Tuesday, November 12, 2013

from The Hindu, Monday, November 11, 2013


Rupee at a two-month low of 63.24 against dollar


The Violent Visions of Google Glass
Will Glass be the Frankenstein that pushes us into a world of reductive reality?


SC issues notice to Centre, PATH on clinical trials
The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), an international NGO working in the health sector, on a PIL alleging that it indulged in unethical conduct of clinical trials in collaboration with ICMR between 2009-10 in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.


India concerned over Chinese incursions: Khurshid
India is concerned about periodic provocative incursions by Chinese troops that have resulted in “eyeball-to-eyeball confrontations”, but was hopeful that the border issues will eventually be settled.


Ex-Army Chief slams winding up of secret snooping unit TSD
Former Army Chief Gen V.K. Singh, who has courted controversy over secret military intelligence unit Technical Support Division, on Monday slammed its winding up, saying people “inimical” to India’s security would be happy. Justifying creation of the specialised snooping unit, he said if it had not been disbanded, it would have been helpful in preventing a number of things happening on the border.


NASA’s Hubble discovers freakish asteroid with six ‘tails’


Sri Lanka main opposition laments Manmohan’s absence at CHOGM


Haqqani leader killed in Islamabad
Ten days after Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a U.S. drone strike, a leading member of the Haqqani network, Naseeruddin Haqqani, was reportedly shot dead on Sunday at Barakahu on the outskirts of Islamabad. While the police did not comment on the incident, news reports said he was shot dead by gunmen while returning from a mosque.


Former judge Krishna Iyer turns 99, CJI calls him a bold trendsetter
"Though Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer has retired, his judgments continue to echo in the Supreme Court premises."


Sartaj Aziz holds discussions with Kashmir secessionist leaders
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz held discussions on Kashmir-related political developments with four delegations of Kashmiri secessionist leaders at the Pakistani High Commission on Sunday—evoking a sharp response from the Opposition BJP, which said the Union government was committing a “diplomatic blunder” by allowing the dialogue.


Backward States put up more women candidates than developed States
While women remain under-represented in elections, an interesting new dimension has emerged from the first analysis of 50 years of Assembly election data. India’s backward States systematically put up more female candidates than the developed southern States. Yet, female candidates in developed States are more likely to win.


MNREGS benefits more women in Kerala, Tamil Nadu
There are wide variations across States, within States and across districts in the share of workdays going to women under the government’s flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). While one of the Act’s provisions is that one-third of those given employment should be women, their participation in the scheme points to some unique and often contradicting aspects.


Nitaqat policy triggers riots in Riyadh, 2 killed
68 injured as migrant workers go on the rampage; 561 arrested
Saudi authorities and migrant workers, mostly from east Africa, clashed on Saturday in a southern district of Riyadh — the violence being attributed to the government’s Nitaqat policy aimed at expanding employment opportunities for Saudi nationals.


Holding her ground when ‘Maoists’ came
At the remote Panoth forest outpost on the Kozhikode-Wayanad border, a young tribal woman officer stood guard, unarmed and alone, as a suspected Maoist group came visiting the Vayad tribal colony next door.


People want to move on, want good governance
BJP’s national spokesperson, responding to the article “Narendra Modi and why 2002 cannot go away”, by N. Ram, published in The Hindu on November 6, 2013, says the Gujarat administration and the police were in no way complicit in the 2002 riots, and Mr. Modi has been able to reach out to the people, including Muslims, through “good governance.”


Reprieve, for now
Policymakers must be heaving a big sigh of relief at the decision of ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P), to retain India’s sovereign rating at ‘BBB –,’ with a negative outlook.


Surrender on CHOGM
Once again, foreign policy objectives have been sacrificed at the altar of political expediency. After Pakistan and Bangladesh, the surrender by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress to political opposition and a narrow regional view on Sri Lanka is not surprising, but it is disappointing all the same. The Prime Minister’s decision not to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting came after weeks of pressure by Tamil Nadu political parties, including a resolution by the State Assembly.


A flawed approach to Montreal
In rushing to embrace the U.S. proposal to amend the Montreal Protocol on ozone depletion, New Delhi has neither helped multilateral efforts to tackle climate change nor ensured that the appliances industry gets access to viable alternative refrigerants


Defying the glass ceiling
While more women have entered the corporate boardrooms, the overall scenario in India remains pretty grim.


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