2015 April - Interesting Articles & Links

* Ram Charan again -- https://in.news.yahoo.com/how-reliable-is-the-world-s-most-influential-business-consultant---r-053927673.html

* On the Nepal Quake
- MJ Akbar in Kathmandu - http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/thesiegewithin/when-aftershocks-trembled-through-nature-and-human-nature/
- Silence after the Quake - http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/28/magazine/how-not-to-report-on-an-earthquake.html?smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0
- India's apathy - http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/nepal-earthquake-india-s-quake-monitoring-network-bureaucratic-bottleneck/article1-1342366.aspx
- Quake Duty - http://blogs.afp.com/correspondent/?post/nepal-earthquake-victims-dignity-and-duty-in-ruined-kathmandu#.VUDCXyGqqkp
- Quakes and Avalanches - video AFP - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj6AeXtDZGs&index=125&list=PL1CF9F6D47FDDCA48
- The log scale -  http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/how_much_bigger.php
- Calculator - http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/calculator.php

* Wired - Female orgasm explained by science - http://www.wired.com/2015/04/mystery-female-orgasm-explained-science

* Women's safety in India -- gender is more complex than we think -- http://www.scoopwhoop.com/news/barkha-dutt-women-in-the-world-summit/

* A village stands up for a teacher -- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Village-stands-up-for-Sir-gets-his-transfer-order-overturned/articleshow/47076531.cms

* Dad's reply to school's leave of absence -- http://www.examiner.com/article/dad-s-reply-to-school-on-kids-absence-is-best-response-ever

* Inequality is different in Japan -- https://agenda.weforum.org/2015/03/why-inequality-is-different-in-japan/

* All you wanted to know about Biosimilars -- http://www.biospace.com/news_story.aspx?StoryID=374361&full=1


* Ajai Shukla - quota's damage the Indian army -- http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/ajai-shukla-revive-the-army-s-warrior-cult-115042700981_1.html

* Chakka (Jackfruit) is the answer - ww.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sundaymagazine/chakka-is-the-answer/

* German nursery rhymes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9aA9wCQ9co

* Atul Gawade on an an anaesthsiologist in rural Maharashtra - http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(15)60764-4.pdf


* Devdatt Pattanaik - The ascetic and the nymph -- http://www.mid-day.com/articles/when-the-ascetic-overpowered-the-nymph/16165167
* Power in Corporate Mythology -- http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/corporate-dossier/power-is-a-tool-for-governance-not-domination/articleshow/47025824.cms


* The Poetic Life of the Lowly Eel -- http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-poetic-life-of-the-lowly-eel
- Eels are, in fact, fish, and the freshwater species fall under the genus Anguilla, which evolved fifty million years ago. There are more than a dozen freshwater species, but the varieties that have been most widely fished and eaten are American (A. rostrata), European (A. anguilla), and Japanese (A. japonica).
- Both are catadromous, meaning that they spawn in the sea but spend their juvenile and adult lives in freshwater.
- Their blood is toxic to humans—research using the toxin derived from it led to the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of anaphylaxis—which is why they’re always served cooked.
- Most curious of all, every American and European eel is born in the same place in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where, at the end of their lives, they return to reproduce and die: the Sargasso Sea.
- The Sargasso was pinpointed as the breeding ground only a century ago, by the Danish biologist Johannes Schmidt, who spent twenty years searching for tinier and tinier eel larvae in the Atlantic Ocean.
- The spawning grounds of the Japanese eel were found in 1991, after six decades of searching, and those of the New Zealand longfin eel have yet to be discovered.
- The leptocephalus (meaning “slim head”)—a long, flat, transparent sea creature—was long thought to be a distinct species, until one was kept in captivity long enough to metamorphose into an eel; it was merely a larva.
- As they enter freshwater streams and begin eating insects and worms, they gain pigment and become elvers

* Pics - 25 years of Hubble Telescope -- http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21649640-25-years-hubble-space-telescope-has-provided-extraordinary-images-deep-space-window


* Gene therapy in China -- http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21649607-group-scientists-china-has-just-crossed-one-biotechnologys-red

* Net-Neutrality -- http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/bhupesh-bhandari-as-neutral-as-it-gets-115042301123_1.html

* Sweet potato is a natural GMO! -- http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/sweet-potato-is-a-natural-gmo/81251182/

* India's underground oil reserves -- http://www.indiaspend.com/cover-story/in-underground-rock-caverns-tanks-india-builds-oil-reserves-80032

* Nath cult and its philosophy -- http://www.academia.edu/5281286/THE_LESSER_KNOWN_NATH_CULT_AND_ITS_SIGNIFICANT_PHILOSOPHY

* Are you serious? (BS edit on Rahul Gandhi's suited-booted comment) -- http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/are-you-serious-115042101262_1.html

* Furusato Nozei - tax breaks for nostalgia - http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21648703-struggling-parts-countryside-have-found-novel-way-attract-money-hometown-dues
- http://www.furusato-tax.jp/

* The Fall of Saigon (Guardian, 21Apr15) -- http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/apr/21/40-years-on-from-fall-of-saigon-witnessing-end-of-vietnam-war
- A general's obituary - http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/04/general-vo-nguyen-giap

* A Leafhopper that pretends to be an ant! -- http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2015/04/20/marys-monday-metazoan-shhhh-im-in-disguise/

* Homeopathic Delusions -- http://www.popsci.com/fda-considers-cracking-down-homeopathy

* The complex design of a Ziploc bag -- http://www.wired.com/2015/04/surprisingly-complex-design-ziploc-bag
- Börge Madsen invented the resealable bag in 1950

* Biofuels - http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21648630-investment-biofuels-dwindling-and-scepticism-growing-thin-harvest
- Only two such advanced fuels... are capable of large-scale production. One is turning waste cooking oil and other fats into diesel—a process for which Europe already has 2 billion litres of capacity. The other involves making ethanol from cellulose by enzymatic hydrolysis.
- Sunlight is a great source of energy. Biology may not be the best way of storing it.

* Grapes - debt to ancient viruses -- http://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2014/11/pinot-noir-grapes-owe-debt-ancient-viruses

* Twitter in Japan -- http://mashable.com/2013/10/22/japan-loves-twitter/

* Solving the mystery of dog domestication -- http://news.sciencemag.org/archaeology/2015/04/feature-solving-mystery-dog-domestication


* The Nanda Devi Mystery -- http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/3QfYqLadggrbnrn41H0mAJ/The-Nanda-Devi-mystery.html

* Brohi, Nazish (Dawn, 20Apr15) - MIRROR, MIRROR -- An analysis of Pakistani symbolism - http://www.dawn.com/news/1176807/mirror-mirror
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takht-i-Bahi

* The most diverse microbiome in humans - http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/tremendously-diverse-microbiome-found-hunter-gatherers-living-amazon

* 57 Interesting maps - http://matadornetwork.com/life/57-worlds-interesting-maps/

* On subsidising public hospitals instead of private healthcare -- http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/t-n-ninan-don-t-subsidise-build-115041700344_1.html

* Japan's Maglev hits 590kmph! -- http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/category/technology/
- Shanghai Maglev Train (SMT) goes at 421kmph -- 19km in 7mts!

* Tycoon - Rahul Bhatia - the Indigo story -- http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/business/rahul-bhatia-high-flier

* Pakistan miffs old friends -- http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21648698-pakistans-all-weather-friendships-are-under-strain-storm-tossed?fsrc=scn/tw/te/pe/ed/banyanpakistan
- Pakistan’s foreign policy might boil it down to four principles: provoke India, but not too much; say what America wants to hear; do what China wants done; and provide what rich Arab donors in the Gulf think they have bought.


* Coffee in Iceland (Adam Gopink) - -http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-coffee-of-civilization-in-iceland
* Also by Gopink - On Hippo's and Kings -- http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/of-hippos-and-kings


* Stiglitz on USA's opposition to China's AIIB -- https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-aiib-us-opposition-by-joseph-e--stiglitz-2015-04

* Kazuo Ishiguro on Leonard Cohen -- http://www.wsj.com/articles/kazuo-ishiguro-on-leonard-cohens-i-can-forget-1429022730?mod=trending_now_3
- http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/leonardcohen/icantforget.html

* Largest Harappan Site - Haryana's Rakhigarhi - http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/ljfXtPZHUSi5eG8Di1n9YO/History--What-their-lives-reveal.html
- http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/rakhigarhi-is-now-the-biggest-harappan-excavation-site-even-bigger-than-mohenjodaro-231896.html

* Net Neutrality India Campaign for internet access -- http://www.netneutrality.in/
* Mahesh Murthy replies to Airtel CEO -- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-airtel-users-should-reply-ceos-letter-defending-zero-murthy?trk=hp-feed-article-title

* The key is technology, not money -- (Hindu, 15Apr15, D. Raghunandan) -- http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/fdi-in-defence/article7102328.ece
. Delhi Science Forum
. All India People's Science Network

* Rushdie on Gunter Grass - http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-greatness-of-gunter-grass

* Nine things successful people do -- https://hbr.org/2011/02/nine-things-successful-people/

* Singapore shows the way on water (FE, Isher Judge Ahluwalia, 14Apr15) - http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/transforming-our-cities-on-water-singapore-shows-the-way/
- 2000- Bedok water reclamation project -  capacity 2.2 m gallons/day - US membrane technology - cost declined 50% in 25 yrs -- NEWater now meets 30% of demand
- Water demand - grows from 77 mg/d (1960) to 400 mg/d (2014)
- Water conservation tax (WCT) - cash transfer

* Why Tipu Sultan is a false hero -- http://www.dailyo.in/politics/why-tipu-sultan-was-a-false-hero/story/1/1278.html

* Culture cannot be a punishment posting -- http://www.thehindu.com/sunday-anchor/culture-cannot-be-a-punishment-posting-pramod-kumar/article7093270.ece

* Op Red Falcon -- https://read.atavist.com/operation-red-falcon

* Patchwork Person - Multi-ethnic, multi-expat -- http://blogs.wsj.com/expat/2015/04/13/i-often-feel-like-a-patchwork-person-a-multi-ethnic-multi-expat-figures-out-who-he-really-is/

* ISIS - destruction of Nimrud, Syria :(  -- http://rt.com/news/249097-isis-nimrud-destruction-video/

* GMOs - RoundUp and Risk Assessment -- NY -- http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/roundup-and-risk-assessment

* Should you trust big pharma with your DNA? -- http://www.popsci.com/should-you-trust-big-pharma-your-dna

* GMOs - - 'Decision makers need not balance science versus nonsense on GM crops'  - Ulhas Karnth - http://www.newkerala.com/news/2015/fullnews-42402.html
- Prior to the introduction of Bt cotton in 2002, the only GM crop India allowed for cultivation, the country used 9,400 tonnes of insecticides for bollworm pest control a year. In 2011, only 222 tonnes was used, says K.R. Kranthi, Director of the Central Institute of Cotton Research. Sucking pests however have thrived. But the 42-time reduction in use of use of pesticides against bollworms has to be weighed against the 2.5-fold increase in toxins to kill sucking pests.


* Essential Medicines - price hike approved by NPCO - http://www.thehindu.com/business/govt-allows-pharma-companies-to-hike-prices-of-509-essential-drugs/article7081150.ece

* Photography - Bokeh in pictures - https://luminous-landscape.com/bokeh-in-pictures/
- A technical view of Bokeh - https://luminous-landscape.com/bokeh/
- Nikkor 35mm 1.8G - http://www.nikon.co.in/en_IN/product/nikkor-lenses/dx-format/single-focal-length/af-s-dx-nikkor-35mm-f-1-8g

* How to build innovations in organisations -- http://www.fastcompany.com/3044780/hit-the-ground-running/how-to-build-conversations-that-create-innovative-ideas

* Spending money on new Experiences -- http://m.fastcompany.com/3043858/world-changing-ideas/the-science-of-why-you-should-spend-your-money-on-experiences-not-thing

* A Gorkha and 30 Bandits -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishnu_Shrestha
. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100904/jsp/bengal/story_12895050.jsp
. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Soldier-takes-on-dacoits-on-trainGang-Of-30/articleshow/6488820.cms?

* Pakistan's Yemen Dilemma -- Khurram Hussain -- http://www.dawn.com/news/1174713/yemens-quagmire

* Anti-cancer agents found in #fungus infesting coconut pest - #Cordyceps #Biocontrol #RCC #Kerala - http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/biocontrol-fungus-may-aid-cancer-fight/article7063679.ece

* Google Drawings - http://www.labnol.org/internet/google-drawings-art/28855/

* Economist - Japan's poverty worsens -- http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21647676-poverty-worsens-more-japanese-work-non-permanent-contracts-struggling
- Shelters at Kotobuki, Yokohama

* Science behind the breast cancer gene -- http://www.livemint.com/Politics/bGjRaZOTgcuD40dt1jCzzK/Angelina-Jolies-second-surgery-revives-debate-on-available.html

* Using Wikipedia -- http://scroll.in/article/718139/Using-Wikipedia:-a-scholar-redraws-academic-lines-by-including-it-in-his-syllabus

* Prashant's letter to Arvind-AAP- http://scroll.in/article/718226/'Goodbye-and-good-luck':-full-text-of-open-letter-to-Arvind-Kejriwal-from-Prashant-Bhushan

* The future of architecture - http://www.wired.com/2015/04/20-buildings-show-future-architecture/

* NihonGo - On "O" and "Go" usage - http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2015/04/06/language/must-knows-nos-s-s-go/#.VSNpnPmUezx

* On why we must have net neutrality -- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-we-must-have-netneutrality-abhigyan-jha

* Patent Law - the need to protect Section 3d -- http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/pulse/after-a-decade-why-we-need-to-protect-section-3d-of-the-patent-law/article7065611.ece
- Novartis argued that the â-crystalline form of the salt of imatinib, imanitib mesylate (gleevec) had better flow properties, was less hygroscopic, thermodynamically more stable.
- Novartis also argued that gleevec was 30% more bioavailable which implied significantly enhanced efficacy. The court held that by itself bioavailability cannot imply higher therapeutic efficacy, which has to be shown by separate experiments.

* Stanford-U on biological warfare -- http://news.stanford.edu/news/2001/january17/bioterror-117.html

* First impressions on Africa - http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2015-01-07/184702/
* Karuturi - the Rose King in Africa - http://www.karuturi.com/pdf/karuturicorporatepresentation.pdf
- The one-acre farmer turns Rose King - http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/oneacre-farmer-turns-rose-king/article734798.ece
- Doubts on viability -- http://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/campaign-update-ethiopia-viability-karaturi-project-doubt
- 2008 - An Indian farmer's African Safari -- http://www.businessworld.in/en/storypage/-/bw/indian-farmer%E2%80%99s-african-safari/r415993.0/page/0
. Gambela and other states have since leased out land to others, including India's Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. (50,000 ha) to grow biofuel, and Spentex Industries (25,000 ha) to grow cotton.
. Kenya is inviting foreigners for large-scale corporate farming. Land will be free of lease for 25 years.

* Japan - better explained through a religious lens -- http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2015/04/05/issues/viewed-religious-lens-japan-makes-sense/#.VSIvCPmUezx

* Vishvanathan, Shiv (6Apr'15): A new public policy for a new India -- http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/a-new-public-policy-for-a-new-india/article7070831.ece?homepage=true

* Why the flu vaccine barely worked this year -- http://www.biospace.com/news_story.aspx?StoryID=370800&full=1

* Is flu in your genes? -- http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21647266-influenza-genetic-disease-under-influence
- critical - a gene encoding a protein called Interferon Regulatory Factor 7

* Spy camera king from Patel Nagar -- http://www.caravanmagazine.in/lede/delhi-patel-nagar-international-private-eye
- http://www.actionindiahomeproduct.com/

* Cost of Drugs -- http://www.cheatsheet.com/personal-finance/8-prescription-drugs-that-cost-way-too-much-in-america.html/?a=viewall
- the price of Gleevec tripled from $28,000 a year in 2001 to $92,000 a year in 2012
- THe science behind it - http://www.slideshare.net/KiranShaw1/triaminopyrimidines-antimalarial-agentnatcomm2015


* One-dose cure for Malaria - including MDR versions - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/bengaluru-scientists-find-drug-which-could-cure-malaria-with-one-dose/articleshow/46763997.cms

* A mallu protests the beef ban -- http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/beef-eater-locks-horns-bans

On Hexagons

If you wanted to cover a large flat space with with equal pieces, without leaving any gaps, which shape would you choose?

In 300 CE, Pappus of Alexandria said that it was best to use Hexagons, just like bees do.  Pappu's idea remained a conjecture for 1700 years when in 1999, Thomas Hales proved that proved the Alexandian right through the honeycomb theorem.

I heard this for the first time in this TED video by Eduardo Sáenz de Cabezón:



But how did bees determine that this was the best shape? And how do they pass this knowledge across generations?

-------------------------------------------------
MORE

* Why do honeybees love hexagons?  http://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-do-honeybees-love-hexagons-zack-patterson-and-andy-peterson

The Apathy Chronicles

Science may have found a cure for mos evils; but it has no remedy for the worst of them all - the apathy of human beings." -- Helen Keller


Today's Indian Express has a telling cover story on the state of governance in India. It is a classic case of adopting the proverbial ostrich-like attitude: pretending that a problem does not exist, and hoping that, somehow, it will disappear on its own.

I just thought it would be interesting to list some of them to see if there is a pattern that could lead us to possible solutions.

First, the IE story today:

* AIR POLLUTION IN DELHI

The Central Pollution Control Board identifies a potential problem area and commissions an independent agency to examine the air quality in Delhi, through an exhaustive study involving 11,000 schoolchildren from 36 schools, across three years. Yet, despite detecting an alarming rise in pollution levels, everybody is still busy "studying the report".

Links:
- Landmark study lies buried - http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/landmark-study-lies-buried-how-delhis-poisonous-air-is-damaging-its-children-for-life/
- Chatterjee, Pritha (31Mar'15), IE: Seven years ago, everyone saw Delhi’s air take a deadly U-turn but no one did a thing


* THE NEW (RE)EMERGING DISEASES

Over past two decades, hospitals across India have been witnessing a sharp rise in new and re-emerging diseases: Chikungunya, bird flu, swine flu, monkey flu, Ebola, MDR TB and Malaria, etc., This year along we have lost over 2000 lives to H1N1 swine flu.
What have we done about it? The health ministry had figured well in advance that our total dependence on imported diagnostics and medicines would hamper containment efforts. So it decided to develop indigenous technology and succeeded in getting entrepreneurs to produce test-kits for a tenth the cost (Rs. 400 vs. minimum of Rs.4500/test). And then, amazingly, after handing out the necessary regulatory clearances, it does nothing to encourage states to adopt cheaper, more affordable diagnostics and medicines.
Predictably MNCs like Applied Biosciences are quite pleased with the state of affairs. While low-income patients balk at the cost of getting reliable tests and drugs, the MNCs are laughing all the way to bank, happy to serve just those who can afford it.

Links:
- Nagarajan, Rema (18Mar'15), ToI: Two Indian firms develop cheap H1N1 test kits, but find few takers
- Singh, Jyotsna (31Mar'15), DTE: When flu turns fatal - http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/when-flu-turns-fatal


* DELHI BUS RAPID TRANSPORT (BRT) SYSTEM

Inspired by Curitiba (Brazil) and Bogota (Colombia), and goaded by IITD academics, the Delhi government decided to ease the urban transport problem by building a BRT corridor in South Delhi. The first phase of construction (2008) was so haphazard and unplanned that vehicles kept crashing into unmarked barriers that had come up overnight, constriction of road space forced bikers on pedestrian pathways and VIPs appropriated the bus-lanes for themselves.
Now there is talk of just scrapping the whole project. So what if the project cost a few millions?

* PIPED WATER SUPPLY IN NCR DELHI

Why is it so rare to find 24x7 piped water supply in Indian cities? Because the amount of water that would be wasted from taps that are left open would leave us very little to supply the next day!
In suburbs like Noida, the municipality has fixed a "flat-rate" for monthly consumption of water. This amounts to a measly Rs. 25 to Rs.150 per month. Since there is no incentive or costs to careful use of this resource, enormous quantities of water overflow into the drains every day. Picture this: Everyday, Noida Jal processes and distributes about 100 cusecs (244 million litres/day) of water. Water is pumped from the holding stations to overhead waterttanks in each sector, and from here, it is supplied to users twice a day for about three hours.
Water quickly fills up the overhead tanks in all the buildings, and since the supply is not metered, most users have an overflow pipe that spills excess water into the drains. For at least an hour water just goes down the drains. Has there been any effort to calculate and control this huge, daily wastage of clean water? Who cares!

--------------------------------------------------------------------
LINKS:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Bus_Rapid_Transit_System
- BRT May be Scrapped - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Delhis-BRT-may-finally-be-scrapped-as-MLAs-put-pressure-on-govt/articleshow/46569844.cms

2015 March - Interesting Articles & Links

* On 5G Telephony - http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21646962-5g-mobile-wireless-will-be-faster-fibre-your-phone-steroids

* Nagoro - a Japanese village where life-size dolls outnumber people! - http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/143300/fritz-schumann/valley-of-the-dolls

* DOS - Denial of Service attacks on the internet -- http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/03/economist-explains-25

* Solar on your roof - 101 - http://www.livemint.com/Money/RBdquY1XECHfxeCD5XnfTP/What-you-should-know-before-going-solar.html

* Photography - Karen Knorr - India Song -- http://karenknorr.com/photography/india-song/

* Mes Aynak - an ancient Afghan city being lost to Chinese copper mines ? -- http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/31/mes-aynak-afghanistan-buddhist-treasure

* Iceland - the world's greatest genetic lab -- http://www.wired.com/2015/03/iceland-worlds-greatest-genetic-laboratory/

* Meet Cyanogen -- the Android Killer -- http://www.forbes.com/sites/miguelhelft/2015/03/23/meet-cyanogen-the-startup-that-wants-to-steal-android-from-google-2/

* Discarded medical devices flood Indian markets -- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/First-worlds-discarded-medical-devices-flood-Indian-markets/articleshow/46696235.cms

* MRI Scans of Vegetables - http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/mri-scans-produce-are-completely-amazing

* Best Headphones -- http://time.com/74886/best-headphones/

* Salil Tripathi on LKY and Singapore - http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tJmgofWYWCJmdQYzaNbAtO/Lee-kuan-yews-Singapore.html
* LKY's Singapore - lessons India did not learn -- http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/rahul-jacob-what-china-learned-from-lee-kuan-yew-115032501154_1.html

* On development aid in Nepal -- http://data.parliament.uk/WrittenEvidence/CommitteeEvidence.svc/EvidenceDocument/International%20Development/DFIDs%20work%20in%20Nepal/written/18612.html

* Saudi's and the Swedish minister - http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9481542/swedens-feminist-foreign-minister-has-dared-to-tell-the-truth-about-saudi-arabia-what-happens-now-concerns-us-all/

* Wishes for desi's you hate -- http://www.buzzfeed.com/imaansheikh/wishing-you-biryani-without-boti

* Getting rid of Bunions -- http://naturalcuresnotmedicine.com/how-to-get-rid-of-bunions-with-this-simple-and-powerful-remedy/

* How to Write -- http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/ZPmaHVnmMNiqhAsHCxz8fP/How-to-write.html?utm_source=copy
* Use of Good Words -- http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2015/03/johnson-writing-style?fsrc=scn%2Ftw%2Fte%2Fbl%2Fed%2Fusegoodwords


* (26Mar15, Hindu) - Corruption in governance breeds antibiotic resistance - http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/corruption-in-governance-breeds-antibiotic-resistance/article7032499.ece
* (26Mar15 ToI) - China agrees to supply more Japanese Encephalitis shots - http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-03-27/news/60553555_1_japanese-encephalitis-je-vaccine-china

* On foreigners in Japan -- http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2015/03/23/voices/spare-thought-western-men-trapped-japan/

* Italian cheese made by Sikhs -- http://scroll.in/article/710676/Video:-The-Sikhs-who-make-Italy's-famous-Grana-Padano-cheese

* When India ate Beef -- http://www.rediff.com/news/column/when-hindus-ate-beef-india-was-never-conquered/20150324.htm

* Tharoor on Indian Railways -- http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/india-railway-budget-by-shashi-tharoor-2015-03

* Photography - Nikon35mm
- http://petapixel.com/2013/05/16/the-top-8-reasons-why-im-a-big-believer-in-35mm-lens-photography/
- http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/35f14ais.htm
- http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/10-best.htm
- http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/dx-dream-team.htm
- The best 35mm for DX - http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/dx-dream-team.htm


* Japan's policemen with big sticks - http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/03/20/reference/police-who-stand-with-big-sticks

* 10 Indian poets -- http://scroll.in/article/715138/Video:-On-World-Poetry-Day,-listen-to-the-works-of-ten-Indian-poets

* LinkedIn - What kind of pain can i solve? -- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-switch-careers-without-starting-over-liz-ryan?trk=hp-feed-article-title

* WSJ - India's fight against Big Pharma is a Just War -- http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2015/03/19/inside-india-indias-fight-against-big-pharma-patents-is-a-just-war/
. Last week, GoI withdrew patent protection for an emphysema drug marketed by Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH
. The country’s pharmaceutical sector was expected to grow to at least $48.8 billion in sales by 2020 from $11 billion in 2012
. India’s law sets a higher bar for protection than in some other countries, limiting the ability of companies to get patents for new versions of drugs whose active ingredients were previously known unless they can show significant therapeutic benefit.
. In 2006, India’s patent office refused to give Novartis AG a patent for Gleevec, an extremely effective drug for a rare cancer.
. In 2012, India’s Intellectual Property Appellate Board revoked a Roche Holding AG patent for a hepatitis C drug saying technology involved in the drug’s invention was “obvious” and could be replicated easily.
. In January, India’s patent office rejected a patent application from the U.S. biotech firm Gilead Sciences Inc. for a hepatitis C treatment, saying it lacked novelty and didn’t show significant efficacy over previously known compounds.
. The collective effect of a low bar for patents drives up healthcare costs and insurance premiums for patients.

* Ram, Vidya (19Mar2015): An answer to Fund-Bank domination - http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/columns/vidya-ram/an-answer-to-fundbank-domination/article7007864.ece

* Kanjilal, Prateek (19Mar15): Borrowing from Nature - http://www.financialexpress.com/article/fe-columnist/borrowing-from-nature/55093/

* A reality-check from @RahulJacob -- http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/rahul-jacob-make-believe-in-india-115031801145_1.html @MakeInIndia #Manufacturing


* Horizontal Gene Transfer - http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21646197-human-beings-ancestors-have-routinely-stolen-genes-other-species-genetically
- Many of the matches are to genes of unknown purpose—for it is still the case, more than a decade after the end of the human genome project, that the jobs of many genes remain obscure. But some human transgenes are surprisingly familiar. The ABO antigen system, which defines basic blood groups for transfusion purposes, looks bacterial. The fat-mass and obesity-associated gene, the effect of which is encapsulated in its rather long-winded name, seems to come from marine algae. And a group of genes involved in the synthesis of hyaluronic acid originates from fungi. Hyaluronic acid is a chemical that is an important part of the glue which holds cells together. (It is also a frequent ingredient of skin creams.)

* 13 ways to eat Maggi noodles -- http://www.buzzfeed.com/niralishah/maggi-maggi-maggi

* Shyam - Elephant Trails , Tvm -- https://shyamgopan.wordpress.com/2015/03/17/the-elephants-i-never-saw/

* Churpi -- Yak cheese as dog snack in G8 -- https://news.yahoo.com/traditional-nepal-cheese-hit-overseas-dog-snack-072951741.html

* Top 15 websites for free images download -- http://www.jeffbullas.com/2015/03/17/15-top-websites-to-find-free-images-for-your-content-marketing/

* BBC's Hypocrisy -- http://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/merchants-of-black-imagery/article1-1327094.aspx
. we need to break free from the vicious grip of the merchants of the black imagery who earn their fortunes by marketing globally some of our weakest chinks.


* Mighty Mites -- http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/02/mites/dunn-text

* Paul Kalanithi in WP - Before I Go: A Stanford neurosurgeon’s parting wisdom about life and time --  http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/03/12/before-i-go-a-stanford-neurosurgeons-parting-wisdom-about-life-and-time/
- "Everyone succumbs to finitude.... The future, instead of the ladder toward the goals of life, flattens out into a perpetual present. Money, status, all the vanities the preacher of Ecclesiastes described, hold so little interest: a chasing after wind, indeed."

* WSJ - Smart-enough Watches -- http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-a-just-smart-enough-watch-is-better-than-an-apple-watch-1426181071

* What ails Indian Science (2014, R Prasad) -- http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/what-ails-indian-science/article5863637.ece
- in the case of the U.S., the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are outside the government bureaucracy.
- the malaise of promotion based on years of service, and not by achievement

* Origin of expressions -- http://www.grammarly.com/blog/2015/14-expressions-with-crazy-origins-that-you-would-never-have-guessed/

* Bangladesh vs. MNCs - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-08/-10-copy-of-gilead-s-blockbuster-sovaldi-appears-in-bangladesh

* Cricket - sledging -- http://www.scoopwhoop.com/sports/cricket-sledging/

* Salil Tripathi -- An Argument Without Beef -- http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/Nv56zpiYyDRgiD8fgbnmOL/An-argument-without-beef.html

* WSJ - 11Mar15 - Four Years After Tohoku -- http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2015/03/11/photos-four-years-after-the-tohoku-disaster/#slide/1

* NYT -- http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-doctors-give-in-on-vaccines?

* FT - India Healthcare -- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0b916fde-c64a-11e4-9bf4-00144feab7de.html?siteedition=intl#axzz3TyylVhOd

* Cabron's prob -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankylosing_spondylitis

* On Virgil's quote on 9/11 memorial -- http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/opinion/07alexander.html?_r=0

* Science as art - http://www.nature.com/news/science-as-art-wellcome-image-awards-2015-1.17118

* Why are only white people called expats? -- http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/mar/13/white-people-expats-immigrants-migration

* Its never too late to start a venture -- http://digitalsynopsis.com/inspiration/never-too-late-start-venture

* Words -- http://www.buzzfeed.com/danieldalton/bob-ombinate?bftw&bffb&utm_term=4ldqpgy#.rpNqOABvBg

* Is most of our DNA garbage? -- http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/08/magazine/is-most-of-our-dna-garbage.html
- Genomes are like biological books, written in genetic letters known as bases; the human genome contains about 3.2 billion bases.
- the onion’s genome was five times bigger --
- why do the broad-footed salamander (65.5 billion bases), the African lungfish (132 billion) and the Paris japonica flower (149 billion)?
- The human genome contains around 20,000 genes, that is, the stretches of DNA that encode proteins. But these genes account for only about 1.2 percent of the total genome. The other 98.8 percent is known as noncoding DNA.
- 1953, Francis Crick and James Watson published a short paper in the journal Nature setting out the double-helix structure of DNA.
- In 1964, the German biologist Friedrich Vogel did a rough calculation of how many genes a typical human must carry --  6.7 million
- 2001 - The Human Genome Project team declared that our DNA consisted of isolated oases of protein-coding genes surrounded by “vast expanses of unpopulated desert where only noncoding ‘junk’ DNA can be found.”
- John Rinn @Harvard -  studies RNA, but not the RNA that our cells use as a template for making proteins -- studies an RNA molecule (hotair) that, somewhat bizarrely, was produced widely by skin cells below the waist but not above.
- Rinn’s research revealed that hotair acts as a kind of guide for Polycomb, attaching to it and escorting it through the jungle of the cell to the precise spots on our DNA where it needs to silence genes.

* History in perspective - a great piece by @DalrympleWill on the supreme act of corporate violence in world history http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/04/east-india-company-original-corporate-raiders
- - on 28 August 1608, William Hawkins had landed at Surat, the first commander of a company vessel to set foot on Indian soil.
- Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador sent by James I to the Mughal court, is shown appearing before the Emperor Jahangir in 1614
- 1739, when Clive was only 14 years old, the Mughals still ruled a vast empire that stretched from Kabul to Madras. But in that year, the Persian adventurer Nadir Shah descended the Khyber Pass with 150,000 of his cavalry and defeated a Mughal army of 1.5 million men.
- Three months later, Nadir Shah returned to Persia carrying the pick of the treasures the Mughal empire had amassed in its 200 years of conquest: a caravan of riches that included Shah Jahan’s magnificent peacock throne, the Koh-i-Noor, the largest diamond in the world, as well as its “sister”, the Darya Nur, and “700 elephants, 4,000 camels and 12,000 horses carrying wagons all laden with gold, silver and precious stones”, worth an estimated £87.5m in the currency of the time.
- August 1765, when the young Mughal emperor Shah Alam, exiled from Delhi and defeated by East India Company troops, was forced into what we would now call an act of involuntary privatisation.
- Within a few years, 250 company clerks backed by the military force of 20,000 locally recruited Indian soldiers had become the effective rulers of Bengal.
- sing its rapidly growing security force – its army had grown to 260,000 men by 1803 – it swiftly subdued and seized an entire subcontinent.
- The first serious territorial conquests began in Bengal in 1756; 47 years later, the company’s reach extended as far north as the Mughal capital of Delhi, and almost all of India south of that city was by then effectively ruled from a boardroom in the City of London.
- In many ways the EIC was a model of corporate efficiency: 100 years into its history, it had only 35 permanent employees in its head office.
- After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, a victory that owed more to treachery, forged contracts, bankers and bribes than military prowess, he transferred to the EIC treasury no less than £2.5m seized from the defeated rulers of Bengal – in today’s currency, around £23m for Clive and £250m for the company.
- Clive... committed suicide in 1774 by slitting his own throat with a paperknife
- By 1803, when the EIC captured the Mughal capital of Delhi, it had trained up a private security force of around 260,000- twice the size of the British army – and marshalled more firepower than any nation state in Asia.


* Fall of the Ottomans -- http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/01/fall-of-the-ottomans-eugene-rogan-review

* INDIA's DAUGHTER - (5Mar15) - Salil Tripathy -- why it should be seen in India -- http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/34Ls4cgDsZaDbEH8TdLBmN/Why-Indias-Daughter-should-be-seen-in-India.html
- http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/comment-article-rape-rhetoric-and-reality/article6705077.ece


* USA - dollar spending on diseases -- http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/03/03/the-diseases-we-spend-our-health-dollars-on/

* A scientist and an artist -- http://www.frontline.in/arts-and-culture/scientist-as-an-artist/article6954702.ece?homepage=true

* Nikon camera with a 83X zoom! -- http://www.wired.com/2015/03/nikons-new-point-shoot-absurdly-long-zoom-range/

* #Genes that adapt and remember -- an excellent book review -- http://www.wired.com/2015/03/fat-sick-blame-grandparents-bad-habits/ #Epigenetics #Methylation

* Economic Survey 2015 -- file:///C:/Users/Dinakar/Desktop/EconSurvey-2015-vol1.pdf
- Subsidies to the poor (pp23) -- Rs.377,000 Cr (4.2% of 2011 GDP)
- Agri - area, production (pp 78-79) -- Foodgrains - 126mHa; 265 mT-- Oilseeds 28mHa; 33 mT-- Pulses 25 mHa; 19mT
- Agri extension -- 59% of farmers have no access to govt research & extension (NSSO data)
- GM crops - rethinking needed (pp80)

* BCG-CII Report on the Indian IT Sector (2013) - http://cii.in/WebCMS/Upload/BCG%20CII%20report%20on%20Domestic%20IT%20-%20March%202013%28final%29.pdf

* Regulating Genome-Edited Crops (not-yet GMOs) -- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150225132251.htm

* China Cement production -- http://www.igsnrr.cas.cn/xwzx/jxlwtj/201405/P020140522355603140914.pdf
- From less than 50 mT (1978) to over 2000 mT now.... India is no.2 at 360 mT

* Budget 2015 -- Speech
- India's Annual Budget INR 17,774,770,000,000 to USD = 287,129,901,878 US Dollar  (17 Lakh Crores = $ 287 Billion)
- Rs. 1 Lakh Cr = US$. 16 Billion

* 1995, Newsweek -- A prediction that went haywire -- http://www.newsweek.com/clifford-stoll-why-web-wont-be-nirvana-185306

* Labnol - Removing password protection from PDF files -- http://www.labnol.org/software/remove-pdf-password/20017/

* Indian shrines in SE China -- http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/medieval-southeastern-china-neighbours-india-shrine-remote-village/1/421327.html
- traders from south India made Quanzhou and its surrounding areas their home during the reign of the Song (960-1279 AD) and Yuan (1279-1368 AD) dynasties when Quanzhou was the busiest port in the world.

The Power of QA

How far will you go to buy a quality product?

According to the Economist, Chinese tourists are flying in droves to markets in Tokyo to purchase... toilet seats!

On the face of it this may seem a trivial or even whimsical thing to buy. But to those who have used to this piece of working art, it is difficult to see the regular plastic and ceramic contraptions as anything but retrograde.

However the point of interest is not the art or electronics but the fact that many of the seats the Chinese buy from Akihabara and carry back home, actually carry the label "Made in China".

Aparently, many Chinese consumers do not trust the reliability of such items sold at home—and refuse to pay the often higher prices charged for export-standard goods. Prime minister, Li Keqiang, has told Chinese firms to raise the quality of their own seats. “At least that could save consumers the price of a plane ticket,” he said.

Saving plane tickets is besides the point. It took a Chinese reader to hit the nail in the head:

I bought many stuffs in Japan even it says Made In China, but nothing in China itself because I know if the Chinese want to sell their stuffs in Japan, they must go through the rigorous Japanese quality assurance procedure, whereas there is none in China.

How do companies, and countries, acquire a reputation for accepting and delivering nothing less than the highest possible quality?

The Japanese embraced the ideas of an American guru, Edward Deming, to pull itself out of the morass of exporting poor quality umbrella's, matchboxes and textiles.

In India it appears that many outward looking, export-oriented companies have grasped the importance of perception, and understood the power of QA. There are also exceptional organisations like Aravind Eye Care and Narayana Health/Hrudayalaya that have blended high quality with affordability and public access.

What will it take for this idea to seem through our government and the vast network of institutions it controls?

-----------------------------------------------------
LINKS:

* http://www.economist.com/news/china/21647299-rush-buy-japanese-toilet-seats-prompts-soul-searching-china-race-bottom

IPO - Like a Rock

In the early 1990's when I visited the Indian Patent Office (IPO) for the first time, it was as gloomy and depressing as any other dysfunctional sarkari office. Over the years, it certainly seems to have changed for the better.

Now, at a time when, "advanced industrialised countries are ratcheting up global standards for intellectual property protection with monotonous regularity, keeping in view the interests of the dominant corporate interests" (Biswajit Dhar, FE), our patent office has been standing its ground.

Section 3(d) of Patents Act ensures that rights cannot be obtained for minor innovations, and this is being implemented quite effectively -

• 2006 - India’s patent office refused to give Novartis AG a patent for Glivec (Imatinib), an extremely effective drug for a rare cancer - CML
• 2012 - India’s Intellectual Property Appellate Board revoked a Roche Holding AG patent for a hepatitis C drug (Pegasys) saying technology involved in the drug’s invention was “obvious” and could be replicated easily.
• January 2015 - India’s patent office rejected a patent application from the U.S. biotech firm Gilead Sciences Inc. for a Hepatitis C treatment (Sovaldi) , saying it lacked novelty and didn’t show significant efficacy over previously known compounds.
• March, 2015 - IPO withdrew patent protection for an emphysema drug (Spiriva) marketed by Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, in response to an objection filed by Cipla.

What (or who) is the driving force behind this transformation of the Indian Patent Office?  What mechanisms do they have in place to ensure that Big Pharma do not get away with Evergreening? And, most importantly, what can the patent office do to improve our own abysmal record in encouraging innovations, and building innovative, world-class products?

Perhaps organisations like the Lawyers Collective had a strong role to play here.

------------------------------------------------
LINKS

* Key Medicines -  Patent Status in India -- http://www.lawyerscollective.org/drugs-list

* http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/01/14/gilead-india-patent-idINKBN0KN20V20150114

* India Patent Office -- http://www.ipindia.nic.in/

* (19Mar15) - WSJ - India's fight against Big Pharma is a Just War -- http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2015/03/19/inside-india-indias-fight-against-big-pharma-patents-is-a-just-war/

* Biswajit Dhar (2014): IPR policy must drive innovation -- http://www.macroscan.net/pdfs/ipr_policy.pdf

Yella's Discoveries

One of the simple pleasures of life is to find an Indian-sounding name in a piece of work that touches excellence. Quite often, I find myself waiting for the credits to roll at the end of a great movie, or flipping through the 'acknowledgements' section of a book, or a computer app, just to take delight at the number of such names that turn up.

Yesterday, I started on a book that had such a name right on the front-cover: Siddhartha Mukherjee's "The Emperor of All Maladies". It won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011 but, until now, I had put it away, assuming that it was a work of fiction that was somehow connected to Jumpa Lahiri's "Interpreter of Maladies". Never have I been so wrong about titles!

The book actually combines three things that I would never tire of -- history, science and technology. It is a biography of a disease we all dread - Cancer.

Right at the beginning of the story, amid 20th century scientists of Europe and USA struggling to understand this strange disease, an Indian name pops up in the most unlikely place and time - Yellapragada Subbarow at Harvard Medical School, 1923. Yella was a product of Madras Medical College, but his degree was not recognized, so he started all over again at Harvard as a biochemist, supporting himself by working as a part-time janitor, cleaning halls and toilet-bowls.

Down the road, he went on to discover the role of phosphocreatine, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as an energy source in the cell, and developed methotrexate for the treatment of cancer. He discovered polymyxin widely used even today in cattle-feed and aureomycin (the first broad-spectrum antibiotic), and the first of tetracycline antibiotics. SubbaRow and his team of organic and biological chemists isolated folic acid from liver and a microbial source and then synthesized it in 1945. As Director of Research at Lederle, he  found in Hetrazan  (diethylcarbamazine (DEC), the cure for filariasis. The method for estimating phosphorous is called the Fiske-SubbaRow Method.

According to Banerjee, "Any one of these achievements should have been enough to guarantee him a professorship at Harvard. But Subbarow was a foreigner, a reclusive, nocturnal, heavily accented vegetarian who lived in a one-room apartment downtown, befriended only by other nocturnal recluses".

How is it that we never heard about him in our own school science textbooks?

--------------------------------------------------------------
LINKS

• Mukherjee, Siddhartha (2011): EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES - A BIOGRAPHY OF CANCER, Scribner, 2011 -- url -- http://www.amazon.in/The-Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography/dp/1439170916 
• Indian Academy of Clinical Medicine -- http://medind.nic.in/jac/t01/i1/jact01i1p96.pdf
• Wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor_of_All_Maladies
• Yellapragada Subbarow (12 January 1895 – 9 August 1948) -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellapragada_Subbarow
• Miracle Man of Miracle Drugs -- http://www.ysubbarow.info/ 

Merchants of Rosy Imagery

Joseph Goebbels would have been quite pleased with this illustration.

It shows a somewhat effeminate Shah Alam, one of the last Mughal emperors in an opulent court , handing over a scroll - the "Treaty of Allahabad" - to Robert Clive, representative of the East India Company (EIC), in 1765.

Under this treaty, Clive was appointed as the new governor of Bengal, Orissa and Bihar, with full rights to collect taxes as EIC pleased -- one of the earliest cases of a sovereign state subcontracting its own work to a multinational corporation (MNC).  It was also a legal fig-leaf to cover a plunder that had started a few years earlier, after the Battle of Plassey (1757).

According to William Darylmple, "The entire contents of the Bengal treasury were simply loaded into 100 boats and punted down the Ganges... Clive transferred to the EIC treasury no less than £2.5m seized from the defeated rulers of Bengal – in today’s currency, around £23m for Clive and £250m for the company."

Recent research goes to prove that there had been no grand court scene at the court of Shah Alam. The scroll had actually changed hands at Clive's tent pitched in a parade ground. "As for Shah Alam’s silken throne, it was in fact Clive’s armchair, which for the occasion had been hoisted on to his dining room table and covered with a chintz bedspread."

EIC had commissioned an illustrator to create a grand image for the benefit of the British parliamentarians, and the general public. It worked beautifully. Over the next hundred years EIC reinvested the 'revenue' from East India, and public loans and grants, to build an vast army to conquer, subjugate and plunder the subcontinent.

According to Darlymple, the EIC merchants were merely taking advantage of a power vacuum in India. Between the time the first EIC ship sailed into Surat in 1608 with William Hawkins, and Robert Clive's 'treaty' of 1765 came a disaster that crippled the Mughal empire. Persian adventurer, Nader Shah had trotted down with 150,000 horsemen, defeated the Mughals at the Battle of Karnal (1739), and carried away treasures worth over GBP 87.5 million.

-------------------------------------------------------
LINKS

* WD - East India Company -- http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/04/east-india-company-original-corporate-raiders
* Rajiv Malhotra - Debating foreign funded NGOs -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OWY_haNDNI#t=2127

Rape and the Criminal Justice System

Two cases stand in sharp contrast today.

Case-I: Dimapur, Nagaland

Last month, on 24 Feb., 2015,  an immigrant trader in Dimapur, Nagaland was accused of raping a woman. He was arrested an lodged in the jail. Yesterday evening, a mob of over 1500 people barged into the jail, overpowered the guards, and dragged away the accused man. He was then lynched and had his body strung up on the town square.

Nagaland has one of the lowest incidence of crimes against women in India.  

Case-II: New Delhi, Delhi

More than three years' ago, on 16 Dec., 2012, a paramedic-student was gang-raped in a moving bus. The attack was so brutal that she succumbed to her injuries in a couple of weeks. In response to the huge public outrage that followed, a "fast-track" court was set-up. All the accused men were tried, and sentenced to death. The case, however, continues to linger under an appeal process. The remorseless ramblings of one the rapists is now the centrepiece of a BBC documentary "India's Daughter". 

If the legal maxim, "Justice delayed is justice denied" hold true, does the Indian Criminal Justice System inspire any public confidence or credibility? If this is how speedy justice is being administered by a "fast-track court", can the Nagas be faulted for lynching a rapist?


----------------------------------------------------
LINKS

- Log kya kahenge? (what will people say?) -- http://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/log-kya-kahenge
- BBC - India's Daughter - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUvlwmIfyx0 (This link may not last -- YouTube seems to have agreed to GoI's demand to block this, at least in India)
- (5Mar15) - Salil Tripathy -- why it should be seen in India -- http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/34Ls4cgDsZaDbEH8TdLBmN/Why-Indias-Daughter-should-be-seen-in-India.html
- http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/comment-article-rape-rhetoric-and-reality/article6705077.ec
- WSJ - A Rape Map of India -- http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/01/03/a-rape-map-of-india/
- Parliamentary Debate -- http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/in-parliament-debate-on-documentary-on-delhi-gang-rape-india-s-daughter/358686?fb

Our Little Game of Pretence

Sometimes we act as though China does not exist. It is a disconcerting little game of pretence.

Yesterday, a top bureaucrat at the Indian Ministry of Commerce tweeted:

On the face of it, this looks like a useful nugget - until you start wondering who is no. 1. That is when everything comes into perspective.

It took India hundred years to grow its cement industry to about 360 million tonnes. China, on the other hand, expanded its cement production from less than 50 millon tonnes (mT) in 1978, to over 2000 mT in 2014. It now produces more than half the entire global production. Yet we think our achievement over the last 100 years is something "spectacular".

Now consider the Indian pharmaceutical industry. We claim to be a global powerhouse in generic medicines. And then comes along a BCG-CII report saying that Indian companies are completely dependent on Chinese imports for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), the most critical ingredient in the drug manufacturing process.

Here is what an ET report says:

Imports of APIs and advanced intermediates have grown close to 20 per cent a year from $800 million in 2004 to $3.4 billion now. China accounts for 58 per cent of such imports by value and 80 per cent by volume, trade estimates point out.

The essential drugs include Paracetamol, Ranitidine, Metformin, Amoxicillin, Ciprofloxacin, Acetyl Salicylic Acid, Ofloxacin, Cefixime, Ibuprofen, Ampicillin, and Metronidazole. A recent industry report pointed out any strain in the Sino-Indian relationship could cause a severe shortage of essential drugs.

This leaves us with one big puzzle. Why on earth do the Chinese companies continue to let India pretend to be a pharma powerhouse? Why don't they just go ahead with their APIs and manufacture the drug formulations themselves?

One expert suggests that they are just warming up for the next big thing - Biosimilars. Wonder if this is true...

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REFERENCES

* China Cement production -- http://www.igsnrr.cas.cn/xwzx/jxlwtj/201405/P020140522355603140914.pdf

* IBEF on the Indian Pharma Sector - http://www.ibef.org/industry/pharmaceutical-india.aspx

* USFDA lens on China is bad news for India -- http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/us-fda-scolds-chinese-api-maker-on-basic-mfg-problems-115010800858_1.html

* * (2014, OCt29, ET): Soma Das -- India relies on China for 90 per cent of drug raw materials -- http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-10-29/news/55559092_1_essential-drugs-bulk-drugs-apis

* (2014, Nov14, ToI): Sushmi Dey -- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Overdependence-on-China-for-drug-ingredients-worries-NSA/articleshow/45278715.cms

2015 - February: Interesting Articles & Links

* Nirupama Rao's recco -- Canteloube - "Bailero" sung by Patricia Rozario -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSqSznrgaSU&feature=youtu.be

* Bill Gates on the Future of Diseases -- http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/25/8103759/bill-gates-interview-hiv-malaria-vaccine-future-disease
- River Blindness - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onchocerciasis

* WSJ Insiders guide to Delhi -- http://www.wsj.com/articles/insiders-guide-to-delhi-india-1424983405

* (2015, Feb26 - Guardian) -- Black rats wre not the primary caus of the Great Plague of 1347


* (2015 Feb24 - Hindu) - From the first human genome, to a "great library of life" -- http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/from-the-first-human-genome-to-a-great-library-of-life/article6927137.ece
- Lecture at AIIMS by Eric  Lander, leader of the Human Genome Project
- Cost of sequencing - mapping a single genome (as part of HGP 1990-2003) cost $3billion, today it costs $3000
- Global Alliance for Genomics and Health - 246 organisations; 28 countries

* (2015, Feb24, BS) - Waiting for PMs word on GM - On #GMcrops #India - "Regrettably, the sane and well-founded counsel of the scientific community is being largely disregarded." -- http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/surinder-sud-waiting-for-the-pm-s-word-on-gm-115022301250_1.html
* (2015, Feb24, BL) - Dangerous Experiments - closure of Astra Zeneca lab, Blr


* Raghuram Rajan on India's Political Economy -- http://scroll.in/article/708502/Full-text:-Invoking-Hitler,-Raghuram-Rajan-warns:-A-strong-govt-may-not-move-in-the-right-direction

* Cool devices -- http://www.wsj.com/articles/interstellar-visual-effects-supervisor-paul-franklins-favorite-gadgets-1424372907
- Digital silence -- Digital Silence DS-101A

* The science of cool design -- http://www.fastcodesign.com/3032932/evidence/the-science-of-cool

* Caravan -- Why India's approach to regulating GM crops is a cause for concern -- http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/why-indias-approach-regulating-gm-crops-cause-concern

* Superbugs -- http://www.livemint.com/Politics/TIs8kQgktJRd6aRi9XLGlO/Superbug-spread-reveals-thin-pipeline-of-newest-antibiotics.html
- Some 16 new antibiotics were approved from 1983 to 1987, but the rate of new drugs coming to market has fallen since then. From 2008 to 2012, just two were approved, according to a study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
- While drugmakers charge more than $100,000 for the latest cancer treatments, antibiotics command far less. Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., an antibiotic developer bought by Merck & Co. for $8.4b this year, charges between $2,000 and $4,500 for its therapies.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each year at least 2 million people are infected with antibiotic-resistant bugs in the US.


* Drone attack in graphics -- https://agenda.weforum.org/2015/02/can-bacteria-affect-our-dna/

* CSS Puns -- http://saijogeorge.com/css-puns/

* Rema on H1N1 Swine Flu -- http://devdutt.com/articles/indian-mythology/celebrating-shivas-holy-night.html
- (2010, ET) -- Did WHO experts fuel swine-flu scare? -- http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2010-01-13/news/28405023_1_vaccine-manufacturers-arnold-monto-sage

* On Sivaratri - Devdatt Pattnaik -- http://devdutt.com/articles/indian-mythology/celebrating-shivas-holy-night.html

* Mothers - photography -- http://www.jadebeall.com/#!/index/G0000Wm35big.yVE

* What makes You -- http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/12/what-makes-you-you.html

* EMOTIV - story of a bioinformatics co founder - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2951852/My-mother-said-captured-pirates-drink-Incredible-story-multimillionaire-CEO-started-life-four-year-old-refugee-fleeing-Vietnam-vial-poison.html

* Obama's pharma deal in India -- http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-editorials/obama-versus-obamacare-acting-at-big-pharmas-behest-us-president-hurts-india-others-and-his-own-legacy/

* Idioms - http://blog.ted.com/2015/01/20/40-idioms-that-cant-be-translated-literally/

* Japan's Debt - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-10/how-japan-borrows-9-trillion-practically-for-free

* Pronouncing place names correctly -- http://designtaxi.com/news/372514/Useful-Guide-Shows-How-To-Pronounce-The-Tricky-Names-Of-32-Places-Correctly/

* Testosterone Check- http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21642000-promiscuity-and-fidelity-seem-be-specific-biological-adaptations-their
- The other was of 1,300 people who had had the lengths of their index and ring fingers measured. The ratio of these lengths indicates the effect on an individual of exposure to testosterone in the womb. (A long ring finger compared to the index finger means a big effect.) This ratio corresponds, throughout the primates as a group, to the amount of promiscuity found in a species’s mating system.

* Delhi Elections - the funny side - http://www.newslaundry.com/2015/02/10/the-funny-side-of-delhi-elections/
* Election Tweets - funny - http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/02/10/modi-invites-kejriwal-for_n_6649978.html
* Kerjiwal documentary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3l3RKEBC0M

* 12 Cognnitive Biases -- http://io9.com/5974468/the-most-common-cognitive-biases-that-prevent-you-from-being-rational

* "Encouraged flattery and chamchagiri" - @Ram_Guha takes a dim view of #Indian leaders who set a poor example http://www.ndtv.com/opinion/the-staggering-vanity-of-indias-powerful-737618

* Memory - http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/idea-happened-memory-recollection?intcid=mod-latest

* Farmers, migrant workers - http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-02-04/how-produce-aisle-looks-migrant-farmworker

* Bengal Famine - http://yourstory.com/2014/08/bengal-famine-genocide/

* India -- 28 Reasons Why You Should Never Ever Visit India -- http://www.buzzfeed.com/andreborges/

* Catepillar - Snake Mimicry - http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/nature/post/caterpillar-appears-snake-camouflage/

* #Polio - how a #Vaccine programe carried on despite "“one of the worst pharmaceutical disasters in U.S. history” - http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/ike-trusted-new-vaccine

H1N1 Swine Flu - The Burden of Import Dependent Diagnosis

(Note: When this piece started out as a prospective op-ed article, the H1N1 death-count was around 650. Today - 18Mar15 -  it has crossed 1800)

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Your child has developed a fever. Could it be Swine Flu? Perhaps it is Bird Flu or Monkey Flu?  

It is difficult not to panic when you have been getting bombarded with daily reports on skyrocketing infections, a rising death toll, shortages of diagnostic kits and medicines.

Unfortunately, our nationwide response to the spread of H1N1 Swine Flu has been just that - reactive rather than proactive. There has been a sudden rush to procure diagnostic kits; an increase the number of ‘authorised outlets’ selling drugs; A DGCI letter to requesting states to ensure that  diagnostic kits and drugs are available at the “right price”, and an awareness campaign that leaves you with more questions than answers.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths has climbed to 1537, and the number of confirmed cases has shot up to over 27,000. The list now includes film stars, top bureaucrats, and senior politicians.

Accurate Diagnosis is the Key

Accurate diagnosis is the first and most critical step in disease control.

For many known diseases the diagnosis and treatment protocols are centred on something called Antigen-Antibody Reactions. Antigens and antibodies are molecules with unique shapes that tend to lock into one another. Antibodies act like policemen in our blood-stream, waiting to ‘handcuff’ any foreign antigens that slip in. Most vaccines contain antigens that provoke our immune systems to produce more antibodies, in case of a real attack. Diseases like measles, for instance, have only one antigenic-type, and this makes the vaccines relatively easy to make, and are therefore quite affordable.

Indian vaccine manufacturers are quite strong in this area. They supply 90 per cent of all measles vaccines worldwide, as well as half of WHO’s requirement for DPT and BCG vaccines against tuberculosis.

Influenza or Flu is caused a much smarter virus. It keeps changing its cell-surface proteins so frequently that detecting it accurately and then formulating drugs to counter them becomes rather difficult.  According to the US Centre for Disease Control there are now more than 800 different influenza viruses. This flu season, the annual influenza vaccine in USA proved only 23% effective. Last year, it was about 60% effective.

When it comes to diagnosis, the only reliable way identifying the flu virus comes from a method called Real Time Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR).

Why is RT-PCR Test so Expensive?

RT-PCR is a technique that amplifies genetic material to get a detectable signal. Its accuracy and reliability has made it the cornerstone of modern molecular biology.

The starting point for this test is Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a molecule that encodes the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and many viruses.

Despite its unwieldy name, the RT-PCR machine is essentially a hi-tech heater. It ‘melts’ DNA strands at high temperatures and re-joins them again at lower temperatures using special enzymes called polymerases.

Every organism has certain nucleotide sequences which are unique to it. These ‘signature sequences’ are first carefully identified and recreated as “primers”. Detection of H1N1 Swine Flu usually begins with the DNA extracted from a sample of body fluids of an infected person.  It is mixed with H1N1 primers and probes are introduced into a RT-PCR machine.  If the primer finds a match, the machine creates multiple copies of it. Over time – usually 24 hours – there is enough of the genetic material that can be detected by running it through a device called gel chromatograph.

Most of the RT-PCR machines used in India are imported. Apart from the high cost of these machines, the cost of critical consumables - imported primers, probes, enzymes and assays - continue to drive the high cost of accurate diagnosis.  So even the minimum cost for a test comes to about Rs.4,500.

We also have home-grown pioneers like Molbio (Goa) and RAS LifeSciences (Hyderabd) who have developed indigenous, portable PCR kits that lower the cost of the tests to Rs. 800. Despite getting clearances from DCGI and ICMR, the state governments prefer to procure imported kits.

This state of affairs in not unique to diagnostic devices. According to a KPMG report (2011), even though there are about 700 medical device makers in the country, India imports approximately 75 percent of devices.

Is There a Better Way Forward?

Coming soon after the Ebola scare, our tardy response to the H1N1 influenza ought to set the alarm bells ringing.

As the number of nationwide flu-related deaths crosses 1600, we need to ask ourselves if we are sufficiently prepared to tackle the new cohorts of emerging drug-resistant diseases.

We already have world class facilities for manufacture of vaccines and pharmaceuticals. Will the ongoing Budget Session of Parliament introduce the much needed amendments to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 – especially with respect to medical devices? Can the on-going ‘Make in India’ initiative pull together the key players in the Government and the private sector, to create the right policy environment for reducing our dependence on expensive, imported diagnostic kits?

Unless we get our act together, we are bound to lurch helplessly from one round of infections and pandemics, to another.

  

REFERENCES

·         DGCI Notice to states - H1N1 / SwineFlu Diagnostic Kits being sold at exhorbitant prices -- http://cdsco.nic.in/writereaddata/swine%20flue.pdf

·         National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) -- http://www.ncdc.gov.in/

- Procurement of RT-PCR kits -- (11,12) -- http://www.ncdc.gov.in/writereaddata/tenders/160.pdf

·         Dr. Path Labs – List of Molecular Diagnostic Tests - http://www.lalpathlabs.com/genetics.aspx

·         (28Feb15) - http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/swine-flu-deaths-breach-1000-mark-40-more-succumb-to-virus/

·         (2Mar15) -- http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/swine-flu-toll-health-ministry-nadda/1/421902.html

·         (9Mar15) -- Molbio develops first SwineFlu diagnostic -- http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-03-03/news/59725551_1_swine-flu-swiss-firm-roche-diagnostics-flu-tests

·         (9Mar15) - DRDO-RAS diagnostic for SwineFlu -- http://www.thenewsminute.com/news_sections/3181