NEW DELHI: A team of Indian astronomers has identified a cosmic behemoth – a supercluster of galaxies – about 4 billion light-years away from us. The new discovery has been named Saraswati – which in Sanskrit literally means ‘ever-flowing stream with many pools’. 
The supercluster spans over 650 million light years in its expanse, containing over 10,000 galaxies in 42 clusters. Its total mass equals 20 million billion suns. The team of astronomers was led by Joydeep Bagchi of Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, which used data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The discovery is forcing astronomers to rethink about early stages of the evolution of the universe and it provides vital clues about mysterious dark matter and dark energy. The results of the study were published in The Astrophysical Journal on Thursday. 
The megacluster has been named Saraswati – the goddess of knowledge, music and art. Saraswati, in Sanskrit also means ‘ever-flowing stream with many pools.’ “This supercluster located in the constellation of Pisces has many clusters and groups moving and merging like the mythological Saraswati river, which prompted us to give this name,” say the researchers. “There are hundreds of superclusters in size range of less than 100 million light years, Saraswati supercluster clearly stands out in the sky as an especially rare, and possibly among the mega superclusters exceeding 500 million light years in size,” said Somak Raychaudhury, one of the co-authors and the Director of IUCAA, Pune.
 Â“A large-scale structure this massive evolves very slowly, and therefore it may reflect the whole history of galaxy formation and the primordial initial conditions that have seeded it,” said Joydeep Bagchi. Our Sun is one among billion stars in a vast cosmic structure called Milky Way galaxy. However, Milky Way extending 120,000 light-years across is just a pin-head in cosmic scales. Gravitational interaction between galaxies results in a much larger structure called “galaxy clusters”. Our Milky Way is part of “Local Group”, a cluster containing around 50 galaxies and  measures more than 10 million light-years across. Recent surveys have shown even larger cosmological structure, ‘cluster of clusters’, superclusters.
Interestingly, Somak Raychaudhury, co-author of this study, discovered the first massive supercluster of galaxies of this scale during his PhD research at the University of Cambridge in 1989 and named it “Shapley Concentration” after an American astronomer, Harlow Shapley, in recognition of his pioneering survey of galaxies. 
The supercluster Laniakea – of which our sun, our Milky Way and “Local Group” are a part – consists of about 100,000 galaxies. Was the Universe built from the ‘bottom up’, with galaxies condensing first, then aggregating into clusters, superclusters and other large-scale cosmic structures? Or did it happen the other way round, with vast gas clouds that fragmented into smaller clouds; each of the smaller clouds then evolving into a galaxy. Which model is correct? Cosmologists are split. The long-popular “Cold dark matter” model of evolution of Universe predicts that small structures like galaxies form first, which congregate into larger structures. 
The existence of large structures such as the “Saraswati Supercluster” evolved as early as 10 billion years since the Big Bang is a challenge to this model. The time elapsed since the Big Bang is not adequate for the slow process of gravitational attraction to have created such a large scale structure. “The discovery of these extremely large structures thus forces astronomers into rethinking popular theories of how the Universe got its current form, starting from a more-or-less uniform distribution of energy after the Big Bang,” says Prof Raychaudhury. 
In the large-scale cosmos, gravity is not the only force to reckon with. While the mutual attraction of gravity tries to bind the ordinary and still elusive dark matter together creating lumps like galaxies, clusters and so on, the still unknown dark energy repulsive in nature causes expansion of the Universe to accelerate, hampering the growth of large-scale structures. 

“Our work will help to shed light on the perplexing question; how such extreme large scale, prominent matter-density enhancements had formed billions of years in the past when the mysterious Dark Energy had just started to dominate structure formation’’ said Bagchi. “This paper is unique because it is a direct product of IUCAA’s associateship programme, under which a faculty member of an Indian university or a post-graduate department in a college can visit IUCAA for periods of short and long durations over a span of three years to develop his or her interest and expertise in astronomy and astrophysics” added Prof Raychaudhury. 
The research was funded by the University Grants Commission and Indo-French CEFIPRA programme of the Department of Science and Technology (DST). While the lead author Bagchi and co-author Raychaudhury are from IUCAA, other researchers are Dr Prakash Sarkar (National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur postdoctoral fellow at IUCAA), Shishir Sankhyayan (undergraduate student at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune), Pratik Dabhade (Research Fellow at IUCAA) and Dr Joe Jacob (Newman College, Thodupuzha, Kerala). (India Science Wire) 

Expanding the basket of contraceptive choices, India launched a new injectable contraceptive under its public health system. To mark the World Population Day, India also launched a new programme Mission Parivar Vikas which will focus on 146 high fertility districts in 7 States with high Total Fertility Rates.

Speaking at the function, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, J.P.Nadda said the injectable had been launched under the `Antara’ programme which also includes new software – Family Planning Logistics Management Information System designed to provide robust information on demand and distribution of contraceptives to health facilities and ASHAs to strengthen supply chain management.     

 
“Under Mission Parivar Vikas, specific targeted initiatives shall be taken for population stabilisation through better services delivery,” Mr Nadda said adding that the new initiative had been conceived by the Ministry with a strategic focus on improving access through provision of services, promotional schemes, commodity security, capacity building, enabling environment and intensive monitoring.

The Health Minister also advised the officials to undertake half yearly review of the programme and correlate the achievements with time to gauge whether the programme is moving in the right direction or not. He stated that “We have enhanced the basket of contraceptive choices to meet the changing needs of people and have taken steps to ensure quality assured services and commodities are delivered to the last-mile consumers in both rural and urban areas.” 

As part of the new communications campaign linked to the roll-out, the Minister also launched a new consumer friendly website on family planning and a 52-week radio show for couples to discuss issues related to marriage and family planning, which will be aired across the country. He stressed upon the life cycle approach of the Ministry and said that a continuum of care approach has been adopted with the articulation of `Strategic approach to Reproductive Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health.

Over at the Family Planning Summit in London, C.K. Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced that India will overarch FP2020 goals to drive access, choice and quality of Family Planning (FP) services so as to increase the modern contraceptive usage from 53.1% to 54.3% and ensure that 74% of the demand for modern contraceptives is satisfied by 2020. The country will be expanding range and reach of contraceptive options by 2020 through rolling out new contraceptives.

The country will increase FP awareness and generate demand through the 360-degree media campaign in all States and continue to provide FP services and supplies free of cost to all eligible couples and adolescents through the public health system, Non-Government organizations, and accredited private sector. The social marketing scheme will be revitalized, and social franchising schemes would be initiated to rope in the private sector, Mr Mishra said.

India’s commitment will go a long way in reaching thousands of women and girls with critical reproductive health information. For example, India has over 9.2 million married and sexually active adolescents (ages 15-19) of whom 26% have an unmet need for contraception. If India was to increase its focus on adolescents, enabling an additional 1.5 million adolescent girls to use modern contraception by 2020, then we would see a 17% reduction in its adolescent birth rate.

Melinda Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said access to contraceptives changes everything. “Women are freer to work outside the home, earn an income, and contribute to the economy. Mothers and fathers can devote more resources to their kids health and education—setting them up for a more productive future. Multiply that by millions of families, and you see why contraceptives are one of the greatest antipoverty innovations the world has ever known—and one of the smartest investments countries can make. Through the new commitments expected today at the Family Planning Summit, we have made a bold statement that investing in family planning is crucial to building the healthier and more prosperous future we are all working towards,’’ she said.

Ten women die every day in India as a result of unsafe abortion. Approximately 30,200 abortions are expected to take place daily, of which 15,000 are estimated to be unsafe. This is primarily due to low levels of awareness about abortion legality, availability, and access to services. Rough estimates suggest that of these, 3,600 develop complications resulting in morbidity and mortality. 

Unsafe abortion is the third leading cause of maternal deaths in India, contributing to eight percent of all maternal deaths annually. To facilitate faster decline in the overall maternal mortality in India, it is imperative that access to safe abortion services is made available at all levels of health facilities.

Studies reveal that 90% of maternal mortality related to unsafe abortions could be averted by use of contraceptives in the post-abortion period. Also, the unmet need for family planning in the post-abortion period is very high which, if bridged, can save many young mothers.

Keeping this scenario in mind, participants at a two-day Conclave on `Expanding the Discourse on Comprehensive Care (CAC) in India’ that concluded here reiterated that there was an urgent need to strengthen safe abortion services by increasing the provider base and creating awareness on availability of comprehensive abortion care services across the country.

Organised by Ipas Development Foundation (IDF), participants said women’s ability to exercise their reproductive choices is integral to the success of maternal health and family planning interventions at the national and state level. However, the challenges of repeated unintended pregnancies and unwanted births or abortions remain largely unattended due to lack of services coupled with myths and misconceptions associated with abortion.

Mr. Vinoj Manning, Executive Director, IDF said that close to 10,000 doctors in the public sector in 13 States have been trained for providing safe abortion services to women. He said that the first CAC guidelines issued in 2010 was a significant landmark in national commitment to making abortion safer. This has been followed by other progressive policy moves including a mass media campaign. However, delay in the passage of amendments to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 that would allow mid-level health workers to provide safe abortion services, and implementation challenges in light of laws such as Pre-Conception and Pre- Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 need to be addressed on priority.

Dr Atul Ganatra of the Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society of India (FOGSI) said that conflict in laws and lack of clarity about laws have resulted in denial of safe abortion services to girls below the age of 18 for fear of prosecution. He asserted that there was an urgent need to educate everyone, including the law makers and law implementers, about existing abortion laws. According to him, the 20-week deadline for medical termination of pregnancy needs to be changed since not all women can rush to the Supreme Court when faced with such situations. There have been numerous instances where providers have refused services and seekers have had to approach the apex court.

Expressing concern over the inconsistencies in the sale of medical abortion drugs in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, Mr Shanker Narayan, PSI India Private Limited, said that the price control of the drugs has impacted the availability of the drugs used for abortion since many pharmaceutical companies have stopped manufacturing these drugs due to reduced profitability.

The two-day Conclave was part of a series of events aimed at creating a favorable environment for making comprehensive abortion care services available to women in India. The purpose of this event was to create a wider community of advocates for CAC in India.

KANKER (Chhattisgarh): Doctors Kiran Lata Thakur, Hemlata Sahu and Ujjwala Devangan have more than one thing in common. Other than being doctors at the Komal Dev Government District Hospital in Kanker, the three are Master Trainers who have the responsibility of training the doctors for providing safe abortion services.

Chhattisgarh is predominantly tribal-dominated State with 35% of its population being Scheduled Tribe with high a maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 221/100000 live births in 2011-2013 and an unofficial rough estimate suggests that anywhere between 10,000 to 60,000 abortions are conducted in the State every year. In India, unsafe abortions cause 8 to 10% maternal deaths.

The Master Trainers conduct the trainings for other doctors at the Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC) Training Center developed by in collaborations with Ipas Development Foundation (IDF) – a non-government organization working on safe abortions. Ipas began its operations in the State in 2014 and chose Kanker District Hospital as one of the 6 Training Centres.  

Before 2014 there was no separate facility for training on safe abortions as it was not a priority in the health sector. But now with safe abortions being an integral part of the National Health Mission (NHM) and Ipas being a critical partner, Kanker District Hospital has a dedicated training room where doctors from the health facilities in Northern Bastar are trained in the batches of twos.  The training room has posters, relevant literature on safe abortion, a chart with the course outline and dummy pelvic model for training.

“During training if there is an abortion case, we take the doctors to the theatre for a hand-on training as well,’’ explains Dr Kiran Lata Thakur.

While the training of trainers (ToT) is 3-4 day programme for Registered Medical Practitioners mostly obstetricians and gynecologists who are adept at this procedure, the focus in the ToT is to orient them on new technologies and methodology for facilitating training. This programme is run by IDF staff in the States that IDF works in but also facilitated in other States on request. The certification training of MBBS doctors is for 15 days and is executed by the State trainers trained in the ToT. The IDF teams are involved at various stages in planning and execution of these trainings which are budgeted under the NHM.

Once the doctors are selected for the training, mainly depending on the caseload in their respective facilities and preferably from delivery points, they come to Kanker District Hospital where they are made to undergo a pre-qualification test to assess the trainees on their knowledge of the subject. They have to undergo the same test post-training for evaluation.  

“Our experience shows that young doctors are more knowledgeable with a fair understanding of the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child Health and Adolescent (RMNCH+A) programme of which safe abortion is a part,’’ says Dr Thakur.

The training includes sessions on laws such as Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971; Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994, human rights, health rights infection prevention and reproductive rights of individuals in addition to theory and hands-on trainings on conducting safe abortions.

Once trained, each certified doctor is given a Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA) kit and the facility is provided IEC material to educate and inform the community about the availability of services.

After the training, IDF and Master Trainers provide all kind of support to the trained doctors. There is a proper schedule which is followed for this. The trained doctors receive a call from IDF within 28 days after they go back to their respective facilities to check on the progress. This is followed by a visit to the facility within 60 days. Calls and visits are also conducted based on the needs of the provider as well including for clinical support.

“As many as 88 doctors have been trained at Kanker since 2014 and all of these have been providing safe abortion services at their facilities. However, there are occasions where the doctors have some reservations on conducting abortion which could either be personal or religious or even hesitate to perform the procedure. In such cases, we just ask them to use Medical Methods of Abortion (MMA) wherein drugs are given and ask them to perform vacuum aspiration in case of an incomplete abortion. This helps them get over hesitation/resistance and even gives them experience,’’ says Dr Thakur.

Ipas Development Foundation has developed six training centres across Chhattisgarh. These were selected on the basis of a baseline survey conducted at 236 public health facilities done at District Hospitals, Community Health Centres and Primary Health Centres. An assessment was done for availability of human strength, skill, training requirement, availability of basic minimum infrastructure necessary for providing CAC services, and availability of instruments and consumables. Also taken into consideration is the current awareness, knowledge and attitude of the providers towards the legal aspects of abortion and related services.

“Kanker has banned over-the-counter sale of abortion drugs within the city that has greatly reduced cases of incomplete abortions. Women have also given up adopting traditional methods of abortion which are unsafe and this has happened because of awareness created by frontline health workers and IEC material provided by the government.  However, the coverage of CAC services should be complete but there are several areas where we are yet to reach,’’ says Dr. R.C. Thakur, Civil Surgeon at the Kanker District Hospital.

Comprehensive Abortion Care training is being rolled out in phased manner in Chhattisgarh with District Hospitals and First Referral Units to be covered in the first phase followed by Community Health Centres in the second phase and finally the 24X7 Primary Health Centres. Six District Hospitals at Kanker, Surguja, Bilaspur, Durg, Rajnandgaon and Raigarh have been developed as CAC Training Centres where doctors are imparted training on safe abortion and the nursing staff on counselling and MTP supporting services. And, the progress so far has been outstanding with the District Hospitals providing CAC services going up from 16 in 2009 to 23 in 2016; CHCs providing safe abortion services going up from 19 to 127 and PHCs from 1 to 48 during the same time. Kanker has four Master Trainers, three posted at the District Hospital and the fourth at the Bhanupratappur CHC. 

“Much has changed now. We have very few cases of perforated uterus and very few women come here in critical condition now as a result of unsafe or incomplete abortions. Mitanins have had a role to play in creating awareness about the safe abortion services in the hospital. Those who come here are mainly those of accidental pregnancies due to contraception failure or incomplete abortions,’’ explains Dr Ujjwala Devangan. Teenage pregnancy is also an issue and the doctors can only counsel the young women to use contraceptives by educating them on the adverse impact of repeated abortions. “At times, women who come here have very low haemoglobin levels and most of them are referred here from nearby areas because this hospital has a Blood Bank facility,’’ Dr Devangan says.

Zoliflodacin, a new oral antibiotic and one of the only treatments in development to address the rapidly-growing threat of drug-resistant gonorrhoea will enter pivotal trials soon. The drug is being developed in partnership between the not-for-profit Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) and Entasis Therapeutics. The announcement comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) released an alarming new data showing that of 77 countries surveyed across the world, more than 60% report resistance to the last-resort treatment for gonorrhoea.

Entasis and GARDP will co-develop the first-in-class antibiotic, zoliflodacin, in a global Phase III clinical trial to be carried out in countries including South Africa, the United States of America, and Thailand. The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), plans to support pharmacological studies on the drug as part of the development programme.

In parallel with the Phase III trial, which is sponsored by GARDP/DNDi (Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative), GARDP will work with Entasis scientists to carry out non-clinical activities – including microbiology surveys to ensure that the product is effective against recent and geographically diverse strains of gonorrhoea. If zoliflodacin receives regulatory approval, Entasis will grant GARDP an exclusive license with sublicensing rights in most low- and middle-income countries, while retaining commercial rights in high-income markets. Both GARDP and Entasis are committed to affordable and equitable pricing in their respective territories, a joint statement issued by the collaborators has said..

There are about 78 million new cases of gonorrhoea every year. The Neisseria gonorrhoea pathogen creates a potentially serious infection in the genitals, rectum, and throat and can result in infertility, ectopic pregnancy, increased risk of HIV, and pelvic inflammatory disease amongst others. Currently, the main recommended treatment is an injection of ceftriaxone and an oral dose of azithromycin.

“Antibiotic resistance is a serious public health issue, driving an unmet need within many communities around the world. Gonorrhoea causes significant harm to patients who suffer from it, as well as accelerating the spread of other sexually transmitted infections,’’ said Dr Manos Perros, CEO of Entasis Therapeutics.

Entasis’ zoliflodacin is the first in a new class of antibiotics and the only new clinical candidate developed specifically to treat gonorrhoea, which is important for stewardship. Zoliflodacin demonstrated potent in vitro activity against Neisseria gonorrhoea, including isolates resistant to fluoroquinolones and extended spectrum cephalosporins, achieving promising efficacy after a single oral dose in a recent Phase II clinical study sponsored by NIAID. Zoliflodacin has been designated a Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) by the US Food and Drug Administration and awarded Fast Track status.

Antimicrobial resistance is recognized as a global crisis by the WHO and the G20, with calls for new mechanisms to develop new treatments. In June, the G20 held the first ever Health Ministers’ meeting which called for “broadening the voluntary financial support’’ for initiatives, including GARDP, which reinvigorate research and development in science and research for antimicrobials.’’

Launched in May 2016 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), GARDP aims to develop and deliver new treatments for bacterial infections where drug resistance is present or emerging, or for which inadequate treatment exists. Zoliflodacin is one of GARDP’s first research and development projects and its first licensing deal with a company. GARDP is currently operating within DNDi, which provides GARDP’s governance.  Entasis Therapeutics is developing a portfolio of innovative cures for serious drug-resistant bacterial infections, a global health crisis affecting the lives of millions of patients.

Antibiotic resistance is making gonorrhoea—a common sexually-transmitted infection—much harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat, the World Health Organisation has said based on data collected from 77 countries.  

The WHO has reported widespread resistance to older and cheaper antibiotics. Some countries—particularly high-income ones, where surveillance is best—are finding cases of the infection that are untreatable by all known antibiotics.

Each year, an estimated 78 million people are infected with gonorrhoea. Gonorrhoea can infect the genitals, rectum, and throat. Complications of gonorrhoea disproportionally affect women, including pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and infertility, as well as an increased risk of HIV.

Decreasing condom use, increased urbanization and travel, poor infection detection rates, and inadequate or failed treatment all contribute to this increase. 

“The bacteria that cause gonorrhoea are particularly smart. Every time we use a new class of antibiotics to treat the infection, the bacteria evolve to resist them,” said Dr Teodora Wi, Medical Officer, Human Reproduction, at the WHO.

“These cases may just be the tip of the iceberg, since systems to diagnose and report untreatable infections are lacking in lower-income countries where gonorrhoea is actually more common,” adds Dr Wi.

The WHO Global Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme (WHO GASP), monitors trends in drug-resistant gonorrhoea. The WHO GASP data from 2009 to 2014 find widespread resistance to ciprofloxacin [97% of countries that reported data in that period found drug-resistant strains]; increasing resistance to azithromycin [81%]; and the emergence of resistance to the current last-resort treatment: the extended-spectrum cephalosporins (ESCs) oral cefixime or injectable ceftriaxone [66%].

Currently, in most countries, ESCs are the only single antibiotics that remain effective for treating gonorrhoea. But resistance to cefixime—and more rarely to ceftriaxone—has now been reported in more than 50 countries. As a result, WHO issued updated global treatment recommendations in 2016 advising doctors to give 2 antibiotics: ceftriaxone and azithromycin.

The R&D pipeline for gonorrhoea is relatively empty, with only 3 new candidate drugs in various stages of clinical development: solithromycin, for which a phase III trial has recently been completed; zoliflodacin, which has completed a phase II trial; and gepotidacin, which has also completed a phase II trial, according to the WHO.

The development of new antibiotics is not very attractive for commercial pharmaceutical companies. Treatments are taken only for short periods of time (unlike medicines for chronic diseases) and they become less effective as resistance develops, meaning that the supply of new drugs constantly needs to be replenished.

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and WHO have launched the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP), a not-for-profit research and development organization, hosted by DNDi, to address this issue. The GARDP’s mission is to develop new antibiotic treatments and promote appropriate use, so that they remain effective for as long as possible, while ensuring access for all in need. One of the GARDP’s key priorities is the development of new antibiotic treatments for gonorrhoea.

“To address the pressing need for new treatments for gonorrhoea, we urgently need to seize the opportunities we have with existing drugs and candidates in the pipeline. In the short term, we aim to accelerate the development and introduction of at least one of these pipeline drugs, and will evaluate the possible development of combination treatments for public health use,” said Dr Manica Balasegaram, GARDP Director. “Any new treatment developed should be accessible to everyone who needs it, while ensuring it’s used appropriately, so that drug resistance is slowed as much as possible.”

Gonorrhoea can be prevented through safer sexual behaviour, in particular consistent and correct condom use. Information, education and communication can promote and enable safer sex practices, improve people’s ability to recognize the symptoms of gonorrhoea and other sexually transmitted infections and increase the likelihood they will seek care. At present, lack of public awareness, lack of training of health workers, and stigma around sexually transmitted infections remain barriers to greater and more effective use of these interventions, the WHO has said.

There are no affordable, rapid, point-of-care diagnostic tests for gonorrhoea. Many people who are infected with gonorrhoea do not have any symptoms, so they go undiagnosed and untreated. On the other hand, however, when patients do have symptoms, such as discharge from the urethra or the vagina, doctors often assume it is gonorrhoea and prescribe antibiotics – even though people may be suffering from another kind of infection. The overall inappropriate use of antibiotics increases the development of antibiotic resistance in gonorrhoea as well as other bacterial diseases.

T R Ramachandran
NEW DELHI: Despite the Chinese hardening its position in the wake of the standoff in the Sikkim sector and Beijing ruling out a meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Hamburg, the two leaders met on Friday and talked about a range of issues. 
The Indian side remained circumspect without ruling out a face-to-face between the two leaders lasting less than seven minutes. It was not known if the standoff at Doklam was discussed.  
With China pursuing its expansionist designs retired career diplomats and defence services officers believe New Delhi should strive for a political solution as upping the ante is not going to serve the interests of either country.
At the same time Beijing continued its game of speaking in different voices demanding India must quit Doka La. Amid all this the Chinese government also said it wants a peaceful resolution. 
The threat of war rings the air after a gap of three decades. Such a tense situation arose at Somdrong Chu from October 1986 to May 1987 in the North-Western part of Arunachal Pradesh. 

The Doklam sector on the China-Bhutan (India) border finds itself in the eye of a storm since the middle of last month. Of the 3448 Km long border from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, a 220 Km sector falls in Sikkim. 
The boundary stand off is unprecedented and calls for calmness on all sides. The Chinese have already whipped up passions by blocking the Kailash Mansarover yatra through the Nathu La route. The contested tri-junction stretch of the boundary in Sikkim has witnessed fewer tensions than the western sector of the India-China boundary with New Delhi and Bhutan having had separate negotiations with China. 
The problem has arisen on account of Beijing sending the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) construction teams with earth moving equipment to forcibly build a road affecting the carefuly preserved peace so far. 
The strategic challenge for the political leadership is not to walk into any trap. Last Friday the Indian side expressed its deep concern about China’s road building activities in the Doklam sector drawing attention to the significant and perhaps unacceptable change in the status quo. 
The persistent problems are due to the divergent geostrategic pursuits of India and China. 
There is no doubt Beijing is seeking to impress with its assertiveness as a major power. India is within its right to actively protect and enlarge New Delhi’s strategic footprint. 
The External Affairs ministry explained: “In coordination with Bhutan, Indian personnel, who were present, approached the Chinese construction party and asked them to desist from changing the status quo. These efforts continue,” the ministry clarified. 
Beijing now accuses India of being the “third party” to the China-Bhutan dispute. On June 20, Bhutan had lodged a protest with China through its embassy in New Delhi that any road inside its territory was a violation of the 1988 and 1998 agreements with Beijing. 
On June 29 Bhutan had issued a demarche to China to restore status quo by stopping the work immediately. 
Thimphu has also accused China of violating bilateral agreements by constructing a road in disputed territory. New Delhi recalled that both countries had in 2012 reached an agreement that the tri-junction boundary points between India, China and any third country would be finalised in consultation with the parties concerned. 

The boundary in the Sikkim sector was mutually agreed upon in 2012 and further discussions had been going on between the special representatives. The Doklam plateau, north of the tri-junction between Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet is not just a disputed area but has huge strategic significance for both India and China. 
Wedged between Bhutan, India and China are a few areas of dispute accounting for more than 750 Sq Km. Doklam is about 90 square kilometres.  
For the Chinese to reach the China-Bhutan border posts, Doklam provides an easy way to construct their road and they have been trying to do so with India consistently objecting to it. 
Not far away from Doklam is the strategically important Chumbi Valley in the Tibet region, to which the Chinese are now planning to extend their rail connectivity. 
New Delhi has said it is deeply concerned at the recent Chinese action and conveyed to them such construction would represent a significant change of status quo with serious security implications. Importantly, Bhutan’s sovereignty must be maintained as that is the basis for the “exemplary” ties between New Delhi and Thimphu. 
Notwithstanding China’s aggressive barrage, India is not going to stop from communicating its position in a clear and unambiguous manner. New Delhi and Beijing have agreed on maintaining peace and tranquility and neither will seek to unilaterally alter the status quo at the Line of Actual Control (LAC). 
Of late China has been resorting to increasingly unilateral action seeking to alter the status quo. In the wake of what has happened in Doklam, India has had to respond to prevent an enhanced threat to the narrow land corridor which links the Indian Northeast  to the rest of the country.
(T R Ramachandran is a senior journalist and commentator. The views are personal.) 

New Delhi : Indian astronomers have made a sensational discovery of a bunch of large cosmic objects known as ‘giant radio galaxies’.

Astronomers led by Pratik Dabhade at Pune-based Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) have surprised astronomical community with their discovery of twenty five new  ‘giant radio galaxies’ (GRGs). These galaxies are among the largest stellar objects. They are so huge and rare that astronomers are puzzled how they got to grow to that colossal size.

A typical galaxy like ours has about billions of stars and is about one lakh light years across.  A typical radio galaxy could be as big as 30,000 to 30 lakh light-years in size. When some of these radio galaxies grow to enormous sizes, bigger than 33 lakh light-years across, they are called as giant radio galaxy (GRGs). A radio galaxy is as a strong source of electromagnetic radiation or radio waves.

Although GRGs are mammoth in size – imagine placing 33 milky ways one after another in a straight line – they are extremely weak in radio luminosity making it difficult for even a sensitive radio telescope to detect them. They are often composed of numerous bright knots spread over a large area that it is not easy for us to tell which of these lobes are part of GRG and which are from unrelated sources. Although millions of regular galaxies and thousands of radio galaxies are known, Pratik Dabhade says “during the last six decades, astronomers the world over have discovered just 300 GRGs.” 

Using data from 20-year-old Very Large Array Sky Survey of US-based National Radio Astronomy Observatory, the Indian team identified GRGs which had escaped the curious eyes of astronomers so far. The current study by adding 25 new candidates has added additional 10% to the list, which the astronomers say “would be useful in understanding how these galaxies grow to be so large”. The results are published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Since the first discovery of GRG 3C236 in 1974, surveys by Ishwara-Chandra and Saikia, Schoenmakers and others have revealed the fascinating world of GRGs. Of the 300-odd GRGs identified so far, J1420-0545 spanning more than 160 lakh light years across is the largest. Of the twenty five GRGs identified by researchers, the physical size ranged from a 30 lakh light years to about 120 light years.  Â“Eight of them were even larger than 65 lakh light years”, says the researchers.

Super massive black hole – typically with mass ranging from one crore to hundred crore mass of the sun- is at the center of the GRGs.  Acting as the `central engine’, this black hole drives the dynamics of the GRGs.  All the materials in the vicinity are sucked by the incredible gravity of the super massive black hole. As the materials fall inward, they become ionised and this motion of the charged materials create powerful electromagnetic force, which in turn blast away the materials at the edges. The jets of hot plasma blasting away from the black hole in opposite directions produce huge lobes of radio emissions that can span much greater distances than the galaxy’s visible light. 

GRGs have been an enigma since their discovery. Since they are known to expand to such large sizes, astronomers believe them to be the last stage of radio galaxy evolution. Powerful GRGs are known to fade away as they go through death throbs in just ten thousand years, a blink of an eye in cosmological terms. Surprisingly some of them are also believed to be resurrecting after fading away, shining bright once again. The study is expected to aid astronomers understand the dynamics of the GRGs. 

Just as we can make an inference about air turbulence by observing billowing smoke from a chimney, we can learn a lot about interstellar medium from GRGs. One of the GRGs identified by this study, GRG15, “clearly challenges the common belief that GRGs grow in sparse, non-cluster environment” say the researchers and claim that “environment alone does not play a major role in exceptionally large sizes of GRGs”. The researchers said they would be presenting more samples of GRGs along with results of statistical analysis and multi-wavelength studies of their properties in forthcoming papers.

Besides Pratik Dabhade, the research team included Joydeep Bagchi (IUCAA), Mamta Pommier (CNRS Observatoire de Lyon), Madhuri Gaikwad (NCRA-TIFR Pune and Max-Planck Institute Bonn), Shishir Sankhyayan (IISER Pune) and Somak Raychaudhury (IUCAA). (India Science Wire)

India had always recognised the Jewish state of Israel but took a long time in establishing full diplomatic relations which happened in 1992, thanks to then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao. Even after that it has taken a quarter of a century for this country’s Head of Government to pay an official visit to Jerusalem. 

Due credit must be given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in ensuring India’s commitment to the Arab World particularly the inalienable right of the Palestinians to a homeland remained even if they did not visit Ramallah while on a trip to Israel. 

It has long for the Indian leadership to realise that building friendship with Israel did not mean that India’s support for a Palestinian homeland had been given up or relegated to the background. An Indian dignitary can henceforth dispense with going to Ramallah before or after a visit to Israel. Ramallah is a Palestinian city which is the administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority. It is located on the West Bank about 10 Km from Jerusalem. 

Modi’s three-day visit to Israel from July fourth was indeed historic as his beaming host and counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu explained they had been waiting for it for seven decades. 

On its part the Modi government spent more than two years in preparing the ground for this sojourn which has set the tone for the multi-faceted cooperation along with elevating it to a strategic level between the two countries. 

Such a status has been accorded by India to other partners like the US, the Russian Federation, Germany and Japan. This has opened the floodgates for mutually beneficial cooperation in several spheres encompassing water conservation, arid area farming, space, cyber security, scientific and technological research, defence, IT and a host of other spheres. 

Both India and Israel attained independence in 1947-48 but the challenges and problems of the wars fought at their inception remained even now. If it was Jammu and Kashmir based separatism and terrorism in India, Hamas and Hizbollah-led activities with political backing from other nations remained Israel’s challenge. 

While the regional dynamics are no doubt different, they are in areas of wide ranging conflict. Now that Indo-Israel relationship are out of the closet, the prospects of transfer of technology and manufacturing defence items in India has brightened. 

Apart from the defence deals expected to equip India with new military capabilities, the armed drones can provide this country new military capabilities for battling the menace of militants along the Line of Control (LOC). 

Then Israel being water scarce its desalinisation technology is cutting edge with a mobile desalinisation unit mounted on a four wheel drive buggy which takes water from anywhere and transforms it into drinking water. Their drip irrigation based on new technology will help farmers get real time alert on actual water needs of plants in their fields. 

At the same time Israel’s support for India’s war on terror has been total. The joint statement provided an idea of the future contours of the bilateral relationship. “The two leaders visualised that India and Israel will become close partners in development, technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, defence and security,” the joint statement added. 

Modi’s visit to Israel sends out an important signal to business to step up partnership, trade and investment. The joint statement has steered clear of specifying any particular source of threat to peace and stability. Instead the emphasis is on cooperation to combat growing radicalisation and terrorism. 

Significantly, a better relationship with Jerusalem did not mean ignoring Ramallah. By recognising Israel and Palestine as separate entities, New Delhi is preserving its delicate balancing act in West Asia. 

( T R Ramachandran is senior journalist and commentator. The views are personal.) 

A latest survey has shown 3 out of 4 elephants in Asia are living in poor and unacceptable conditions.  All of these are kept at venues offering elephant rides – one of the most popular tourist activities in the countries where the research `Taken for a Ride’ was done by the World Animal Protection.  

This report documents the conditions endured by nearly 3,000 elephants used in tourist venues across Asia. A total of 220 venues in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and India were surveyed between late 2014 and mid-2016. These included all venues that could be identified in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and a representative selection of venues in India.

Of the countries visited, Thailand is home to about three-quarters of all entertainment elephants assessed in this study. There has been a 30% rise in the number of elephants at tourism venues in Thailand since 2010. In the most recent study, 357 more elephants in Thailand were found living in poor welfare conditions than five years ago. This corresponds with a rise in the number of tourists to Thailand, and the rapidly developing elephant tourism entertainment industry which bears little resemblance to how elephants were traditionally kept. It sparks great concern about the rise in the exploitation of elephants, as well as people. Several venues receive more than 1,000 visitors a day with elephants continually required to give rides, perform and interact with tourists. These large venues are responsible for some of the poorest welfare conditions cited in this research. Additionally, they commonly also provide poor living standards for the elephant handlers (mahouts), the report says.

More than 2,000 of the elephants surveyed were being used for saddled rides or shows. The scale of suffering at most of these venues is severe. When not giving rides or performing, the elephants were typically chained day and night, most of the time to chains less than 3m long. They were also fed poor diets, given limited appropriate veterinary care and were frequently kept on concrete floors in stressful locations near loud music, roads or visitor groups. These conditions take no account of the elephants intelligence, behaviours and needs and follows the severe trauma endured by elephants in their early years. The trauma is caused by separation from their mothers and the harsh training process to break their spirits and make them submissive enough to give rides and perform, the report says.

On the other hand, the research also found a further 487 elephants across Asian tourist venues kept at venues with better conditions. Although still inadequate, these venues usually had more knowledgeable and caring staff, mostly no saddled riding, shorter working hours, and more possibilities for social interaction between elephants. In many cases they also provided better working conditions for the mahouts. Only 194 elephants at 13 venues were found to be living in high welfare captive conditions. At these venues there were no rides or performances. The elephants walked free during most of the day, were able to socialise with other elephants and were fed on natural vegetation at most of these venues. Tourists visiting these venues could observe elephants behaving naturally. Direct interaction between visitors and elephants was usually prohibited or limited. Mahouts at these venues were commonly well respected for their responsibility and fully involved with the daily management of elephants and interaction with tourists. Despite better conditions at some venues there are still clear safety risks involved with close contact between visitors and elephants. Between 2010 and 2016 in Thailand alone, 17 fatalities and 21 serious injuries to people by captive elephants were reported in the media. The growing number of elephants in a highly profit-driven industry and the increasing demand for elephant experiences also sparks conservation concerns.

According to Gajendra K.Sharma, India Country Director at World Animal Protection: “The cruel trend of elephants used for rides and shows is growing—we want tourists to know that many of these elephants are taken from their mothers as babies, forced to endure harsh training and suffer poor living conditions throughout their lives.’’

“There is an urgent need for tourist and regulation of wildlife tourist attractions worldwide. Venues that offer tourists a chance to watch elephants in genuine sanctuaries are beacons for hope that can encourage the urgently-needed shift in the captive elephant tourism,’’ Mr Sharma added.

To enable such wider and sustainable change to end the suffering of elephants this report suggest enabling and encouraging replication of high-welfare, elephant-friendly venues, and channeling tourist demand away from the worst activities, such as elephant shows and rides, to more humane alternatives.

The report also recommends devising a set of elephant-friendly tourism standards and improving the living conditions for captive elephants while protecting elephants from being poached. Respecting local cultures and addressing the needs of the mahouts and other elephant-dependent people by developing alternative livelihoods with them has also been recommended in the report.

Asian elephants are considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). They are on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which heavily restricts international trade of elephants and elephant parts. Constant human encroachment into the elephant’s habitat and poaching for ivory or wild animals has been causing the Asian elephant population’s rapid decline over recent decades. 

Estimates of the total population range between 38,000 and 52,000 elephants. There are three commonly recognised sub-species: the Indian elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) on the Asian mainland; the Ceylon elephant (E. m. maximus) on Sri Lanka; and the Sumatran elephant (E. m. sumatranus) on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Populations of wild elephants vary across 13 countries (or range states). There are estimates of fewer than 200 in each of Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Nepal and Vietnam and fewer than 1,000 for Cambodia and Laos. The population of elephants in the wild in Thailand is estimated to be between 2,500 –3,200. India has the largest population of elephants in the wild with an estimated 23,900–32,000 elephants and elephant rides are extremely popular among tourists in Rajasthan.