Irish-born William Campbell and Japan's Satoshi Omura win half of the prize for discovering avermectin,

आयरलैंड में जन्‍में विलियम कैम्पबेल, जापान के सतोशी ओमूरा और चीन के यौयौ तू नामक वैज्ञानिकों को वर्ष 2015 के चिकित्सा का नोबेल पुरस्‍कार दिया जायेगा।
Irish-born William Campbell and Japan's Satoshi Omura win half of the prize for discovering avermectin, a derivative of which has been used to treat hundreds of millions of people with river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, or elephantiasis. China's Youyou Tu was awarded the other half of the prize for discovering artemisinin, a drug that has slashed malaria deaths and has become the mainstay of fighting the mosquito-borne disease.

The Nobel Prize 2015 in Physiology or Medicine jointly went to William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura, and Youyou Tu.
Mr. Campbell and Mr. Omura won it for "their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites", while Ms. Tu won it for "her discoveries concerning a novel therapy for malaria."
Mr. Campbell and Mr. Ōmura discovered a new drug, Avermectin, the derivatives of which have radically lowered the incidence of River Blindness and Lymphatic Filariasis, said a press relase. "The drug also showed efficacy against an expanding number of other parasitic diseases," it added.
Youyou Tu discovered Artemisinin, a drug that has significantly reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from Malaria. The two discoveries have provided humankind with powerful new means to combat these debilitating diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people annually,” the committee said. “The consequences in terms of improved human health and reduced suffering are immensurable.”
Campbell is a research fellow emeritus at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Omura, 80, is a professor emeritus at Kitasato University in Japan and is from the central prefecture of Yamanashi. Tu is chief professor at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The medicine award was the first Nobel Prize to be announced. The winners of the physics, chemistry and peace prizes are set to be announced later this week. The economics prize will be announced next Monday. No date has been set yet for the literature prize, but it is expected to be announced on Thursday.
The winners will share the 8 million Swedish kronor (about $960,000) prize money with one half going to Campbell and Omura, and the other to Tu. Each winner will also get a diploma and a gold medal at the annual award ceremony on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of prize founder Alfred Nobel.
Last year’s medicine award went to three scientists who discovered the brain’s inner navigation system

KISAN Project [C(K)rop Insurance using Space technology And geoiNformatics]

Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan today launched KISAN Project [C(K)rop Insurance using Space technology And geoiNformatics] of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & FW, Ministry of Agriculture and FW. The project envisages use of Space Technology and geoinformatics (GIS, GPS and Smartphone) technology along with high resolution data from UAV/Drone based imaging for improvement in yield estimation and better planning of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs), needed for crop insurance programme.

The Pilot Study is proposed to be launched in one District each of Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra during Kharif season of 2015 and two Districts each of these States during Rabi season of 2015-16. While launching the project Hon’ble MoS informed that once the Pilot Study is successful, it will be extended to the other parts of the country. The KISAN project will be implemented by Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC), an attached Office of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & FW, in collaboration with ISRO Centres (Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad & National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad), India Meteorological Department, CCAFS, State Agriculture Departments and State Remote Sensing Centres.
Dr. Balyan also launched an Android App. Designed by ISRO (National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad). This App will help real time data collection about hailstorm occurrences along with photographs and geographical coordinates (longitude and latitude). The Minister informed that App will help Government to get real time data about the Hailstorms which will be collected through the Agriculture Department officials of different States. This will support in deciding the crop loss more objectively and in a very fast manner.

India and Germany on Monday agreed to enhance ties in key areas

India and Germany on Monday agreed to enhance ties in key areas of defence manufacturing, trade, intelligence and clean energy during wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in New Delhi after which 18 MoUs were inked.
Describing the talks as “very good”, both the leaders expressed hope that their discussions will pave the way for more robust partnership between the two countries in strategic areas. “We see Germany as a natural partner in achieving our vision of India’s economic transformation. German strengths and India’s priorities are aligned.”

“Our focus tends to be on economic ties. But, I believe that in a world of seamless challenges and opportunities, India and Germany can also be strong partners in advancing a more human, peaceful, just and sustainable future for the world,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister also mentioned that he will continue his discussions with Merkel in Bangalore, where both the leaders will be attending a business forum. Modi noted that the partnership will also grow in “areas like defence manufacturing, trade in advanced technology, intelligence, and countering terrorism and radicalism. These are important security dimensions of our expanding relationship.”
The pacts signed included Joint Declaration of Intent between HRD ministry and the Federal Foreign Office of Germany regarding the Promotion of German as a Foreign Language in India and the Promotion of Modern Indian Languages in Germany.
The inking of the pact comes as both sides were working to resolve the contentious issue of Sanskrit replacing German as a third language in Kendriya Vidyalaya Schools, a decision which was criticised by Germany with Merkel raising the issue during her meeting with Modi on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Brisbane in November last year.
The two sides also announced setting up a fast-track system for German companies in Indi

Takaaki Kajita, Arthur McDonald win Nobel in physics

Takaaki Kajita, Arthur McDonald win Nobel in physics
Japanese scientist Takaaki Kajita and Canadian physicist Arthur B McDonald have won the Nobel prize in Physics 2015 "for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass".
Neutrinos are one of the fundamental particles which make up the universe. These subatomic particles produced by the decay of radioactive elements that lack an electric charge.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Science's this year's prize is about changes of identity among some of the most abundant inhabitants in this universe.
The two scientists received the Nobel for conducting key experiments which demonstrated that neutrinos change identities. This metamorphosis requires that neutrinos have mass.
Professor Mcdonald said "it was a very daunting experience when I came to know about the prize. There is great camaraderie associated with this work". "The discovery has changed our understanding of the innermost workings of matter and can prove crucial to our view of the universe," the Academy said.
The Academy said, "We live in a world of neutrinos. Thousands of billions of neutrinos are flowing through your body every second. You cannot see them and you do not feel them. Neutrinos rush through space almost at the speed of light and hardly ever interact with matter. Where do they come from? Some were created already in the Big Bang, others are constantly being created in various processes in space and on Earth - from exploding supernovas, the death of massive stars, to reactions in nuclear power plants and naturally occurring radioactive decays."
It added, "Even inside our bodies an average of 5,000 neutrinos per second is released when an isotope of potassium decays. The majority of those that reach the Earth originate in nuclear reactions inside the Sun. Second only to particles of light, photons, the neutrinos are the most numerous particles in the entire universe."
The Institute says that for a long time, however, their existence was not even certain.
This year's Nobel Prize in physics awards a discovery that solved a long-standing neutrino puzzle. Since the 1960s, scientists had theoretically calculated the number of neutrinos that were created in the nuclear reactions that make the Sun shine, but when carrying out measurements on Earth, up to two thirds of the calculated amount was missing.
Where did the neutrinos go? There was no lack of suggestions. Maybe there was something wrong with the theoretical calculations of how the neutrinos are produced in the Sun? One of the other suggestions to solve the solar neutrino puzzle was that the neutrinos change identities.
According to the Standard Model of particle physics there are three types of neutrinos - electron-neutrinos, muon-neutrinos and tau-neutrinos. Each has its respective charged partner, the electron, and its two much heavier and short-lived relatives, the muon and the tau. The Sun only produces electron-neutrinos. But if they would be transformed to muon-neutrinos or tau-neutrinos on their way to Earth, that would make the deficit of the captured electron-neutrinos understandable.
The Nobel in Physics in 2014 was awarded jointly to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources".
White LED lamps emit a bright white light, are long-lasting and energy-efficient. As about one fourth of world electricity consumption is used for lighting purposes, the LEDs contribute to saving the Earth's resources, the Nobel Institute had sad. Materials consumption is also diminished as LEDs last up to 100,000 hours, compared to 1,000 for incandescent bulbs and 10,000 hours for fluorescent lights.
The Institute had said that the LED lamp holds great promise for increasing the quality of life for over 1.5 billion people around the world who lack access to electricity grids: due to low power requirements it can be powered by cheap local solar power.

World Bank estimates show fall in India’s poverty rate

World Bank estimates show fall in India’s poverty rate
12.8 per cent of the global population live in extreme poverty
The World Bank has revised the global poverty line, previously pegged at $1.25 a day to $1.90 a day (approximately Rs. 130). This has been arrived at based on an average of the national poverty lines of 15 poorest economies of the world. The poverty lines were converted from local currency into U.S. dollars using the new 2011 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) data.
In its latest report ‘Ending Extreme Poverty, Sharing Prosperity: Progress and Policies’, authors Marcio Cruz, James Foster, Bryce Quillin, and Phillip Schellekkens, note that world-wide poverty has shown a decline under these new estimates.
The latest headline estimate for 2012 based on the new data suggests that close to 900 million people (12.8 per cent of the global population) lived in extreme poverty.
With the Sustainable Development Goals adopted in September, seeking to end all forms of poverty world over, the World Bank Group has set itself the target of bringing down the number of people living in extreme poverty to less than 3 per cent of the world population by 2030.
Multi-dimensional poverty
The report also notes that the global poverty line does not currently take the multiple dimensions of poverty into account. There are many non-monetary indicators — on education, health, sanitation, water, electricity, etc. — that are extremely important for understanding the many dimensions of poverty that people experience.
The 2015 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) counts 1.6 billion people as multi-dimensionally poor, with the largest global share in South Asia and the highest intensity in Sub-Saharan Africa.
These multiple indicators are an important complement to monetary measures of poverty and are crucial to effectively improving the lives of the poorest, the report notes. However, the recently-established Commission on Global Poverty is currently assessing how we measure and understand poverty and how to improve this going forward. According to a WB spokesperson, the CGP recommendations are expected in April 2016.
India poverty figures varies with method
Though home to the largest number of poor in 2012, India's poverty rate is one of the lowest among those countries with the largest number of poor, the latest World Bank report notes. Also in the case of India, with large numbers of people clustered close to the poverty line, poverty estimates are significantly different depending on the recall period in the survey, the authors note.
Since 2015 is the target year for the Millennium Development Goals, the assessment of changes in poverty over time is best based on the Uniform Reference Period (URP) consumption method, which uses a 30-day recall period for calculating consumption expenditures, as per the report. This method, used to set the baseline poverty rates for India in 1990, shows India’s poverty rate for 2011/12 to be 21.2 per cent.
By comparison, the Modified Mixed Reference Period (MMRP), which contains a shorter, seven-day recall period for some food items leads to higher estimates of consumption and therefore lower poverty estimates. “We expect that the MMRP-based estimate (currently at 12.4% for India) will set the baseline for India and global poverty estimates, going forward,” a World Bank spokesperson told The Hindu.
More country specific details will be available once the Global Monitoring Report, using the new estimates, is launched in Washington DC on October 7.

On the black money trail: Action time now, warns Centre

On the black money trail: Action time now, warns Centre

With the three-month window for escaping prosecution and penal provisions of the stringent law on undisclosed money abroad over, the government is working on tightening the noose. It says it has various leads, such as a scrutiny of information flow from other countries and having tax officials in Indian embassies abroad, and how many recently acquired the status of non-resident Indian (NRI).

"It is now all about enforcement. We are getting a seamless flow of information from many countries, including those considered tax havens. Many cases have come to light through information shared by Singapore. Moreover, with strengthening of 'Know Your Customer' norms in Hong Kong and West Asian countries, information access has become easier," said an official.

India has a double-taxation avoidance agreement with Singapore and more than 85 other countries. Recent information exchange treaties on tax matters with various countries will assist the government's effort. For instance, India and Seychelles signed a treaty in August during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit. Similar pacts have already been signed with other countries considered tax havens - Bahamas, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino.

Earlier, German authorities had given India information about those having unaccounted money in the LGT Bank, Liechtenstein. France had shared with India data on those having illicit accounts with HSBC, Geneva. Officials in the finance ministry and tax experts believed that many may not have availed the compliance window on the hope that foreign banks do not have data of assets acquired there more than ten years ago. However, the ministry is looking at various other leads to nab these tax evaders.

A finance ministry official said even a receipt showing payment to a gardener for a ploughing job at a person's house in Lithuania, for instance, could be a lead during searches and raids.

"In view of technological developments and changing business dynamics, where many parts of a transaction can be traced back, it is not difficult to get past information. If any part of the transaction comes to the notice of the regulatory authorities, be it income, investment or an expense, an audit trail could be established for the past as well," said Vikas Vasal, partner, tax, KPMG.

The finance ministry will also assess as to how many Indians recently acquired the status of NRIs to escape the black money Law.

For the purpose of income tax, an individual is taken to be an NRI if having resided outside India for 182 days or more in the relevant previous year. Besides, anyone not present in India for 60 days or more the previous year and again for a combined total of 365 days or more during the previous four years prior to the previous year is also considered non-resident. An NRI is liable to be taxed only for income or capital gains earned in India.

As part of its electoral promise to unearth money stashed abroad without disclosure, the government had enacted the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, with stringent provisions to punish evaders and take more than the value of these assets. The three-month compliance window ended on September 30. During this period, any offender could have escaped the stern provisions by disclosure, attracting only a 30 per cent tax and 30 per cent penalty by December 31.

Once the Act is enforced, evaders would have to pay 120 per cent of the tax, interest and penalty, besides being liable for a jail term up to 10 years.

Even so, the Centre got only 638 declarations of black money and assets held abroad, worth Rs 3,770 crore. The tax kitty would swell by only Rs 2,262 crore, as it would get only 60 per cent of the value of these assets.

A previous amnesty, the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme in 1997, yielded close to Rs 10,000 crore to the exchequer, despite only a 30 per cent tax rate imposed, without any penalty. However, the finance ministry contends that this time's compliance window should not be compared with earlier amnesty schemes, which were on domestically held money.

Experts believe there was no incentive to use the compliance window and the tax plus penalty of 60 per cent was very high, while the escape route was very easy. Also, they conceded, those not having used the window seems to have not realised the seriousness of the new law.

"People with undisclosed money abroad have taken a very big risk. The government is getting a continuous flow of information from various countries it has signed pacts with. Besides, it also has put in place mechanism to get past data," said Rakesh Nangia, managing partner, Nangia and Co.

India needs no Monroe Doctrine

India needs no Monroe Doctrine
New Delhi’s approach to its neighbours has increasingly been marked by muscularity, evident in its recent attempts to browbeat Nepal into carrying out amendments to its Constitution. What South Asia needs is a friendly India, not a powerful big brotherIndia has been involved in Nepal’s Constitution-making process since the beginning. So, it is unlikely that the passage of the Constitution would have come as a surprise Both in Nepal and Myanmar, the Modi administration seems to have displayed a lack of sensitivity towards the aspirations of smaller, sovereign nations. This could be because the security establishment has started to overshadow the Ministry of External Affairs or because domestic considerations have started to shape foreign policy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sharp initial focus on improving relations with countries in the neighbourhood evoked much optimism. Inviting the Prime Ministers of our neighbouring countries, including Pakistan, to his swearing-in ceremony was rightly billed as a great move. Mr. Modi’s visits to Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka were seen as runaway successes because the Prime Minister effectively stressed the region’s shared destiny and promised that the countries would move forward together.

India’s huge relief effort after the Nepal earthquake earlier this year was also welcomed in the Himalayan country, despite some critical voices alleging that limits had been crossed. This was India playing a ‘big brother’ in a rather positive way — taking responsibility and assisting its neighbours without expecting reciprocity.

Subir Bhaumik But it is in Nepal now that India has got itself into a huge tangle. New Delhi’s efforts at influencing the Nepali political elite to effect constitutional amendments — that will fulfil the aspirations of the Madhesis and the Tharus — have provoked a huge backlash in Nepal, with a ‘Back off India’ campaign gaining traction on social media. Some anti-India groups may be trying to take advantage, as Indian envoy in Kathmandu, Ranjit Rae, suggests, but the Indian handling of the issue has also provided them with necessary ammunition.
Threat of blockade

Nepali politicians and media allege a re-run of the economic blockade of the late 1980s, since the amendments desired by India have not been carried out. The petroleum products crisis in Bhutan and the way it effected a regime change there after the erstwhile Prime Minister Jigme Thinley was seen hobnobbing with China is surely not lost on its Himalayan neighbour.

After nearly a decade of uncertainty, Nepal has finally got a Constitution, sparking off some initial celebrations. It may not be the perfect Constitution, but it is federal, republican and, most importantly, secular. Nepal is no longer a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ (which might upset some in India). Like Bangladesh, it has given itself a secular polity despite the huge majority enjoyed by one particular religious group. In fact, the ‘Hindu Rastra’ of yore is seen as a legacy of the monarchy that Nepal has given up, in keeping with the spirit of its long pro-democracy movement.

India has been involved in the Constitution-making process in Nepal — its top diplomats and leaders have been in regular touch with the Nepali leaders. So, should we believe that the Constitution, which 85 per cent of the 601-member Nepali Constituent Assembly (CA) voted for in September, came as a surprise to India despite the latter having a huge diplomatic and intelligence presence in that country?

When Mr. Modi dispatched Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar post-haste to Kathmandu to seek some necessary amendments, his visit was seen as ‘15 days too late’ by some Nepali leaders, and ‘15 days too early’ by a few others. Many leaders said India should have respected the ‘will of the Nepali people’, reflected in the verdict of the CA. The voting made clear the broad consensus in Nepal, with even some representatives of the recalcitrant Madhesi and Tharu communities voting for the Constitution. It was always possible to get some amendments done after the Constitution took effect and New Delhi should have been patient.

However, its muscular approach in pushing for seven amendments straight away, and leaking them to the Indian press, has diluted the goodwill that Mr. Modi’s two visits to Kathmandu had created. The visits had resulted in some beneficial deals, especially in the power sector.

India’s advice to Nepal to resolve differences “through dialogue in an atmosphere free from violence and intimidation” so as to “enable broad-based ownership and acceptance” is seen as a big shove, not a gentle push — and that is provoking deep resentment among citizens and the political class alike. This is interventionism at its worst. It would be really unfortunate if Indian interests are seen as being synonymous with those of some communities of Indian origin, whose leaderships remain deeply divided, even if not discredited. India needs to identify with the larger Nepali aspirations, after all the Modi talk of sacrifices by the Gorkhas to protect India. New Delhi’s reaction to the adoption of the Constitution — merely ‘noting it’ rather than greeting it — did not go down well with even the most pro-Indian of Nepali politicians.

It would be still more unfortunate if Indian reaction in the future is influenced by the dynamics of the Bihar elections. In a way, if India tries taking a hard-line approach to get what it wants in Nepal, it may end up driving Kathmandu further into China’s embrace. A former National Security Advisor (NSA) had confided to a senior Nepali diplomat recently that the blockade was the ‘most stupid thing’ India ever did in dealing with a neighbour.

Good diplomacy is all about effective, gentle persuasion minus threats or use of force. India should have lobbied discreetly on getting some of its concerns addressed in the Nepali Constitution, not thrown tantrums after the statute was adopted by a sweeping majority. This does not sit well with India’s image at a time when the Modi administration is making a determined bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.

India’s failure to deliver on the Teesta water-sharing treaty has left trusted ally Bangladesh and its Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina uncertain. The land boundary agreement did help lift her spirits and Mr. Modi was seen as delivering on promises made, but unless the Teesta deal goes through, Ms. Hasina will never be able to convince her countrymen (and women) that India is a worthy friend. A fair share of water from a major river is much more important for Bangladesh — a nation dependent primarily on agriculture — than a few enclaves.

Here again, domestic considerations are a major problem. The Modi administration’s decision to regularise the stay of Hindu refugees from Bangladesh and Pakistan, a move that may get the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) some electoral dividend in West Bengal and Assam, has also unnerved the ruling party in Bangladesh. The Awami League is keen to prevent a large-scale migration of Hindus to India for a whole host of reasons.

Hype over hot pursuit

Mindless chest-thumping over hitting rebels “deep inside Myanmar” has already cost India. Despite the subsequent damage control that has led to important state visits, Myanmar has refused to hand over the National Socialist Council of Nagalim–Khaplang (NSCN-K)’s leader, S.S. Khaplang, and three of his confidantes, who India wants to put on trial for attacks on its security forces. Myanmar peacemakers have actually held formal negotiations with Khaplang’s representatives on a national ceasefire agreement that the Thein Sein government is planning to sign with its ethnic rebel armies, ahead of the November parliament elections.

The two countries’ forces have, since the mid-60s, forayed into each other’s territories in ‘hot pursuit’ of rebels. So there was nothing new in the Indian cross-border raids. However, they were surely not “deep inside Myanmar” as the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, R.S. Rathore, claimed. The uncalled-for Indian braggadocio is what has upset Myanmar, and the Pakistanis shot back saying, “We are not Myanmar”.

Both in Nepal and Myanmar, the Modi administration seems to have displayed a lack of sensitivity towards the aspirations of people of these smaller sovereign nations. Whether this is because the security establishment has started to overshadow the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), or because domestic considerations have started to shape the Indian response, is a matter of speculation. However, a muscular neighbourhood policy, especially with smaller neighbours, will not work for India. It will not only help drive them into the Chinese fold, but will also provide traction to Pakistan’s sustained campaign against ‘Indian domination’ in the region.

Coming as it does after allegations that Indian agencies helped bring down the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime in Sri Lanka, these actions will only raise the spectre of an Indian ‘Monroe Doctrine’ — under which India treats its neighbourhood as a sphere of influence — a doctrine India cannot afford to enforce; nor is it capable of enforcing such a principle. If the sentiments echoed by participants from neighbouring countries at a recent South Asian Economic Conclave in Delhi, which I attended, are any indication, South Asia wants a friendly and an understanding India to get its regionalism back on track — not a muscular cowboy, flaunting American attitudes and helicopters.