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Bhutan set to become world’s first wholly organic country Bhutan could within a decade become the first country in the world to go wholly organic in its food production, according to key politicians in the Himalayan kingdom. Agriculture and Forests Minister Lyonpo Yeshey Dorji and Opposition leader Pema Gyamtsho, who held the post in the previous

Implanted devices that can wrap around tissues Researchers have created electronic devices that become soft when implanted inside the body and can grip 3-D objects, such as large tissues, nerves and blood vessels. Scientists from The University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Tokyo said the biologically adaptive, flexible transistors might one day help doctors learn more about what is happening inside the body, and stimulate the body for

Dear Prime Minister-designate, This comes with my hearty felicitations. I mean and say that in utter sincerity, which is not very easy for me to summon, because I am not one of those who wanted to see you reach the high office that you have reached. You know better than anyone else, that while many millions are ecstatic that you will become Prime Minister, many more millions may, in fact, be disturbed, greatly disturbed by it.

The election results are emphatic. There are no grey areas in the way in which the people of the largest democracy have expressed themselves. There were no ambiguities. India witnesses yet another change in regime: a change in which there will be no real and vocal opposition in Parliament. This is not a new

   Residents and technicians look at the bones of the dinosaur, which palaeontologists say is the largest set of remains of the extinct animal ever found to date.Photo: Reuters Palaeontologists in Argentina’s remote Patagonia region have discovered fossils of what was likely the largest dinosaur ever to roam the earth. The creature is believed to be a new species of Titanosaur, a long-necked, long-tailed sauropod that walked on four legs and lived some 95 million years ago in the Cretaceous Period. The dinosaur “weighed the equivalent of more than 14 African elephants” or about 100 tonnes, said Jose Luis Carballido, a palaeontologist at the Egidio Feruglio Museum in the southern Argentine city of Trelew. “This is a true paleontological treasure,” Mr. Carballido said in a statement on Friday on the museum website.

Unmistakably, the rationale behind the creation of a separate state of Telangana has been a dominant factor in shaping the outcome of the just-concluded simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly in Andhra Pradesh. Both in the flamboyant comeback of Telugu Desam Party (TDP)

Yet many women lag behind men when it comes to using assets to plan and build financial security.... Women are a growing economic force and expected to add about $6 trillion in earned income globally over next five years according to the research by the Boston Consulting Group. Yet many women lag behind men when it comes to using those assets to plan and build financial security. This phenomenon is termed as “the female financial paradox”. In Delhi, many women see financial planning as a way to protect themselves against the unexpected. The problem with concentrating savings in lower risk assets like cash is that money will not grow fast enough to help fund retirement and other long-term goals. One area where women need help is to learn — how and where to invest. However, the stock market and women still seem poles apart. Why does financial literacy and stock market appear so dull on the women front?

The HinduLOOKING AHEAD: The Polavaram project shows that Odisha should revisit all inter-State river water sharing agreements, which will pave the way for settlement of water disputes and for comprehensive development of the water sector in the State. In the picture, tribals from Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha stage a protest against the project. The Polavaram multipurpose project has faced rough weather with non-compliance of environmental assessment and large-scale displacement

With an El Niño brewing, there is disquiet over what that might mean for the coming monsoon. Many droughts experienced by this country have, after all, been associated with the exceptional warming of the equatorial waters of the Pacific that is characteristic of an El Niño. The forecast issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday is in line with other predictions that warn of poor rains this year. Using a statistical model, the met agency has put a 33 per cent probability of the monsoon being ‘below normal’, a category where nationwide rainfall during the season is between 90 per cent and 96 per cent of the long-period average. That is almost twice the climatological probability based on how the monsoon fared in past years. The IMD forecast, however, also indicates a significantly enhanced risk this year of nationwide rainfall during the monsoon slipping below 90 per cent of the long-period average and turning ‘deficient’. Such a mon...

PTI China's Navy Chief Admiral Wu Shengli being received on the deck of INS Shivalik by its Captain Puruvir Das when he visited the ship at Qingdao on Tuesday. Admiral Wu Shengli, China’s Navy Chief, this week caught Indian officials off guard by asking for an impromptu tour of the most sensitive nerve centre of the advanced Indian missile frigate, INS Shivalik, while on a brief courtesy call on the visiting ship. The Shivalik arrived at this eastern port city, which is the base of the PLAN (People’s Liberation Army Navy) North Sea Fleet, on Sunday to take part in exercises on Wednesday to mark the Chinese Navy’s 65th anniversary. Indian officials told Admiral Wu that the ship’s operations room — the Combat Information Centre — was among the Indian Navy’s most advanced and was kept locked when the frigate was docked at harbour. Under standard operating procedures, it cannot be opened without exception. The Admiral’s request surprised Indian officials as navy official...

To become a developed country, India’s GDP will have to grow at 12 per cent per year for at least a decade. Technically this is within reach, since it would require the rate of investment to rise from the present 28 per cent of GDP to 36 per cent The question before a probable Narendra Modi-led government in 2014 is whether the statistically undeniable economic slide of the last decade can be halted and a fresh impetus be given to growth in the

When an electoral system structurally discriminates against particular categories such as persons with disabilities, it is tantamount to a failure of the democracy as a whole The citizens of India are in the process of casting their votes in what is being widely hailed as the largest election in human history. By sheer size, the 16th Lok Sabha elections signal a triumph not only for India, but for democratic exercises around the world.

The Supreme Court’s verdict permitting resumption of iron-ore mining in Goawith a temporary cap of 20 million tonnes per annum is welcome for more reasons than one. First, the lifting of the mining ban will restore livelihoods to a vast number of people in a State whose economy is powered by the twin engines of mining and tourism. By the Court’s own finding, more than 1.5 lakh Goans depend on the mining industry directly, and then there are downstream beneficiaries such as truck operators and other service providers. The State’s economy has suffered, as indeed the country’s exports, due to the 18-month ban. The verdict represents an acknowledgement that the problem with mining is not the activity itself;

Instead of victory memorials, Sri Lanka needs a monument to commemorate all casualties of the war In the hot plains of the Vanni, a larger-than-life stone soldier emerges out of a block of concrete, an AK-47 in one hand and the Sri Lankan flag in the other. Hardly visible from the ground, a dove sits on the machine gun. This is a “victory memorial” created by the Army after the end of the hostilities between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan Army in May 2009. Beneath it, two plaques commemorate its creation. They are in Sinhala and in English, but not in Tamil, the majority language there.

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures: supersession is rare in the Indian military hierarchy, and experience in heading an operational command is normally a prerequisite for becoming the Chief of the Naval Staff. The Indian Navy’s new chief, Admiral R.K. Dhowan, who was slated to retire on May 31 on turning 60, has neither headed an operational command — as was the case with a couple of others before him — nor is he the seniormost officer. But the Defence Ministry recommended the name,