Gomez has silently updated her Facebook page with a nude picture sending shock waves across the globe, especially for her fans.
Star of “Wizards of Waverly Place”, Selena has been a symbol of deceny for long and her break up with boyfriend Justin Biber has hurt more of their fans than the couple themselves who have carved out their own niche area of expertise and fame.
The nude picture uploaded on September 8 on Facebook has already received more than 1,956,794 likes and 15,160 have shared the page. However, some comments were outrageous, while others just applaud the beauty behind the photo.
Arif Munir was first to compare her to another Miley Cyrus on the cards while Gyzelle Rodriguez wanted to be more artistic in his appreciation when he said: “Girl! You are beautiful! There is a huge difference between miley naked and selena naked. Its called class. Selena brings the art out of the female form. Miley brings out vulgarity.”
Google’s self-driving car relies on a roof-mounted LIDAR sensor to see the world around it.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley say they’ve developed a new breed of laser technology that could significantly reduce the size, weight, cost, and power consumption of LIDARs, potentially leading to a much broader range of autonomous vehicles.
LIDAR is a portmanteau of “light” and “radar.” In essence, these sensors monitor their surroundings by shining a light on an object and measuring the time needed for it to bounce back. They work well enough, but they aren’t without their drawbacks. Today’s self-driving cars typically use LIDARs that are quite large and expensive. Google, for instance, used $80,000 LIDARs with its early designs. “Most vehicles in the DARPA urban challenge put half-a-million-dollars worth of sensors on the car,” says Daniela Rus, the director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, referring to the government-backed competition that helped spawn Google’s autonomous vehicles.
“This is important for unmanned vehicles on land and in the sky,” says Weijian Yang, one of the researchers behind the project.
Yang’s work is part of a wider effort to refine LIDARs and build a cheaper breed of autonomous cars and other vehicles. A German company called SICK already offers a LIDAR that sells for less than $10,000, and researchers from MIT and the National Research Foundation of Singapore, including Rus, recently built a self-driving golf cart using no more than four of these units (see video below).
As LIDAR technology improves—and as we improve the algorithms that process the data gathered from these sensors—we’ll bring autonomy not just to cars but smaller contraptions, including golf carts, robots, and flying drones.
Anatomy of a LIDAR
A LIDAR operates by repeatedly changing the wavelength of a laser, so that the sensor can properly identify the light as it bounces off an object and returns to the sensor, and such wavelength changes require the precise manipulation of a mirror—or sometimes multiple mirrors. Typically, a separate electrical device moves these mirrors to and fro. But at Berkeley, Yang and his team developed a new option. They can move the mirrors with the laser itself.
“You don’t need an external electrical source,” says Yang, the lead author on the paper describing the technology, which was published today in the journal Scientific Reports. “The laser can change the position of the mirror automatically. The light has some kind of force.”
The result: they don’t need that outside electrical device, the sensor is smaller and lighter, and it consumes less power. The laser can be integrated with the mirror. The whole device can squeeze into a few hundred square micrometers of space. And it can be powered with the equivalent AA battery.
A More Accurate Picture
According to Yang, this same technology could improve optical coherence tomography, or OCT, which is used in medical imaging equipment. But the most intriguing possibilities lie in the world of robotics. Among other things, Yang explains, Berkeley’s method allows lasers to change wavelengths more frequently—one microsecond versus 10 or so milliseconds—and that means a LIDAR could potentially take more readings, more quickly. In other words, it could provide a more accurate picture of its surroundings.
Emilio Frazzoli, an MIT researcher who worked alongside Rus on those self-driving golf carts, says that smaller, cheaper LIDARs aren’t essential to the near future of self-driving cars. “Right now, these sensors are still expensive, but they’re becoming better and cheaper, and I don’t see them as a bottleneck,” he says, pointing out that even with today’s sensors, the price of a self-driving car compares favorably to how much you’d speed for a standard car and a full-time driver.
But he says that better sensors are certainly welcome, particularly for other applications. Indeed, Yang believes that his work could help drive the creation of additional autonomous vehicles and robots, including contraptions the size of a smartphone. In the years to come, more machines will have eyes than you might expect.
Palestinian families take shelter at an UNRWA school in Gaza City (13 July 2014). File Photo: UNRWA/Shareef Sarhan
Living conditions in Gaza are so bad that they’ve been described as “less than human” and potentially uninhabitable by 2020, the UN has said sending out warning signals, which have emanated from the UN trade and development agency, UNCTAD, in its report into the Palestinian economy.
In addition to severe crises linked to water and electricity shortages, the UN agency says that Gaza’s 1.8 million residents have yet to recover from the destruction of last year’s conflict with Israel.
Three wars in six years and eight years of economic blockade have been blamed for terrible living conditions in the Territories Occupied by Israel, the UN trade and development agency (UNCTAD) said Tuesday.
In its latest report into Gaza and the West Bank, UNCTAD experts warn that development is not merely hindered, but reversed. In fact, the figures show that for the first time since 2006, the Palestinian economy has gone into recession.
The conflict in 2014 was particularly damaging, with whole areas of Gaza still flattened by attacks. So says UNCTAD’s Mahmoud Elkhafif.
“The fact that electricity is not enough, that a number of hospitals have been destroyed, the fact that there is no drinking water enough, it’s just what any rational human would (not) doubt what’s going to happen. I mean, we had had a study before the destruction of 2014 indicating that Gaza won’t be liveable in 2020, it’s not that things stayed as they were in 2020 but they got much, much worse in 2014.”
Israel is criticised for withholding almost USD $700 million of import tax revenue from the Palestinian authorities in the first four months of the year.
According to the UN agency it’s the sixth time Israel has withheld the monies since 1997, which are far and away the main source of public revenue in the West Bank and Gaza.
In another sign of the deteriorating conditions on the ground, UNCTAD said that in the year 2000, 72,000 people depended on food aid, but now that number has risen to almost a million. And in Gaza, unemployment is as high as 80 per cent, the UN agency said.
Razor wire surrounds Debrecen centre for asylum-seekers in eastern Hungary. Parts of the centre are “open” but the facility also contains a unit for detaining asylum-seekers considered at risk of absconding. Photo: IRIN
In the wake of the grim discovery of the bodies of more than 70 people inside a truck abandoned near Austria’s border with Hungary, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged the world to come together to provide comprehensive responses to migration issues, including tackling smugglers and resolving ongoing conflicts, among other root causes.
“I am horrified and heartbroken at the latest loss of lives of refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean and Europe, declared the Secretary-General following the discovery of the bodies in the abandoned vehicle, and upon hearing reports that many of the victims were Syrian asylum seekers – including children.
Meanwhile in Geneva, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Melissa Fleming said, “this tragedy shows people smugglers have no regard for human life and are only after profit. It also underscores the desperation of people seeking protection or a new life in Europe.”
Austrian police say that they believe the truck came from Hungary and entered Austria on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, and that the victims might have been dead for one or two days. Their identity is still unknown but it is presumed that they were being transported by smugglers.
After establishing that there were no survivors, the police closed the truck and moved it to another location for further investigations.
UNHCR expressed its hope that this incident will result in strong cooperation among European police forces, intelligence agencies and international organisations to crack down on the smuggling trade while putting in place measures to protect and care for victims.
Ms. Fleming reiterated UNHCR’s call to European countries to approach the refugee crisis “in a spirit of solidarity and cooperation and to provide those seeking safety in Europe with safe legal alternatives – including resettlement or humanitarian admission programmes, flexible visa policies and family reunification – to dangerous irregular voyages.”
Every day last week, the Hungarian border police intercepted more than 2,000 people crossing the border from Serbia. On Wednesday, police reported 3,241 new arrivals, including 700 children – the highest number in a single day so far this year.
Syrian refugees constitute the majority of the asylum-seekers, many of whom are women and children. They travel in large groups of over 200 – walking along rail tracks or crawling under barbed wire – as work continues on a 175 kilometres long wall at the Hungarian-Serbian border.
With a maximum capacity of 5,000 people, Hungary’s four reception centres are overcrowded, causing long waits and further exacerbating asylum-seekers’ angst. The Hungarian police do not have social workers or enough interpreters in Arabic, Dari, Pashto and Urdu, which makes communication difficult.
According to the latest official statistics, so far this year more than 140,000 people have sought asylum in Hungary, compared to 42,000 people last year. Most of those lodging asylum applications are from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, and they include some 7,000 unaccompanied children.
On 26 August 2015, a distressed child rests over the shoulder of the man carrying him, in the town of Gevgelija, on the border with Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Photo: UNICEF/Tomislav Georgiev
As the “heart-breaking” image of a drowned refugee boy who washed up on a beach in Turkey ricocheted around the world on social media, along with equally painful images of children lying suffocated in the backs of trucks crossing borders and being passed over barbed wire fences by desperate parents, Anthony Lake, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today made a powerful plea for action to protect migrant and refugee children.
“It is not enough for the world to be shocked by these images. Shock must be matched by action,” declared the UNICEF chief.
In a statement issued by the agency, Mr. Lake advocated that all decisions regarding the child migrant and refugee crisis in Europe be guided by the best interests of the children involved, and that measures be taken to ensure they receive adequate health care, food, emotional support, education, shelter and protection.
UNICEF estimates that at least a quarter of the hundreds of thousands of people who have sought refuge in Europe are children, many of whom have fled the conflict in Syria.
Some 2,500 people have died or gone missing this year while attempting the crossing to Europe.
“Our hearts go out today to the families who have lost children – off the coasts, on the shores, and along the roadsides of Europe,” said Lake. “As the debates on policies proceed, we must never lose sight of the deeply human nature of this crisis. Nor of its scale,” he added.
“And we should never forget what lies behind so many of the stories of families seeking sanctuary in Europe: terrible conflicts such as that in Syria, which already has forced some 2 million children to flee their country. Only an end to these conflicts can bring an end to the misery of so many.”
Nobel laureate and microfinance pioneer Mohammad Yunus, who was in Mysore to open a 200-bed multi-specialty hospital for the working class on Friday, said the need for social entepreneurship is the new call of the day.
The 200-bed Narayana Hrudayalaya will have only general wards and taking cue from Yunus, NH founders have set up a hospital simple and pro-poor in ambience.
“I had heard about the revolution Yunus had created when I was working in Kolkata,” said Dr Devi Shetty, founder of Narayana Health. To make poor people who get scared when they go to corporate hospitals and instead squat on the floor, the new hospital will be friendly for all, insisted Dr Shetty.
Muhammad Yunus at a special summit hosted by the University of Salford.
Known for his innovative pro-poor model of empowering women in 1976, Dr Yunus, an economic professor, founded Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank and went on to win Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. The first microfinance lending bank has benefitted more than 8.5 million women.
When women in his country got into microfinancing, it changed women’s marriage equation too, he said. “When I started the bank, I was clear that 50% of our borrowers must be women. Now rural women have money and their husbands borrow from them,” he told TOI in an interview.
“Money means power. It has given them confidence. And has helped them in their children’s education. Worldwide wherever I go, I see young doctors and engineers who tell me that they hail from the villages of Bangladesh and were assisted by Grameen Bank. That gives me immense satisfaction,” said Yunus.
His advice amid increasing criticism against misadventure of microfinance model in Andhra Pradesh was to be a social entrepreneur. Business does not mean money-making, he reiterated.
“Dissociate selfishness. I delinked business from money-making. Social entrepreneurs can touch the lives of many. It’s not rocket science to create a business model,” Yunus said.
The sugarcane farmers’ associations in Karnataka have called for a bandh on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015 which may see some key areas of northern and northwestern Karnataka closed, while Bangalore and southern Karnataka districts will remain unhit due to it.
While it is unlikely to hit normal life in Bangalore and across Karnataka, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) officials said there will be no disruption in bus services tomorrow.
Otherwise, autos and taxis will run as usual in Bangalore. Many schools remain closed on Saturday but those on six-day a week schedule may opt to remain open, except in those districts where bandh will be forced upon them by activists.
All hospitals, medical shops will remain open.
The bandh was called by Karnataka State Sugarcane Growers’ Association (KSSGA) in protest against Karnataka government’s apathy to the rising farmer suicides in the state.
KSSGA president Kurubur Shanthakumar said the state-wide bandh was the culmination of one-month old strike going on in the state by farmers. “In order to put pressure on the authorities, the association will observe a bandh and also be part of the agitation till the demand is met,” he told the New Indian Express.
The farmers’ demands include waiving off of crop loans from nationalised and cooperative banks as the drought situation in the state has adversely affected agricultural production. The farmers are also demanding a Vidarbha-like Package of Rs.10,000 crore for Karnataka.
Other demands include compensation of families of farmers who committed suicide to the extent to Rs. 10 lakh, raising issue price of sugarcane, implement the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project, that was stalled in 2002 due to objections raised by Goa. The project was to provide drinking water to Belgaum, Dharwad and Gadag districts.
Apart from Sept. 5 bandh, the KSSGA also plans to hold a rally in Bangalore on September 7 and also stage a dharna in front of the Chief Minister’s residence. While no political parties were allowed to attend their protest, Shanthakumar said, Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has extended its support to the protest.
India’s current Internet users have crossed 352 million with the liberal addition of 52 million in the first half of 2015 by IAMAI, whose report is apparently based on estimates and not on empirical data.
Otherwise, the number is overwhelming as it is more than the entire population of the US put together. As of 2014, the US population was 319 million.
The mobile and Internet research body said in its January release that its estimates show mobile users by June 2015 would reach 213 million and now that the first half of the year is over, the sequel release has put forward the exact figure of 213 million, without explaining the methodology.
In January, IAMAI said, “The number of mobile internet users in India is expected to reach 213 million by June 2015.” In August, IAMAI report listed the same figure of 213 million, raising eye-brows as to how the exact figure was reached.
On the sideslines of the report, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said it took more than 10 years to move from 10 million to 100 million in India but now the time period has shrunk to just 3 years to jump from 100 to 200 million.
Afterwards, in just one year, the number rose to 300 million, thanks to mobile phone users increasig in number rapidly, said a release by IAMAI.
While the market is going agogue over the sudden crash of Sensex by 1100 point in intra-day trading on Monday, eroding about Rs.4 lakh crore from the pockets of shareholders, there is one reason for optimists to smile. BUY now!
Many TV show experts are suggesting the move to buy but foreign investors are driven by the ripple effect created by Yuan’s unrealistic devaluation that has all the potential to kick off another Asian Currency Crisis of the mid-1990s.
The ripple effect is seen in virtual shock and apathy in the trading session in the morning to make any trade decisions by buyers and brokers alike and even the Indian rupee hit a highest low of Rs.66.50, which is lowest since September 2013.
Monday’s market crash was the biggest after 2008 recession, as on October 24, 2008, it recorded a low of 1204.88 points. But Monday crash is different as it stems directly from the Yuan’s devaluation.
Speculations are high that the 2008 recession was driven by the US downturn while the 2015 would be the Year of China, with its extreme global reach. Another reason could be to bring the markets heed the global opinion on China’s political overtures, especially aimed at Japan.
Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday cancelled his state visit to China and the political fallout could be a trigger to anti-China sentiments bringing down Asian markets for now. The long-term impact will be known only in a couple of months when markets continue to be volatile.
While the Indian market reacted cautiously last week when China announced one of its worst devaluation of Yuan, the possible market reaction in India on the opening day of the week is abrupt and unexplainable.
The slowdown of the Chinese economy may recover from its devaluation but it is strange to see the Indian market reacting similarly as devaluation of the Indian rupee on par with its Chines counterpart is unadvisable for the long term market stabilization.
However, the market needed to correct itself from the buoyant artificial picture being projected by the industry in India following the BJP win last year. Though the Modi government is known for its pro-business and pro-industry policies, the undue delay in passage of bills and the bedlam in parliament have had enough reasons not to cheer about for the industry.
In fact, Indian recovery map was not as great as China or the US since 2008 crash as its macro economic indicators like current account deficit and forex reserves remained same, said Nirmal Jain, Chairman and Managing Director IIFL in a TV show on CNBC-TV18.
Another reason for the abrupt fall is that FIIs or foreign investors are quick to withdraw their investments in India after the Chinese market went down over the Yuan devaluation. Unless Indian investors repose their faith in the markets, Sensex is unlikely to stabilize in the next few days, but experts have advised buying for their clients now.
Meanwhile, European markets have responded taking the curve down as of now and in few hours when the US West Coast opens its stock exchanges, the bells will ring in the effect at least initially.
The explosion in worldwide coffee consumption in the past two decades has generally not benefitted farmers of coffee beans in poorer nations along the equator, said a new study.
A University of Kansas (KU) researcher studying trade and globalization has found that the shift to “technified” coffee production in the 1970s and 1980s has created harsher economic and ecological consequences for heavy coffee-producing nations, such as Honduras, Colombia, Guatemala, Brazil, Vietnam and Ethiopia.
“Historically, coffee has been exploited by the West in various ways, because it’s consumed in rich countries, and grown in poor ones,” said Alexander Myers, a KU doctoral candidate in sociology.
Myers will present his study, “Trading in Crisis: Coffee, Ecological Rift, and Ecologically Unequal Exchange,” at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA). The paper examines how the shift to technified coffee for mass production and to meet greater demand hurt peasant farmers of those countries and had a major ecological influence there, especially with the amount of water required for the crops.
Myers said the shift to technified coffee production changed the process to look more like traditional large wheat or soybean farms in the United States as opposed to allowing coffee plants to grow in smaller shaded areas. The latter process used much less water, for example, and it allowed farmers to diversify their crops and use their land to plant other crops as well.
Technified production requires farmers to exclusively grow coffee.”Especially these peasant farmers who maybe have a small plot of land, they rely almost exclusively on coffee sales to sustain themselves,” Myers said.
Major drops in commodities prices of coffee beans to around $0.50 per pound in 2001 nearly wiped out economies of those nations, for example.”That really hit the famers hard, and it caused a lot of these family farms that have historically relied on coffee to keep themselves afloat,” Myers said.
The technification of coffee production also required a new type of coffee bean to grow effectively, but the process also required much more water to produce. Some ecological researchers have estimated the average cup of coffee takes 140 liters of water to grow.”It’s very taxing environmentally,” Myers said.
The fair trade movement in the past two decades has helped to offset somewhat both the economic and ecological changes, especially for poorer farmers in developing countries. Myers said such movements could help raise awareness especially among coffee drinkers in Western nations.
“What we do matters. The choices that we make, the products that we buy have an impact on somebody,” he said. “Sometimes it’s a good impact. Sometimes it’s negligible or negative. But they do have impacts, so just trying to keep that in mind is important, especially in researching what is behind these consumption choices.”
With the onion prices skyrocketing, the Indian government has cracked whip on rising prices of onions in the country going for a faster track imports and a tender has been floated for 10,000 MT of Onions which will be opened on 27th August, 2015. Currently, the onion prices are in the range of Rs. 80 (US$1.2) per kilogram.
To offset the exports, the Minimum Export Price of Onions has been increased further to US$ 700 per metric ton, from US$ 425 per MT announced in June. Earlier, it was only $ 245 per MT.
Besides, the Secretary (Consumer Affairs) on 24th August, 2015 met with SFAC, NAFED, MMTC, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Agriculture and Govt. of Delhi to review the action taken to keep the prices of onions in check.
To intervene in the market, Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) and NAFED have procured 5857 MT of onions funded out of Price Stabilisation Fund meant to keep prices of essential commodities under control. SFAC has also procured 2511 MT of Onions for the Delhi Govt., making a total stock of 8368 MT of Onions.
In turn, SFAC is supplying Onions at Rs.30.50 per kg. to SAFAL, which is retailing at Rs.39 per kg. in Delhi. SFAC is also selling Onions to consumers at Rs.35 per kg. through 120 milk booths of DMS. A decision was also taken by Govt. of Delhi to sell Onions at subsidized rate of Rs.40 per kg. through 280 Fair Price Shops, which was further reduced to Rs.30 per kg. w.e.f. 12.8.2015
Prices of Onions have been rising on account of a decline in total production from 189.23 lakh tonnes in 2014-15 as against 194.02 lakh tonnes in 2013-14, a decrease of 4.79 lakh tonnes. The shortage has been attributed to adverse weather conditions including unseasonal rains in Maharashtra and Karnataka regions.
In a National Consultation Meeting held recently, it has been decided to keep prices of essential commodities, especially Onions under control. It also recommended effective action against hoarding and blackmarketing to control prices of food items. Chief Secretaries of States / UTs are also being reminded regularly to keep a watch on price rise and take effective action, said the government.
Union Government made an amendment of EC Act, 1955 on 1st July, 2015 to enable State Govt./UTs to impose stock limits on Onions for a further period of one year till 2nd July, 2016, said a statement.
Modi promised to implement OROP in his 2nd Independence Day speech but war veterans are not ready to quit hunger strike. (PIB)
The One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme that was hanging on the Finance Ministry for over five years, both the Congress-led UPA government and the BJP-led NDA government under Narendra Modi should own the responsibility for perpetuating it despite full knowledge that it was beyond mere political calculations involving a huge dent on the exchequer.
While the Congress relented just before the election year to benefit from the votes of these 30 lakh beneficiaries, BJP weaned them away promising its immediate implementation. Once in power, the staggering amount of Rs.8500 crore has forced Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to postpone the OROP beyond the second budget, forcing the ex-servicemen to hit the streets and now end up at the Jantar Mantar in hinger strikes.
For those new to the subject, implentation of OROP entails uniform pension benefits for the defence persons who retired in the same rank with the same service term, irrespective of their date of retirement. Current policy entails only those who retired after 1996 to draw more pension than those who retired before, though rank is the same.
With OROP, 22 lakh ex-servicemen and about 6 lakh war widows will get Rs.10,000 more on average. This has become imminent because the current policy entails those who retired after 1996 to draw more pension than those who retired before, though rank is the same.
“Modi has assured us that it will be implemented, but it has been one year,” said retired Colonel Anil Kaul, who is the media adviser to Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM) that is sprearheading the protest in New Delhi at Jantar Mantar. “The Prime Minister’s voice still echoes in our minds when he roared at the ex-servicemen rally on September 15, 2013, in Rewari and demanded a white paper on OROP from the UPA Government,” said ISEM earlier.
Now that the relay hunger strike entered 65 days, many war veterans who were in the forefront to die for the country are openly preparing themselves to die for the OROP implementation. Strange but no country would have upset its ex-servicemen given a chance.
In case of the Modi’s government too the question is bigger than mere rhetorics. Pumping in Rs.8,500 crore even if it is in incremental way, would mean a huge burden diverting funds from the developmental plans. Secondly, OROP would also undercut the cost of military expenditure on armaments but shows bigger than any other nation in the short run.
Finally, the government has no choice but to implement it. The question is from where will the finance minister draw the funds?
Following the CBSE’s inability to conduct the cancelled AIPMT 2015 entrance exam within a month, the Supreme Court on Friday gave two months time to the Board to conduct the exam, preferably before August 16.
Following paper leak and mass copying reports, the apex court cancelled the AIPMT held on May 3 and asked the board to re-conduct the AIPMT 2015 within a month. But the CBSE resisted the directive and sought three months time as it is alredy overburdened with other exams.
The Supreme Court has relented and gave the board time till August 16 to conduct All India Pre Medical Test (AIPMT) for medical and dental courses for the year 2015-16.
The Supreme Court vacation bench headed by Justice R.K. Agrawal extended time from initial 4 weeks to August 16 on CBSE’s plea.
The court has cancelled the AIPMT examination held on May 3 after the leak of the question paper and circulation of the answer keys through electronic devices across 10 States was detected.
The CBSE faced similar complaints when its 2014 Class 12 physics paper was leaked online a day before the exam but the exam was not cancelled as the board pleaded that not many were aware of it or in knowledge of it.
Remo D’souza’s directorial “AnyBody Can Dance 2”, released on Friday June 19 all over the country, did not make a high decible noise but went off well with known dance fame figures such as Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Prabhudeva, Lauren Gottlieb and dancers from Dharmesh to Punit Pathak from ‘Dance India Dance’ fame.
Varun Dhawan potrays the role of Suresh, whose Padma- Shri-winning mother died with the ghungroo’s on. Suresh wants to be a big dancer just to fullfill his mother’s wish. Shraddha (Vinnie) plays the role of a girl who works in a beauty salon but cherishes her dream to be the world’s best hip hop dancer.
Suresh, Vinnie and other dancers form a team and participate in a dance competition. They then get brutally exposed by the judges panel which includes Remo D’souza, the director and Choreographer. They get a chance meet Prabhu Deva (Vishnu Sir) who guides them. But later he disappears without informing anyone and the movie takes an interesting turn.
The reviews have been mixed. Hindustan Times writer Sweta Kaushal says, “Prabhudheva and Varun Dhawan will floor you with their super moves” while Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV writes, “Any Body Can Dance, the dance steps are dazzlingly dramatic.”
The Firstpost article by Tanul Thakur puts it straight by writing, “Not a movie, but a string of Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Prabhudeva music videos.” The Indian Express, Shubhra Gupta, caps it as the end for lead actors saying, “Beginning is the end for Shraddha Kapoor, Varun Dhawan.”
Sweta Kaushal finds similarities between ABCD 2 and Happy New Year (HNY). She writes, “It sounds uncharitable, but there are a few common threads between Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor’s first dance film ABCD 2, which hits theatres today, and Shah Rukh khan and Deepika padukone’s Happy New Year. Both films show the lead characters travelling to foreign locations straight from the streets of Mumbai to win a dance championship. Both SRK and Varun’s teams are ridiculed for being cheaters and both films have their own versions of the famous 70-minute monologue from Chak De!.”
Favouring the ABCD2, she says while Happy New Year was a torture, ABCD 2 is a film Bollywood can be proud of producing any time as treat for dance performances. ABCD 2 is a wonderful ensemble of well-choreographed dance sequences and even makes use of 3D to make it more stunning, she writes citing Remo D’Souza, Prabhudheva and even Ganesh Acharya, with whom the dance performance cannot go wrong. She reminds her readers that Varun and Prabhudheva had their share of “troubled past” — one is the son of a famous dancer while the other was a victim of family’s wrath for being a choreographer throughout his life.
The review by Sibal Chaterjee in NDTV begins with the plagiarism in dance. “At this rate every other maker of Mumbai movies and Hindi film music should be distributing free pizzas to the world by way of punishment for plagiarism!” Song and dance being a Bollywood staple, producing a dance-centric film is rare and that too in a 3D format is new for the film, he writes, quickly adding the the novelty is only skin deep. “For dance freaks, there is much on offer. For lovers of cinema, ABCD 2 is a hazy blur of a movie,” he concludes.
Tanul Thakur of Firstpost says Remo D’Souza’s latest, ‘ABCD 2’ actuallly suffers from a strange problem as it is let down by its very raison d’être: dance. Though dance is central theme, ABCD 2’s many and needlessly frequent dance sequences make it less of a film and more of a bunch of loosely-strung music videos, writes the reviewer, complaining that at least 30 minutes stretch in the film was redundant.
Based on the story of Suresh Mukund and Vernon Montero’s Fictitious Group, which made it to the finals of the 2012 World Hip Hop Championship, ABCD 2 had a chance to say about ambitions and the price people pay for them, but ABCD 2 fails to bring it forth, says the reviewer.
The Indian Express reviewer Shubhra Gupta writes, “When Prabhudeva is on the floor, there is a snap and pop, even though his moves are familiar. A couple of numbers do crackle. There are two dancers in here who are amazing. But the rest of them, and their sequences, turn into the seen-this-so-what’s-new glaze. And when the film stops to look around for a story, which it does much too frequently in its two- and-a-half-hour run time, it turns banal and listless… a dance movie needs to electrify. That’s missing: all the I-love-my-India drippiness overwhelms the choreography.”
MF Monitor writes conclusively that the reviews give a mixed opinion from different angles, but viewers can still take a chance to see it once and twice if they like it. “Besides Prabhu Deva dance, we also have Dharmesh, Lauren, Punit, Raghav and all those who have stunned us with their spectacular and breathtaking dance performances in the TV show ‘Dance India Dance.'”
The UGC has clarified that the introduction of Choice Based Credit System will not in any way hamper the academic liberal environment of the universities, despite rumblings from several institutions and universities in the country.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has been trying to introduce the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) for quite some time and guidelines have been framed for its effective implementation, which were uploaded in the month of November, 2014. The guidelines per se provide a template to the universities to design the CBCS according to their strength while keeping the overall uniformity among the universities, said the UGC.
The UGC said to keep fairness in assessment and evaluation, it has also given template of procedures to be followed so that the standards of education are equally maintained. Numerous communications have been sent to the Vice-Chancellors (VCs) of all Universities for effective implementation of the system, said UGC refuting allegations made by some varsities on the issue.
Eight Workshops have been held all over India in which VCs of all Central, State and Private Universities participated and the Vice-Chancellors of Central Universities, in the Conference held in February 2015, have given their commitment to the Visitor to implement the same from the academic year 2015-16, said the statement.
This system is already in vogue in some private universities and the new endeavour will bring State Universities and Central Universities at par with international standards so that the pass outs of these universities are not at any disadvantage in comparison to the private universities. It may be noted that none of the Indian universities rank within 100 in Times Higher Education Ranks in the world.
To handhold the Universities, UGCsaid it has embarked on an extensive exercise of designing curricula for undergraduate course which would assimilate with the provisions of CBCS. The syllabi by the experts have been put in the public domain for feedback and for subsequent modification before they are finalised.
The syllabi, once finalised, will give leverage to the universities to modify the same to the extent of 30%, which will be enhanced from 20% after feedback, depending upon their areas of specialisation.
The UGC has clarified that this is not deviation from the earlier practice where inter-university migration required a minimum 70% equivalency as such implying that the syllabi all over India in undergraduate level are similar to the extent of 70%.
Under the CBCS system the elective subjects so offered will only be from the subjects which are available in the Universities or Institutes and it will not add the teaching load of the teachers beyond the norms stipulated by UGC.
Also there will be no inter-institute/inter-college migration or transfer of teachers and the UGC said it will not suppress the academic liberal environment of the university as nothing contrary has been suggested in the template of the syllabi so designed by the experts.
Ramzan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, began on Thursday with Muslims observing daytime fasting and converging in Iftar parties in the night to break their day-long fast, an occasion for both social gatherings and religious get-together.
President of India Pranab Mukherjee has greeted all fellows Muslims on the occasion of the commencement of the holy month of Ramzan. “I greet all my Muslim brothers and sisters on the occasion of the commencement of the holy month of Ramzan. May the spirit of Ramzan illuminate the world, show us the way to peace and harmony and remind us of our duties towards the less privileged,” he said.
One of the five tenets of Islam, observing fast in the month of Ramzan is a must for Muslims, with exceptions granted only to those who are suffering from an illness, travelling, are elderly, pregnant, breastfeeding, diabetic or going through menstrual bleeding.
While charity is another significant part of during Ramzan, a strict NO to eveil thoughts and daytime eating and drinking, make the month rigorous for Muslims.
Derived from the Arabic word for fasting “sawm”, it literally means “to refrain” not only from food and drink, but from evil actions, thoughts, and words. It includes the increased offering of salat (prayers) and recitation of the Quran. According to the Quran, Prophet Muhammad first received revelations from god during the month of Ramadan and hence it is a sacred month in the entire Islamic calendar.
During Ramadan, every part of the body must follow the tenets such as:
— The tongue must be restrained from backbiting and gossip.
— The eyes must restrain themselves from looking at women.
— The hand must not touch or take anything that does not belong to it.
— The ears must refrain from listening to obscene words and
— The feet must refrain from visiting sinful places.
Iftar
Usually during the month of Iftaar, Muslims break their fast with dates in the evening, as Prophet Mohammad broke his fast with three dates. fter that, Muslims generally go for the Maghrib prayer, the fourth of the five daily prayers, after which the main meal is taken.
Iftars are held for visitors and friend in the evening in a buffet style serving traditional dishes and desserts, besides juices and water. Other food items include lamb stewed with wheat berries, lamb kebabs with grilled vegetables, or roast chicken served with chickpea-studded rice pulav. Teh meals finishes usually with a rich dessert, luqaimat or baklava or kunafeh (sweet kadaifi noodle pastry).
Ramzan Greetings/ Messages:
The general greeting in any language is “I hope you have a blessed Ramzan,” or “may you have a peaceful Ramzan.” In common Arabic, “Ramadan Kareem!” which means Noble or Generous Ramadan!” or “Ramadan Mubarak!” (Blessed Ramadan) are some general greetings often used. In addition, “Kul ‘am wa enta bi-khair!” (May every year find you in good health!) is also used to greet people during the month of Ramadan. The month-long fasting ends with a holiday called Eid al-Fitr or the Festival of Fast-Breaking.
Penalities:
In some Muslim countries, failing to fast is a crime. In Algeria, the court of Biskra sentenced 6 people to 4 years in prison for violating the tenets of Ramadan and in Kuwait, according to law number 44 of 1968, the penalty is 100 Kuwaiti dinars for those seen eating, drinking or smoking during Ramadan daytime.
In the U.A.E., eating or drinking during the daytime of Ramadan is punished by up to 240 hours of community service, while in Egypt, alcohol sales are banned during Ramadan. Otherwise, UAE allows liberal working hours during Ramadan with a maximum of 6 hours daily and 36 hours per week. Even Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait have similar working hours during Ramadan.
