Climate report warns of extreme weather, displacement of millions without action, reports The National Academies Press Read on...
BOTH ABRUPT CHANGES in the physical climate system and steady changes in climate that can trigger abrupt changes in other physical, biological, and human systems present possible threats to nature and society. Abrupt change is already underway in some systems, and large scientific uncertainties about the likelihood of other abrupt changes highlight the need for further research. However, with recent advances in understanding of the climate system, some potential abrupt changes once thought to be imminent threats are now considered unlikely to occur this century. This report summarizes the current state of knowledge on potential abrupt changes to the ocean, atmosphere, ecosystems, and high latitude areas, and identifies key research and monitoring needs. The report calls for action to develop an abrupt change early warning system to help anticipate future abrupt changes and reduce their impacts. The possibility of abrupt climate change—large shifts in climate that take place over periods as short as decades or even years—is the topic of increasing scientific research because of the potential for such changes to happen faster than human or natural systems could respond. Such rapid changes have taken place before: for example, information on past conditions from sources such as fossils and ice cores provides evidence of sudden shifts in ocean and air circulation in Earth’s past. Now, with the current rate of carbon emissions changing the climate system at an accelerating rate, there is growing concern over the increased potential for abrupt climate changes in the near future.
A growing body of research is helping scientists gain a better understanding of abrupt climate change. There is a new recognition that, in addition to abrupt changes in the climate system itself, steady climate change can cross thresholds that trigger abrupt changes in other physical, natural, and human systems. For example, human infrastructure typically has been built to accommodate current climate variability, but gradual climate changes can cause abrupt changes in its utility—such as when rising sea levels suddenly surpass sea walls, or when thawing permafrost causes the sudden collapse of pipelines, buildings, or roads.
Ecosystems also are susceptible to abrupt transitions when gradually changing climate conditions reach thresholds that affect the survival of plant and animal species. For example, as air and water temperatures rise, species such as the mountain pika and some ocean corals will no longer be able to survive in their current habitats, and will be forced to relocate or rapidly adapt. Those populations that are unable to do so will be in danger of extinction.
Better scientific understanding and improved abilities to observe and simulate abrupt climate change would help researchers and policymakers anticipate abrupt changes and prioritize mitigation efforts. This report examines current knowledge about the likelihood and timing of potential abrupt climate changes, discusses the need for developing an abrupt change early warning system to help anticipate major changes before they occur, and identifies gaps in scientific understanding, monitoring, and modeling capabilities.
Current Scientific Knowledge of Abrupt Changes
Recent data show several abrupt changes are already underway, making these changes a primary concern for near-term societal decision making and a priority for research. For example, warmer Arctic temperatures have caused a rapid decline in sea ice over the past decade. This rapid decrease could potentially have large and irreversible effects on various components of the Arctic ecosystem, as well as substantial impacts on Arctic shipping and resource extraction with significant geopolitical ramifications. Understanding and predicting future changes in Arctic sea ice will require maintained and expanded observations of sea ice thickness and extent, as well as improved modeling of sea ice within global and regional climate models.
Another abrupt change already underway is increased extinction pressure on plant and animal species. The current pace of climate change is probably as fast as any warming event in the past 65 million years, and the rate is projected to increase over the next 30 to 80 years. Biologically important climate attributes— such as the number of frost-free days, length and timing of growing seasons, and the frequency and intensity of extreme events—are changing so rapidly that some species can neither move nor adapt fast enough. This gradual climate pressure, in combination with other sources of habitat loss, degradation, and overexploitation, is already putting some species at greater risk of extinction.
Large uncertainties about the likelihood of some potential abrupt changes highlight the need for expanded research and monitoring. For example, as climate warms, the destabilization of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could raise sea level rapidly, with serious consequences for people living in coastal communities. Many of the glaciers of West Antarctica are particularly sensitive to a warming climate because their bases are located well below sea level, and are therefore sensitive to thermal erosion by the warming oceans. In addition, rising sea level helps float the ice, further destabilizing the ice sheets. Such a rapid destabilization of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is plausible this century, with an unknown although probably low probability. Current ice-sheet models do not account for the full suite of physical processes that take place where ice meets ocean—and therefore, future rates of sealevel rise from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet may be underestimated. Improved understanding of key physical processes and inclusion of them in models, together with improved projections of changes in the surrounding ocean, are required to reduce uncertainties and to better quantify worstcase scenarios.
Two decades of focused research has helped scientists determine that some abrupt changes, widely discussed in the scientific literature because they were once identified as potential threats, are unlikely to take place over the near term. For example, the probability of a rapid shutdown within this century of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation—an ocean current that moves warm water from the upper layers of the Atlantic northwards and brings colder water south—is now understood to be low. A second example is the potential rapid release of large amounts of carbon currently stored in high latitude regions as permafrost soils and methane-containing ices. According to current scientific understanding, as temperatures rise these carbon stores are poised to play a significant amplifying role in the centuryscale buildup ofgreenhouse gases in the atmosphere—but are unlikely to do so abruptly.
The committee examined the available evidence for these and several other potential abrupt changes to the ocean, atmosphere, ecosystems, and high latitude regions and assessed the likelihood for each, identifying key research and monitoring needs.
Anticipating Surprises: The Abrupt Change Early Warning System
Some surprises in the climate system may be inevitable, but with improved scientific monitoring and a better understanding of the climate system it could be possible to anticipate abrupt change before it occurs and reduce the potential consequences.
Building this ability will require careful monitoring of climate conditions, improved models for projecting changes, and the interpretation and synthesis of scientific data using novel analysis techniques. To address these needs, the committee believes that action is needed to develop an abrupt change early warning system.
Such a system would be part of an overall risk management strategy, providing information for hazard identification and risk assessment. These data would help identify vulnerabilities to assist in tailoring risk mitigation and preparedness efforts and to ensure warnings result in appropriate protective actions, with the ultimate goal or preempting catastrophes.
Much is already known about the design, implementation, and sustainability of early warning systems.
Planning for an abrupt change early warning system would benefit from leveraging the experience and knowledge gained as part of existing early warning programs, such as the National Integrated Drought Information System or the Famine Early Warning System Network. Providing a complete roadmap to a successful abrupt change early warning system was beyond the scope of this report, but the committee has outlined its initial thoughts on what would make such a system successful:
Monitoring: An abrupt change early warning system should expand upon existing monitoring networks, protect and/or augment important networks that are already in place, and develop new ones as needed. Maintaining and expanding these monitoring networks in an era of budget cuts is an area of concern.
Modeling: A successful abrupt change early warning system must consistently iterate between data collection, model testing and improvement, and model predictions that suggest better data collection.
Synthesis: A necessary part of an abrupt change early warning system is synthesizing knowledge to avoid the trap of data collection without continuing and evolving data analysis and model integration. This will require dedicated teams of researchers, improved collaborative networks, enhanced educational activities, and innovative tools for data analysis and modeling techniques.
To implement an abrupt change early warning system, it will be important to integrate the various components of the project, pay attention to stakeholder priorities, and build the ability to be flexible and adaptive. Thus, designing and implementing an abrupt change early warning system will need to be an iterative process that is revisited and refined as understanding of abrupt climate change, impacts, and social vulnerabilities evolves.
The organizational structure of an abrupt change early warning system would capitalize on existing programs, but will also need to capture the interconnectedness of climate and human systems. Although it could eventually be run as a large, overarching program, such a system might better be started through the coordination, integration, andexpansion of existing and planned smaller programs. Careful coordination—to reduce duplication of efforts, maximize resources, and facilitate data and information sharing—will be essential to a successful abrupt change early warning system.
Abrupt climate changes present substantial risks to society and nature. Although there is still much to learn, to ignore the threat of abrupt change would lead to more costs, loss of life, suffering, and environmental degradation. The time is here to be serious about the threat of tipping points, so as to better anticipate and prepare ourselves for the inevitable surprises.
The Indian armed forces already have in service the indigenously designed and manufactured Nishant and the Israeli Heron and Searcher I & II UAVs. General Dalbir Singh Suhag, the former COAS, had said during an interview in January 2015, “UAVs would play a vital role in future battles and there is a requirement to enhance the Indian Army holdings.”
UAVs are low-cost, low-risk, high-payoff intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and target acquisition (TA) systems. UAVs can be deployed quickly to cover vast areas and, hence, enhance responsiveness. The employment of UAVs improves situational awareness, helps to increase the operational tempo and reduces the sensor-to-shooter time lag. When employed in conjunction with other sensors, UAVs assist in confirming or negating the efficacy of informationgathered and, thus, qualitatively improve the intelligence available to commanders.
While UAVs have several disadvantages such as vulnerability to enemy fire and interception and limitations of communications, they can be employed flexibly and provide unique capabilities to all the Services. While some operational needs are common, others are specific to individual Services.
Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition (RSTA) Requirements of the Services
A large number of the RSTA requirements that can be fulfilled by UAVs are common to all the Services, though with minor variations in the methodology of use. The major common needs of the Services are as under:
Strategic surveillance of the nuclear capabilities, movement of nuclear warheads and materials and deployment of nuclear assets of adversaries, particularly during war.
Detection of missile launchesduring war.
RSTA by way of photo reconnaissance, thermal/IR imaging and SAR during peace-time, the preparatory stage and during war for battlespace transparency.
Target designation for ground-, air- and sea-launched PGMs.
Suppression of enemy air defence (SEAD).
Post-strike damage assessment.
Signals and electronic intelligence (Sigint and ELINT).
Electronic warfare (ECM and ECCM).
Information warfare including psychological and propaganda operations
Communications relay platform to extend the range of VHF and UHF communications
NBC detection, early warning and monitoring of contamination (nature and level of nuclear radiation, collection of air samples).
Digital mapping.
Meteorology
Combat Drones
Another emerging requirement is that of unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs) to deliver PGMs to destroy selected targets. UCAVs have come of age and have proved their efficacy in recent wars fought in Afghanistan and West Asia. These new weapons platforms have enormous potential to be ‘cued on’ to targets that have been identified and selected for destruction or to act as stand-alone hunter-killers in a battlespace that is teeming with targets, e.g. during an enemy offensive launched with mechanised forces in the plains. The weaponry that UCAVs need to carry and the on-board sensor suite that is necessary to locate targets and guide PGMs on to them, need separate analysis and are not discussed here. It has been reported that the IAF is likely to soon induct the Harop UCAV of Israeli origin. It is a combination of a UAV and a missile and is disposable. Also, the DRDO is developing the AURA (autonomous unmanned research aircraft) UCAV for the IAF.
Future UAV Technologies
Sensor suites are the most important subsystem of a modern UAV and account for one-third to half its cost. The selection of sensors is extremely important, as these must provide information and data in an electronic form that is compliant with the network centricity requirements of the Services. Ideally, data standards should be the same in all the Services so that the inputs provided by the surveillance devices of one Service can be used without any problem by the other Services.However, while the Services are working on achieving compatibility, in the short-term it may be adequate to share information and data after due sifting rather than automatically.
The most common user need, particularly of the Army, is to be able to see a real-time picture of the battlefield during day light conditions. Hence, real-time streaming video is a major requirement. Since it requires a large bandwidth, video imposes severe constraints on the communications suite that a UAV can carry. Modern satellites are providing photos of one metre resolution and photos of up to 30 cm resolution can be procured commercially today, though with a small time lag. Specially designed military satellites are capable of providing a still higher resolution. Hence, it would be justifiable for the users to demand day light photos of equally good resolution from UAVs that fly at much lower altitudes. Photos of such high resolutions will enable users to clearly identify even small military targets, prioritise them for engagement and adjust artillery fire or destroy them with PGMs. The electro-optical/ thermal imaging/ infra-red (EO/TI/IR) sensors available today can meet this demand.
Communications are the key to UAV operations. Failsafe communications are required not only to provide operator instructions to the UAV but also to downlink information and data collected by the UAV and for the UAV to act as a communications relay platform when necessary. Secured, reliable VHF and UHF radio links are required for command and control. Larger bandwidths are necessary for data download. Advances in satellite communications technology have brought UAVs into the ambit of satellite control and reduced the need for relay stations to optimally exploit their range. For naval UAVs on long endurance offshore missions, satellite links are inescapable. Command and control communications also need to be provided with ECCM capabilities so that the UAVs can be given instructions even under enemy jamming. Sigint and ELINT missions and active EW missions are rapidly becoming significant roles for UAVs as weight and power limitations are being gradually overcome. The existing indigenous EW capability needs to be enhanced further and adapted for use on UAVs.
UAVs must be able to provide an accurate location of enemy targets (tanks, gun positions, weapon emplacements, bumpers and pill boxes, ATCs, communications centres, enemy ships etc.) or points of interest (choke points, bridges, artificial obstacles, oil slicks etc.). For the purposes of targeting by artillery fire, the location should be accurate ideally to within five metres. Even with GPS, especially non-military use GPS, such accuracies may not be achieved.
In the air defence environment prevailing in modern wars, the survivability of UAVs is a key requirement. The technologies necessary to enhance survivability include low radar signature, radar warning receivers, chaff dispensers, ECCM suites to ensure that communications with the UAV are not disrupted, low acoustic signature of the engine and, where possible, radar absorbing paints. These requirements will undoubtedly burden designers with the need to strike a fine balance between the size, shape and weight of the airframe and the payload that can be carried.
Explore the key fashion trends this winter...
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ONE OF THE MOST versatile and talented Rabindrasangeet & folk singer, Iman Chakraborty has made a mark in the world of Indian music. Her stage presence and quality of voice has been widely appreiciated ever since she won the National Award for the Best Singer category for the song Tumi Jaake Bhalobasho from the Prosenjit Chatterjee-starrer Bengali movie Praktan. Iman started learning music at a very tender age. The award not only brought her appreciation from the audience but also established her as the Best female playback singer. During her growing up days she learnt music from her late mother Trishna Chakraborty and inclined towards literary works of Rabindranath Tagore. Besides Rabindrasangeet she has also learnt Hindusthani Classical music and folk songs from different part of India. She is regular on television and stage.
In an interview to The Hindustan Times when asked about her feelings, she said, “It’s an out of the world feeling. As I was predominantly a Rabindrasangeet singer, when Anupam da (Anupam Roy, the composer and the lyricist of the song, who was also awarded the National Award for the Best Lyricist) gave me the song, I was jittery about it. He told me to live with the song for 10 days and inspired me to add my own rendition to it. That’s how it was made; the rest is history. I want thank those people who didn’t believe in me, who have hurt me, because it’s the pain that I’ve received from them that helped me reach this place and even justify the feeling and the loss that was required for the song.”
Hailing from a small town, Liluah, in Howrah she had been through much ups and downs while pursuing her career in music. While recording the song she was in deep pain as she had lost her mother recently, however she feels that all these obstacles have actually helped her strengthen her emotions that reflected in her music. Iman is currently doing a PhD on Satyajit Ray’s background score from Rabindra Bharati University. Iman’s love for Ranbindra Sangit is paramount and she could never think of a life without music.
There is no escaping the fact that Paris exists as a city of romance in our mind, and it is rightly so. Paris and Love have always been synonyms to many of us. But why is Paris the city of love? Is it because the French culture has been tolerant to public displays of affection? Or is it because of the way the city embraces different cultures and makes people more calm, loving, and openminded? Whatever the case, if you are looking for an opportunity to discover – or rediscover – love in one of those candle-lit wine bars, Paris will not disappoint you
Come February, and what better place in this planet to celebrate Valentine’s Day! The idea of being with your loved in Paris can’t go wrong. Be it those cobblestone walks around Montmartre, or walking arm in-arm on the breezy boulevards along the Seine, or the amazement over watching the sunset from atop the spectacular Eiffel Tower with the perfect Parisian backdrop, it’s all a moment to savour and reminisce. Paris offers endless opportunities for romance on the D-day but here are a few must-dos.
Discover Paris together with a city sightseeing tour
Embark on a fabulous Tour of Paris at your leisure. Stop by sights such as l’Opéra, Notre Dame, and the Champs Elysées. Take a day-trip to Notre Dame and ascend the bell towers, gaining access to a stunning view of the city. A wonderful ending to this day of discovery would be a walk back to Trocadero to catch a glimpse of the city at dusk. This vantage point gives you an opportunity to snap some amazing shots of you and your love with the Eiffel Tower standing tall in the distance.
Visite Musée du Louvre
Take the theme journey through the historical Louvre Museum. Explore major works as the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. Listen to audio commentaries at each major exhibit to learn more about the art stored in the Louvre, and get a route map that helps you plan your day trip around this great museum.
Top of Eiffel
No less than 20,000 gold lights, champagne in hand, and the company of one you love. Rev up the romance while you stare out across the city and cuddle up with your sweetheart. Live the moment. A sensational way to experience the moment would be to visit the champagne bar nestled in the tower itself. A rose or white champagne, chilled as you like, would be on offer for your special date. Want to have a taste of the modern French fine cuisine? Walk into Le Jules Verne for an unforgettable experience.
For showbiz lovers
Want to head out to a cabaret? Go the Moulin Rouge way, for the glamour, the beauty and stage setups that are not only stunning but seem surreal. The intimacy and sensual performances featuring a host of talented performers are just what would make your Valentine’s Day special. The Doriss Girls’ fabulous French Cancan is sure to enchant you.
If life is a love song, Paris is the chorus. Paris’s heritage is truly exceptional, combining both historical and modern treasures
Boat ride on the Seine
It doesn’t get more romantic then this. As you float in your own piece of paradise enjoying a romantic dinner cruise along the Seine River, love is definitely in the air. The best part of this journey is the breathtaking scenery, along with a fine assortment of wine and cheese to savour. Give yourself a chance as live music fills the vessel, and you sway to the music on the dance floor while the boat passes by all the iconic monuments alongside the Seine: Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Louvre, and Invalides. Though a daytime cruise is a great way to discover the city, the soft evening lights make it more magical.
Visit the Cathédral Notre Dame de Paris
One of the most popular attractions in Paris, Cathedral Notre-Dame, is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in the world. A dominating figure on the Île de la Cité in the middle of the Seine, this spindly gothic buttresses and its magnificent stained glass windows make it as much a treat to your eyes. Around the square and bridges around the cathedral you’ll find assorted buskers, from full live bands to human statues, which always draw a handsome attendance from the visitors.
Aux Champs Elysées
The Avenue des Champs Elysées, Europe’s grandest boulevard, known for its glory and grandeur, runs westward from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe. It has it all — the sprawling sidewalks, stylish octogenarians caked in make-up, cars in glimmering showrooms, pastel-green macarons in grand cafés... And if the monuments and symmetrical landscaping does not convince you, be informed that Champs-Elysées means “Elysian Fields”. This street must have been heaven on earth. The monuments and history connected to this avenue are worth more than the reality of the place today.
Say it in Montmartre
Montmartre and its signature Basilique du SacréCoeur is one of the most charming areas of Paris. A place of pilgrimage for die-hard romantics, even. For a grand look of the city of Paris, scale the steep staircases on the hillside to the basilica’s lofty dove-white domes. Seal your fate with your sweetheart with a kiss in front of the iconic Sacré Coeur Basilica. You can finally say it here — “Je t’aime”.
GETTING THERE
Non-stop flight time from New Delhi to Paris is around 9 hours 30 minutes. There are direct flights to Paris from Delhi and Mumbai. However fastest one-stop flight between New Delhi and Paris takes close to 12 hours.
Though there are many books by eminent writers, diplomats and strategic analysts on the turbulent relationship existing between the two neighbours, India and Pakistan and the wars they have fought with each other, yet very few books exist which have exclusively deliberated upon the deep state of Pakistan. Thus a book on the all-powerful deep state of Pakistan captioned “Tryst With Perfidy” by one of India’s distinguished soldiers and military thinkers, the founder chief of India’s Defence Intelligence Agency, Lt Gen Kamal Davar will be a welcome addition to our libraries. For security analysts and students of regional geo-politics who wish to fathom the minds of Pakistani leaders and some of its institutions as to why do they persist in sustaining an adversarial relationship with India, this book will indeed be useful. The writer has endeavoured, rather successfully, to unravel the unchanging Pakistani mindset in his path-breaking book.
Tryst With Perfidy has an excellent Foreword penned by one of India’s renowned former naval chiefs, Adm Arun Prakash. Commending the book, Adm Arun Prakash articulates “combining a soldier’s grasp of military history and strategy with a spymaster’s insight into the internal dynamics of India’s neighbourhood, the author attempts to analyse, what he (Gen Davar) terms the motivations and machinations of Pakistan’s Deep State to unravel what propels them to adopt policies and stratagems, which by conventional wisdom, are hard to fathom”.
Gen. Davar, in his well-articulated Preface explains the nuances of what constitutes a ‘deep state’ anywhere in the world. He refers to the Pakistani Deep State as an unholy trinity of the Pakistan Army, its intelligence agencies and the many terror ‘tanzeems’ it nurtures. Subsequently, this well-researched book comprehensively covers, in fourteen chapters, the entire gamut and mosaic of the vexed India-Pak relations and informs about not only regards the unbridled powers of the Pakistani Deep State but the internal damage it has caused to its parent nation itself. This is one bitter truth which sane Pakistani readers themselves and rational international analysts will agree with ! Many eminent Pakistani authors like Ayesha Siddiqa, Shuja Nawaz and Hussain Haqqani have been extensively quoted alongwith US writers like Stephen Cohen, Ashley Tellis and Christine Fair making the book balanced in its overall perspective.
This book has been formally endorsed by eminent writers like Dr Shashi Tharoor, a former High Commissioner to Pakistan Gopal Parthasarthy and former Indian Army Chief Gen. NC Vij. Dr Tharoor calls the book as a “sharp dissection of the powerful network of institutions that constitute Pakistan’s Deep State”. Mr Parthasarthy opines “this is essential reading for those interested in understanding the challenges that the Deep State dominating Pakistan national life poses, both within and beyond its borders.” Gen Vij terms the book as a “well-researched and authoritative book… and a must-read book” on the Pakistani Deep State.
Tryst With Perfidy may well be on its way to become a momentous work on the Pakistani Deep State, judging from the response it is getting especially from across the border! Lt Gen Kamal Davar, with his vast operational experience as a soldier and subsequently as a military writer, deserves congratulations for authoring this timely and very well-researched book. His final chapter on “The Way Forward” is indeed thoughtprovoking. Overall a must read for strategic professionals, diplomats, geo-political students and the general public, both in India and Pakistan.
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On a positive note...
India had lost a great son and an era had come to an end, former president Pranab Mukherjee said on Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s death, describing the BJP stalwart as a reasoned critique in the opposition, who dominated the space like a titan, and a seeker of consensus as prime minister. A democrat to the core, the former prime minister dominated the opposition space like a titan and led the government with aplomb. His stint as Prime Minister will be remembered for large transitions. His legacy will endure in a more modern and less hidebound economic and foreign policy, in the daring leaps of imagination in infrastructure policy, and for a new vocabulary on the congealed conflict of Kashmir. Our Cover Story is on the Legacy of Vajpayee for whom India's national interests were supreme and was known for his ability to make bold decisions.
Eminent journalist and author Kuldeep Nayar, who fiercely fought for press freedom and protecting civil liberties, passed away on August 23. Known as a crusader for civil rights and press freedom, Nayar was also known for his efforts to improve frosty relationship between India and Pakistan. He will be remembered fondly.
In the publishing world, we pay homage to one of its doyens who as a young boy of 13 took tiny steps to publish his own book. This July 10, 2018 marked the Eighth Founder’s Day for the MBD Group and the 73rd birth anniversary of the revered father and founder. A man with a deep conviction, he went on to build the MBD Group, the largest education company in India today. That visionary and pioneer is none other than our founding father, but also my father Shri Ashok Kumar Malhotra. He believed not just in being the biggest but also in being the BEST. His inspiration marks our step at MBD every day.
In our Economy section, we explore the reasons behind the the continuous fall of the Indian Rupee and how the dollar is gaining strength on news of a robust economic recovery in the US. This constant downward journey this year of Indian Rupee compared to major world currencies - fully or partially convertible - should be a major cause of concern.
This issue in the HitchHiker section, we take you to Switzerland where The Alps, lakes, villages and valleys have long earned it the reputation of a touristic paradise. Switzerland’s rustic beauty and urban architecture keeps surprising us. Land of four languages and eclectic experiences takes you on the epic journey.
Keep reading.
Two Indians-Dr. Bharat Vatwani and Sonam Wangchuk-have been selected for the Magsaysay Awards of 2018. The Magsasay award is seen as the Asian version of the Nobel Prize and is usually awarded to people who have made a major contribution to society.
Dr. Vatwani is a psychiatrist who lives in Mumbai. For 20 years, he and his wife have been helping mentally ill people found abandoned on the street. In addition to treating them, they also helped re-unite them with their families. Often, people who are mentally ill get lost and do not know how to get back to their families. Thanks to Dr. Vatwani’s efforts more than 2000 such people have found their way back home.
Sonam Wangchuk has been awarded for his work in helping fix the school education system in Ladakh. When he returned from his university studies abroad, Wangchuk started an organization that set about changing the way schools were run in Ladakh. In addition to training teachers and helping students perform better, Wangchuk and his team also helped build solar-heated eco-friendly buildings in mountain regions like Ladakh, Nepal and Sikkim so that even in -30°C, solar-powered schools could keep students warm. These efforts have helped more and more students pass the Class 10 exams in Ladakh.
Wangchuk is said to have inspired Aamir Khan’s character in the movie ‘3 Idiots’.
M.Karunanidhi, who was once the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, passed away on Tuesday night at the age of 94. He was the leader of the DMK, one of the two main political parties of Tamil Nadu. Karunanidhi was elected as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu five times. He started his work life however as a poet and writer of scripts for Tamil movies. He entered politics and went on to join the Dravidian movement that rebelled against caste and called for making people of all castes equal in society. In July this year, he completed 50 years as the head of his political party, a record in India.
Justice Ranjan Gogoi, the second senior most judge in the Supreme Court, will take charge as the next Chief Justice of India on October 3, sources have told NDTV. Chief Justice Dipak Misra will soon endorse Justice Gogoi's name as his successor, keeping with the tradition of naming the judge next in seniority as the chief justice, sources said. Justice Gogoi, sources say, will be the Chief Justice till November 17, next year.
This comes after the Law Ministry a few days ago asked Chief Justice Dipak Misra to recommend his successor. It is convention for the law ministry to write to the Chief Justice asking for his recommendation on the man who will replace him.
If the recommendation is cleared by the centre, Justice Gogoi will be administered the oath of office by President Ram Nath Kovind.
Justice Ranjan Gogoi was among the four judges who, in January, criticised Chief Justice Misra in a rare press conference and accused him of misusing his role of assigning cases as the Supreme Court's Master of the Roster. He is currently hearing the Assam National Register of Citizens or NRC issue.
Justice Gogoi's name is likely to be made formal when Justice Misra replies to the Law Ministry letter. He retires on October 2 and has to name a successor at least one month before that.
October 2 being a national holiday, October 1 will be the last working day of Chief Justice Misra.
Justice Gogoi, who was elevated to the Supreme Court in 2012, is known to be a soft-spoken but tough judge.
Born in 1954, Justice Gogoi joined the Bar in 1978. He was subsequently appointed as Permanent Judge of Gauhati High Court on February 28, 2001. Later transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in September 2010, he went on to become the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court in February 2011. He was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court in April 2012.
Chandrayaan 2, India’s second moon mission has been delayed again and may not happen until next year. The launch was originally supposed to take place in March-April 2018. Two satellite launch failures in the last 12 months have forced the Indian space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to take a slower, more careful approach towards this project. Chandrayaan 2 is ISRO’s first mission to land a craft on another celestial body and it may not want to take any chances. As per the plan, an unmanned moving vehicle, a rover that will explore the Moon, is the centre-piece of the India's second lunar mission. Chandrayaan II and its rover will land near the yet-unexplored south pole of the Moon.
India’s star shuttler PV Sindhu lost to Spain’s Carolina Marin at the Badminton World Championships final played in Nanjing, China recently. This is the second year in a row that Sindhu has lost in the final. Sindhu was in tremendous form in the tournament, defeating Japanese players like Nozomi Okuhara and Akane Yamaguchi in earlier rounds. But in the final she fell in two games, 19-21, 10-21. This is Marin’s third World Championships victory and she has become the first women's singles player to win three world titles. The loss must have been a bitter pill for Sindhu who has lost several key finals in the last two years. She lost the Olympic final again to Marin while in 2017, she lost the Badminton World Championships final to Nozomi Okuhara. As she said after the loss, “It is very frustrating to lose again. Last time also I had played the finals. It is quite sad and I have to come back stronger and get back to the sessions and prepare for the next tournament.”
Despite the loss, the fact is that Sindhu is one of India’s greatest players. She the only Indian to have won four world championships medals (two bronze and two silver). Add to that an Olympic silver medal and a clutch of other tournament wins over the last five years, and one realizes that this young girl from Hyderabad is truly one of the greats.
One day you are a citizen of India, the next day, you aren’t... Is that possible? Yes, if you live in Assam and your name has been left out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) that was published for the state of Assam recently. The NRC list was drawn up on the instructions of the Supreme Court and the idea was to identify those who may have illegally crossed over into Assam from neighboring countries like Bangladesh. In the draft list released last week, over 40 lakh people have been left out. These people will have to resubmit their information to the government and prove that they or their parents/grand-parents/ancestors lived and voted in India before 1971. The NRC list has divided families. Husbands are in the list, wives are out. Children made it to the list, their father didn’t. For all these people, their worst fear is that they will be declared foreigners and thrown out of India. Although the government has said that last week’s list was only a draft and not the final list, that hasn’t made people any less afraid. Starting August 30, they will line up at government offices to prove that they are indeed Indians.
Heavy monsoon rainfall led to massive floods across the southern state of Kerala last week, literally sinking some parts of it. The state has been reeling from heavy rain and floods since August 8, which led to the death of more than 200 people. Over a million people have had to abandon their homes and move to camps and shelters. This is the worst flooding that the state has seen in 100 years. For one, in the week following August 8, it poured and poured. It rained 2-3 times more than normal as a result of which all the dams in the state filled up. With the dams threatening to overflow, the government opened the gates of 35 of its 39 dams. Water from these gushed down rivers flooding a state that was already drowning in the rain. Stone quarries and constructions on river beds that blocked the natural flow of water added to the disaster.
What lies ahead for the people of Kerala:
• Rebuilding the lakhs of homes that have been damaged
• Repairing hundreds of kilometers of roads that have been destroyed by water
• Preventing epidemics and diseases that spread through water It will be a few years before things go back to being normal in the state.
36 year old Indian-Australian mathematician Akshay Venkatesh has won this year’s Fields medal. The Fields medal is regarded as the Nobel Prize for mathematics and is awarded every four years to the most promising mathematicians under the age of 40. This year four young mathematicians including Akshay Venkatesh were awarded the prize.
Born in New Delhi, Akshay Venkatesh moved with his parents to Australia at the age of 2. In school he excelled in physics and math, winning medals in the subject Olympiad competitions. He went to high school when he was just 13 and graduated from college by the time he was 16. His chosen field in college was math. By the time he turned 20, he had obtained a PhD and now at the age of 36, teaches at Stanford University in the United States.
The Fields medal recognizes Venkatesh’s work in areas such as ‘dynamics theory’, which studies the equations of moving objects to solve problems in number theory (see box). Venkatesh works in many areas of math such as number theory, arithmetic geometry and topology. He has contributed to so many fields of mathematics that he is that rarest of breeds-a “universal mathematician” with a mind that “can think about anything”, as one of his fellow mathematicians put it. Others mathematicians point to Venkatesh’s abilities to get to the core of any topic he puts his mind to before explaining them in the simplest way possible to others.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee who was Prime Minister of India three times, died last week on 16th August at the age of 93. He belonged to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Vajpayee was the first Prime Minister of India from a political party other than the Congress. Although his first two terms were very short-13 days in 1996 and 13 months from 1998-99, his party went on to win the elections in 1999 and he was our Prime Minister until 2004.
Important events in India’s history happened when he was the Prime Minister. In 1998 he went ahead and tested a nuclear bomb which made India one of the few nations in the world to own one. Vajpayee was heavily criticized for it by many other countries as the testing was expected to create problems between India and Pakistan. Sure enough, Pakistan too tested its own bomb and a year later war broke out on the India-Pakistan border at Kargil in Jammu & Kashmir.
But he was also a Prime Minister who made sincere efforts to build a better friendship with Pakistan. In 1999 he boarded a bus to Lahore in Pakistan across the border from Punjab state, becoming the first India Prime Minister to do so. In 2001 he also hosted the then leader of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, at a two day conference in Agra. Although the meeting ended without an agreement, Vajpayee will always be remembered for the steps he took towards India-Pakistan friendship.
Vajpayee retired from politics in 2005. In 2014 he was given the Bharat Ratna, the highest award that can be given to a citizen of India.
Aretha Franklin, one of the greatest English music singers ever, died last week at her home in the United States. Not only was she the queen of pop, she was also a symbol of the American civil rights movement (for rights of African Americans) and the fight for women’s rights.
Her father was a priest and her mother was a gospel singer. So it was in her father’s church that Aretha Franklin began singing and playing the piano. She was a child prodigy who recorded her first music album at the age of 14. Her song ‘Respect’ became the anthem of the American civil rights movement and the feminist movement. She won countless musical awards. In 2009, she sang at Barack Obama’s Presidential inauguration, the ceremony in the US when the President is officially appointed. A rich career that lasted more than 60 years came to an end last week.
Three Indian astronauts will get the opportunity to spend 5-7 days in space as part of Indian space agency ISRO’s manned space flight programme. The launch will happen in the next 40 months. The Gaganyaan Mission is ISRO’s first to send humans into space. Only three countries-the United States (US), Russia and China-have so far launched astronauts into space. The Indian astronauts will orbit (go around) Earth in space at a height of 400 kilometres above our planet.
ISRO has begun the astronaut selection process. They would most likely be pilots of the Indian Air Force. The astronauts will spend around a week in space and will conduct microgravity experiments.
Microgravity refers to an environment where people experience weightlessness. As astronauts travel away from Earth, they pull free of the Earth’s gravity (the force of attraction that keeps us on the planet instead of floating in space) and experience ‘zero-g’ or weightlessness. So instead of walking around the spacecraft, they simply float. The experiments will help us understand microgravity better.
Ahead of the manned flight, two unmanned Gaganyaan missions would be carried out, one within 30 months and second within 36 months, ISRO has announced.
Cricketer Imran Khan became the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan last week. He was officially appointed in a ceremony attended by former Indian cricket player Navjot Sidhu. Imran Khan’s political party is one of the youngest in Pakistan and it is hoped that having a new person in charge will improve relations between India and Pakistan. Cricket perhaps? The two teams have stopped playing each other in India or Pakistan but cricket lovers should take cheer from what the new Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ehsan Mani said about restarting cricket ties.
Once a journalist, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in many ways a political contradiction: A moderate leader of an often-strident Hindu nationalist movement. A lifelong poet who revered nature but who oversaw India’s growth into a regional economic power. He was the prime minister who ordered nuclear tests in 1998, stoking fears of atomic war between India and Pakistan. But then, it was Vajpayee who made the first moves toward peace. A skilled politician Vajpayee managed to avoid fanaticism.
Vajpayee was that rare thing in Indian politics: untainted by corruption scandals. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born to Krishna Devi and Krishna Bihari Vajpayee on 25 December 1924 in Gwalior. His father was a poet and a schoolmaster in his hometown. Vajpayee did his schooling and higher education in Gwalior itself. He attended Gwalior’s Victoria College and graduated with distinction in Hindi, English, and Sanskrit. He completed his post-graduation with an M.A. in Political Science from DAV College, Kanpur, and was awarded a first-class degree. Vajpayee joined India’s Hindu revivalist political movement in his late 20s. Elected to Parliament in 1957, he became the best-known figure in its moderate wing, and helped the Bharatiya Janata Party become one of India’s few national political parties.
It was the April of 1980 when a new party was born on India’s political map- The Bharatiya Janata Party. “Andhera Chhatega, Suraj Nikalega, Kamal Khilega.” This is how the party chief Atal Bihari Vajpayee introduced this new political party to India. 15 years later, the victory of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and that of BJP was significant. His government was the first non-Congress government in India’s 50 years long political history to complete its term. For the parliamentarian who had spent more than 4 decades inside the temple of democracy, the praise- “right man in the wrong party” wasn’t new. He even mentioned this in his speech in the Lok Sabha before the trust vote in 1998. He managed to break the spell and the very next year, NDA led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s BJP swung back to power. One of India’s longest-serving lawmakers, Vajpayee was elected nine times to the powerful Lok Sabha. He also served two terms in the Rajya Sabha.
During Janata Party government days, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in as the External Affairs Minister. He was also the first non Congress external affairs minister to attend UNGA which was a historical day. Vajpayee delivered a speech in Hindi at the UN General Assembly, raising India’s stand on key issues like nuclear disarmament, state-sponsored terrorism, and reforms at the world body.
He led the party to its first national electoral victory in 1996, but lasted just 13 days as prime minister before he resigned in the face of a noconfidence motion. He returned to power in 1998 for 13 months after forging an alliance of 22 parties, mostly regional power brokers with disparate local appeal. He again served as India’s prime minister from 1999 to 2004.
It was in India’s relations with Pakistan where Vajpayee’s influence may last the longest.
In June 1999, Operation Vijay was launched during the Kargil War. Indian military was fighting thousands of militants and soldiers in the midst of heavy artillery shelling while facing extremely cold weather, snow and treacherous terrain at the high altitude. Over 500 Indian soldiers were killed in the three-month-long War.
While India’s nuclear weapons program is believed to date to the 1980s, the Government of India had long insisted its atomic program was purely for peaceful purposes. That changed within a month of Vajpayee returning to the prime minister’s post in 1998, when he approved a series of nuclear weapons tests that shocked the world and pushed Islamabad to launch its own tests. But the next year, when Islamabad sent fighters across the cease-fire line that divides the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir between the nations, Vajpayee resisted military pressure to launch a broad counter-attack of Indian forces.
After 11 weeks and more than 1,000 deaths, Pakistan ordered the fighters to withdraw. India earned international praise for its caution.
His peace efforts began with a groundbreaking bus ride to Lahore, Pakistan, in February 1999, where he met with then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The diplomatic journey inaugurated the first regular bus service between the two nations.
Then, just before leaving office in 2004, he launched a peace process that, while often rocky, remains the basis of ongoing negotiations.
In 2015, the Government of India honored Vajpayee with the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, while his December 25 birthday was declared “Good Governance Day” in a tribute to his leadership.
Born in 1924 in Gwalior, he was first introduced to the political sphere during the Quit India movement in 1942 when he and his brother Prem were arrested for 23 days for participating in antiBritish activities.
His oratory skills were soon recognised by the political high priests of the time as within the next five years he became a full-time RSS Pracharak and then went on to become the face of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, now BJP. Notably, after the death of Deendayal Upadhyay, responsibilities of the party fell on a young Vajpayee’s shoulders.
Between 1975 and 1977, Vajpayee, along with several opposition leaders were arrested during the internal emergency that was imposed by the then PM, Indira Gandhi.
Following the Janata Party’s victory in 1977, Vajpayee served as the External Affairs Minister in PM Morarji Desai’s cabinet. It was also the same year when he became the first person to deliver a speech at United Nations General Assembly in Hindi.
Vajpayee first became PM in 1996, however, this was only a 13-day-long stint since the party failed to garner opposition support.
He has won a number of awards and has been conferred with a series of honours as well, among which the Padma Vibhushan and the Bharat Ratna remain most noted.
Giving up on the policy of resistance, Vajpayee followed the politics of agreement and under his rule, India attained a stable economic growth.
His ambitious golden quadrilateral highway project brought the four corners of the country in close proximity. Hardly any other Indian PM has been able to look at the country in such a holistic manner.
During his Prime Ministership, Vajpayee had to endure a number of challenges. Even through major crisis, such as Kandahar to Kargil and even the Parliament attack, Vajpayee did not let go of India’s stance of handling tough situations with peace talks. A sudden stroke in 2009 left the once master orator in silence. Even though the three-time Prime Minister left active politics many years ago, his contributions towards liberalised India can hardly be forgotten.
Firm in his political convictions and a man of the masses- Atal Bihari Vajpayee is still considered the most beloved politician in India. He was widely respected as a statesman both within the country and abroad. His charismatic personality has a lot more other things worth knowing. Here are some interesting facts about this erudite politician:
His ancestral village is in Bateshwar, Agra. His grandfather, Pandit Shyam Lal Vajpayee, had migrated to Morena in Madhya Pradesh from Bateshwar.
He was a bright student and had been awarded a first class Post Graduate Degree in Political Science.
His first activism started with Arya Kumar Sabha in Gwalior.
Before joining Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS), Atal was inclined towards communism and after being influenced by Babasaheb Apte, he joined RSS in 1939 and in 1947, he became a Pracharak of RSS (technically a full-time worker).
He and his father went to the same Law College (DAV College in Kanpur) together for their Law studies and they even shared the same room in the hostel.
Atal was greatly fascinated with journalism and was always eager to become a journalist. His dream to become a journalist came true when he was sent to Uttar Pradesh to work for Deendayal Upadhyaya’s newspapersRashtradharma (a Hindi monthly), Panchjanya (a Hindi weekly) and the dailies Veer Arjun & Swadesh.
He was an ardent follower of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (founder of the Bhartiya Jana Sangh) and went on a fast-unto-death along with him in 1953 to protest against the law of carrying a permit to visit Kashmir. Atal was shattered when Mukherjee died during the protest.
In the 2nd General Elections of 1957, he contested for the first time from two constituencies- Mathura and Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh. He lost the Mathura seat to Raja Mahendra Pratap but won the Balrampur seat.
He was known all over the world for his oration skills and when he delivered his maiden speech in the Indian Parliament, Jawaharlal Nehru (the then Prime Minister of India) predicted that someday he would become the Prime Minister of India.
In 1977, he was appointed the External Affairs Minister in the Morarji Desai Government and when he entered the office of Ministry of External Affairs in the South Block, he found the portrait of Jawaharlal Nehru was missing and then he said to the staff- I want it back.
He uplifted Hindi to the international platform by speaking in Hindi at the United Nations, he became the first person to speak in Hindi at the United Nations.
He became the Prime Minister of India for three times- first time on 16 May 1996 for 13 days only, the second time on 19 March 1998 for 13 months, and third time on 13 October 1999 for a full 5-year term.
On 13 May 1998, he led the successful nuclear test named- Operation Shakti at Pokhran in Rajasthan and put India in the league of the world’s elite nuclear club. In order to build a strong relationship with Pakistan, he took a bus journey named- Sada-e-Sarhad to Lahore on 19 February 1999.
His health started deteriorating in late 2000, He underwent a knee replacement surgery in 2001 and suffered a stroke in 2009, which impaired his speech.
Besides being the most revered and beloved politician in India, he is the only Parliamentarian to be elected from 4 different Indian States- Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat.
He is considered one of the finest Hindipoets in India and in an interview, he revealed that he had no interest in politics and would always like to be a poet.
Although he was a Brahmin by birth, he loved non-veg cuisines very much. His favorite non-veg dish was Prawn and favorite restaurant was Karim in Old Delhi.
He remained an M. P. (Member of Parliament) for 47 years (11 times from Lok Sabha and 2 times from Rajya Sabha).
On 25 December 2014, the Government of India announced to honor him with India’s highest Civilian Award- Bharat Ratna and in a special gesture, President of India conferred him the award at his residence on 27 March 2015.
The freedom of the press is an integral part of Indian democracy. It is protected by the Constitution. It is guarded in a more fundamental way by our democratic culture. This national culture not only respects freedom of thought and expression, but also has nurtured a diversity of viewpoints unmatched anywhere in the world. [September 13, 2013 — Vajpayee’s speech at the 125th anniversary of The Hindu]
Persecution on account of one’s beliefs and insistence that all must accept a particular point of view is unknown to our ethos. [September 13, 2013 - at 125th anniversary of The Hindu]
Education, in the truest self of the term, is a process of selfdiscovery. It is the art of self-sculpture. It trains the individual not so much in specific skills or in specific branch of knowledge, but in the flowering of his or her latent intellectual, artistic and humanist capacities. The test of education is whether it imparts an urge for learning and learnability, not this or that particular set of information. [December 28, 2002 - inaugural speech of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the University Grants Commission]
The Pokhran-2 nuclear tests were conducted neither for selfglorification, nor for any display of machismo. But this has been our policy, and I think it is also the policy of the nation, that there should be minimum deterrence, which should also be credible. This is why we took the decision to conduct tests. [In Parliament on the 1998 nuclear tests]
You can change friends but not neighbours. [In Parliament in May 2003]
One cannot wish away the fact that before good neighbours can truly fraternise with each other, they must first mend their fences. [June 23, 2003 - At Peking University]
If I break the party and forge new alliances to come to power, then I will not like to touch that power even with a pincer. [While replying to the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha in 1996]
We should strive hard to ensure that every R&D rupee brings greater benefits to the nation.
Mutual suspicions and petty rivalries have continued to haunt us. As a result, the peace dividend has bypassed our region. History can remind us, guide us, teach us or warn us; it should not shackle us. We have to look forward now, with a collective approach in mind. [Talking on South Asia at the 12th SAARC Summit in Islamabad January 2004]
We in India are inheritors to a great civilisation whose life chant has been “Shanti” — that is, Peace — and “Bhaichara” — which means, Brotherhood. India has never been an aggressor nation, a colonizer or a hegemon in her long history. In modern times, we are alive to our responsibility to contribute to peace, friendship and cooperation both in our region and around the world. [31 January 2004 - PM’s speech at inauguration of Global Convention on Peace and Non-violence].
Poverty is multidimensional. It extends beyond money incomes to education, health care, skills enhancement, political participation at all levels from the local to the global, access to natural resources, clean water and air, and advancement of one’s own culture and social organisation. [25 September 2003 - address at 58th Session of UN General Assembly]
Gun can solve no problem; brotherhood can. Issues can be resolved if we move forward guided by the three principles of Insaaniyat (humanism), Jamhooriyat (democracy) and Kashmiriyat (Kashmir’s age old legacy of amity). [April 23 2003, Vajpayee in Parliament on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir].