Photo Description – On the right is a false-colour image of the bright ultraviolet lobes of the Butterfly Nebula, images by AstroSat. On the left is the same image in red, with a cartoon in blue marking the full extent of the newly discovered ultraviolet lobes and the jets (Credits: Rao and Sriram).

Pune : Indian astrophysicists have discovered large ultraviolet lobes and jets that were hurled out from a dying star, using data from AstroSat – space observatory launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 2015.

The discovery has been featured as the AstroSat Picture of the Month (APOM) for October. 

Professor Kameswara Rao of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and his collaborators used the Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) on board AstroSat to stare at a planetary nebula called NGC 6302, popularly known as the Butterfly Nebula. A planetary nebula is formed when a star like our Sun, or a few times heavier, is in its dying days. The term, a misnomer now, was coined by astronomers in the 19^th century since the nebula looked like planets through their telescopes. 

 Â“When hydrogen and helium fuel that kept the star shining gets exhausted, the star expands in size and becomes a red giant star. Such stars shed most of their outer layers which expands outwards, and the inner core, made of carbon and oxygen, shrinks further and becomes hotter. This hot core shines brightly in the ultraviolet, and ionizes the expanding gas. This glowing ionized gas is what is seen as a planetary nebula”, Prof Rao explained. 

Sriram Krishna, a student of Rao, spent many hours analysing the data from the Butterfly Nebula. “Its central star is one of the hottest that we know, at 220000 degrees. The name itself comes from the shape of the two lobes of expanding gas that look like the wings of a butterfly”, he said. One might expect a Planetary Nebula to be spherical, but it actually exhibits a range of complicated structures. “We used the UVIT on AstroSat to make four images of the nebula, each in different ultraviolet ‘colours’, or filters. The image made with the filter centred at 160.8 nanometres, called F169M, had a surprise in store for us,” said Sriram. 

Astronomers have studied the two lobes of the nebula for many years through visible light images. They expect that the more energetic ultraviolet light would be emitted closer to the central star, where the hot stellar wind hits the slowly expanding gas. “However, we discovered that the lobes imaged with the F169M filter in ultraviolet were about three times larger than the size of the lobes imaged in visible light”, said Sriram. After careful analysis, their study concluded that this ultraviolet emission must be due to cold molecular hydrogen gas outside the visible lobes which had gone undetected so far.  

“Our discovery points to an unseen companion star in an orbit with the central star”, said Firoza Sutaria, one of the co-authors. In addition, researchers discovered two faint jets blasting out from the centre, at almost right angles to our new ultraviolet lobes. The team led by Prof Rao has recently discovered a large ultraviolet halo in yet another planetary nebula using AstroSat, and will be looking at many more such objects in the future. They hope that such discoveries may provide the answer to the age old puzzle of the ‘missing mass problem in planetary nebulae’.

This discovery was made possible because of the uniqueness of UVIT. “Of all the ultraviolet telescopes in space, UVIT is special in its ability to image a large field of view with a very high resolution, or detail”, said Dr V. Girish of ISRO. “This ability, coupled with a novel image analysis software that we had developed led us to this discovery”, explained Prof Jayant Murthy, a co-author of the paper, and Director of IIA.

These results have been published recently in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics,  co-authored by Kameswara Rao, Sriram Krishna, Jayant Murthy, Firoza Sutaria and Rekesh Mohan of IIA, Alak Ray of Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education and De Marco of Macquarie University in Australia.

The AstroSat Picture of the Month series, or APOM, is a year-old initiative of the Public Outreach and Education Committee (POEC) of the Astronomical Society, as well as the AstroSat Training and Outreach Team. The aim of APOM is to share the excitement of AstroSat science as well as the beauty of the Universe with the public. All APOMs are archived at http://astron-soc.in/outreach/all-apoms/ 

The Chinese State Councillor and minister of public security Zhao Kezhi heading a large high powered  delegation will be visiting India for the first time from 21st to 25th  Oct.

Zhao Kezhi will hold bilateral talks with Rajnath Singh the home minister on 22nd , He will  meet National security advisor Ajit Doval and his team and  and call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 23rd.

Zhao Kezhi with the delegation will  visit Mumbai on 24rd and will be meeting with Chief Minster of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis for delegation level talks. He will leave for China on 25th .

The 15 member high level delegation led by Zhao Kezhi includes vice minister of public security and the Directer general of Public security of TAR Tibet Autonomous Region and other high level officials.

During the visit both sides are expected to sign a frame work agreement for cooperation in the field of internal security after many years of negotiations  , a first among two giant Asian neighbours, now trying to resolve several contentious issues after the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at Wuhan.

The relationship hit a pause button during the Doklam crises after Rajnath Singh visited Beijing in Nov 2015 held delegation level talks with his Chinese counter part Guo Shengkun, State Councillor and Minister of Public Security and met  the Prime Minster Li Keqiang.

The relationship was revived again when Zhao Kezhi was invited to visit India during a meeting with the Dy NSA Rajender Khanna who led the Indian delegation to Beijing to attend the 13th SCO NSAs meeting in May 2018.

A five member delegation from Ministry of Public Security of China visited New Delhi on Aug 28 and met Indian officials  for the preparation of the talks between two sides and the proposed pact on the cooperation on Internal security.

Several contentious issues are expected to come up during the talks between two sides during the meetings.

Sources say that Home minister Rajnath Singh and others from the Indian side have raised the issue of supply of arms and ammunition to the Insurgents in the Northeastern states of India several times, the issue is expected to come up again at the meeting.

The Indian side is expected to demand from China to hand over Paresh Baruah the Chairman  of ULFA -I  The United Liberation Front of Assam – Independent  . Baruah has raised the heckles of the ruling BJP Bhartiya Janta Party leaders at the Central and the state governments by blasting a bomb near a temple in Guwahati just before the beginning of the auspicious festive period of Durga puja . Paresh Baruah called on phone all regional  news outlets opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and NRC (National Register of Citizens) update exercise pushed through by the ruling political party.

Paresh Baruah also the self styled commander in chief of ULFA-I ,who is waging a armed struggle for an independent Assam state  is hiding somewhere in the Jungles at the Border tri-junction of India-China-Myanmar with an active support from Chinese Authorities.

Experts say the idea of  surgical strike on the camps of Paresh Baruah was nixed by higher up in the security Establishment as Indian special forces may have to transgress unknowingly  into Chinese territory raising the temperatures in the relations of two neighbours to boiling point.

Paresh Baruah is taking advantage of the 143 Km stretch at the border Tri Junction which is still under “dispute” between Myanmar, India and China. Complicating the situation further Myanmar has asked India to first resolve the border issues with China before starting negotiations with it.

During talks the Chinese side is expected to raise several thorny issues including the Tibetan living as refugees in India, who are fomenting unrest in the [TAR] Tibet Autonomous Region of China. China also wants India to curb the “Political” activities of Dalai Lama and other Tibetan leaders which has an adverse effect on the internal security of TAR.

China also expects New Delhi to ban various organizations fighting for the Freedom of Tibet and functioning from the Indian soil ,as India has recognized TAR as an integral part of China.

The far reaching effect and the  political implications of democratically elected (CTA) Central Tibetan Administration in exile, functioning from its base at  Dharmshala ,Himachal Pradesh on the Authoritarian  communist party regime in the TAR Tibet is also troubling the Czars of public security  in China. They want severe restrictions to be imposed on the democratically  elected political leadership of CTA, which is trying to start a movement for democracy in Tibet.

“We are hoping for the best and prepared for the worst” an official in the Indian security establishment said on the condition of anonymity.

(Kanwaljeet Singh is a Freelance journalist based in New Delhi India his Twitter handle is @kjsingh001)

KUTUPALANG CAMP, COX’S BAZAR,  (Bangladesh): With her eyes welling up while narrating her family’s ordeal in Rakhine State in the neighbouring Myanmar, Jamila says the conditions will not be conducive and peaceful for the return of Rohinga refugees to Myanmar.

Speaking before a group of visiting journalists from a number of countries at this refugee camp, Jamila recounted that her husband Abdul Aziz and her teenaged son were killed two years ago in their village in Rakhine State by a marauding team of Myanmar army.

“They killed my husband and slaughtered my son and destroyed our village Buchidan. I fled with other family members to safety and found shelter in Bangladesh,’’ Jamila, 35, said.

A similar experience was narrated by Zahid  Hussain whose family also fled from Myanmar to avoid bloodshed and conflict. Both of them are among 1.2 million Rohingya refugees who have found shelter in this area of Ukhiya sub-district of Cox’s Bazar coastal district of Bangladesh.

The refugee camps, temporary shelters made of bamboo and tin shades, have sprung up on the entire hill in this sub-district which borders Myanmar. “There 30 clusters of such  camps which are spread over 6,000 acres . Nearly 80 per cent of the Rohingya refugees have been accommodated in camps here while rest of them are housed in Teknaf which is closer to the border with Myanmar,’’ said Mohd. Nikaruzaman, Additional District Commissioner of Ukhiya sub-district.

Rohingya camps are located in hilly forest area , about 40 kms from the city of Cox’s Bazar, and the area, once inhabited by elephant herds and other wild animals, is teeming with blue and green tin roofs, bamboo and tarpaulin sheets and a mud road meandering through the camps.

Mr. Nikaruzaman said that Bangladesh provided temporary shelter to fleeing Rohingya refugees on humanitarian grounds and the initial trickle swelled up to a large number last year. He said that total number of Rohingya refugees has gone up to 1.2 million which is four times the total local population og Ukhiya sub-district.

Recalling difficulties in building settlements for them, he said that health and sanitation were big issues to be tackled. “We carried out vaccination for cholera and installed deep bore handpumps in clusters for safe drinking water. Toilets and bathrooms were also provided and now we even have a learning centre for children. Food distribution centres have been set up to supply food grains to the families according to their size,’’ he told journalists.

Cox’s Bazar’s District Commissioner Kamal Hussain said that arrival of Rohingyas from Myanmar has now been reduced to a trickle and admitted that it was a very challenging task to provide food, shelter, health and sanitation facilities to them.  “Our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina extended help on humanitarian grounds and its has been appreciated by the international community,’’ he said.

The senior official said that a number of global bodies, NGOs, local groups as well as several countries have extended assistance to Rohingyas in terms of medicines, food, clothing and shelter. UN bodies like UNHCR and World Food Programme have played a frontal role in such efforts.

The hilly area where such camps are located have been denuded as forests were cut to accommodate them. Solar lights have been installed at several locations and a 13-km long electricity line is all set to bring power to the camps. Many camps have also got LPG gas cylinders for cooking purposes and small shops have also come up in the area. The officials said that many Rohingyas also helped in the construction of a border road in the area.

Addressing the UN General Assembly’s 73rd session recently, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that she felt the pain and suffering of Rohingyas and called upon international community to give due importance to the atrocities and injustice suffered by Rohingya population in Myanmar.

She said that Rohingyas hosted in Bangladesh were living in an uncertain situation and her country made arrangements for their food, clothing, healthcare, child-care and security. She said the Rohingya crisis originated in Myanmar and its solution has also to be found in Myanmar and added that Bangladesh wanted an early, peaceful solution to the crisis.

Vulnerabilities of female sex workers (FSWs) should not be seen from the context of sex work alone, rather their structural, social and financial vulnerabilities need to be addressed to provide them with a safe and enabling environment.

This was the among the key conclusions of a landmark study undertaken by researchers from the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Hyderabad, and Population Council, an international nonprofit that conducts research in public health and biomedicine. The research found that 55% of sex workers surveyed were vulnerable. The study was published in the prestigious journal of PLoS ONE and the findings have important policy implications for programs working with sex workers.

Titled ‘Measuring vulnerability among female sex workers in India using a multidimensional framework,’ the study was conducted in four Southern States (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu) and a Western (Maharashtra) State.

The four Southern States were chosen as they are historically known for high HIV prevalence, and large number of FSWs. The HIV prevalence among FSWs in Andhra Pradesh/Telangana and Karnataka is around 6% each, 7% in Maharashtra, 1% in Tamil Nadu. The living condition of FSWs in these areas was one of the poorest with a large proportion of FSWs being exposed to harsh socio-environmental stress such as lack of proper health care and security. Nearly half the FSWs in Maharashtra, two-thirds in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, one-fifth in Karnataka and two-fifth in Tamil Nadu depended solely on earnings from sex work to make a living.

Measurement of vulnerability and identifying the context leading to vulnerability is important for strategic planning for any intervention. FSWs in India face multiple vulnerabilities by nature of their profession.

Speaking about the importance of this study, Dr. Ruchira Bhattacharya, Assistant Professor, Centre for Gender Studies and Development, NIRDPR, said, “this study is of profound importance to a range of development enthusiasts, starting from research scholars who are looking for an appropriate methodology to measure multidimensional vulnerability, to the policy makers who are designing solutions for public health and need appropriate, comparable and yet simple measures to monitor the situations of extremely marginalized communities.”

The study found that not having insurance, in particular, was a key factor in defining the financial vulnerability of the sex workers. Given the increasing emphasis on ensuring access to insurance for all individuals by the Government of India, this is yet another opportunity for the policymakers to leverage and provide this vulnerable group with financial security.

It was found that lack of insurance contributed most (32%) to financial vulnerabilities, followed by lack of savings or investment in gold, land or property (26%),lack of alternative income other than sex work (20%) and not having saving accounts in bank orpost office (16%). Loan from an informal source contributed only 6% to the overall vulnerabilities.

Lack of awareness of their legal rights is another area which needs to be addressed, which will enable them to become more resilient to exploitation.

The study revealed that the absence of social support and network contributed about one quarter to the overall vulnerability level. The absence of social coherence – as indicated by the reluctance of community members to come together to offer aid to the FSW in times of crises – alludes to the need for concerted efforts to building community collectivization. 

In addition, the findings suggested that 23% of the vulnerabilities among FSWs were due to their personal attributes, with their degree of dependency and being mobile/migrant for sex work contributing to 42% and 34% of the vulnerabilities respectively. Street based solicitation contributed to only 4% of the overall vulnerability, claimed the study.

The study also showed positive associations between vulnerability and HIV-related sexual risk factors suggesting that addressing vulnerabilities of FSWs would eventually lead to better HIV risk behavior among them.

The highest vulnerability was among sex workers surveyed in Maharashtra. The study also found that vulnerable FSWs were more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors. The research is of profound importance for health policy enthusiasts, as higher vulnerability means a greater chance to engage in behaviors that put them at risk of sexually transmitted infections.

Intervention programs need to adopt a multi-pronged strategy to address multidimensional vulnerabilities and should be specifically designed to address financial vulnerabilities. This can be achieved by facilitating access to formal financial services and helping them to increase their saving habits and make investments in different movable and immovable assets. This study demonstrated that a multidimensional approach to measuring vulnerabilities among FSWs may help in identifying a range of factors that can be prioritized by interventions.

In light of the fact that India has been dealing with an HIV epidemic and FSWs continue to be one of the core sources of transmission, the existing interventions aimed at HIV-prevention among this group must continue uninhibited. Further strengthening of these efforts will require the system to address some of the vulnerabilities as mentioned in this study. This will enable and empower the FSWs to adopt safe and free behavior without any compulsion or fear. The first step in this direction is identifying vulnerable FSWs and measuring the degree of vulnerability faced by them.

The percentage share of female workers participating in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) convergence projects has been found to be much higher in the hills than the plains of Uttarakhand.

On an average, it was found that the percentage share of female workers participating in the MGNREGA convergence projects is much higher in the hills (70% in Pauri and 81% in Champawat) districts than the plain districts (22% in Udham Singh Nagar and 0% percent in Haridwar). 

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee and the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR), Hyderabad, have jointly studied the convergence activities under MGNREGA in Uttarakhand. They include days of employment provided, wages earned, asset creation, the participation of various social and occupational groups, its impact on socio-economic issues including social empowerment, migration and agricultural productivity.

Titled Â‘Assessment of Convergence Activities under MGNREGA in Uttarakhand,’ the study investigated into the extent to which convergence activities under the scheme have been implemented in the State.

Speaking about the importance of this study, Jyothis Sathyapalan, Professor at the Centre for Wage Employment at NIRDPR said that the findings are really encouraging implementers since women’s participation is high in convergence works related to land development, water conservation and draught proofing, which not only enhance women’s livelihoods in hilly rural areas but also helps to restore the mountain ecosystem services.

The study found that in terms of the overall employment generation per household, the performance seemed better in the hill districts, with higher market wage rates in the hills (Rs.306 in Pauri and Rs.310 in Champawat) than the plain districts (Rs.291 in Haridwar and Rs.283 in Udham Singh Nagar).

A majority of households working in the convergence activities were found to be below the poverty line. The percentage of such households was observed highest in Champawat (99 percent), followed by Pauri (86 percent), US Nagar (80 percent) and Haridwar (63 percent).

One of the key recommendations is digitalization of socio-economic data and GIS-based resource mapping and planning in each GP should be given top priority by the State government. This will help identify relevant projects for convergence to achieve more inclusive and sustainable rural development—ecologically, economically and socially.

Highlighting the salient features of this study, Prof S.P. Singh, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Roorkee, said, Â“Convergence of MGNREGS with other rural development schemes intends not only to optimize the use of scarce financial, physical and human resources but also to improve the delivery mechanism, and ensure creation of durable and quality assets with their effective utilization. However, MGNREGA convergence in the state was found limited to only a few activities with quite moderate impact due to a number of reasons. These included lack of institution-building at all levels, repugnance of the line departments and gram panchayats towards the convergence activities, lack of motivated and trained manpower and shouldering the programme responsibility on the temporary staff like DPOs, and lack of coordination between panchayat and rural development officials. Nevertheless, there is immense potential of improvement in the rural livelihood of the hill regions through better conceptualization and planning of convergence activities, especially replicating the convergence model of Tea Board in other activities such as horticulture and agro-forestry”.

A review of the convergence projects revealed that in all the sample districts, rural connectivity was the main activity under the convergence initiative. It was also observed that not enough importance was given to the conceptualization and execution of convergence projects related to activities such as water conservation, water harvesting, micro-irrigation and renovation of water bodies. This was alluded to the possible non-involvement of concerned line departments in the MGNREGA-convergence initiatives. An analysis of the awareness level of the workers showed that they had very limited knowledge about the key provisions of MGNREGA convergence. Even elected members of Gram Panchayats (GP) were found to be unaware of the convergence modalities. Most respondents said that relevant information was not displayed in the GP. The percentage of respondents stating that the information was not displayed in the Gram Panchayat was highest in Champawat (100%) followed by US Nagar (99%), Pauri (92%) and Haridwar (79%).

Further, findings suggested that there was no institutional set-up for MGNREGA convergence. There was a capacity deficit at all levels, with a lack of training, awareness and capacity-building. There was also a lack of coordination observed between the departments of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj. There was negligible or no involvement of line departments in the convergence projects; as the strong accountability, transparency mechanisms and non-negotiable parameters of MGNREGA seemed to deter the line departments from converging their activities with the former. NGOs also seemed to be missing from the capacity-building and awareness creation programmes.

The study was carried out with multifold objectives to review the planning, execution, and monitoring and evaluation of the MGNREGA convergence process, to evaluate the outcomes of the convergence projects in terms of quality, durability and utility of created assets, and their impact on the livelihood of marginalized groups, and to assess the extent of convergence of MGNREGA with the untied funds of Gram Panchayats.

Several key recommendations came out of the study. First, there is a need for the State government to prepare detailed operational guidelines on MGNREGA convergence and disseminate them among the concerned officials and elected functionaries. A District Convergence Coordination Committee should be constituted, and the Draft District Plan should reflect the convergence activities.

A need for a survey to assess the requirements of the State for different kinds of rural development and NRM projects under MGNREGA convergence was also identified. There was also a felt need for there to be a functional merger of the departments of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj as having to deal with both in parallel seemed challenging for the rural people.

Further, MGNREGA convergence is only limited to a few activities, with limited impact on the overall rural livelihood and natural resource development, calling for an urgent need for the convergence of line departments dealing in the areas of agriculture, horticulture, forestry, fishery, livestock, water and sanitation, NRLM, Green Indian Mission, tourism, literacy and health etc.

Government of India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) today signed a $110 million loan to finance the upgrade of 2,800 kilometers all-weather rural roads in the State of Madhya Pradesh under the Prime Minister’s Rural Roads Program (PMGSY).

Tranche 2 loan is part of the $500 million-Second Rural Connectivity investment Program for India approved by the ADB Board in December 2017. The overall program is aimed at improving rural connectivity, facilitating safer and more efficient access to livelihood and socio-economic opportunities for rural communities through improvements to about 12,000 kilometers rural roads across the states of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and West Bengal. Tranche 1 loan of $250 million is currently under implementation in the 5 project states, upgrading over 6,000 km of rural roads.

The signatories to the Second Rural Connectivity investment Programme were Mr. Sameer Kumar Khare, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance, who signed on behalf of the Government of India; and Mr. Kenichi Yokoyama, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission, who signed for ADB.

“The tranche 2 of the project will provide continued assistance to the PMGSY by upgrading rural roads in Madhya Pradesh that will support the Government’s long term goal to achieve inclusive economic growth in rural India. lt will give a big boost to the country’s rural connectivity initiative,” said Mr. Khare after signing the loan agreement.

“The loan will improve mobility for self-employment and livelihood opportunities in rural areas by improving access to district centers,” said Mr. Yokoyama. “The project will continue to support the Government’s drive for innovative approaches to reduce costs, conserve non-renewable natural resources, and promote the use of waste materials in rural road construction.”

In view of increased rainfall and storm surges in Madhya Pradesh, the road designs take into account these climate risks with measures such as greater elevation of road embankments and slope protection. Women were extensively consulted during the project design and will gain some key benefits, including improved access to healthcare, livelihoods and schooling.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members—48 from the region. in 2017, ADB operations totalled $32.2 billion’ including $11.9 billion in co-financing.

UN Photo/Cia Pak – Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj of India addresses the seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly.

NEW YORK, Sept. 29 : External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday launched a blistering attack on Pakistan, accusing it of glorifying terrorists, glorifying them and turning a blind eye to the innocent victims of terrorism. 

Addressing the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly here, she described terrorism as the second existential threat to humanity. She cautioned that the demon of terrorism was stalking the world at a faster pace somewhere and a slower pace somewhere else but was threatening life everywhere. 

Pointing to the collusion of Pakistan in abetting and encouraging terrorism, she said that both the masterminds behind 9/11 attack in New York and 26/11 in Mumbai were from Pakistan from where the world’s most wanted terrorist and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden was hunted down by the American intelligence and security agencies. 

“In our case, terrorism is bred not in some faraway land, but across our border to the west. Our neighbour’s expertise is not restricted to spawning grounds for terrorism; it is also an expert in trying to mask malevolence with verbal duplicity,” she told the UNGA.

In her 40-minute address delivered in Hindi, she accused Pakistan of duplicity despite the most startling evidence of Osama bin Laden, the architect of W9/11, having given safe haven in that country. 

But Pakistan continued to behave as if nothing had happened, she said adding that  Pakistan’s commitment to terrorism as an instrument of official policy has not abated one bit. Neither has its belief in hypocrisy. The killers of 9/11 met their fate; but the mastermind of 26/11 Hafiz Saeed still roams the streets of Pakistan with impunity, the External Affairs Minister said. 

“What is heartening is that the world is no longer ready to believe Islamabad. FATF, for instance, has put Pakistan on notice over terror funding,” she told the UN General Assembly. 

Asserting that it was India which believed that talks are the only rational means to resolve the most complex issues, she said that India is being accused of sabotaging the process of talks with Pakistan. 

“This is a complete lie. We believe that talks are the only rational means to resolve the most complex of disputes. Talks with Pakistan have begun many times. If they stopped, it was only because of Pakistan’s behavior. There have been many governments in India, by many different parties. Each government has tried the peace option,” she said. 

Ms. Swaraj said that Prime Minister Modi, by inviting the Heads of the SAARC nations, to his swearing in ceremony, began his attempt for dialogue on his very first day in office.

“On 9th December 2016, I personally went to Islamabad and offered a comprehensive bilateral dialogue. But soon after, Pak sponsored terrorists attacked our air force base in Pathankot on 2nd January. Please explain to me how we could pursue talks in the midst of terrorist bloodshed? Even now, after the new government came to power, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan wrote to Prime Minister Modi suggesting a meeting between Foreign Ministers in New York. We accepted the proposal. But, within hours of our acceptance, news came that terrorists had killed three of our jawans. Does this indicate a desire for dialogue?” she said. 

Accusing Pakistan of glorifying killers and terrorists, she said it refuses to see the blood of innocents and it has become a habit with Pakistan to throw the dust of deceit and deception against India to  in order to provide some thin cover for its own guilt. 

Last year, Pakistan’s representative, using her right to reply, displayed some photographs as “proof” of “human rights violations” by India. The photographs turned out to be from another country. Similar false accusations have become a part of its standard rhetoric, she said. 

She said that India has been arguing from this podium that lists are not enough to check terrorists and their protectors. “We need to bring them to accountability through international law,” she said. 

Ms. Swaraj appealed to all national to arrive at a consensus on a common definition of terrorism. “On the one hand, we want to fight terrorism; on the other, we cannot define it. This is why terrorists with a price on their head are celebrated , finances and armed as liberation heroes by a country that remains a member of the United Nations. Cruelty and barbarism are advertised as heroism. The country prints postage stamps glorifying terrorists. If we do not act now, we will have to deal with conflagration later,” she said. 

Dwelling upon urgently needed UN reforms, she said that slowly the importance, influence, respect and value of this institution is beginning to ebb.“It is time to wonder if we are wandering towards the fate of the League of Nations,” she cautioned. 

“The United Nations must accept that it needs fundamental reform. Reform cannot be cosmetic. We need change the institution’s head and heart to make both compatible to contemporary reality.  Reform must begin today; tomorrow could be too late. If the UN is ineffective, the whole concept of multilateralism will collapse,” she said. 

Ms. Swaraj said India will never weaken the multilateral mechanism. “India believes that the world is a family, and the best means of resolution is shared discourse. A family is shaped by love and is not transactional; a family is nurtured by consideration not greed; a family believes in harmony not jealousy. Greed breeds conflict; consideration leads to resolution. That is why the United Nations must be based on the principles of the family. The UN cannot be run by the ‘I’, it only works by the ‘We’,” she said in her appeal. 

“Arrogance has no place in our scheme of things; arrogance is counter-productive and self-defeating. Let us work for the benefit of the less fortunate. Let us work for a world where there is peace, serenity and shared prosperity; a world that is free from terrorism, tension and violence,” she said in her forceful plea. 

Earlier, in her address the External Affairs Minister also dwelt upon a number of social welfare schemes launched under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi and recounted the success of government programmes like financial inclusion through Jan Dhan yojana, universal health insurance scheme, housing for all, skill development and the mission to make India clean, secure and developed by 2022. 

New Delhi : Public Outreach and Education Committee (POEC) of the Astronomical Society of India (ASI), and the AstroSat Training and Outreach Team is all set to add a new feature to its one year old campaign to bring ISRO’s Astrosat space observatory closer to the general public. 

The two organisations have now decided to come out with layman friendly reports every month on research papers published by scientists on their work using instruments on-board the observatory.  This will be in addition to monthly release of Astrosat images under the `AstroSat Picture of the Month (APOM)’  programme which started a year ago. 

Speaking to India Science Wire, Dr. Niruj Mohan Ramanujam of ASI POEC, said students from across the country have been following the images with curiosity and interest. With the new feature to be introduced from next month, they would also get a closer view of the research work that are going on with the help of the satellite. 

AstroSat is India’s first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory launched by ISRO on 28 September 2015. It has five telescopes – four of which can look at the same part of sky simultaneously. These give it unique capability of observing in the ultraviolet, X-rays as well as gamma rays. 

Astronomers have been using the instruments to study diverse celestial phenomena in galaxies, exploding stars, neutron stars and black holes. These studies have enabled them to investigate the nature of matter at extremely high temperatures, under very high magnetic fields, and sometimes in very violent environments. 

Each APOM features a picture, accompanied by a short text explaining why the image is interesting. Readers are encouraged to go further and learn more about the concepts mentioned, through various web-links, which are provided. 

Over the past year, APOM has featured ultraviolet images of star clusters and remnants of supernova explosions in the Milky Way, as well as nearby galaxies. It has covered galaxies that are interacting with each other, including those that are merging together. It has brought out clusters of galaxies, including gas ripped away from galaxies falling into these gigantic clusters. All the images in APOM have been taken from research papers published in astronomy journals. The accompanying text is at a level aimed at school and college students. This month’s APOM features a photograph of the observatory itself, taken after its assembly to mark the third anniversary of AstroSat and its first anniversary.  (India Science Wire)

New Delhi : A new study has estimated the size of Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile to be lower than present estimates, attributing it to shortage of uranium. 

The study estimates that Pakistan could at best have between 112 and 156 nuclear weapons. Of them, about 78 to 104 would be highly enriched uranium (HEU)-based weapons and 34 to 52 would be plutonium weapons. 

A 2016 study by American researchers had estimated the size of Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile to be in the range of 204 to 306 in 2014. According to the International Panel for Fissile Materials (IPFM), Pakistan had 120 to 130 warheads made up of both types at the end 2010. 

“We believe that because of uranium shortages, Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal has reached a plateau and can only grow very slowly. Any alternative explanation for an increased arsenal size should provide a satisfactory and consistent explanation for uranium sourcing by Pakistan,” the researchers have said in their study published in Current Science, flagship scientific journal of the Bangalore-based Indian Academy of Sciences. 

In the absence of any direct information about weapon production capacities of different countries, the amount of fissile material that a country possesses is used to determine the number of nuclear weapons it can make. The new study does the same, but researchers say they looked at the demand and supply situations in Pakistan in an integrated way. The estimate is based on publicly available information about nuclear facilities of Pakistan and on certain assumptions such quality of uranium ore and burn up of reactors. 

The analysis takes into account demand of domestically produced yellowcake or uranium concentrate in three major facilities – Karachi Nuclear Power Plant, Kahuta enrichment facility and plutonium production reactors at Khushab. 

If it is assumed that the Karachi plant operates for 150 days on an average and the capacity of Kahuta is taken as 11,000 SWU (Separative Work Unit) along with low burn-up of Khushab reactors, the total (cumulative) demand for yellowcake to feed all three facilities comes to 1884 tonnes. As against this, Pakistan would have produced 1584 tonnes of yellowcake cumulatively till 2014. The Karachi power reactors would have needed 805 tonnes of yellowcake for continuing operations till the end of 2014, leaving the rest for production of HEU and plutonium to be used in weapons programme, the study says.

Given the information about working of enrichment and plutonium production facilities till 2010, Pakistan would have accumulated 1482 kg of HEU and 154 kg of weapon grade plutonium. “The non-availability of yellowcake after 2010 makes it imperative that these estimates of nuclear weapons are valid as of 2014,” the paper says. For making one HEU weapon, the estimate used is 12 to 18 kg of HEU, while it is 4 to 6 kg of plutonium per weapon for the second type.

“Pakistan does not have high grade uranium ore in the country. It is well known that Pakistan is not a major uranium producing country. Its potential uranium reserves are also not very large, though many of the areas are still unexplored,” explained Lalitha Sundaresan of the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, who has co-authored the paper with Kaveri Ashok of the Center for Science, Technology and Policy, Bengaluru. 

Security experts, however, remain skeptical of the new estimate. “I am not sure of the assessments since there are always so many assumptions made when calculating the fissile material available – the burn in power reactors, the quality of uranium ore and so on. All external estimates put Pakistan as having more nuclear weapons. The point is: does it matter? I would imagine (one just requires) 50 or even 10 weapons (for) deterring an adversary,” commented Dr Manoj Joshi, Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. (India Science Wire)

Appreciating the Mental Health Act 2017 through which their have been moves to decriminalise suicide in India, a commentary published in the Lancet Public Health 2018 has said a pivotal next step will be to carry this momentum towards the development of a national suicide prevention plan.

The commentary “Suicide in India: a complex public health tragedy in need of a plan’’ by Gregory Armstrong and Lakshmi Vijayakumar, believes that such a national plan would indicate political commitment and give justified prominence to the issue of suicide prevention, attract resources, set strategic research and programme priorities, and provide guidance in mainstreaming suicide prevention across other health and social policies.

Quoting a paper by Rakhi Dandona and colleagues, reported in The Lancet Public Health, which uses data from the Global Burden of Disease study to provide much needed estimations of SDRs across India from 1990 to 2016, the commentary says that the suicide statistics published by the National Crime Records Bureau are based on police reports and under-reporting and misclassification of suicide deaths is common.

Dandona and colleagues estimated the national age-standardised SDR for 2016 to be 17·9 per 100000 population (14·7 per 100000 among women and 21·2 per 100000 among men), equating to an estimated 230000 suicide deaths annually (100000 more suicide deaths than recognised by the NCRB data).

In India, the official suicide rate for 2015 published by the NCRB of India was 10·6 per 100000 population, similar to the global average of 11·4 per 100000 population and equating to 133623 deaths registered as suicides.

Such sobering figures ought to be galvanising, yet coordination at the national level has been slow. Although there are substantially more suicide deaths in India each year than AIDS-related deaths (62000 in 2016) and maternal deaths (45000 in 2015) combined, suicide prevention has attracted considerably less public health attention. Nonetheless, a public health approach to suicide prevention is gaining momentum in India, the commentary says.

Suicide prevention planning should be grounded in a broader public health approach framed around multisectoral collaboration and equal acknowledgement of the socioeconomic and cultural determinants of suicide and suicide prevention in India. Population-level approaches such as responsible media reporting of suicides and the central storage or removal of highly hazardous pesticides from agricultural practices should also feature prominently, as should selective interventions targeting at-risk subpopulations. 

Evidence provided by Dandona and colleagues should prompt the development of national and state-level suicide prevention planning, galvanising political and community will to address this complex public health tragedy, the piece says while suggesting that there is clearly an imperative to obtain better suicide mortality and suicide attempt data.

Surveillance of suicide attempts and self-harm cases presenting to health facilities would be beneficial, as would the continuous improvement of suicide research, so that policy makers have a greater understanding of this complex issue and what works and what does not.

Secondly, suicide prevention planning should address the substantial regional and state-level variation in suicide rates. India has an enormous and diverse population, with several states home to populations large enough to make it on their own into the top 20 most populous countries in the world.

Thirdly, suicide prevention planning should give close consideration to trends by sex and age. Female suicide in India is exceptionally high by international standards and must be a core focus, and it is encouraging that female suicide rates have declined slightly since 1990.8 Nonetheless, the persistently high male suicide rates must also be addressed to have any hope of achieving the SDG target. To do so, there is a need for a broader perspective on male suicide that extends beyond the highly politicised issue of farmer suicide.

Finally, suicide prevention is not solely or even primarily the domain of mental health practitioner providing interventions for suicidal individuals. While not losing sight of the substantially heightened suicide risk for people with mental disorders, suicide is a complex and highly stigmatised issue in India, as it is elsewhere, the commentators suggest.