AIMING HIGH

India needs deeper, wider reforms to ensure the sustained higher growth needed to become a high-income country.

In 2007-08, INDIA was classified as a low-middle-income country. India then had a per capita income of $1,022 as per the International Monetary Fund. 

MAMMOTH PROBLEM

Scientists have unveiled the woolly mouse, a precursor to bringing back the woolly mammoth. The question is: Why?

The woolly mammoth, which has been extinct for about 4,000 years, has been on the verge of being "brought back". 

The delimitation promise

While it raises concerns about gerrymandering, delimitation is necessary to devolve power to the margins

Delimitation in India aims to ensure fair representation in Parliament by adjusting constituency boundaries in line with population changes. However, since 1976, the process has been frozen to avoid penalising states that have successfully controlled population growth, particularly in the south. 

Her panchayat, in fact

Government's initiative to dissuade proxy leadership is a much-needed move

The dream of a truly developed India extends beyond infrastructure and economic growth - it lies in the empowerment of its people. True progress requires inclusivity, equality, and dignity for all. A significant step toward this was the establishment of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) with 33-50 percent of seats reserved for women. 

ISRO conducts crucial test for semi-cryogenic engines, key to future launches

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently successfully conducted the hot test on a semi-cryogenic engine (SE2000), going a step closer to finalising the crucial cryogenic stage where powering the booster stages of launch vehicles is realised.

NITI Aayog flags national security risk with quantum technology

Countries that develop quantum capabilities will secure an "unprecedented strategic edge", which can "jeopardise" national security and economic competitiveness, NITI Aayog's Frontier Tech Hub said in a quarterly release on Wednesday.

Quantum technologies can crack modern encryption, destabilise financial markets, and transform military capabilities, hence India needs to assess vulnerabilities, adopt post-quantum cryptography, and forge bilateral partnerships for technology access, the release said.

RBI announces steps to infuse liquidity worth Rs 1.87 lakh cr

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced fresh measures that would infuse close to Rs 1.87 lakh crore of liquidity into the banking system. The central bank said it would go for open market operation (OMO) auctions to purchase government securities worth Rs 1 one lakh crore in two tranches of Rs 50,000 crore each on March 12 and March 18. Additionally, a USD/INR buy-sell swap auction for $10 billion (around Rs 87,000 crore) with a tenor of 36 months is scheduled for March 24.

The RBI move is aimed at tackling the tight liquidity conditions by the end of the current financial year (FY25) amid tax outflows and banks rushing to meet targets. 

COULD EUROPE'S EUTELSAT HELP TO REPLACE STARLINK IN UKRAINE?

Suggestions that Ukraine could lose access to Elon Musk's Starlink satellite Internet system, which has been vital in maintaining its military communications, have focused investor interest on Starlink's smaller European rival Eutelsat.

The stock price of Eutelsat, a Franco-British company, has more than quadrupled since the February 28 public show-down between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump.

What the first-ever comprehensive survey of India's river dolphins found

The findings of the first-ever comprehensive exercise to determine the population of riverine dolphins in India were published on Monday. It estimated the aquatic mammals' population to be 6,327, spread mostly across the Ganga and Brahmaputra river systems.

The Indian subcontinent boasts two extant species of riverine dolphins: the Ganges river dolphin (Platanista gangetica), and the related but smaller Indus river dolphin (Platanista minor).