Quick notes: North-south disparity | Demolition drive...

• Why south India outperforms the north: States like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra end up sending more money over to states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh than spending on themselves. In indicators of health, education and economic opportunities, the difference between the south and the north is as stark as that between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa.
  
  
  


• Demolition drive spares the rich and powerful: After declaring that all offending properties on lakebeds, culverts and wetlands would be demolished, Karnataka govt is suddenly singing a different tune. It is now looking to conduct a ‘resurvey’ of the affected region before it razes any encroachments. The administration turned its bulldozers towards properties of ordinary citizens, conveniently avoiding high-end villas and apartments.



• Health-conscious cities putting pedestrians first: "It is lovely for pedestrians and bikers to be able to share the streets. You see families out walking, kids playing – it is a much different experience."



• Dhruv Vidyut Electric Conversion Kit: Gursaurabh Singh invented this device, which can upgrade over 8 Crore cycles across India to a motor and battery powered electric cycle within minutes




• Unstoppable: China's domestic 7nm gaming GPU should arrive in 2025



• India Develops Affordable Vaccine Against Cervical Cancer: “The vaccine will be chiefly beneficial for girls aged 9 to 15 or women who are not yet sexually active. If we vaccinate adolescent girls now, its effect on reducing the cancer burden in the country will be seen within three to four decades”.



• Karnataka moots wide-ranging measures to promote Kannada: The draft bill mandates teaching of "functional Kannada language" to higher, technical, and professional education students, who have not learnt Kannada as a language till SSLC (class 10), and "cultural Kannada language" to students who have learnt Kannada.
  
  It also provides for reservation to students who have studied in Kannada medium from class 1 to 10 in higher, technical, and professional education.



• Mitti Mane: The residents of Mitti Mane, a housing community in Bengaluru, are experimenting with sustainable practices to transform the space into an eco-sensitive community.

Quick notes: Territory gone | Drain encroachers...

• "Territory Gone, Grazing Ground Now Buffer Zone": Ladakh leader on troops pull-back. "Our troops have gone back from not only PP-15 but also PP-16, which we had for the last 50 years or so. This was a big setback. Our grazing grounds have now become a buffer zone. It was the main winter grazing ground. It is now a buffer zone". PP-15 refers to the Gogra-Hot Springs area. . . . . . . Chacha Modi pleasing CCP.



• Is India A Better Target For China Than Taiwan? CCP cannot attack a country like Taiwan, which is well-ensconced in the Western alliance. Could India be a more feasible target? The regime might try to quell internal distress by directing nationalism and militarism against India.



• Russia using Iranian ‘Swarming’ attack drones in Ukraine: The loitering munition brings the potential to hit precision targets from long range, a capability Russia needs urgently. At present Russia carries out long-range strikes with its dwindling stocks of unreliable ballistic missiles, which have a reported failure rate of up to 60%.



• India's Silicon Valley: Tech parks, luxury villas among drain encroachers in Bengaluru

The list of IT Parks & developers who have done SWD (stormwater drain) encroachments includes- Bagmane Tech Park & Purva Paradise in Mahadevapura, RBD in 3 locations, Wipro in Doddakannelli, Eco-Space in Bellandur, Gopalan in multiple locations & Diya school in Hoodi: BBMP pic.twitter.com/Lg7nFtCaj0

— ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2022




• The Himalayas' ancient earthquake-defying design: In 1905, a deadly earthquake rocked the landscape of Himachal Pradesh. Sturdy-looking concrete constructions toppled like houses of cards. The only surviving structures were in towns where the residents had used an ancient, traditional Himalayan building technique known as kath kuni. "Earthquakes will come and go, but the house will live on".
  
  
  
  "Kath kuni houses have really small doors. In the old days, people bowed at the entrance, for this also meant bowing before the household deity in reverence. But today, one doesn't want to bend before anyone – not even God."
  
  "Deodar wood and stone create a spectacular balance and composition together," said Rahul Bhushan, architect and founder at NORTH, a Naggar-based architecture and design studio working to preserve the building technique through construction projects, workshops, artist residencies and homestays. "Stone gives weight to the structure, resulting in a low centre of gravity, and wood holds the structure together, thanks to its flexibility."



• The Big Semiconductor Water Problem : The average semiconductor fab uses 2-to-3 million gallons of water every day.




• Rules for thee, not for me: Truss lifts England’s moratorium on fracking for shale gas. Licenses new oil and gas fields.



• Breach of personal space: The Facebook login button is disappearing from websites as consumers demand better privacy.


• Whistleblower Peiter Zatko: Twitter was warned by FBI that it employed an undercover Chinese agent.



• Even a single exposure to alcohol may permanently alter brain: Alcohol affects the structure of the synapses as well as the dynamics of the mitochondria, the cell's powerhouses, the study found.



• Leader in experimental maglev technology: China tests maglev cars that travel at 230kph while floating 35mm above the road

India Must Have 75 States For Better, Smoother Governance: Prof Gautam Desiraju

He would also like an American-style complete separation of legislature and executive.

POEM (PSLV Orbital Experimental Module) Photographs Indian Flag & Constitution in Space Selfie

Interesting tidbit now coming out on the PSLV C53 mission which launched on June 30, 2022:

The Indian flag and constitution were for the first time displayed in space, photographed via a camera in a 'space selfie'

https://www.news9live.com/india/har-ghar-tiranga-happened-in-antriksh-isro-did-hoist-the-indian-flag-in-space-194691

This was originally going to happen as part of Gaganyaan, India's first manned spaceflight mission, but that mission has unfortunately suffered delays due to COVID. So PSLV C53 instead served as the means for this, using the final upper stage of the rocket, equipped with solar cells and transmitter.

This particular 'space selfie' mission was called PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM)

Quick notes: Reparations | Anti-woke investing...

• When do we file reparations case against Britain? Poland demands USD 1.3 trillion reparations for WWII from Germany



• Indians love East India Company: Mark Zuckerberg’s dreams of building a super app are starting to come true. People in India will soon be able to order their groceries through WhatsApp.



• Vivek Ramaswamy: Woke Inc author wants to pick a fight with BlackRock.. A wealthy biotech entrepreneur turned anti-“woke” evangelist, Vivek is at the vanguard of a new conservative movement—one that’s bringing America’s political divisions to the money-loving heart of Wall Street.




• Who needs a backdoor when you have a front door? Predatory loan apps in India rake in huge fees, and are driving some users to suicide. First, they gain user data access, including users' contacts and call records, which they use for recovery and harassing people. In some cases, the operators of these apps get user consent by pretending to use their contacts in case they are not reachable.
  
  Some apps, however, take all that data without getting any prior consent from users. A few apps also claim that they need access to contacts and call records for fraud prevention. Nevertheless, the actual purpose in most cases is to use the phone numbers obtained for recovery purposes, which sometimes become too harsh to bear.



• Foldable winged Ornithopter: NIT-Rourkela alumnus achieve patent for Uri-like UAV



• 'China is a backstabber': Do we still think that if we are nice to China, it will be good to us?



• China admits endless lockdowns have consequences: China says COVID has exacerbated decline in births, marriages



• Calling everyone else racist: New York Times union alleges 'Racial Imbalance' in performance reviews



• Warming world: Warmer air holds more moisture -- about 7% more per degree Celsius and that eventually comes down, in this case in torrents. Pakistan is used to monsoons and downpours, but they were spread out over three months -- not 37.5 centimeters in one day.



• Kronos Quartet: R.D. Burman's Mehbooba, Mehbooba

Putin Outmaneuvers West Economically