Quote of the Day November 15, 2022

 

“If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative.”
Woody Allen

“यदि बार-बार असफल नहीं हो रहे हैं तो इसका अर्थ है कि आप कुछ आविष्कारक काम भी नहीं कर रहे हैं।”
वुडी एल्लेन

Current Affairs-November 15, 2022

 

INDIA

– IAS officer Gaurav Dwivedi appointed as Prasar Bharati CEO

– UGC asks higher education institutions to adopt ‘Professors of Practice’ guidelines

– SC grants Centre more time to respond to pleas challenging Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act, 1991

– ‘Mr Natwarlal’ & ‘Yaarana’ director Rakesh Kumar passes away

– Ranveer Singh honoured with Etoile d’Or award at Marrakech International Film Festival in Morocco

– 53rd edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa from Nov 20 to 28

– COP 27 at Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt: “In our LiFEtime” campaign launched by India to encourage youth to become message bearers of sustainable lifestyles

– COP 27 at Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt: India submits its long-term low emission development strategy to UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)

ECONOMY & CORPORATE

– Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO) renamed as “Grid Controller of India Limited”

– The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance (MoF); Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA); and the World Bank Group DEA, MoHUA and the World Bank Group jointly organise a 5-day Cities Creditworthiness Academy Workshop

– Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles Piyush Goyal inaugurates 41st edition of India International Trade Fair (IITF) at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi

– Wholesale price-based inflation (WPI) eases to 8.39% in October from 10.7% in September

– Consumer Price-based (retail) inflation declines to 6.77% in October from 7.41% in September

– Indian govt. lifts ban on the VLC Media Player website

– 11th edition of India Stonemart 2022, a stone industry exhibition, held in Jaipur

WORLD

– Slovenia: Natasa Pirc Musar elected first female President

– World Diabetes Day observed on Nov 14; theme: ‘access to diabetes care’

SPORTS

– Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports announces National Sports Awards 2022; table tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal selected for Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award 2022, 25 chosen for Arjuna Award

New Grant Opportunity For Assistant Professors In The Life Sciences

 Assistant professors conducting innovative research in the life sciences at Cornell are eligible for the new Schwartz Research Fund Visionary Grant, which will provide $375,000 for innovative, visionary research that opens an important new line of inquiry. Applications are due Dec. 19.

Open to female faculty or faculty who enhance the diversity, equity and inclusion goals of the university, and whose research is in the life sciences, the grant will support and enable a new line of research beyond their current work. Assistant professors at Cornell in Ithaca, Geneva and Cornell Tech who are in years two through five of their appointment are eligible.

The awardee will have previously secured significant extramural funding, such as from the National Science Foundation or National Institutes of Health.

“We are excited to be able to offer this opportunity to support really innovative ideas of our faculty,” said Yael Levitte, associate vice provost for faculty development and diversity.

The Schwartz Research Fund has seeded over a dozen research projects since 2016. This opportunity will provide one early career faculty with significant resources to invest in a new direction at a larger scale.

The opportunity is made possible by support from Joan Poyner ’65 and Ronald H. Schwartz ’65, chemistry majors in the College of Arts and Sciences. They have also endowed the pilot Schwartz Research Fund award – now suspended while the Schwartz Research Fund Visionary Grant is offered.

“We are grateful to the Schwartzes for their continued generosity and commitment to supporting innovative research by our faculty,” Levitte said.

Applications should be sent along with any questions to ofdd@cornell.edu.

Worsening conflict

 The military junta clearly faces its toughest challenge in the strategic provinces where long-running ethnic insurgencies have intensified and the Tatmadaw has increasingly lost territorial control

Myanmar’s military junta has clearly bitten more than it can chew. Apart from a massive surge in multiple armed insurgencies in border provinces dominated by ethnic minorities, the generals are now faced with armed resistance in the Burman heartland, where an initially peaceful movement for the restoration of democracy has turned violent following brutal repression. Nothing illustrated this better than a former Miss Myanmar, dressed in military fatigues with a rifle, announcing her decision to join the People’s Defence Force, the armed wing of the National Unity Government.  

The military junta clearly faces its toughest challenge in the strategic provinces where long-running ethnic insurgencies have intensified and the Tatmadaw has increasingly lost territorial control. In desperation, the generals have ordered air strikes on rebel targets but these have caused much collateral damage and a hardening of positions. On October 23, the Burmese air force bombed the anniversary celebration of the Kachin Independence Organisation, killing at least 60 people and injuring around 400 others.

Intense fighting between Burmese troops and the separatist Arakan Army since the breakdown of a tenuous ceasefire in July has led to a dramatic loss of effective control by Myanmar’s military junta over Rakhine. In September, the AA’s deputy commander, Nyo Twan Awng, called for “a final decisive war for building the state of the Arakan”.  This was no hollow publicity stunt: the AA now boasts of effective  control over two-thirds of Rakhine and a substantial portion of neighbouring Chin state. Founded in 2009, the AA now has nearly 30,000 well-armed troops, including at least 6,000 in areas controlled by its allies in Kayin, Kachin, and Shan provinces. More than 100 Burmese troops have died and sixty of their camps overrun since fresh fighting erupted. But the Tatmadaw has failed to retake lost ground despite additional deployment of land forces and airpower. Besides Kachin and Rakhine, the Tatmadaw has lost control over territories in Karen and Shan states. The United Wa State Army controls a huge area in eastern Shan. The military junta has avoided a confrontation with the UWSA that has more than 20,000 fighters and even the latest anti-aircraft batteries. 

The AA has taken over, partly or fully, a number of smaller townships and could even take control of Maungdaw. If that happens, the Arakan Army United League of Arakan will control the trade route to Bangladesh. The rebel group appears keen to deal directly with Bangladesh to settle the issue of the return of Rohingya Muslims. The AA-ULA is willing to support the repatriation process not just to gain the support of the Rohingya but also to earn international goodwill. Can Dhaka, upset with Burmese shelling on border villages, afford to turn its back on the AA-ULA overtures?

Similarly, India may find it difficult to operationalise the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport project without the support of the AA-ULA. Work on the KMMT was frequently disrupted by the AA-ULA in retaliation against Indian military operations against the AA’s covert bases in Mizoram. But now it appears that the AA-ULA are inclined to deal with India. The Narendra Modi government, which has preferred to wait and watch in Myanmar for fear of driving the military junta into Chinese embrace, will have to rethink its Myanmar policy that has avoided direct support or covert engagement with non-State actors since 1997.Prior to that, India not only supported rebel groups like the Kachin Independence Army with weapons but also backed the movement for democracy.

But neither can India afford a fresh influx of refugees into Mizoram and Manipur; nor can it wait endlessly to operationalise the KMMT corridor.  China  has the Burmese military junta under its control. Beijing has played its cards well with the AA-ULA. India will be left playing catch-up, as in Afghanistan, unless it recognises the changing ground realities in Myanmar. 

Subir Bhaumik is a former BBC correspondent

Source: The Telegraph, 15/11/22

IIM Bangalore joins hands with Assam Govt to launch CM’s Young Professional Programme

 

It will be a blend of academic and district-based work with a staggered academic program spanning 40 days in Guwahati (i.e. off-campus programme).

The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM Bangalore) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Assam to jointly operate the ‘Chief Minister’s Young Professional Programme’ (CMYPP).

The Chief Minister’s Young Professional Programme has been designed by IIM Bangalore and anchored by the school’s Office of Executive Education Programmes. This programme is meant for early career individuals with a post-graduate degree in any field and willing to work in the district. It will be a blend of academic and district-based work with a staggered academic program spanning 40 days in Guwahati (i.e. off-campus programme).The first batch of CMYPP will see more than 65 professionals being recruited jointly by the Assam Government and IIM Bangalore. Upon successful completion of the two-year programme, the participants will be awarded a certificate in public policy and management by IIM Bangalore.

Further details regarding the application process and remuneration will soon be announced in the coming weeks. The details will be available at the official IIM Bangalore website — iimb.ac.in.

‘This is a unique initiative where highly skilled people will get an opportunity to contribute at the grassroots level as well as gain academic expertise from a prestigious institute like IIM Bangalore. Endeavours such as these will open the doors of the government to talented people. More detailed announcements relating to this programme will be made shortly. My thanks to the team of IIM Bangalore for partnering with us,” Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, said.

Edited by Deeksha Teri

Source: Indian Express, 14/11/22

How we can make the digital space safer for all, particularly women

 

What could be helpful is to elevate the public discourse around technology-facilitated abuse. There is a need to focus on safety tools and features across platforms

India has one of the youngest youth demographics in the world (27 per cent are Gen Z while 34 per cent are Millennials) and among the most active online. As online interactions increase, more and more content is created and shared among people, helping them form new and wonderful connections. Sometimes, however, these interactions also make them vulnerable to harm.

Women are often particularly vulnerable. “What should I do, I can’t tell my family!” is a common refrain, heard from young women across the country when they grapple with the fallout of their private pictures being leaked online — sometimes from a hacked account, other times because of a soured relationship. In a culture where mobile phones sell because of the quality of their cameras, it should be no surprise that young men and women are exploring new ways to express their sexuality and navigate relationships, including through the taking and sharing of intimate images. However, it is increasingly evident that these new social norms have created new forms of abuse, as intimate images are being used to blackmail, shame, coerce, and control. Women are usually the victims.

Often, crimes that disproportionately impact women devolve into mass panic and lead to an all too predictable top-down discourse around the need to “protect our sisters and daughters”. This reaction, however well intentioned, will end up denying women their freedom and agency by their so-called “protectors”, many of whom are simply telling women to go offline, to be ashamed of expressing themselves, to stay in their lane.

Fortunately, leading academics — many of them women — are spearheading research around the topic, so that we may more accurately discuss and grapple with the evolution of technology-facilitated abuse, including intimate image abuse. Industry, too, has a role to play. If platform providers could be more responsive to the concerns and experiences of women then, to some extent, better design can help mitigate such issues.

A simple example is that of “unwanted contact”, one of the reasons why women avoid online spaces. This could mean design choices that help women stay in control of who they engage with, thereby reducing unwanted messages or advances. It could also mean leveraging open source technology that detects and blurs lewd images so that women don’t need to see unsolicited pictures. Therefore, focussing on safety tools and features — across the spectrum of websites and apps — could bring forward more ideas for creating a safer internet experience.

Various parliament committees in India have held meetings to discuss the issue of online safety of women over the years, and part of the government’s motivation in notifying the new IT rules had been rooted in the growing concern regarding the safety and security of users, particularly women and children. These are very good tangible steps. With the IT Act coming up for a rehaul, there is an opportunity to discuss in detail the nature of technology-facilitated abuse, capturing what this means, understanding how cases impact individuals as well as communities, the language needed to capture such offences and the punishment — penalties, jail or even rehabilitation programmes for perpetrators. This could be the start of an era of evidence-based discussion. Already, we know that crimes against women are the top category in India’s crime statistics, with cyber crimes a few rungs lower on the scale. Where the two intersect is where we need to focus if we are to make online space safe.

Despite these efforts, it is clear that women in India won’t feel safe online anytime soon unless society lets them. What could be helpful here is to elevate the public discourse around technology-facilitated abuse.

Written by Mahima Kaul

Source: Indian Express, 15/11/22

The writer is Director, APAC Public Policy, Bumble.

Quote of the Day November 14, 2022

 

“The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.”
Paramahansa Yogananda

“असफलता का मौसम, सफलता के बीज बोने के लिए सर्वश्रेष्ठ समय होता है।”
परमहंस योगानंद