PM to visit Paris to co-chair Al action summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Paris to co-chair the Artificial Intelligence (Al) Action Summit hosted by France. India will also hold bilateral engagements with President Macron and other leaders attending the summit. France is looking to build on the momentum generated by the UK and South Korea, which had organised the previous two summits in November 2023 and May 2024, respectively.

Iron Age began in TN hundreds of years earlier than believed: Study

In an announcement that challenges long-held assumptions about the origins of the Iron Age, a new study has found evidence that the use of iron in the area that is now Tamil Nadu dates back to the first quarter of the 4th millennium BCE. This revelation, based on rigorous radiometric dating from multiple international lab-oratories, positions the region as a pioneering hub of early metallurgy, surpassing global timelines by nearly two millennia. The findings were produced in a report titled 'Antiquity of Iron: Recent Radiometric Dates from Tamil Nadu', authored by KRajan and R Sivanantham. The findings, which provide evidence that iron technology in Tamil Nadu dates as far back as 3345 BCE, are supported by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) analyses conducted on samples from archaeological sites such as Sivagalai, Adichanallur, Mayiladumparai, and Kilnamandi. Until recently, the Iron Age in India was believed to have emerged between 1500 and 2000 BCE, closely following the Indus Valley Civilisation. However, new data from Tamil Nadu pushes this timeline further back.

DELHI & JAKARTA

Indonesian leaders have been among the most frequent guests at the annual R-Day celebrations. Indonesian leader Sukarno was indeed the chief guest at the very first such celebrations in 1950. Hopes for a productive bilateral relationship and a shared leadership of post-colonial Asia as the founding members of the non-aligned movement never really materialised as Delhi and Jakarta drifted apart during the Cold War. It was only since the 1990s, when India sought to reconnect with South East Asia, that the relationship with Indonesia has begun to grow. Despite India's Act East Policy and the importance Delhi attaches to the Indo-Pacific, India's partnership with Indonesia remains well below its potential.

A lot done, more to do 

At this 75th anniversary of our republic, there is much to celebrate. From 32 years, the average life expectancy of citizens is now 75 years. India has become one of the largest producers of foodgrains. Literacy rate has increased from 12 per cent to 75 per cent. In power generation, road and infrastructure development, we have made major strides. In size, our nation has the fifth largest economy globally. Our forays into space have shown spectacular success, with the soft landing of Chandrayaan-3's Vikram. Assuring dignity involves going beyond providing basic human needs. It entails a commitment by the state and society to ensure what we have not achieved -- the complete elimination of caste discrimination and caste stigmatisation involving performance of tasks such as manual scavenging by a section of the weakest, most vulnerable section of people. True dignity and fraternity means practice of an attitude which we have not yet displayed: That every human being is capable of doing everything; that the poorest and the weakest are equal in worth and as secure with full rights as citizens as any other.

BUDGET'S CONTEXT

Hindustan Unilever has posted a 1.8 per cent year-on-year sales revenue growth in October-December 2024. That makes it a sixth consecutive quarter (from July-September 2023) of sub-4 per cent topline growth for the fast-moving consumer goods bellwether. Moreover, volume growth has been flat with "downtrading" or sales of small packs outgrowing large packs. UltraTech Cement's domestic sales volume grew 10 per cent annually during the last quarter, but revenues were up by just 2.9 per cent, reflective of pressures from a demand slowdown.

BEYOND THE CHINA FACTOR

A key outcome of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's visit to India is likely to be the establishment of a broader and more strategic partnership between the two nations. While Indonesia is unlikely to deviate significantly from Chinese preferences due to its deep economic ties with Beijing, Prabowo's autonomous policymaking tendencies provide room for cooperation that transcends the 'China factor'. Prabowo has already made two trips to China once as President elect and another as President-highlighting the challenge of aligning Indonesia's stance with India's perspectives on China.

The 75-year milestone

This Year Marks 75 years of the adoption of India's Constitution. The government has planned year-long programmes with the slogan "Hamara Samvidhan, Hamara Swabhiman" our constitution, our pride.

The first ever Government of India Act of 1858 came after the 1857 War of Independence. No Indian was involved in that process. The Swaraj Party, the parliamentary wing of the Congress, raised the issue in the Legislative Assembly in 1924 demanding that a roundtable conference be convened to negotiate constitutional reforms. Motilal Nehru led an all-party conference to draft a constitution that also had Subhas Chandra Bose, Annie Besant, MR Jayakar, Jawaharlal Nehru and a couple of Muslim League representatives. It came out with a draft constitution in 1928, popularly known as the "Nehru Report".

ADULTS DIAGNOSED WITH ADHD HAVE SHORTER LIFE EXPECTANCY: STUDY

Adults diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on average die earlier than those without a diagnosis of ADHD, according to a new study in the United Kingdom. While men with ADHD die roughly seven years younger, women with ADHD live an average of about nine years less, the analysis said. The study, 'Life expectancy and years of life lost for adults with diagnosed ADHD in the UK', was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. The findings are in line with another significant study, which was published in Sage Journals in 2019. It revealed that children with ADHD who were followed into adulthood had a shorter life expectancy of about 8.4 years. The study also found that "the biggest predictors of shorter life expectancy in adults with ADHD were factors including lower incomes, fewer years of education, a greater likelihood of smoking, shorter sleep duration... poorer nutrition and risky driving," the NPR report said.

Trump 2.0 and Iran 

Iran's situation has evolved significantly since Trump 1.0. The anti-Israel 'Axis of Resistance' has been greatly weakened, especially over the past year. Within Iran, a major shift has taken place. The economic and social tumult in the country worsened under President Ebrahim Raisi (2021-24), a conversative hardliner who at the time of his death last May had been in the race to succeed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Supreme Leader. When Trump first took office in 2017, the Arab world's relationship with Iran was crisis-ridden. In 2016, Saudi Arabia and Iran had broken diplomatic ties over the execution of Sheikh Nimr, a Saudi Shia cleric. In 2017, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) declared there would be no dialogue with Iran, and then Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir accused Tehran of using its proxies to undermine the sovereignty of Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.

Why Bombay HC said use of loudspeakers is not essential to religion

No one can claim that their right to practise religion has been violated when permission to use a loudspeaker is denied, the Bombay High Court. The use of loudspeakers and public ad-dress systems (PAS) cannot be deemed an essential religious practice that ought to be protected by law, the court said. Under The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, noise levels in residential areas during the day must not exceed 55 decibels and, at night, 45 decibels. Section 38 of the Maharashtra Police Act allows police to stop music, sound, or noise, and to rescind, modify, or alter the permission to use loudspeakers.