Mepco bill

The journey towards recognising and addressing the disproportionate impacts of climate change on vulnerable countries has been long and fraught with resistance. In 1991, Vanuatu, representing the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), first proposed the creation of an international climate fund to support nations most threatened by rising sea levels. However, entrenched opposition from … Read more

The Data Point published on Wednesday discussed in detail the spoiler effect created by Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in the 2020 Bihar Assembly election and examined the possibility of it influencing the upcoming 2025 polls as well. This effect was one of the key reasons the 2020 election turned out to be … Read more

V. Rajaraman | Photo Credit: V. Rajaraman Among the few sectors of science and technology in which India has done remarkably well is software programming and services. Computer programming that started in a small way in academic institutions in the 1960s developed into a formidable industry within a few decades. This became possible due to … Read more

Image for representation. Due to the admission slump during the COVID-19 years (2020-21), colleges in the U.K., the U.S., Canada, and Australia saw a surge in international student enrolments in the post-pandemic years (2022-23). This created several challenges in the host countries, including locals being priced out of the housing market. This led governments to … Read more

File image for respresentational purpose only. | Photo Credit: K.K. Mustafah Development goals don’t always have to undermine environmental concerns. As the fourth largest economy in the world, and one of the top polluters, India cannot shy away from climate action citing historical reasons and pointing fingers at the industrialised West. Indeed, India seems determined … Read more

Public during Asaduddin Owaisi, President of AIMIM’s election rally in Aurangabad, Maharashtra on Friday November 15, 2024 | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI The 2020 Bihar Assembly election proved to be a close contest between the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the RJD-led Mahagatbandhan (MGB). One key factor behind the MGB falling short of the … Read more

For well over a century, our understanding of the magnetic world had been neatly compartmentalised into two categories: ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism. Ferromagnetism, which is the familiar force that pins a souvenir magnet to a refrigerator door, arises because many small, atom-scale magnetic moments are aligned in parallel, creating a strong, external magnetic field. Antiferromagnetism, its … Read more

Supporters of Democratic New York City mayor elect Zohran Mamdani attend a campaign event with Mamdani and New York City elected officials on November 1, 2025 in the Queens borough of New York City. | Photo Credit: STEPHANIE KEITH Last week, Democrat Zohran Mamdani, 34, defeated Andrew Cuomo, an independent, to become New York City’s … Read more

Over the past year, a considerable amount of recognition for machine learning (ML) has gone to researchers working in or alongside large technology firms, even as recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have been financed and built on corporate infrastructure. In 2024, the Nobel Foundation awarded the physics prize to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton … Read more

(1) Bihar records improved turnout in phase one polls For the first phase of Bihar’s two-phase Assembly elections, over 64% turnout was recorded. This was the highest turnout in several constituencies since 2010 for an Assembly election. Moreover, in phase one, no constituency recorded a decrease in turnout, unlike previous elections in 2020 and 2015, … Read more

In every living being through history, stress from a perceived threat has automatically and immediately triggered an avalanche of reactions. ‘Fight or flight’ is an example of the choices these life-forms have confronted. Every bodily function that isn’t essential for survival is moved to the sidelines as the being prepares to respond. All available resources … Read more

Women voters stand in a queue to cast their votes for the second phase of the Bihar assembly elections, in Katihar on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: ANI Preliminary turnout data released from the Bihar elections by the Election Commission of India reveals that at least 4,34,000 more women than men turned out to vote in … Read more

Recycling happens only when there is a steady demand for the recycled pellets. | Photo Credit: StickerIt/Unsplash A: ‘Plastics’ is an umbrella term for various materials with some similar properties. Each type of plastic has a different polymer structure and set of additives. These differences decide how a piece of plastic behaves when it is … Read more

Women voters stand in a queue to cast their votes for the second phase of the Bihar assembly elections, in Katihar on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: ANI Based on Bihar election results’ trends released by the Election Commission of India, which are now available for 240 of the 243 seats, a distinct pattern is emerging. … Read more

For the Gaganyaan Crew Module, the parachute system comprises a total of 10 parachutes of four types. Photo: X/@isro The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently conducted an important test on main parachutes for the Gaganyaan Crew Module. The test was conducted at the Babina Field Firing Range (BFFR) in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi on November … Read more

Women voters wait in a queue to cast their vote for the second phase of the Bihar assembly election, in Katihar on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: ANI The Bihar 2025 election results reveal a clear pattern: in districts where the share of women voters exceeded that of men, the National Democratic Alliance’s vote share is … Read more

UNESCO issued the first global normative framework on the ethics of neurotechnology on November 5; it is set to enter into force on November 12. This recommended standard is designed to maintain a balance between innovation and human rights to protect the human brain and brain-related data from misuse. Such misuse includes exploiting brain signals … Read more

The National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) sweeping victory in the Bihar Assembly elections, securing over 200 of the 243 seats, represents more than just electoral dominance: it exemplifies how India’s first-past-the-post system can magnify vote share advantages when party systems consolidate around two principal alliances. The arithmetic tells a compelling story. The NDA secured 47.2% of … Read more

The rare earth hypothesis was proposed in a 2000 book by palaeontologist Peter Ward and astronomer Donald Brownlee. It argues that while simple, microbial life may be common in the universe, complex, multicellular life is likely uncommon. The idea is rooted in a particular place in the universe meeting a chain of successive conditions. While … Read more

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s (AIMIM) resurgence in Bihar’s Seemanchal region has emerged as a decisive factor in explaining the Mahagathbandhan’s (MGB) failure to convert Muslim-majority constituencies into electoral victories. In areas where the community forms a substantial proportion of the electorate, the AIMIM’s presence fragmented opposition votes, delivering an unexpected advantage to the National … Read more

A northern St Andrew’s cross female spider in Australia building a web with X-shaped stabilimenta seen radiating from the centre. | Photo Credit: Summerdrought (CC BY-SA) A new study in PLoS One has revealed that the mysterious silk decorations in some spider webs may be sophisticated tuning devices that enhance the spider’s ability to locate … Read more

About 35% of the people of India are vegetarians. | Photo Credit: Dan Gold/Unsplash A report in July 2024 by V. Viallon and coauthors (Scientific Reports 14, 16330) discussed the use of a healthy lifestyle index (HLI) to investigate specific disease outcomes. The authors studied how individual lifestyles were associated with disease outcomes. They used data … Read more

The Karman Project is a global non-profit foundation that promotes peace and security in space through international cooperation.  How sustainable is space science? This was the subject of a debate at the Karman Week 2025, hosted by SatSure, an earth observation data refinery platform, on Thursday here. “It is time that we mitigate space debris,” said Susmita Mohanty, head of … Read more

Only 19% of Indians aged 18–34 are well-informed about AI, the second lowest among the countries surveyed. According to a Pew survey covering 25 countries, Indians have the lowest awareness about Artificial Intelligence (AI). The survey found that about 14% of Indians have heard of or read a lot about AI; and another 32% have … Read more

Scientists have long wondered when the sense of rhythm first takes shape in the developing brain. It’s been a difficult question to answer not least because studying this in foetuses is almost impossible. But when instead scientists turned to premature newborns, whose brains are at roughly the same stage as foetuses in the final weeks … Read more

Offshore wind energy is on track to triple globally by 2030, offering a rare climate success story amid global energy uncertainty, according to a new report by Ember, an energy and climate think tank based in the U.K., in collaboration with the Global Offshore Wind Alliance (GOWA). Released on October 30, ahead of the United Nations … Read more