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Encouraging young minds

Can Indian education produce Fields medallists?
Prof. Akshay Venkatesh: his family moved to Australia when he was a child
Manjul Bhargava: similar story
Subhash Khot: won the Rolf Nevanlinna Prize in 2014
had more of an Indian education — a bachelor’s degree in computer science at IIT Bombay.
The answer lies in the opportunities and training that these talents receive — or fail to receive rather the lack of these.
Mathematics Training and Talent Search: started 25 years ago

All India Survey on Higher Education data

3.66 crores students enrolled in higher education
36.4% joining the science and humanities streams
So it is safe to assume that there is a considerable gap between the requirement and the availability of training and nurture.
France, a country with a population close to 6.5 crore, has about 3,000-4,000 scientists.
École normale supérieure, in Paris, where a number of Fields medallists were trained.
Of course, one cannot simply create such schools out of thin air. They must be nested in a balanced network of universities, teacher education systems, and most importantly, a solid base in school education.
One may dismiss this argument claiming that such honours are not what India needs now.
However, while top prizes are not themselves a solution to all problems that beset education in India, they remain a characteristic of a healthy educational ecosystem.
Only such an ecosystem can create enough space for young minds to explore abstract mathematical and scientific ideas freely and in turn challenge the boundaries of existing knowledge.
FPI: Investor purchase stocks, bonds or other financial assets in a foreign country.
Investor does not actively manage the investments or the companies that issue the investments.
However, since the investor’s goal is to create a quick return on his money, FPI is more liquid and less risky than FDI.
FDI: Investor can purchase a direct business interest in a foreign country.
An investor living in Japan purchases a warehouse in Jamnagar so an Indian company can expand its operations.
Its for long-term income while it the company increase its profits.

Avoidable suspense

Foreign investors in the Indian market are used to unexpected twists in the regulatory landscape.
Asset Managers Roundtable of India (AMRI) openly appeal to the Prime Minister for an urgent intervention.
AMRI warned that India’s booming stock markets will be in for a tight bear-hug and the embattled rupee could face even greater pressure if an April 10 diktat from the Securities and Exchange Board of India is not scrapped.
The SEBI circular, they argued, disqualifies about $75 billion of portfolio investments into India made by FPIs backed by domestic institutions, NRIs, Persons of Indian Origin and Overseas Citizen of India card-holders.
The circular, issued to enhance the Know Your Client norms for FPIs, ended up imposing a blanket ban on certain types of investments where NRIs, PIOs or OCIs were investors (beyond a threshold) or even served as senior managing officials of these funds.
SEBI called AMRI’s warning as “preposterous and highly irresponsible”.
H.R. Khan Committee: The panel’s report clarified that NRIs, OCI card-holders and resident Indians can manage the investments of any FPI registered with SEBI and, more importantly, hold up to 50% of an FPI’s assets under management.
We should curb round-tripping, but should not treat all FPIs as bad.

‘Dear Comrade Gautamji’

At the time of the arrests the charges against all five were said to connect them to the violence that followed the Elgar Parishad rally just outside Pune, on January 1, 2018.
The Pune police soon produced before the media a large cache of emails, evidence they said of “a larger conspiracy by Maoist organisations to overthrow the lawfully established Indian government”.

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the draconian UAPA

Section 16 (punishment for terrorist acts), Section 17 (raising funds for terrorist acts), Section 18(B) (recruiting persons for terrorist acts), Section 20 (being member of a terrorist gang or organisation).
It is the application of the UAPA, with the extreme difficulty of obtaining bail under it, that make even a ham-handed arrest a matter of grave seriousness.

The centre holds

Growing anti-immigrant mood in the Nordic nations and across Europe.
But the most notable phenomenon of the election has been the extreme-right Sweden Democrats, who have been riding the populist wave over immigration and rising domestic crime.
The party, which has its roots in the neo-Nazi movement, has steadily increased its vote share since 2010.
The far right’s criticism of the government’s policy to admit Syrian refugees in 2015 as a strain on Sweden’s generous provision of social welfare has already gained some traction
The region’s next big democratic test will be the 2019 elections to the European Parliament.

Interview | MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA-

Just before and after the elections [(in 2015], we had a lot of misunderstandings. Now of course, I think it is about time to move on.
For the Colombo Port City, we didn’t have to pay anything, it was a contract sharing arrangement, where they got a share of the land they developed. At the time of the Hambantota port deal, our debt from China was less than our debt from the U.S. and other countries and debt-to-GDP ratio was under control.
India is our closest relation, I would say, and our neighbour. And China has been a long-standing friend. In all our dealings with China, we never forgot about the interests of India.
India’s other concern at the time was a Chinese nuclear submarine being docked in Colombo harbour.

Important News

Damage to Aravallis scary, says SC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the demolition of structures built illegally by a prominent builder in the protected forests of the Aravallis, noting that ecological damage done by colonisers to the ancient hills was irreversible and “quite frightening.”
The court, however, ordered not to disturb constructions made between April 17, 1984 and August 18, 1992.

Small loans could turn bad: Rajan

Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has cautioned that the next crisis in India’s banking sector could come from loans given to the unorganised micro and small businesses, called MUDRA loans, and credit extended through the Kisan credit card.
MUDRA loans are offered under the Prime Minister Mudra Yojana or PMMY, launched in 2015 by the NDA government.
A total of ₹6.37 lakh crore has been disbursed under the scheme by public and private sector banks, regional rural banks and micro-finance institutions till date, as per the data from the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) website.

Bankruptcy court should be the final option: Rajan

“Banks and promoters have to strike deals outside of bankruptcy, or if promoters prove uncooperative, bankers should have the ability to proceed without them,” he said in a note prepared for the Parliament Estimates Committee at the request of its chairman Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi.

AAI shelves water aerodrome project in Chilika Lake

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has dropped the proposed water aerodrome project at Chilika Lake in Odisha, according to a senior official.
CDA in its report to the State government had said the water aerodrome project would seriously jeopardise the habitat of Chilika’s nearly one million avian visitors which come from the Arctic and Eurasian regions.

BIMSTEC embarrassment for India

India is facing an embarrassing situation at the first-ever military exercise, MILEX 18, of the regional grouping BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) with Nepal and Thailand backing out from sending full contingents. On Tuesday, Nepal also conveyed that its Army Chief would not be able to attend the Chiefs’ conclave at the exercise.

In ‘warm letter’, Kim asks Trump for another meeting