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Table of Contents

Shock resignation

Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said: when a public servent resigns its is a sign of protest.
Main issue: autonomy and independence of Governor
Is Centre capable of working with economists with independence?
Global investor and markets are already on edge.
It is not 1 man going out: its institutional imbalance
Incoming governor will be judged: microscope will follow him/her.

Anchored in human rights

Kills nearly 2 million people a year: TB is leading cause of adult deaths in most of the global south. • Its shocking: because TB is preventable + curable
UN Declaration of September 2018: “United to End Tuberculosis: An Urgent Global Response to a Global Epidemic”
Target: end global TB epidemic by 2030
Now we are talking about implanting a microchip so we can track the patience and see if he is on track.
We are planning to add more technology and gadgets.
Directly Observed Treatment aka DOTS strategy: requires patients to report every day to a health authority, who watches them swallow their tablets.
Our focus it looks is not on people with TB but with tools and gadgets.
Bedaquiline and Delamanid: only new TB drugs in 50 years.
These drugs are far more effective against drug resistant TB.
But to date only 30,000 people have received the new drugs; compare this to the over 500,000 people who get sick with DRTB every year.
International institutions, donors and countries should work together to provide affordable medicines for all patients.
A human touch is must.
Accountable healthcare
People with TB do not need to be watched, they need to be heard.

Don’t believe the anti-GMO campaign

Current Science journal: “Modern technologies for sustainable food and nutrition security”.
Article authors: geneticist P.C. Kesavan + M.S. Swaminathan
Bt cotton is a failure.
K. VijayRaghavan (Prinicpal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India): this paper is deeply flawed.
USA’s National Academy of Science + African Academy of Sciences + Indian National Science Academy have supported GM techology.
“Bt in maize and cotton from 1996 to 2015 contributed to a reduction in the gap between actual yield and potential yield under circumstances in which targeted pests caused substantial damage to non-GE varieties and synthetic chemicals could not provide practical control”. – The U.S. National Academy of Sciences
In 2016, 107 Nobel laureates signed a letter challenging Greenpeace to drop its antigenetically modified organism (GMO) technology stance.
They stated that the anti-GMO campaign is scientifically baseless and potentially harmful to poor people in the developing world.
GM technology adoption has reduced pesticide use by 37%, increased crop yield by 22%, and increased farmer profits by 68%.
Yield and profit gains are higher in developing countries than in developed countries.
Data from a billion animals fed on GM corn have not indicated any health hazards. Those in the Americas and elsewhere consuming Bt corn or soybean for over 15 years have not reported any health issues.
Bt cotton yield was 300 kg/ha during 2002, currently we have an average of over 500 kg/ha
India was a cotton-importing country, today we are largest exporter of raw cotton.
There was a small dip for a couple of years and the yield has now increased to over 550 kg/ha.
The question to be asked is, what would have the yield been if Bt cotton had not been introduced in 2002?
It is unfortunate that farmer distress is being wrongly attributed to Bt cotton failure.
GM mustard (DMH-11) is a technology to create mustard hybrids.
Being a self-pollinator, mustard is difficult to hybridise through conventional methods. .
Genetic modification allows different parents to be combined easily, helping yields go up substantially.
The moratorium on Bt brinjal is the most unfortunate step taken by the government in 2010 and has crippled the entire field of research and development with transgenic crops.
6,000 Bangladeshi farmers cultivated Bt brinjal in 2017
GM technology is not a magic bullet.
It needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
India has one of the strongest regulatory protocols for field trials of GM crops.

Ascent to the temple of democracy

Two indicators: despite the very high literacy levels registered by women and a significant presence of women with higher education.
First, female labour force participation is low in Kerala in comparison with other States.
The low female labour force participation in Kerala affects their ability to influence social norms, especially social attitudes towards female agency.
Second, the presence of women in governance roles is very low in Kerala.
percentage of women legislators, judges in the High Court and leaders of political parties

Financial News

Important News

- Nothing in medical report showing torture, says SC
- The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed an application filed by Muzaffarpur shelter home abuse case main accused Brajesh Thakur that he had been tortured in the Patiala jail.
- A Bench, led by Justice Madan B. Lokur, said his medical examination did not reveal any signs of injury substantiating his claim of torture.
- “There is absolutely nothing in it,” Justice Lokur orally addressed senior advocate Vikas Singh, who was representing the accused.
- Plea in HC: let women enter Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah
- A petition has been moved before the Delhi High Court seeking entry of women into the sanctum sanctorum of the Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah.
- The move comes two months after the Supreme Court lifted the centuriesold practice of prohibiting women from entering the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. The court has sought the reply of the Centre and the State government on a plea filed by three women.
- North Kolkata air quality remains ‘severe’
- PM2.5 recorded above 400 at Rabindra Bharati monitoring station for the 3rd day
- Grigorovich-class frigates in 3 years
- The first of the four Admiral Grigorovich-class guided missile stealth frigates is likely to be inducted into the Indian Navy in the next three years, said Rear Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Flag Officer Commanding, Eastern Fleet, on Monday.
- INDRA-NAVY-18, the bilateral maritime exercise between Indian Navy and Russian Federation Navy • It is learnt that the Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates will have an array of weapon system that include artillery guns, strike missile and radarcontrolled air defence systems with provisions for torpedo tubes.
- Sources also said that the 4,000-odd tonne frigates can be armed with Brahmos cruise missile system.
- Kaiga n-power unit creates world record
- The Kaiga nuclear power plant in western Karnataka has created a world record for the longest uninterrupted operation of 941 days, breaking the earlier record of 940 days by the Heysham plant in the United Kingdom.
- ‘Many combination drugs not approved by regulator’
- Of the 110 anti-TB (tuberculosis) Fixed Dose Combinations (FDCs) available in India, only 32 (less than 30%) have been approved by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the country’s drug regulator. In the case of malaria FDCs, only eight out of 20 (40%), have been approved.