Daily Reads-66 (Level-1)

Reading Suggestion-1

Alarmist? Not at all
Author name: Sunil Sharan
Source: Times of India
Category: International Politics

Summary for this article:

With India’s pestering west neighbour in Pakistan and the Chinese dragons in the east who never fail to bully us and threaten of a war when chance permits, India finds itself to be at crossroads. This article talks about the Indian situation with its neighbours and how effective its allies and friends are in helping India get out of this situation. Who do the Indians side with?

The author says that it’s time where India stops with flaky democracy and plays realpolitik. It’s time India does what Indira Gandhi did in 1971, embrace the Russians. Our friendship with America wouldn’t prove any good if we are in a crisis. For the Americans will never come to our aid and save us unlike the Russians who can be reliable in situations of dire need.

We should only turn to Americans for arms supply only if the Russians cannot supply them to us and we should close our markets to American goods unless and until Trump sees sense on the H1-B visas.
Let’s make Indira Gandhi proud and follow her footsteps for its high time that we kicked out the empty Platitudes of the Americans and embrace the cold hearted yet the reliable Russians.

Words to learn from this article :

Alarmist – someone who exaggerates a dangerous situation causing needless worry or panic
Flimsy – fragile; something that can be easily damaged
Embolden – to give someone the courage or the confidence to do something
Impend – something that is about to happen
Flaky – someone who is bizarre or eccentric or grossly unconventional
Livid – furiously angry
Besiege – to surround a place with military forces in order to capture it
Skirmish –a clash or a conflict
Derisive – mocking
Spurn – to reject with disdain
Allure – having a personal charm that has the quality of attracting or enticing people
Miffed – annoyed

Reading Suggestion-1: Click to read full article

Reading Suggestion-2

Article Name: Editing ourselves: On genes and ethics
Author name: The Editorial Team
Source: The Hindu
Category: Genetics

Summary for this article :

The article talks about a research that involves editing the genes, by the gene editing tool called CRISPR-Cas9, in a human embryo to repair a genetic mutation. The successful results of the research has fuelled hopes that this experiment needn’t just stay in the laboratory, rather one day people would see this available in real time operations.

In this research, the scientists fixed a mutation that thickens the heart muscle. This condition is called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and this cardiac disease causes sudden death in otherwise healthy young athletes. It is found to affect one in 500 people overall.

The writer says that while several diseases can be prevented by this technique, there is always a fear that of a possibility of the creation of designer babies, but, nonetheless, every advancement in reproductive health has been challenged by controversies at the start only to find itself a secure and permanent seat later. In a similar way, this should also be allowed to stay.

Words to learn from this article :

Mire – a complicated situation from which it is difficult to release oneself
Mosaic – An individual having two or more populations of cells with different genotypes

Reading Suggestion-2: Click to read full article

Reading Suggestion-3

Article Name: Add Science to taste
Author name: Milind Sohoni
Source: Indian Express
Category: Science and Technology/Public Policy

Summary for this article :

Is the education curriculum of eminent institutions of Science and technology effective in addressing the Ground realities of people’s everyday lives? Or is the curriculum solely based on academic research that otherwise has little or no impact to address the community grievances because of the long gap between the scientific community and the public?

In this article, the writer’s main objective is to provide suggestions and solutions to bridge the gap between Science & Technology and the development agendas of a community; to initiate the formalisation of the development agenda and to reclaim it as an area of interest for the science and technology establishment. He stresses on the importance of redefining the engineering education such that Science can re-connect with its community.

The author talks about the eminent institutions of India – IISc, the IITs, and IISERs. How they have been so keen in isolating themselves from the development agendas of the Public like “sadak, bijli and paani”. The entire country is directly and indirectly influenced by their methods, topics of research and notions of rigour that these institutions practise and hence it becomes very vital that these institutions serve as the leader in implementing the nation’s development agendas into their curricula.

The author then gives solutions of how these can be achieved and how the science community can re-connect with the Public and offer solutions to the ground realities, thus bridging the gap between the centrally funded institutions, the state universities and the ground realities. He concludes the article by saying that the world of science is groping for ideas to re-connect with the community.