Thus far, MoEF has only been negligent in safeguarding the environment, but now it proposes to do away with even the need to do so. The new draft notification from the ministry has obligingly confined itself to facilitating new investments, and ignored all other stakeholder voices, writes Kanchi Kohli.

Disaster situations in the recent past have only led to sporadic study and discussions but yielded little by way of lessons for the long term; will the devastating North Indian floods this time change that? Kanchi Kohli ruminates.

The High Level Committee constituted to review key environmental laws has apparently focussed on a wide range of issues and mechanisms; however, as long as the focus in on speed, and not environmental outcomes, the reform process may be futile, writes Manju Menon and Kanchi Kohli.

The 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of his most famous book is an occasion to ask: "how should Indian intellectuals engage with thinkers from outside our shores?", writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

Akanksha Joshi's film chronicles the changing world through the lives of age-old communities and the adaptations they are forced into. Shoma Chatterji reviews Earth Witness.

Sunanda Bhat’s award-winning Have You Seen The Arana is deeply relevant in today’s world, as it explores the deep connectedness between man and nature, and the struggle of little-known people to preserve it in the face of many onslaughts. Shoma A Chatterji reviews the film.

The bi-monthly book review journal Biblio celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Its founder editors, Darryl D’Monte is one of its founder editors, were invited to the Chandigarh Literature Festival, which was held earlier this month. D’Monte talks about an interesting book discussion he chaired at the festival.

Valmiki Rampersad had pleaded guilty to 26 offences including four counts of causing/inciting a girl, aged 13 to 15, to engage in sexual activity; 21 counts of engaging in sexual communication with a child; and, one count of making indecent photographs of a child.

As many as 7,720 Indian-origin people including 272 women and 591 minors were apprehended in 2019 for trying to enter the US illegally. A total of 851,508 people were apprehended in fiscal 2019 (Oct 2018-Sept 2019), a 115 per cent increase from the previous fiscal year and the highest total in 12 years, NAPA said.

The incident took place when Meera Solanka (29) from England's Solihull town was out with her friends, including her Chinese friend Mandy Huang (28) from London, celebrating her 29th birthday in Midlands region. Solanka was knocked unconscious and hospitalised after she stepped in when Mandy was told: "Take your f****** coronavirus back home!", Birmingham Mail newspaper reported.

An Indian-origin Singaporean, Jasvinder Singh Mehar Singh (52) was sentenced to two months' jail on Thursday for shouting "corona, corona" and spitting on a hotel floor at the Changi Airport, the first conviction of its kind in the country related to the coronavirus outbreak. Singh breached a remission order after his early release from prison in February.

An Indian-American physician in Kansas City has begun a study to find if something called “remote intercessory prayer” might initiate God to heal those infected with the coronavirus.

Indian-American Niraj Antani has won the Republican primary for the US state of Ohio's sixth Senate district. Antani, 29, is currently serving in the Ohio General Assembly as a state representative.

Indian-origin and other ethnic minority healthcare workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic within the UK's state-funded National Health Service (NHS) should be risk-assessed for greater susceptibility to the deadly virus, according to new guidance issued to employers on Thursday.

Seema Nanda, 48, became the first Indian-American to be appointed as the CEO of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in June, 2018. She, however, did not give reasons for leaving the top position in the party. The Washington Post reported that Nanda's sudden exit from the DNC was part of the effort of the former US Vice President Joe Biden who is the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.

A group of Democratic senators have said that there has been a surge in the hate crime against the Asian-Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic and urged the Trump administration to take concrete steps to arrest the spike in such incidents.

US President Donald Trump on Monday nominated an Indian-American attorney to a federal court in New York.

An Indian-origin man has been sentenced to 52 weeks' imprisonment after pleading guilty to writing offensive graffiti at a number of locations across Leicester in central England, some of which was deemed to be racially or religiously aggravated. Amit Divecha admitted to being responsible for the graffiti, which was found outside a Hindu temple.

Indian-American NASA astronaut Sunita Williams has advised Indian students stranded in the US due to the coronavirus-linked global travel restrictions to use the occasion to think how they could be a productive and positive addition to the society. During a virtual interaction, she compared the Indian students' experience to her being in space in a spacecraft “where you don't get to go, see your family and friends and give them a real hug.”

Many drugs, especially those made of proteins, cannot be taken orally because they are broken down in the gastrointestinal tract before they can take effect. The researchers at MIT and Novo Nordisk, have designed a new drug capsule that can carry insulin or other protein drugs and protect them from the harsh environment of the gastrointestinal tract.

A payload on board Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter, circling the Moon’s orbit at 100km, has measured solar flares between September 30 and October 1, which will help scientists better understand various processes on the Sun. Currently, the solar cycle is heading towards minima and the Sun has been extremely quiet for the past few months. Therefore, XSM could observe a series of small flares.

NASA scientists have mapped the global wind circulation patterns in the upper atmosphere of Mars- 120 to 300 kilometers above the Red Planet's surface. The researchers reprogrammed probes aboard NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft to collect wind measurements on the Red Planet.

Researchers have discovered nine new genes linked to the most severe type of childhood speech disorder (CAS) -- apraxia, in which a child has difficulty making accurate movements when speaking.

Lack of sleep has long been considered a potential risk factor for mood disorders. According to a new study, older people with depression, who also experience persistent and worsening sleep disturbances, are at much higher risk of remaining depressed.

The question of why the virus has overwhelmed some places and left others relatively untouched is a puzzle that has spawned numerous theories and speculations but no definitive answers. That knowledge could have profound implications for how countries respond to the virus, for determining who is at risk and for knowing when it’s safe to go out again.

Dark matter has so far defied every type of detector designed to find it because of its huge gravitational footprint in space. We know dark matter must make up about 85 per cent of the total mass of the universe, but we do not yet know what it is made of.

Scientists in the US say they are training dogs to identify COVID-19 in humans by sniffing out the disease in saliva and urine samples.

A fairly straightforward yet key process, contact tracing is attempting to determine every person that an infected individual has come into contact with. It is a crucial tool to help identify those people who are infected or might potentially be infected to ‘flatten the curve’.

The investigation brings to light the issue of unverified sellers cashing in on keywords and marketing products against the policies of e-commerce sites.

This Partner Support Fund for SMBs in logistics will be available to Delivery Service Partners (DSP) and select Transportation partners in India.