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.