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Casual Fridays Go Formal

To be hip at Silicon Valley startups these days, one must leave the flip flops and hoodies at home and dress up on Fridays. WSJ's Andy Jordan reports from San Francisco on the "anti-Casual Friday" that's come to be known as "Formal Friday."




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Coronavirus Concerns Prompt Candidates to CFH: Campaign From Home

The coronavirus outbreak is forcing 2020 candidates to suspend rallies, town halls and other events they typically use to connect with voters. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images




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How to Turn an Old Tablet Into a Video Chat Box

Forget buying a fancy Facebook Portal or Amazon Echo Show. Dig out your old tablet or smartphone and make a homemade stand out of a box, wire hanger or even an egg carton. WSJ's Joanna Stern has all the DIY tips you need.




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Can’t Unlock Your iPhone’s Face ID with a Mask On? There’s a Mask For That

The coronavirus pandemic means we must wear masks. It also means unlocking an iPhone with Face ID is a challenge. WSJ’s Joanna Stern tracked down a woman who created a mask to get around it.




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Coronavirus Update: Small-Business Aid Deal, Americans Fear Early Restriction Lift

The Treasury and Democrats say they are close on a new rescue deal for small businesses, debate over lockdowns ramps up as the U.S. coronavirus death toll tops 40,000, and what to expect from earnings this week. WSJ’s Jason Bellini has the latest on the pandemic. Photo: David Poller/Zuma Press




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RTI and EIA collide at NIO


The National Institute of Oceanography has repeatedly attested that the Adani group's projects in Kutch would not negatively impact the region's ecology, but admits this only reluctantly. Kanchi Kohli reports.




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'Congress candidate has promised us employment'

A voter discusses the chances in the Sawaimadhopur Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan where Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla, who led the Gujjar agitation last year, is the BJP candidate.




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Hydro-power guidelines flawed


Recent guidelines from the Ministry of Power encourage private sector participation in the development of large hydro projects. But there is little attention paid to past failures, or the possibility that many of those will recur in new projects too, notes Himanshu Thakkar.




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Grid-free, on the horizon


During the last 100 years, the production and consumption of power happened at two different places, miles away from each other. This will change in the future, writes Chandrashekar Hariharan.




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A national confidence syndrome


The PM urges pragmatism in relations with China, but the logic of his exertions may be more persuasively applied to our dealings with Pakistan, says Firdaus Ahmed.




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Unacceptable underside of 'deterrence by punishment'


India's doctrine of 'deterrence by punishment' is least credible in the most likely scenario of Pakistani nuclear use. But the tenets of this doctrine are not above revision, and times of relative peace offer a better opportunity to find the way forward, says Firdaus Ahmed.




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Can India provide a new lens to the ISIS challenge in Syria?


Is military combat the only way to deal with the Islamic state and its likes? Firdaus Ahmed ponders about the role India can play in making the ongoing temporary ceasefire in the five-year old Syrian civil war a more permanent one.




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Is “settling” forest rights in “campaign mode” a good idea?


The central government is pushing state governments to give forest rights to tribals by the end of this year. Kanchi Kohli cautions that the intent behind settling these rights claims under the Forest Rights Act in such haste is not what it appears to be.




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Who pays the price for paid news?


In mid-June, the Election Commmission of India directed Chief Electoral Officers of all states and Union Territories to enforce the law against "paid news" during elections. The institutionalised racket has been running into hundreds of crores of rupees. Ammu Joseph brings you up to speed.




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How valid is the criticism?


A number of barbs have been flung at Anna Hazare and the India Against Corruption campaign, amidst the rising popularity of the effort. Are these justified, wonders Rajesh Kasturirangan.




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Wake up call on reservoir siltation nationwide


Siltation studies of 27 dam-created reservoirs spanning the nation, obtained using the RTI law indicate that all is not well. Storage capacities of the reservoirs have been dropping and the loss is alarming; what's worse, little is being to done to stop the wastage, find Himanshu Thakkar & Swarup Bhattacharyya.




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Chidambaram's lip service to his own goal


Taking a 360-degree view of the Union Budget 2013, Shankar Jaganathan points out that despite 'inclusive and sustainable development' being a stated goal, the emphasis has primarily been on growth and finances.




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UP NREGS: Whither guidelines?


The flouting of scheme guidelines in the NREGS implementation in Uttar Pradesh shows how the programme is still locked in top-down planning. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports on the various findings of the performance audit of the scheme.




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The slow destruction of NREGA: Evidence from Jharkhand


Wage delays, inadequate manpower and the indifference of authorities to real issues on the ground are stripping the employment guarantee programme of its strong potential to improve rural lives, and budget cuts have only made it worse. Ankita Aggarwal reports from Jharkhand.




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"Only the idiots are committing suicide"


In Chhatisgarh's Durg district, there is no shortage of farmers who have taken their lives - the district ranks second in the state on this count. But equally, there is no shortage of those who don't see these suicides. Shubhranshu Choudhary reports.




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Why relief packages and loan waivers won’t be enough to stem farm suicides


Even in regions touted as India’s food bowl, Rs 3000 a month is all that a farmer earns for his family! Devinder Sharma crunches data from CACP to highlight the grave crisis in the agrarian economy.




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Organic : to combat pesticide residues


Kasturi Das makes a strategic case for a shift to organic agriculture in India.




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The rising import of 'suicides'


What is behind the suicides in Vidarbha? Is it drought or lack of irrigation, like some are saying? Why have over 550 farmers ended their lives in the last season? Many factors -- local and global -- have together pushed farmers to the brink here, notes Jaideep Hardikar , but says that lopsided global cotton trade is one major cause.




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The ideas of the Indians


Contemporary trends in Indian society, business and statecraft are ultimately grounded in long standing intuitions about nature and culture that permeate Indian society. If public policy began from this understanding, very different notions of justice might emerge, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.




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Science and swaraj in ideas


Contrary to popular understanding, the nationalist struggle recognised that swaraj was to extend beyond politics into the realm of ideas. And it is still a fine tool with which to understand the challenges we face in our continuing encounter with western ideas, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.




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Where hidden identities wait for justice


Naam Poribortito, the debut film of activist Mitali Biswas, reveals the dark and gory underbelly of West Bengal in particular, and the nation at large, where rape victims are denied justice and crusaders are silenced more often than not. Shoma Chatterji has more on the film and its portrayals.




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These food subsidies inflate prices


Why is it that large expenditure on food subsidy in India does not achieve more in reducing undernourishment? At a New Delhi public hearing earlier this year, Dr. Amartya Sen addressed this question.




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Bridging the banking divide


V Jagan Mohan says that Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) can be the vehicles for rural credit in a reforms era.




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'Middle class' palaces


Who is buying the new homes that are mushrooming in every city? What income group does this class belong to, and how does their affluent consumption compare to the national average, or to home-buyers elsewhere in the world. Darryl D'Monte finds some of the answers at a session with a human geographer.




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India's coal-to-liquid push short-sighted


New Delhi recently allocated three blocks of coal in Orissa for projects that will produce liquid fuel from coal, in an attempt to increase oil supply. The decision appears to have overlooked a number of critical considerations, say Ananth Chikkatur and Sunita Dubey.




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PPPs: Tall claims, but little evidence


The many arguments offered in support of Public Private Partnerships don't stand up to close examination. The private sector is not more efficient than its public counterpart, nor is cheap money accessible to it as readily, write Shripad Dharmadhikary and Gaurav Dwivedi.




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Oil subsidy is all gas


Far from subsidising the public, governments made the aam admi bear a substantial part of their expenditure on the production and sale of fuels, writes Kannan Kasturi.




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Growing business at the bottom of the pyramid


It is tempting to take a rosy-eyed view of the future of successful entrepreneurship at the BOP. But what is the picture really? Richa Govil takes you through some recent stories and the lessons they may hold.




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Why ants didn't win the Nobel prize


In his latest book, The Wisdom of Ants: A Short History of Economics, with numerous revealing historical arguments and anecdotes, Shankar Jaganathan traces how economics emerged from being a relatively obscure field to a structured discipline that may be used to explain the basis for every aspect of human life and society, writes Satarupa Bhattacharya.




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Irreconcilable differences : The Right-Left Divide in Economics


The recent clash between two eminent economists of our times, Amartya Sen and Jagadish Bhagwati, appears to be centred around the Food Security Bill. Shankar Jaganathan provides a historical context to show why their contradictions extend far beyond any isolated issue to a clash between two schools of the discipline itself.




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Oxford study validates Indian environmentalist claims


The findings of a recent study by scholars at the University of Oxford point to the adverse outcomes and poor economic returns associated with large dam projects. Amruta Pradhan summarises the findings and shows how they have been consistently borne out by empirical observations in Maharashtra.




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Who decides where your city ends?


As Bengaluru is proposed to be split up into different municipal corporations, Mathew Idiculla explains why it is important to examine how decisions regarding cities and their boundaries are taken.




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The false promise of a demographic dividend


Much is made out of the proportion of youth in India’s population and what it could mean for its economy and progress. However, statistics and trends in education and employment within this group do not paint a promising picture, points out Kannan Kasturi.




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Idle generators in the midst of power deficit


The Southern region of India is expected to face high energy deficit this year while the Western and Eastern regions will have a surplus of energy generation. Kannan Kasturi explains why this regional skew in energy generation and energy consumption exists and what it will take to resolve it.




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Human rights amidst terror


A recent consultation on a national policy towards criminal justice reforms witnessed vigorous debates between students, lawyers, rights activists, policemen and heads of security services. Freny Manecksha reports.




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What the maritime 'non-incident' on New Year’s Eve tells us


The recent episode in which a mysterious boat was intercepted off the coast, and blew itself up, may or may not have anything to do with Pakistani terror, but has important implications for national security strategy, external relations and domestic political dynamics. Firdaus Ahmed explains.




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What will it mean to have India as a ‘security provider’?


As India takes on the role of a mature power centre in the Indian Ocean region, Firdaus Ahmed wonders if it will stick to its traditional defensive culture or if the move to a rightist polity will bring about a different doctrine altogether.




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Where suicide is a crime, but not murder


For the last 15 years, India has been unable to deal with a fasting, frail poet! Anjuman Ara Begum writes  how Irom Sharmila has been waging a protest against the cruel Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, enforced in her home state of Manipur and other parts of northeast India.




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Pakistani “idiocy”: A general gets it half right


Commanding general of Western Command, KJ Singh recently described Pakistan’s repeated military posturing in the broad framework of history as “the hallmark of being idiotic”. But can India really afford to say that? Firdaus Ahmed presents an incisive inward-looking analysis.




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Think outside the barrel


Global oil prices have risen dramatically, and nationalised oil companies have been crying themselves hoarse over the government's reluctance to correspondingly increase retail prices. The sensible long term alternative is to move beyond fossil fuels, with clear policy initiatives. The India Together editorial.




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Agitation looms in Kerala over National Highway widening


A massive agitation is brewing in Kerala against the proposed widening of Natonal Highways 47 and 17. It is spearheaded by the NH47- NH17 Joint Action Council. P N Venugopal examines their case.




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Relocation of tigers to Sariska proceeds, amidst caution


Two tigers have been relocated from Ranthambore to Sariska tiger reserve, but wildlife conservationists are not about to rejoice, given the extent of work pending at Sariska to reverse past wrongs. Malini Shankar digs deeper.




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Did India win or lose at Cancun?


Bilateral deals will be harder to resist;; India must strengthen the home front as well as regional partnerships, says Suman Sahai.




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Water : the hidden export


When water intensive commercial crops are grown in water scarce areas and the produce exported, it amounts to a virtual export of water, even as water availability becomes scarcer. The virtual water concept must be considered seriously in India, asserts Shama Perveen.




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Chowkidar to the Empire?


Didn't parliament condemn this war? Then why do we need a new consensus on sending troops to Iraq, asks P Sainath, remembering similar sacrifices of Indian lives for the British empire.