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1) Isro awaits signal confirmation from Vikram lander as Shiv Shakti Point warms up:

The Vikram lander and its accompanying Pragyan rover have been in sleep mode for two weeks due to the harsh cold conditions on the Moon's surface.

In Short

Vikram lander and its accompanying Pragyan rover have been in sleep mode

The Chandrayaan-3 mission made history when it successfully landed

Vikram lander and Pragyan rover were designed to function for 14 Earth days

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is eagerly awaiting signal confirmation from the Vikram lander, part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, as sunlight returns to the lunar south pole region.

The Vikram lander and its accompanying Pragyan rover have been in sleep mode for two weeks due to the harsh cold conditions on the Moon's surface.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission made history when it successfully landed near the Moon's south pole on August 23, 2023. The landing site, known as Shiv Shakti Point, is about 600 km from the lunar south pole. This region is of particular interest to scientists due to the presence of water ice in permanently shadowed areas. The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover were designed to function for 14 Earth days, conducting various experiments and studies on the lunar surface.

However, with the return of sunlight to the southern polar region, there is hope that the lander and rover will be able to function beyond their initial mission duration.

The sunlight is expected to optimally charge the solar panels of the lander and rover, allowing Isro to attempt to re-establish contact with them. If successful, this would grant the mission an extended lease of life, enabling further data collection and exploration of the lunar surface.During their operational phase, the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover conducted numerous lunar experiments. The Pragyan rover covered a distance of over 100 meters on the lunar surface and detected several elements, including sulphur, aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon, and oxygen.Isro is making efforts to reactivate the system. Senior Isro official explained that the revival process involves warming up the instruments and charging the batteries with solar heat. If these conditions are met, there is a good chance that the system will become operational again.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission represents a significant achievement for India's space exploration efforts. The successful revival of the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover would mark another milestone in this ambitious lunar mission.

2)Study finds human-driven mass extinction is eliminating entire branches of the tree of life :by Stanford University

Mass extinctions during the past 500 million years rapidly removed branches from the tree of life and required millions of years for evolution to generate functional replacements for the extinct organisms. We are in the sixth mass extinction event. Unlike the previous five, this one is caused by a single species, Homo sapiens. Beyond any doubt, it is more severe than previously assessed and is rapidly accelerating. A duo of scientists from Stanford University and the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico now shows — by examining 5,400 vertebrate genera (excluding fishes) comprising 34,600 species — that 73 genera became since 1500 CE in what they call a ‘mutilation of the tree of life.’

The passenger pigeon. The Tasmanian tiger. The Baiji, or Yangtze river dolphin. These rank among the best-known recent victims of what many scientists have declared the sixth mass extinction, as human actions are wiping out vertebrate animal species hundreds of times faster than they would otherwise disappear.

Yet, an analysis from Stanford University and the National Autonomous University of Mexico, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows the crisis may run even deeper. Each of the three species above was also the last member of its genus, the higher category into which taxonomists sort species. And they aren't alone.

Up to now, public and scientific interest has focused on extinctions of species. But in their new study, Gerardo Ceballos, senior researcher at the Institute of Ecology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and Paul Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies, Emeritus, in the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences, have found that entire genera (the plural of "genus") are vanishing as well, in what they call a "mutilation of the tree of life."

"In the long term, we're putting a big dent in the evolution of life on the planet," Ceballos said. "But also, in this century, what we're doing to the tree of life will cause a lot of suffering for humanity."

"What we're losing are our only known living companions in the entire universe," said Ehrlich, who is also a senior fellow, emeritus, by courtesy, at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

TREE OF LIFE  IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Simple schematic representation of the mutilation of the Tree of life because of generic extinctions and extinction risks. The bottom half of the tree depicted as dead branches shows examples of the extinct genera, and the upper half shows examples of genera at risk of extinction. Extinct genera: (I) lower row left – Delcourt’s giant gecko (Hoplodactylus, left), of which the only specimens known were found in a museum without a label, but probably they were found in New Zealand; and saddle-backed Rodrigues giant tortoise (Cylindraspis, right) from Rodrigues Island in the Indian Ocean. Lower row right – Yunnan Lake newt (Cynops, left) from China; and the gastric brooding frogs (Rheobatrachus, right) from rainforests in Queensland, Australia. (II) Second bottom-up row left – thylacine (Thylacinus, left), the largest carnivorous marsupial, last known from Tasmania; and Yangtze River dolphin or baijii (Lipotes, right) from China, one of very few freshwater dolphins. Second bottom-up row right – elephant birds (Aepyornis, left), the largest birds surviving to modern times, represent also both an extinct genus and family (Aepyornithidae) endemic to Madagascar; and Moho birds (genus Moho, right) represent also both an extinct genus and family (Mohidae) from Hawaii. Endangered genera: (III) Third bottom-up row left – King cobra (Ophiophagus, left) from Asia; and gavial (Gavialis, right) from India and Nepal. Third bottom-up row right – Alpine newt (Ichthyosaura, left) from Europe; and Mahogany frog (Abavorana, right) from the Malay Peninsula. (IV) Upper row left: volcano rabbit (Romerolagus, left) known from few mountains close to Mexico City, and elephant (Loxodonta, right) from Africa. Upper row right – ‘i’iwi or scarlet honeycreeper (Drepanis, left) from Hawaii; and kakapo (Strigops, right) a flightless parrot from New Zealand. Image credit: Marco Antonio Pineda.

A 'biological annihilation'

Information on species' conservation statuses from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Birdlife International, and other databases has improved in recent years, which allowed Ceballos and Ehrlich to assess extinction at the genus level. Drawing from those sources, the duo examined 5,400 genera of land-dwelling vertebrate animals, encompassing 34,600 species.

A total of 73 genera of land-dwelling vertebrates, Ceballos and Ehrlich found, have gone extinct since 1500 AD. Birds suffered the heaviest losses with 44 genus extinctions, followed in order by mammals, amphibians, and reptiles.

Based on the historic genus extinction rate among mammals—estimated for the authors by Anthony Barnosky, professor emeritus of integrative biology at UC Berkeley—the current rate of vertebrate genus extinction exceeds that of the last million years by 35 times.

This means that, without human influence, Earth would likely have lost only two genera during that time. In five centuries, human actions have triggered a surge of genus extinctions that would otherwise have taken 18,000 years to accumulate—what the paper cals a "biological annihilation."

"As scientists, we have to be careful not to be alarmist," Ceballos acknowledged—but the gravity of the findings in this case, he explained, called for more powerful language than usual. "We would be unethical not to explain the magnitude of the problem, since we and other scientists are alarmed." Next-level loss, next-level consequences

On many levels, genus extinctions hit harder than species extinctions.

When a species dies out, Ceballos explained, other species in its genus can often fill at least part of its role in the ecosystem. And because those species carry much of their extinct cousin's genetic material, they also retain much of its evolutionary potential.

Pictured in terms of the tree of life, if a single "twig" (a species) falls off, nearby twigs can branch out relatively quickly, filling the gap much as the original twig would have. In this case, the diversity of species on the planet remains more or less stable.

But when entire "branches" (genera) fall off, it leaves a huge hole in the canopy—a loss of biodiversity that can take tens of millions of years to "regrow" through the evolutionary process of speciation. Humanity cannot wait that long for its life-support systems to recover, Ceballos said, given how much the stability of our civilization hinges on the services Earth's biodiversity provides.

Take the increasing prevalence of Lyme disease: white-footed mice, the primary carriers of the disease, used to compete with passenger pigeons for foods, like acorns. With the pigeons gone and predators like wolves and cougars on the decline, mouse populations have boomed—and with them, human cases of Lyme disease.

This example involves the disappearance of just one genus. A mass extinction of genera could mean a proportional explosion of disasters for humanity.

It also means a loss of knowledge. Ceballos and Ehrlich point to the gastric brooding frog, also the final member of an extinct genus. Females would swallow their own fertilized eggs and raise tadpoles in their stomachs, while "turning off" their stomach acid. These frogs might have provided a model for studying human diseases like acid reflux, which can raise the risk of esophageal cancer—but now they're gone.

Loss of genera could also exacerbate the worsening climate crisis. "Climate disruption is accelerating extinction, and extinction is interacting with the climate, because the nature of the plants, animals, and microbes on the planet is one of the big determinants of what kind of climate we have," Ehrlich pointed out.

A crucial, and still absent, response

To prevent further extinctions and resulting societal crises, Ceballos and Ehrlich are calling for immediate political, economic, and social action on unprecedented scales.

Increased conservation efforts should prioritize the tropics, they noted, since tropical regions have the highest concentration of both genus extinctions and genera with only one remaining species. The pair also called for increased public awareness of the extinction crisis, especially given how deeply it intersects with the more-publicized climate crisis

"The size and growth of the human population, the increasing scale of its consumption, and the fact that the consumption is very inequitable are all major parts of the problem," the authors said.

"The idea that you can continue those things 'and' save biodiversity is insane," Ehrlich added. "It's like sitting on a limb and sawing it off at the same time."

3) How brain implants are treating depression By Laura Sanders:

An experimental surgery that sends electricity into the brain may offer relief from mental disorders.On a hot, sunny Sunday afternoon in Manhattan, time froze for Jon Nelson. He stood on the sidewalk and said good-bye to his three kids, whose grandfather had come into the city from Long Island to pick them up.

Like any parent, Jon is deeply attuned to his children’s quirks. His oldest? Sometimes quiet but bitingly funny. His middle kid? Rates dad a 10 out of 10 on the embarrassment scale and doesn’t need a hug. His 10-year-old son, the baby of the family, is the emotional one. “My youngest son would climb back up into my wife’s womb if he could,” Jon says. “He’s that kid.” An unexpected parade had snarled traffic, so Jon parked illegally along a yellow curb on 36th Street, near where his father-in-law was waiting. It was time to go. His youngest gave the last hug. “He looked up, scared and sad,” Jon says, and asked, “Dad, am I going to see you again?”

That question stopped the clock. “I was like, ‘Oh man,’” Jon says. “It was one of those moments where I was living it through his eyes. And I got scared for the first time.”

Until that good-bye, Jon hadn’t wanted to live. For years, he had a constant yearning to die — he talks about it like it was an addiction — as he fought deep, debilitating depression. But his son’s question pierced through that heaviness and reached something inside him. “That was the first time I really thought about it. I was like, ‘I kind of hope I don’t die.’ I hadn’t had that feeling in so long.”

That hug happened around 5 p.m. on August 21, 2022. Twelve hours later, Jon was wheeled into a surgical suite.There, at Mount Sinai’s hospital just southwest of Central Park, surgery team members screwed Jon’s head into a frame to hold it still. Then they numbed him and drilled two small holes through the top of his skull, one on each side. Through each hole, a surgeon plunged a long, thin wire dotted at the end with electrodes deep into his brain. The wiring, threaded under his skin, snaked around the outside of Jon’s skull and sank down behind his ear. From there, a wire wrapped around to the front, meeting a battery-powered control box that surgeons implanted in his chest, just below his collarbone.During the surgery and in the days after, doctors sent small pulses of electricity into Jon’s brain. In ways that are still unclear, this electrical tinkering changes the messages that move between different brain regions. The doctors and researchers had what seems like a bold goal: They wanted these pulses to pull Jon out of the darkness of depression.Jon is one of dozens of people in the United States currently in clinical trials that aim to heal mental disorders with brain implants. The technique is called deep brain stimulation, and it’s built on the scientific premise that electrical stimulation can reset brains that are in the grip of powerful and devastating psychiatric disorders such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Introducing deep brain stimulation

I first heard about deep brain stimulation, or DBS, more than a decade ago, in 2010. As a science reporter, I was sitting in a cavernous conference room packed with neuroscientists in San Diego. We were listening to a presentation by Helen Mayberg, a neurologist and neuroscientist who was then at Emory University in Atlanta. As she spoke, Mayberg walked the audience through the scientific rationale for the idea that electrodes pushed down into the brain could alleviate severe depression.

Toward the end of her presentation, Mayberg showed a video of a woman who had severe depression. The day before the video was taken, doctors had implanted electrodes into the woman’s brain. The researchers in the video turned on the stimulation, and within a minute, just like that, the woman wanted to smile and laugh. That transformation floored me, and judging by the audience reaction, a lot of other people too.

In November of 2022, I caught up with Mayberg, again at a neuroscience meeting, again in San Diego. We talked about what had happened in the years since that presentation and where this research is going. It hasn’t been an easy road, says Mayberg, who now directs the Nash Family Center for Advanced Circuit Therapeutics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The science of DBS has taken lots of twists and turns.

So have the journeys of people who have participated in this research. To hear one of those stories, Mayberg put me in touch with Jon.

For this series, I talked with him and his wife, as well as three other people who had lived with severe depression and are now being treated with deep brain stimulation. These people’s paths have been incredibly tough. And while they still face challenges, they have been crystal clear about what DBS has done for them: This experimental brain surgery has given them back their lives.The darkness of depression

Jon’s a sharp, funny middle-aged guy, a self-described “character,” who lives in a picturesque small town northeast of Philadelphia. He’s a dad with three busy kids and a garage packed with hockey sticks, softball catcher pads, golf clubs, balls of all sorts, bikes, in-line skates, a mesh goal and a supercute white motor scooter. He’s a coach (hockey and softball) known for dispensing “isms” and the phrase, “I’m going to give you some life advice.” He’s a husband who worries about his wife doing too much and not taking care of herself. He’s in advertising, a people person who used to love having his friends over to hang around his fire pit.

For a decade, Jon let his outgoing personality carry him as he struggled to overcome his depression. His disease, and the suicidal thoughts it forced on him, grew worse in the last five years. On the outside, Jon was the hypersocial, high-functioning guy everyone expected him to be. But inside, his profound depression was a private hell, he says. “I’d be the one standing in front of everybody leading a champagne toast, and then I’d be driving home and wanting to slam my car into a tree.”

Jon fantasized about other deaths: A mugging, a plane crash. Until Jon’s son asked if he would see Jon again, on the evening before the procedure, Jon even nurtured a little bit of hope that he might die during the brain surgery he volunteered for.

Jon’s depression also stole his motivation, leaving him wrung out and isolated from his family. He overate, overslept and drank too much. His worst stretches, he suspects, left his family traumatized.Talk therapy, antidepressants, antipsychotics, ketamine, cannabis, transcranial magnetic stimulation (in which magnetic fields target nerve cells through the skull), several residential treatment stints, even electroconvulsive therapy, which left him with intense memory loss — none of these treatments reliably worked for him.

An estimated 280 million people worldwide have major depression. A subset of that giant number will ultimately fall into a hopeless-sounding diagnosis: “treatment-resistant depression” or “intractable depression.” In the United States, an estimated 2.8 million people have that diagnosis.Jon is one of them. For him and his family, deep brain stimulation was a last-ditch, desperate maneuver. It was his Hail Mary.

4) RNA has been recovered from an extinct species for the first time :by Stockholm University

Tasmanian tiger specimen used in the study and preserved in desiccation at room temperature in the Swedish National History Museum in Stockholm

A new study shows the isolation and sequencing of more than a century-old RNA molecules from a Tasmanian tiger specimen preserved at room temperature in a museum collection. This resulted in the reconstruction of skin and skeletal muscle transcriptomes from an extinct species for the first time.The researchers note that their findings have relevant implications for international efforts to resurrect extinct species, including both the Tasmanian tiger and the wooly mammoth, as well as for studying pandemic RNA viruses.

The Tasmanian tiger, also known as the thylacine, was a remarkable apex carnivorous marsupial that was once distributed all across the Australian continent and the island of Tasmania. This extraordinary species found its final demise after European colonization, when it was declared as an agricultural pest and a bounty of £1 per each full-grown animal killed was set by 1888. The last known living Tasmanian tiger died in captivity in 1936 at the Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, Tasmania.

Recent efforts in de-extinction have focused on the Tasmanian tiger, as its natural habitat in Tasmania is still mostly preserved, and its reintroduction could help recovering past ecosystem equilibriums lost after its final disappearance. However, reconstructing a functional living Tasmanian tiger not only requires a comprehensive knowledge of its genome (DNA) but also of tissue-specific gene expression dynamics and how gene regulation worked, which are only attainable by studying its transcriptome (RNA).

"Resurrecting the Tasmanian tiger or the wooly mammoth is not a trivial task, and will require a deep knowledge of both the genome and transcriptome regulation of such renowned species, something that only now is starting to be revealed," says Emilio Mármol, the lead author of a study recently published in the Genome Research journal by researchers at SciLifeLab in collaboration with the Centre for Paleogenetics, a joint venture between the Swedish Museum of Natural History and Stockholm University.

RNA molecules recovered from the Tasmanian tiger

The researchers behind this study have sequenced, for the first time, the transcriptome of the skin and skeletal muscle tissues from a 130-year-old desiccated Tasmanian tiger specimen preserved at room temperature in the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm. This led to the identification of tissue-specific gene expression signatures that resemble those from living extant marsupial and placental mammals.

The recovered transcriptomes were of such good quality that it was possible to identify muscle- and skin-specific protein coding RNAs, and led to the annotation of missing ribosomal RNA and microRNA genes, the later following MirGeneDB recommendations.

"This is the first time that we have had a glimpse into the existence of thylacine-specific regulatory genes, such as microRNAs, that got extinct more than one century ago," says Marc R. Friedländer, Associate Professor at the Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute at Stockholm University and SciLifeLab.

This pioneering study opens up new exciting opportunities and implications for exploring the vast collections of specimens and tissues stored at museums across the globe, where RNA molecules might await to be uncovered and sequenced.

"In the future, we may be able to recover RNA not only from extinct animals, but also RNA virus genomes such as SARS-CoV2 and their evolutionary precursors from the skins of bats and other host organisms held in museum collections," says Love Dalén, Professor of evolutionary genomics at Stockholm University and the Centre for Paleogenetics.

The authors of the study say they are excited for future holistic research developments integrating both genomics and transcriptomics towards a new era in paleogenetics beyond DNA.

5) Tiny sea creatures reveal the ancient origins of neurons : by Center for Genomic Regulation

Confocal microscopy image of nuclei, colored by depth, of Trichoplax sp. H2, one of the four species of placozoan for which the authors of the study created a cell atlas for

A study in the journal Cell sheds new light on the evolution of neurons, focusing on the placozoans, a millimeter-sized marine animal. Researchers at the Center for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona find evidence that specialized secretory cells found in these unique and ancient creatures may have given rise to neurons in more complex animals.

Placozoans are tiny animals, around the size of a large grain of sand, which graze on algae and microbes living on the surface of rocks and other substrates found in shallow, warm seas. The blob-like and pancake-shaped creatures are so simple that they live without any body parts or organs.

These animals, thought to have first appeared on Earth around 800 million years ago, are one of the five main lineages of animals alongside Ctenophora (comb jellies), Porifera (sponges), Cnidaria (corals, sea anemones and jellyfish) and Bilateria (all other animals).

The sea creatures coordinate their behavior thanks to peptidergic cells, special types of cells that release small peptides which can direct the animal's movement or feeding. Driven by the intrigue of the origin of these cells, the authors of the study employed an array of molecular techniques and computational models to understand how placozoan cell types evolved and piece together how our ancient ancestors might have looked and functioned.

Reconstructing ancient cell types

The researchers first made a map of all the different placozoan cell types, annotating their characteristics across four different species. Each cell type has a specialized role which comes from certain sets of genes. The maps or "cell atlases" allowed researchers to chart clusters or "modules" of these genes. They then created a map of the regulatory regions in DNA that control these gene modules, revealing a clear picture about what each cell does and how they work together. Finally, they carried out cross-species comparisons to reconstruct how the cell types evolved.

The research showed that the main nine cell types in placozoans appear to be connected by many "in-between" cell types which change from one type to another. The cells grow and divide, maintaining the delicate balance of cell types required for the animal to move and eat. The researchers also found fourteen different types of peptidergic cells, but these were different to all other cells, showing no in-between types or any signs of growth or division.

Surprisingly, the peptidergic cells shared many similarities to neurons—a cell type which didn't appear until many millions of years later in more advanced animals such as and bilateria. Cross-species analyses revealed these similarities are unique to placozoans and do not appear in other early-branching animals such as sponges or comb jellies (ctenophores). Evolutionary stepping stones

The similarities between peptidergic cells and neurons were threefold. First, the researchers found that these placozoan cells differentiate from a population of progenitor epithelial cells via developmental signals that resemble neurogenesis, the process by which new neurons are formed, in cnidaria and bilateria.

Second, they found that peptidergic cells have many gene modules required to build the part of a neuron which can send out a message (the pre-synaptic scaffold). However, these cells are far from being a true neuron, as they lack the components for the receiving end of a neuronal message (post-synaptic) or the components required for conducting electrical signals.

Finally, the authors used deep learning techniques to show that placozoan cell types communicate with each other using a system in cells where specific proteins, called GPCRs (G-protein coupled receptors), detect outside signals and start a series of reactions inside the cell. These outside signals are mediated by neuropeptides, chemical messengers used by neurons in many different physiological processes.

"We were astounded by the parallels," says Dr. Sebastián R. Najle, co-first author of the study and postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Genomic Regulation. "The placozoan peptidergic cells have many similarities to primitive neuronal cells, even if they aren't quite there yet. It's like looking at an evolutionary stepping stone."

The dawn of the neuron

The study demonstrates that the building blocks of the neuron were forming 800 million years ago in ancestral animals grazing inconspicuously in the shallow seas of ancient Earth. From an evolutionary point of view, early neurons might have started as something like the peptidergic secretory cells of today's placozoans.

These cells communicated using neuropeptides, but eventually gained new gene modules which enabled cells to create post-synaptic scaffolds, form axons and dendrites and create ion channels that generate fast electrical signals—innovations which were critical for the dawn of the neuron around one hundred million years after the ancestors of placozoans first appeared on Earth.

However, the complete evolutionary story of nerve systems is still to be told. The first modern neuron is thought to have originated in the common ancestor of cnidarians and bilaterians around 650 million years ago. And yet, neuronal-like cells exist in ctenophores, although they have important structural differences and lack the expression of most genes found in modern neurons.

The presence of some of these neuronal genes in the cells of placozoans and their absence in ctenophores raises fresh questions about the evolutionary trajectory of neurons.

"Placozoans lack neurons, but we've now found striking molecular similarities with our neural cells. Ctenophores have neural nets, with key differences and similarities with our own. Did neurons evolve once and then diverge, or more than once, in parallel? Are they a mosaic, where each piece has a different origin? These are open questions that remain to be addressed," says Dr. Xavier Grau-Bové, co-first author of the study and postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Genomic Regulation.The authors of the study believe that, as researchers around the world continue to sequence high-quality genomes from diverse species, the origins of neurons and the evolution of other cell types will become increasingly clear."Cells are the fundamental units of life, so understanding how they come into being or change over time is key to explain the evolutionary story of life. Placozoans, ctenophores, sponges and other non-traditional model animals harbor secrets that we are only just beginning to unlock," concludes ICREA Research Professor Arnau Sebé-Pedros, corresponding author of the study and Junior Group Leader at the Center for Genomic Regulation.

6) Spider silk is spun by silkworms for the first time, offering a green alternative to synthetic fibers :by Cell Press

Silk fibers produced by transgenic silkworms.

Scientists in China have synthesized spider silk from genetically modified silkworms, producing fibers six times tougher than the Kevlar used in bulletproof vests.The study, published September 20 in the journal Matter, is the first to successfully produce full-length spider silk proteins using silkworms. The findings demonstrate a technique that could be used to manufacture an environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic commercial fibers such as nylon.

"Silkworm silk is presently the only animal silk fiber commercialized on a large scale, with well-established rearing techniques," said Mi. "Consequently, employing genetically modified silkworms to produce spider silk fiber enables low-cost, large-scale commercialization."

Scientists have eyed spider silk as an enticingly sustainable alternative to synthetic fibers, which can release harmful microplastics into the environment and are often produced from fossil fuels that generate greenhouse gas emissions. But turning to nature for alternatives isn't without challenges.

Image of forced reel silk

Previously developed processes for spinning artificial spider silk have struggled to apply a surface layer of glycoproteins and lipids to the silk to help it withstand humidity and exposure to sunlight—an anti-aging "skin layer" that spiders apply to their webs.Genetically modified silkworms offer a solution to this problem, says Mi, since silkworms coat their own fibers with a similar protective layer."Spider silk stands as a strategic resource in urgent need of exploration," said Junpeng Mi, a Ph.D. candidate at the College of Biological Science and Medical Engineering at Donghua University and the first author of the study."The exceptionally high mechanical performance of the fibers produced in this study holds significant promise in this field. This type of fiber can be utilized as surgical sutures, addressing a global demand exceeding 300 million procedures annually." The spider silk fibers could also be used to create more comfortable garments and innovative types of bulletproof vests, says Mi, and they may have applications in smart materials, the military, aerospace technology, and biomedical engineering.

To spin spider silk from silkworms, Mi and his team introduced spider silk protein genes into the DNA of silkworms so that it would be expressed in their glands using a combination of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology and hundreds of thousands of microinjections into fertilized silkworm eggs.

The microinjections posed "one of the most significant challenges" in the study, said Mi, but when he saw the silkworms' eyes glowing red under the fluorescence microscope—a sign that the gene editing had been successful—he was overjoyed.

The researchers also needed to perform "localization" modifications on the transgenic spider silk proteins so that they would interact properly with proteins in the silkworm glands, ensuring that the fiber would be spun properly. To guide the modifications, the team developed a "minimal basic structure model" of silkworm silk.

"This concept of 'localization,' introduced in this thesis, along with the proposed minimal structural model, represents a significant departure from previous research," says Mi. "We are confident that large-scale commercialization is on the horizon."

In the future, Mi plans to use insights into the toughness and strength of spider silk fibers developed in the current study to develop genetically modified silkworms that produce spider silk fibers from both natural and engineered amino acids.

"The introduction of over one hundred engineered amino acids holds boundless potential for engineered spider silk fibers," says Mi.

1) Govt buried key information in footnotes, understated external debt by Rs 2 lakh crore, says CAG :

Audit body found several other irregularities in govt’s accounts for FY22, including cess collections lying unused or misused, and expenditure being placed under opaque headings.

The Government of India understated its external debt by as much as Rs 2 lakh crore in fiscal 2021-2022 — running afoul of its own laws — the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has said in a report.

The CAG, in a report made public in August and pertaining to financial year 2021-2022, highlighted a tendency by the Narendra Modi government to bury important information in footnotes rather than report it in the main body of its accounts. Some of this information was “crucial in nature” and thus needed a more significant disclosure, the CAG said.

The CAG, in a section titled “depiction of critical information through footnotes”, found that the main section of the government’s accounts for the year 2021-22 showed the external debt of the Union government to be Rs 4.39 lakh crore based on a “historical” exchange rate. However, a footnote disclosed that at the latest exchange rate for the period (31 March, 2022), this debt would actually have been Rs 6.58 lakh crore — Rs 2.19 lakh crore higher.

This, the CAG said, was a violation of the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003, which lays out the rules the government should adhere to in the interests of good, stable, and transparent fiscal policy.“This disclosure of the value of external debt only through a footnote affected the transparency of the accounts and may also be seen in the light of Rule 2(aa) of FRBM Act, 2003, wherein the definition of Union Government Debt includes External Debt valued at current exchange rates,” the CAG report says.

According to the FRBM Act, government debt at any point of time includes, among other things, “the total outstanding liabilities of the central government on the security of the Consolidated Fund of India, including external debt valued at current exchange rates”.

Important disclosures buried

The CAG also found other instances of the government leaving important information in the footnotes of its accounts.

According to the ‘Liabilities of the Central Government’ statement released by the Centre, the total of liabilities of the Union government under the accounting head ‘Small Savings and Provident Funds’, as on 31 March, 2022, were Rs 6,01,445.58 crore.

However, the CAG found that information on “other liabilities” of the government with regard to this accounting head, and also some of its related investments, were made only through footnotes.

“Thus, depiction of Small Savings Liabilities amounting to Rs 6,23,006.29 crore through a footnote, and not as part of the main body of the Statement or depicting the consolidated picture at any place, did not present an appropriate picture of Public Account Liabilities of the Union Government,” the CAG says in the report.

The CAG said it had raised the issue of the improper use of footnotes in the report for FY21 as well, and had suggested then that the government should introduce a section where all such disclosures could be made in a consolidated form “to aid readability and transparency”.

Cesses unused, problem of ‘other expenditure’

The CAG also found that several cesses the government had collected from the public were unused, lying idle, or had been misappropriated for uses other than what they were intended for.

A cess is a form of tax the government collects for a particular purpose, the proceeds of which it does not need to share with the states. This has become a sore point between the Centre and the states, with the latter alleging that the Centre was increasingly using cesses rather than taxes, as it would not then need to share the proceeds.

An example of cesses lying unused, as noted by the CAG, was the Health and Education Cess collected in 2021-22, a part of which was to go towards two funds — Madhyamik and Uchchtar Shiksha Kosh (MUSK) and Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Nidhi (PMSSN).

“During FY 2021-22, an amount of Rs 52,732 crore was collected towards Health and Education Cess, out of which Rs 31,788 crore (60 per cent) was transferred to Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh,” the CAG report says.

“For the remaining Reserve Funds, in spite of Cabinet’s approval for their creation i.e. MUSK (July 2017) and PMSSN (March 2021), both are yet to be operationalised due to non-finalisation of their accounting procedures,” it adds.

Similarly, the CAG found that in 2021-22, the government collected Rs 10,376 crore under the Universal Access Levy (UAL), a cess aimed at financing the Universal Service Obligation Fund — which is meant to help defray the cost of providing mobile services in remote areas. However, only Rs 8,300 crore was actually transferred to the fund.

“Thus, there was a short transfer of UAL collected during the year to USO Fund amounting to Rs 2,076 crore,” the CAG said. “This amount was retained in the Consolidated Fund of India and was available for use for purposes other than for which it was levied.”

The CAG also said that, despite repeated attempts by it to dissuade the Centre, various government departments still listed large parts of their expenditure under the catch-all and opaque accounting head of “other expenditure”.

“Classifying the expenditure of certain outlays at appropriate level is necessary for ensuring the transparency in books of accounts, which also enables to quantify the expenditure activity-wise for the purpose of management as well as monitoring,” the CAG report states.

“Hence, repeated use of Minor Head 800 [which is titled ‘other expenditure’] results in opaqueness in accounts and needs to be curtailed,” it added.

Hidden troves

There is one inflexible rule in government accounting: you cannot park public funds outside government accounts.There are three funds in which government receipts are parked and from where disbursements go out: the Consolidated Fund of India which houses all its revenues, loans and receipts arising from loan recoveries. There is a small contingency fund that deals with unforeseen expenditure from certain exigencies with the current corpus limited to Rs 30,000 crore. Finally, there is the public account where the government holds money in trust. These are funds that do not actually belong to the government like provident funds and small savings collections.

But the department of space — which falls within the Prime Minister’s bailiwick — did the unthinkable. It parked a sum of Rs 154.94 crore in 16 current accounts with banks.

When the CAG raised the issue with the department of space, it said it would close all these accounts immediately. The CAG wasn’t satisfied since it had raised the issue in the previous year as well. In September 2021, the department of space sought post facto approval from the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) — the government’s bookkeeper — to operate these bank accounts.

These accounts were being used by Isro to make customs duty payments and credit receipts from the sale of scrap. In November 2021, the department said it would close these accounts when it was able to make customs payments through NEFT/RTGS — the inter-bank settlement systems that enable instantaneous transfer of money. But these accounts were not closed despite these promises.Irregularities showed up in the department of telecom as well. In 1999, the government had created a universal service obligation fund (USOF) which would incentivise telecom operators to provide services to people in rural and remote areas at affordable and reasonable prices even though it was uneconomic to do so.

Telecom operators pay a revenue share licence fee of 8 per cent of their adjusted gross revenue to the government. Of this, 5 per cent goes to the USOF and 3 per cent to the general exchequer.

The CAG found that the government had collected Rs 10,376 crore from the telecom levy but transferred only Rs 8,300 crore to the USOF. Where did the rest go? The government wouldn’t tell.

“There was short transfer of the universal access levy (UAL)… to the USO Fund amounting to Rs 2,076 crore. This amount was retained in the Consolidated Fund of India and was available for use for purposes other than for which it was levied,” the report said.

The budget division of the department of economic affairs argued with the government’s auditor and said the “purpose of such funds is… to ensure utilisation for the earmarked purpose over a period of years, but not necessarily, within each financial year”.

The CAG didn’t agree with this view. “Keeping funds idle in Public Account without productive application is not desirable”, the CAG said, contending that the short transfer was not in accordance with the provisions of the act under which the levy was imposed.

It went on to assert: “The provision of the (Telecom) Act shall prevail over the accounting procedure.”

In 2021-22, the government collected a sum of Rs 52,732 crore through the health and education cess slapped on individual and corporate taxpayers. Sixty per cent of this fund — or Rs 31,788 crore — was transferred to the Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh, a non-lapsable fund meant to promote elementary education.

The rest was supposed to go to the Madhyamik and Ucchatar Shiksha Kosh (MUSK) and the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Nidhi (PMSSN).MUSK was cleared by the Union cabinet in July 2017 and the PMSSN in March 2021. Neither was in operation at the end of March 2022.In May this year, the finance ministry told the CAG that these funds would be operationalised in 2022-23. It is still not clear whether they are up and running.

The report also reveals how the ministry of drinking water and sanitation (MoDWS) cornered the proceeds from the Rashtriya Swachhata Kosh, which was created out of the proceeds from the 0.5 per cent Swachh Bharat cess imposed in November 2015.

The MoDWS is supposed to share the funds from the Kosh on an 80:20 basis with the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA). In 2015-17, the Kosh had Rs 12,400 crore. The MoDWS cleaned out the fund. The MoHUA incurred an expenditure of Rs 159.42 crore on the Swacch Bharat Mission. But since the fund had been cleaned out, it ended up with an adverse balance in its books. The MoHUA wanted the adverse balance reversed to the water and sanitation ministry but its pleas were not heeded.

In May this year, the MoDWS said it would “adopt” the adverse balance of the housing and urban affairs ministry. It isn’t clear whether the reversal of the sum has occurred.

Referring to the brouhaha over the cess pools, N.R. Bhanumurthy, vice-chancellor of the Bangalore-based Dr BR Ambedkar School of Economics University, said: “The cesses are created for a limited purpose and time-frame, and not for perpetuity. Unfortunately, that has not been the case in our country. This has also been pointed out by various Finance Commissions in their reports. The cess, so collected, should be parked in separate heads and used for that purpose alone. Otherwise, it negates the very purpose for which the cess was imposed.”

Accounting trick

The government and the CAG have been at loggerheads over the persistent use of what is known as Minor Head 800.This has served as the government’s hidey-hole for all kinds of transactions that it cannot adequately explain or label.

Theoretically, the rubric used to describe this minor head is “other receipts and other expenditure”. It is broad enough to cover a wide range of transactions that are not routine or properly pigeonholed.

In its report on government accounts for 2019-20, the CAG had bluntly said: “Repeated use of Minor Head 800 results in opaqueness in accounts and, hence, needs to be curtailed.”

It complained in that report that despite repeated suggestions for a comprehensive review of the structure of government accounts, the government had chosen not to address this issue.Two years later, the CAG has noted that the problems with Minor Head 800 persist.

In its latest report, the government auditor said 60 per cent of the expenditure under nine major heads ranging from medical and public health to land reforms, and flood control, was lumped under the ubiquitous Minor Head 800.

The total expenditure under these nine major heads amounted to 78,878.54 crore. Of this 60.41 per cent, or Rs 47,651.96 crore, was treated as “other expenditure” under Minor Head 800.The government also uses a stack of footnotes to its accounts which, the CAG claims, do “not disclose the complete picture of the finances of the Union government”.In 2021-22, the government used 258 footnotes. Two years before this, in 2019-20, it had used 254.“Some of the footnotes are crucial in nature and need a significant disclosure rather than through a footnote,” the CAG said, adding that it had raised this concern in previous years as well. It has been stonewalled every single time.

2) Household savings fall to five-decade low, debt remains sharply high: RBI:Tribune News Service bY:Sandeep Dikshit

The trend indicates that households have been borrowing to fulfil their needs Behind the veneer of the highest growth in GDP among major countries, ordinary households in India are hurting. The net financial savings of households has crashed to a nearly five-decade low of 5.1% of GDP in fiscal 2022-23 from 7.2% in the previous fiscal, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Households were also being burdened with more financial liabilities, indicating a severe income crunch and post-pandemic rise in consumption due to pent- up demand. Financial liabilities of households shot up by 5.8% of GDP in 2022-23 as compared with 3.8% in 2021-22 which also indicated that part of the consumption was being financed by loans. The RBI said the rate of increase in financial liabilities in 2022-23 was the second highest since Independence. The only time the flow was sharper was during 2006-07 when it was 6.7%.

In absolute terms, net household assets plummeted from Rs 22.8 trillion during the height of the pandemic in 2020-21 to Rs 16.96 trillion in 2021-22, and then to Rs 13.76 trillion in 2022-23. Household debt, in terms of the stock of financial liabilities, also was high at 37.6% of the GDP in 2022-23, as against 36.9% in the previous fiscal. The reason could be erosion of stagnant incomes due to the high inflation rates, leading to lower savings and higher debt. The figures in the RBI data on household assets and liabilities also indicate that despite the government’s frequent exhortations, it is the public spending from the revenue earned by taxes that is holding up the GDP growth rate and not private consumption and private capital expenditure.

“We believe that consumption growth is unsustainable. Whether it will be substituted by investments is not our base case, though the jury is still out,” said Nikhil Gupta of Motilal Oswal.

However, in the first quarter of 2023-24 (April to June), private consumption final expenditure (PCFE) rose to 6% as compared to the same period last year. The PCFE was 2.8% in the fourth quarter of 2022-23 and 2.2% in the third quarter of the last fiscal.

Liabilities up at 2nd highest rate since 1947

The net financial savings of households has crashed to a nearly five-decade low of 5.1% of GDP in fiscal 2022-23 from 7.2% in the previous fiscal

Financial liabilities of households shot up by 5.8% of GDP in 2022-23 as compared to 3.8% in 2021-22

The rate of increase in financial liabilities in 2022-23 was the second highest since Independence

3) Curtains for old Parliament building: What all happened on last day?:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the special session of the Parliament with an emotive speech for the last time for the old building. The magnificent old Parliament building hosted a session one last time on Monday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi bidding a farewell recalling India's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru's iconic “tryst with destiny” speech for continuing to inspire everyone and another predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee's "governments may come and go" remark.

While the historic old Parliament building, standing tall in the heart of the national capital, hosted the first day of the five-day special session, from Tuesday, all proceedings will be held in the new Parliament building

Earlier in the day, both the Houses were adjourned after a discussion on Parliamentary democracy in the last 75 years with the presiding officers stating that the proceedings will commence on Tuesday afternoon. While the Lok Sabha will meet at 1:15pm at the new Parliament building, the Rajya Sabha proceedings will resume at 2:15pm.

What happened on the last day at the old Parliament building? PM Modi's address

Prime Minister Modi opened the special session of the Parliament with an emotive speech for the last time for the old Parliament building. During his address, Modi paid tributes to India's democratic traditions, recalled contributions of former prime ministers including Jawaharlal Nehru, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Manmohan Singh, and spoke about the existing Parliament building's history. “We have undertaken a journey of 75 years, and as we bid goodbye to this Parliament house, we must remember that though this house was built by the colonial government, it was built by our sweat and toil, by our countrymen and with our money,” he said.

He added, “We might be shifting to the new building but this building will keep on inspiring the coming generation. As it is a golden chapter of the journey of Indian democracy."

The PM also remembered journalists who have dedicated their lives to reporting the proceedings of Parliament, even without the use of the latest technology. “Bidding farewell to the old Parliament building will be an even tougher task for journalists as they have been connected with the establishment more than its members,” he said.

Demand for women's reservation bill

The women's reservation bill, also known as the Constitution (One Hundred and Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2008, took center stage in Lok Sabha on the first day of the special Parliament session. Several parties are pushing for the discussion of the long-standing bill - which was already passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010.

The bill, if passed, would reserve one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.

Ruckus over mics being muted

As the members met to start the proceedings in the Lok Sabha, the Opposition began raising their voices as their mics were turned off. This turned into a brief ruckus in the lower house. However, speaker Om Birla apologised saying it was a “technical snag”.

BJP leader takes oath as MP

Amid the special Parliament session proceedings, BJP leader Dinesh Sharma takes oath as a Member of the Parliament (MP) in Rajya Sabha. War of words between Mallikarjun Kharge and Piyush Goyal

The Rajya Sabha witnessed a war of words between the leader of the House Piyush Goyal and the leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge after the Congress leader called G20 as ‘G2’ and then said that he confused the zero in G20 with lotus (BJP's symbol).

To this, Goyal urged Kharge to not make fun of G20 and said, “But the leader of the opposition, who is also Congress president, only sees 2G, one ji and son ji."

Kharge immediately hit back saying, “A visibly irked Kharge shot back, “When it comes to the nation, we are all united...but don't think that you are the only patriots.”

War of words between Mallikarjun Kharge and Piyush Goyal

The Rajya Sabha witnessed a war of words between the leader of the House Piyush Goyal and the leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge after the Congress leader called G20 as ‘G2’ and then said that he confused the zero in G20 with lotus (BJP's symbol).

To this, Goyal urged Kharge to not make fun of G20 and said, “But the leader of the opposition, who is also Congress president, only sees 2G, one ji and son ji."

Kharge immediately hit back saying, “A visibly irked Kharge shot back, “When it comes to the nation, we are all united...but don't think that you are the only patriots.”

What will happen to old Parliament building?

According to media reports, the old Parliament building which was built in 1927, will not be demolished. It will be "retrofitted" for more functional spaces for parliamentary events.

Reports also suggest that a part of the old building may be converted into a museum.

PM Modi chairs Cabinet meeting

Meanwhile, after the Houses were adjourned, a Union Cabinet held a meeting chaired by Modi amid speculation that it may clear some important legislative proposals. There was no official word on the agenda items.

4) Inside new Parliament House, govt tables 33% women's reservation Bill:

We will write history, says PM | Unlikely to be effective in 2024 | Will be in force for 15 yrs

In a major pre-election move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government introduced the long-awaited women’s reservation Bill as the first agenda in the new Parliament building, where parliamentarians got into business moments after bidding farewell to the old House on Ganesh Chaturthi today. “God has chosen me for many pure deeds. We will write history today. Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam will strengthen democracy and further our resolve of women-led development,” PM Modi said in the new Lok Sabha, announcing his government’s move to table The Constitution (128th) Amendment Bill 2023. He sought a consensus on the passage of law that has been in the works since September 1996, when the first draft was tabled in Parliament. In its current form, the Bill seeks to amend four Articles of the Constitution (239AA, 330A, 332A and 334A) to provide 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha, state legislative Assemblies and Delhi Assembly, provide one-third quota for SC/ST women within the 33% bracket in the Lok Sabha and cap the reservation benefits at 15 years, unless Parliament wants to extend the period. The draft Bill introduced today says reserved seats for women will be rotated after each delimitation exercise. Importantly, though, the 33% reservation for women will take effect only after the delimitation, following the first Census is carried out after the enactment of Nari Shakti Bill.

Since population-based delimitation is currently frozen until the first Census after 2026, women’s quota may not kick in until the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress, while welcoming the Bill in principle, accused the government of “event management” with party chief Mallikarjun Kharge saying: “The women’s Bill says quota will be effective only after the decadal Census and delimitation exercise. That means the government has closed the doors on women’s quota until 2029.” Party general secretary Jairam Ramesh asked whether the government would conduct the already delayed Census (due in 2021) before the 2024 General Election.

Earlier today, the new Lok Sabha witnessed old disruptive ways as the Congress and some other Opposition MPs created a ruckus over missing hard copies of the women’s quota Bill, which was introduced by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal. Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were not present at the time.

“Please find the Bill in the revised list of business uploaded on tabs before you and learn digital tools,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi told sloganeering MPs, as Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury made two claims regarding the legislation — “women’s quota Bill passed under the Congress-led UPA in 2010 is still alive and the Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in the past”.

Adhir’s remarks were challenged by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who said both statements were factually incorrect. “Adhir should either authenticate his remarks or withdraw them,” said Shah as acrimony defined the first proceeding of the new House moments after the PM appealed for decorum, noting: “Our conduct in this House will determine who will sit on which side of the well.” Overall, the BJP feels introduction of the Bill will create a favourable perception in its favour as Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram go to the polls followed by the 2024 LS elections.

The PM personally piloted the women’s Bill today, terming it an extension of BJP’s “pro-women governance”, whereby 70% of Mudra loans, 80% start-up loans, majority of Jan Dhan accounts had been opened by women.

5) Rahul Gandhi, who voted for women's reservation bill, says ‘Congress regrets…’:

Rahul Gandhi of the Congress on Friday trained guns at the Narendra Modi government over the women's reservation bill and demanded to remove the two clauses of the Census and delimitation exercise – a prerequisite to implementing the act. He said his party fully supports the bill but challenged the government to remove the clauses and implement the bill immediately. During a press conference at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi, Gandhi said, "The Bharatiya Janata Party held a special session in Parliament...with fanfare and pomp, we moved from the old to the new Parliament building…PM Modi made a dramatic gesture by carrying the constitution and claimed that they were passing a very important law…but there are two problems."

Gandhi highlighted that the bill seeking reservation of seats in Parliament and state assemblies would be delayed for a decade because of the Census and delimitation and termed the move a “diversionary tactic” employed by the BJP to “avoid the issue of caste Census.”

On being asked about the 2010 bill on the issue, which made it through the Rajya Sabha but failed in Lok Sabha due to the demand over separate OBC quota for women, Gandhi said “We regret that decision 100%….We also did the caste Census, we didn't release it at that time due to some reasons but it should be released now.” …When I was researching for my Parliament speech, I looked at how many secretaries how many belong to Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Tribes….I was shocked to know of 90, only three secretaries are OBCs,” he said, questioning if this is the kind of representation we want for a community that may make up to 50% of the population.

'Why delay in Census?'

The former Congress chief emphasised that to be able to distribute the power fairly among the common people, we need data. “…Why is the PM not releasing the earlier data and why is there a delay in conducting the Census?… PM hails himself as an OBC leader, then why only 3 secretaries are OBCs,” he said.

Gandhi said it is a fact that a very large mass of India does not hold power. On being asked if he would be willing to provide quota within quota, Gandhi said, “We have to go step by step…the first step is X-Ray of India which is caste census - to understand the data for a proper decision….first keep the data on the table, then, I will answer how the Congress will deal with this.”

On being asked about the poor representation of the marginalised communities during the Congress-led UPA government, he said, “Humare samay kam tha woh bhi kharab hai, inke saamne kam hai wo bhi kharab hai (It was bad then also, it is bad now too)….we need to change this to give the power to poor."

Gandhi said the BJP cannot fool the women through their tactics and that implementing a bill 10 years from now, means “nothing.” The bill received the parliamentary nod on Thursday as the Rajya Sabha unanimously voted in its favour.

6) BRS frustrated with response to Congress’ six guarantees, says Revanth Reddy:

“Congress always keeps its promises unlike KCR and Modi,” the Telangana Congress president said

Telangana Congress chief A. Revanth Reddy said the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) leaders were unable to digest the response to the six guarantees announced by the Congress, and this ‘frustration’ was expected from the ruling party.

Ridiculing the demand of the BRS for implementation of these schemes in all the Congress-ruled States, he said no single medicine works for everyone and each State is peculiar and the requirements too differ. So Congress has different schemes for different States depending on the resources and the needs of the people, he said.

The six “guarantees” announced by the Congress, included those for state’s farmers, poor families and students. Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Sunday announced six “guarantees” for the people of Telangana ahead of the crucial assembly polls, as she made an emotional pitch to the voters, saying it is her dream to see the party’s government that will work for all sections of society in the state. “We are announcing six guarantees for the people of Telangana and we are committed to implementing each of them,” Gandhi said while addressing a rally — Vijaya Bheri — at Tukkuguda on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

The former Congress president said that under “Mahalakshmi” — first of the six guarantees — ₹2,500 per month financial assistance will be given to women in Telangana, gas cylinders at ₹500, and free travel for women in state transport buses across the southern state.

Telangana will go to assembly elections later this year.

“I along with my colleagues had the opportunity to be a part of the birth of this great state, Telangana. Now, it is our duty to elevate the state to new heights,” Gandhi — who was also accompanied by her MP son Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge — said.

Making an appeal to the people to support her party, she added: “It is my dream to see a Congress government in Telangana that will work for all sections of the society.”

The other five “guarantees” announced by the Congress, included those for state’s farmers, poor families and students.

Under “Rythu Bharosa” scheme, the Congress promised an annual financial assistance of ₹15,000 for farmers, ₹12,000 per year to agriculture labourers, and a bonus of ₹500 per quintal for paddy above the minimum support price.

The “Indiramma” housing scheme promises a piece of land and ₹5 lakh for construction of house for houseless poor, besides a 250 square yard plot for house for the families of martyrs in the state. The “Gruhajyothy” scheme promises 200 units of free electricity to each poor household, while a health insurance cover of up to ₹10 lakh and ₹4,000 pension to the poor under the “Cheyutha” scheme. The “Yuva Vikasam” scheme offers ₹5 lakh financial assistance to students from poor background for pursuing higher education, besides establishment of Telangana International Schools in every block. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked political rivals — the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) — saying his party was fighting all three simultaneously.

“Though these three parties appear to be operating independently, they are all one behind the screen. The BRS supported the BJP government at the Centre in Parliament on several occasions. They have conspired together and held separate rallies in Hyderabad today, only to create hurdles for the Congress rally,” the Wayanad MP said.

He was referring to the two events on Sunday, one held by Union home minister Amit Shah and other by BRS chief and Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), on the occasion of 75th anniversary of the merger of the erstwhile Hyderabad state into the Indian Union on this day in 1948.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi treats KCR and Owaisi as his loyalists. That is why, no [ED, CBI] cases have been filed against them,” Rahul Gandhi alleged, describing the BRS as “BJP Rishtedaar Samithi”. Kharge also assured that the Congress will implement all six guarantees if his party comes to power in the upcoming polls. “On seeing the overwhelming response of the people, I am now confident that the Congress will come to power in the state,” the Congress chief said.

Reacting to the development, both BRS and BJP ridiculed the Congress’s guarantees as “false promises”. “The Congress leadership is giving these false promises only to hoodwink the people, knowing fully well that the party cannot come to power. Moreover, some of these promises are a direct lift from the schemes which are already being implemented by our chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao,” senior BRS leader and state finance minister T Harish Rao said. BJP state spokesperson NV Subhash said it was ridiculous on the part of the Congress to announce six guarantees without any financial commitment. “The state has become bankrupt during the regime of the BRS. How can the Congress implement these tall promises?” he said, alleging that the Congress has a habit of announcing guarantees before the polls only to ignore them later.

7) India warns citizens in Canada to be cautious:

India has urged its citizens travelling to or living in Canada to "exercise utmost caution".

The advisory comes a day after tensions escalated between the countries with each expelling a diplomat from the other side.

Canada said it was investigating "credible allegations" linking the Indian state with the killing of a Sikh separatist leader.

India strongly denied this, calling the allegations "absurd".

Analysts say relations between the countries, which have been strained for months, are now at an all-time low.

How India-Canada ties descended into a public feud

Why Western nations fear India-Canada row

On Wednesday, India's foreign ministry said it issued the advisory "in view of growing anti-India activities and politically-condoned hate crimes and criminal violence in Canada".

The Indian government has often reacted sharply to demands by Sikh separatists in Western countries for Khalistan, or a separate Sikh homeland.

The Khalistan movement peaked in India in the 1980s with a violent insurgency centred in Sikh-majority Punjab state.

It was quelled by force and has little resonance in India now, but is still popular among some in the Sikh diaspora in countries such as Canada, Australia and the UK.

Canada has the highest number of Sikhs outside Punjab and has seen several pro-Khalistan protests and demonstrations. In June, reports said India had raised a "formal complaint" with Canada about the safety of its diplomats there.

In Wednesday's statement, Delhi said that some recent threats were directed at its diplomats and some Indians "who oppose the anti-India agenda".

"Indian nationals are, therefore, advised to avoid travelling to regions and potential venues in Canada that have seen such incidents," it said. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that intelligence agencies were investigating whether "agents of the government of India" were involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen - India had designated him a terrorist in 2020.

Nijjar was shot dead in his vehicle by two masked gunmen outside a Sikh temple on 18 June in British Columbia.

"Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty," Mr Trudeau told the Canadian parliament on Monday.

India reacted strongly, saying that Canada was trying to "shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists" who had been given shelter there.

Some Indian media reports claimed the statement from Delhi followed a similar Canadian advisory for its citizens travelling to India. Canada's government confirmed its travel advice for India had been updated on Monday but said it had been "as part of pre-scheduled and routine maintenance in the section on travel health information".

"No new risk information has been added to the India TAA [Travel Advice and Advisories] page," a spokesperson told the BBC. Ottawa's advisory asks its citizens to "exercise a high degree of caution" because of the "risk of terrorist attacks throughout" India.

8) BSP MP says 'heartbreaking as minority', BJP seeks explanation from Bidhuri for comments in Lok Sabha:

Danish Ali wrote to Om Birla that it was most unfortunate that the attack on him by Ramesh Bidhuri took place in the new Parliament building.BSP MP Danish Ali wrote to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla that BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri's abuses in the Lok Sabha were heartbreaking to him as a minority member. "This is most unfortunate and the fact that it has happened in a new parliament building under your leadership as Speaker is truly heartbreaking for me as a minority member of this great nation and an elected Member of Parliament as well," the BSP MP wrote. BJP president JP Nadda has issued a showcause notice to Bidhuri amid the row.

"During the course of his speech he directed the most foul, abusive, invectives against me which are part of the record of the Lok Sabha…I therefore intend to give this Notice under rule 222, 226, 227 of the rules of procedure and conduct of business in Lok Sabha and direction of Speaker against Shri Ramesh Bidhuri, MP," Ali wrote.

"I request you to kindly refer this matter to the committee of privileges under rule 227 of the rules of procedure and conduct of business in Lok Sabha for examination, investigation and Report. Since this is the only way out to discipline an experienced member so that the atmosphere of our country is not vitiated any further," Danish wrote.

Bidhuri's attack on Danish Ali sparked a controversy as the opposition condemned the BJP MP's action in the Lok Sabha followed by the Speaker's 'warning of strict action' which opposition MPs deemed far from being enough. Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra asked why Bidhuri was only warned to not do 'this' again, while AAP's Sanjay Singh and Congress's Adhir Chowdhury were suspended ‘for far less’.Was former health minister Harsh Vardhan laughing when Bidhuri attacked Danish Ali?

According to the clip of the incident which went viral, BJP MP and former Union health minister Harsh Vardhan was apparently laughing. To this, Harsh Vardhan posted a long message on X, formerly known as Twitter, and said he always worked closely with the Muslim community.“I feel sad and humiliated that some people with vested interest have dragged my name into this. While I was no doubt witness to the jugglery of words being thrown at each other (which in fact the entire House was), the truth of the matter is that in the chaos that existed, I could not clearly hear what was being said,” Dr Harsh Vardhan wrote.

 

 1) Did India lose because Kohli, Hardik, Bumrah didn't play? Rohit's firm answer after Bangladesh win in Asia Cup:

Was the shock Asia Cup defeat to Bangladesh down to the whole lot of changes India made for the match?

In the final Asia Cup 2023 Super Four game, an inconsequential one given that the fate of the tournament final is decided, both India and Bangladesh made a lot of changes to their XI. And the tense tussle, as it turned out to be, had a lot in store for both sides. Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, and Sakib Tanzim made gains with the new ball. The spinners on both sides dictated the proceedings throughout with Bangladesh bowling with more discipline. Captain Shakib Al Hasan and Shubman Gill starred with the bat with a few innings from here and there as well for either side. But while it was still expected that Gill or a well-set Axar Patel would finish off the game for India, they were stunned by Bangladesh. The final-bound Indian side lost by six runs, suffering their first defeat in this year's Asia Cup.

Was the shock defeat down to the whole lot of changes India made for the match? Was India right in making as many as five changes to the line-up including resting the likes of Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, and Jasprit Bumrah? It was only natural to expect India to make a few changes for the match to test their bench strength ahead of the ODI World Cup and also to rest a few players before the big final on Sunday against defending champions Sri Lanka in Colombo. "Virat, Hardik, Siraj, Bumrah and Kuldeep are out. Tilak makes his debut. Shami and Prasidh also come in. Suryakumar also gets a game," said Rohit after winning the toss and opting to field.However, moments after the loss, Rohit was asked why he made those changes and whether he wants to look back at the call made in the wake of the shock defeat. The skipper remained true to his intentions as he said that the changes were made keeping the bigger picture in mind, which is the World Cup.

“We wanted to give some game time to the guys, keeping the bigger picture in mind. Not compromising on how we wanted to play this game. Get in some players who are likely to play the World Cup,” he said.

Virat, Hardik, Siraj, Bumrah and Kuldeep have been regulars in the Asia Cup XI and will remain so during the World Cup campaign as well. Among the tested players on Friday, Tilak Varma and Prasidh Krishna are not part of the 50-over tournament while Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, and Suryakumar Yadav are. Shami and Thakur picked five wickets between themselves to help India restrict Bangladesh to 265 for eight. Suryakumar, on the other hand, continued his woeful form with a knock of 26 off 34, hence adding to his fifty-less run in 2023 where he has scored 153 runs only in 10 innings at 15.30.

2) India defeated Sri Lanka by 10-wickets IN ASIA CUP FINAL 2023:

Mohammed Siraj took six wickets, four of which came in just the fourth over of the match as Sri Lanka collapsed in a heap for just 50 runs. Mohammed Siraj recorded figures of 6/21 as he led India's demolition job in the 2023 Asia Cup final. Siraj took four wickets in just his second over and Sri Lanka were all out for 50 and India ended up chasing the target down in just 6.1 overs

Jasprit Bumrah took a wicket off the third ball of the match after India were put in to bowl first after losing the toss by Sri Lanka Siraj started off with a maiden and then pandemonium ensued in his next. He picked a wicket off the first ball of the over and then took back to back wickets off the third and fourth balls. Then he picked another off the last ball and left Sri Lanka reeling at 12/5.Hardik Pandya took the other three wickets, ending the Sri Lankan innings with wickets off the first two balls of the 16th over(

Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill opened the batting and finished the chase off in a jiffy and India won their eighth Asia Cup title on a canter.

3) Asian Games: Exhausted IND endure 1-5 hammering against formidable China:

Asian Games 2023, India vs China Highlights: India lose 1-5 against China in Hangzhou

India vs China, Asia Cup 2023 Highlights: India did put up a fight but were completely blown by the time the contest was over as the unit endured a 1-5 hammering against China in the Group A encounter at the Asian Games on Tuesday. It was China, who broke the deadlock in the 16th minute after Gao Tianyi found the net from outside the six-yard box. However, Rahul KP scored a sensational goal to help India rally from behind in the injury time of the first-half as both sides went into the interval with a 1-1 scoreline. China, however, dominated the final 45 minutes. First they restored their lead in the 51st minute with Dai Weijun scoring from outside the box. Tao Qianglong then compounded India's woes by scoring twice in the span of three minutes as China extended their lead to 4-1 in the 75th minute. Fang Hao joined the scoresheet right before the final whistle as India finished the contest on a disappointing note.

The problems India had to deal with were lack of players, who were not available for the match due to visa related issues. In addition the last minute arrival also didn't help India's case, which was reflecting on the team's performance in the second half. The team reached China late on Monday night and headed into the clash without any practice. India had finalised the squad on Friday as few Indian Super League (ISL) refused to release the players with the new season starting from September 21. India are clubbed in Group A alongside host China, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. Myanmar have defeated Bangladesh 1-0 in the other fixture from the group, which was played earlier in the afternoon. Catch the Highlights of the football match between India and China in Asian Games 2023:

4) Late Chhetri penalty helps IND secure narrow 1-0 win vs BAN:

 India sealed a narrow 1-0 win vs Bangladesh in their second fixture of the ongoing Asian Games 2023, at the Xiaoshan Sports Centre in Hangzhou, on Thursday. The win helped India get their campaign back on track, after they lost 1-5 vs China in their Group A opener. The first-half ended goalless as India missed plenty of chances, in particular a triple save by opposition goalkeeper Mitul. In the second-half, the match looked like it would end goalless after a Samuel Kynshi free-kick was denied by the crossbar. But in the 85th-minute, left winger Bryce Miranda received a long pass on the edge of the opposition box. The winger was fouled by Bangladesh captain Rahmat Mia and India were awarded a penalty. Captain Sunil Chhetri stepped up and slotted it in the bottom-left corner as India took a late 1-0 lead. Igor Stimac's side managed to keep hold of their lead and bagged a crucial win, which will keep them in contention for the knockouts.

5) China bars three female Indian athletes from Asian Games: Reports:

The trio are from the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, a region claimed almost in full by Beijing as ‘South Tibet’.

Three Indian martial arts athletes from a region claimed by China have been forced to pull out of the Asian Games in Hangzhou after not receiving clearance from the host country, media reports say.

The three women, competing as wushu fighters, are from the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, a region claimed almost in full by Beijing as “South Tibet”. Wushu, or kung fu, is a multidisciplinary martial art that originated in China.According to the Hindustan Times newspaper, the trio were approved to take part by the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee but were unable to download their accreditation cards, which act as visas to enter China.The rest of the 10-member squad along with the coaching staff left for the games in Hangzhou on Wednesday, the newspaper reported.

Neither the Indian Olympic Association nor the Ministry of External Affairs immediately responded to requests for comment by the Agence France-Presse news agency.

The Indian wushu team did not travel to the Chinese city of Chengdu for the World University Games in July after the same three athletes were issued stapled, rather than pasted, visas – an indication that Beijing does not recognise India’s territorial claim over Arunachal Pradesh.

That move triggered angry reactions from India with the foreign ministry saying it was “unacceptable”. Arunachal Pradesh is on the other side of the Himalayas from Tibet and shares a common Buddhist cultural heritage with its northern neighbour.

The Dalai Lama fled through the state in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in his homeland and has lived in India ever since Beijing briefly occupied most of the territory in a bloody conflict three years after the Buddhist leader’s flight.

This year, India reacted strongly after China renamed 11 places in the disputed region.

New Delhi consistently maintains that the state has always been and will always be an “integral and inalienable part of India”.

6)  India beats Australia by five wickets, leads three-match series 1-0:

India 281-5 v Australia 276 : India won by 5 wickets, Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali, September 22, 2023

Opening the batting, Shubman Gill and Ruturaj Gaikwad hit fine half-centuries to guide India to a five-wicket win over Australia in the first ODI of the three-match series here on Friday. Chasing a target of 277, Gill slammed 74 off 63 balls, while Gaikwad made 71 off 77 as India overhauled the target with eight balls to spare, reaching 281 for five. Skipper KL Rahul (58 not out) and Suryakumar Yadav (50) also struck fifties each. Earlier sent into bat, Australia were all out for 276 in 50 overs. David Warner made 52, while Steve Smith contributed 41 and lower down the batting order, wicketkeeper Josh Inglis chipped in with 45. Pacer Mohammed Shami was the pick of Indian bowling, returning with 5/51

 

 JAANE JAAN

September 21, Netflix

Kareena Kapoor Khan makes her much-anticipated OTT debut in 'Jaane Jaan,' available for streaming on Netflix. Directed by Sujoy Ghosh and based on Keigo Higashino's Japanese novel 'The Devotion of Suspect X,' this gripping narrative revolves around Maya D'Souza, played by Kareena Kapoor Khan.

Maya, a single mother living in Kalimpong, faces turmoil when her abusive ex-husband unexpectedly reappears. Things take a dark turn as Maya tries to cover up her former spouse's murder with the help of her neighbour Naren, portrayed by Jaideep Ahlawat, while a relentless Mumbai cop, played by Vijay Varma, comes searching for him. 'Jaane Jaan' promises suspense, intrigue, and stellar performances.

King of Kotha 

September 22 (Disney+ Hotstar)

Kannan Bhai and his gang rule over a crime-ridden city. Inspector Shahul cleverly plans the 'King's' return as a means of resisting this reign and exacting retribution, which causes a dramatic shift in the course of events.

Shibpur -

September 22 (hoichoi)

A political reporter in Kolkata tracked down a woman who disappeared in the late '90s after rising to power as the head of a female mafia organisation in Shibpur. An IPS officer named Sultan Ahmed played a crucial role in bringing peace and order back to the area. The state administration ordered her capture, but she eluded authorities. The reporter is concerned that her death or disappearance may have been the consequence of a sinister political conspiracy.

The Continental: From the World of John Wick -

September 22 (Prime Video)

The series will follow young Winston Scott as he is pulled into the hellscape of 1970s New York City to confront a past he thought he had left behind, and through his eyes, we will learn the origins of the legendary hotel-for-assassins from the John Wick universe. In his terrifying bid to take over the hotel and establish his throne there, Winston plots a course through its shadowy underbelly.

Sukhee:

A light-hearted, slice-of-life story of Sukhpreet 'Sukhee' Kalra, a 38-year- old Punjabi housewife who, fed up of her everyday, mundane life, goes to Delhi to attend her school reunion. Sukhee relives the 17-year-old version of herself whilst going through a plethora of experiences in a span of just seven days, coming out rekindled, reborn and making the most difficult transition in her life - from being a wife and a mother, to being a woman again.

Director

Sonal Joshi

Writers

Radhika AnandPaulomi DuttaRupinder Inderjit

Stars

Shilpa Shetty KundraAmit SadhChaitannya Choudhry

Sex Education Season 4 -

 September 21 (Netflix) Due to the absence of Maeve and the closure of Moordale, Otis is forced to adjust to life at the liberal Cavendish College, where he quickly discovers that he is not the only sex therapist on campus.

BOOK OF THIS WEEK:

 

God of Small Things by Roy Arundhati (Author, Contributor)

Booker Prize winner ?God of Small Things? is a story about two children, Esthappen and Rahel. This was Arundhati Roy's debut novel, in which she throws light on certain facets of life in Kerala, highlighting issues of caste system, Keralite Syrian Christian lifestyle and communism. Esthappen and Rahel at a very young age come to learn about horrifying truth of life, as they are being tortured and blamed for every misfortune. Their less than perfect life gets infected by unexpected events. through the novel begins with Esthappen and Rahel, most of its part holds wider stories of the political events shaping the state, their parents and relatives. The darker undertones in the life of twins get more evident, as secrets, bitterness and lies destroy their world. The heat-aching story of two innocent young children will surely keep you hooked till the end and leave you searching for more.

 Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy is the author of a number of books, including The God of Small Things, which won the Booker Prize in 1997 and has been translated into more than forty languages. She was born in 1959 in Shillong, India, and studied architecture in Delhi, where she now lives. She has also written several non-fiction books, including Field Notes on Democracy, Walking with the Comrades, Capitalism: A Ghost Story, The End of Imagination, and most recently Things That Can and Cannot Be Said, co-authored with John Cusack. Roy is the recipient of the 2002 Lannan Foundation Cultural Freedom Prize, the 2011 Norman Mailer Prize for Distinguished Writing, and the 2015 Ambedkar Sudar award.