By TNV Desk

This is a weekly foreign media digest that tells you how India has been covered in the global media from December 02 – December 09

BBC – Anna Mani: Why you need to know this Indian weather scientist

• Born in 1918 in Travancore, Mani is best known for helping India make its own instruments to measure the weather, thereby reducing the newly independent country’s reliance on other nations.
• She also played an important role in making it easier for scientists to monitor the ozone layer. In 1964, she created the first Indian-made ozonesonde – an instrument that’s sent up in the air in a balloon to measure the presence of ozone up to 35km (22 miles) above the ground.
• By the 1980s, Mani’s ozonesonde was routinely used on Indian expeditions to Antarctica. So, when physicist Joseph Farman in 1985 alerted the world to the presence of a large ‘hole’ in the ozone layer over the South Pole (he won a Nobel Prize for that 10 years later), Indian scientists could immediately corroborate Farman’s discovery through data they had collected using Mani’s invention.
• Her findings have helped scientists set up numerous wind farms across the country, meteorologist CR Sreedharan writes in his essay on Mani.
• She maintained that her gender never came in the way of her professional aspirations. “I did not feel I was either penalised or privileged because of being female,” she told Sur.

(For detailed report click on : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-67634192)

BBC – Chandrayaan-3: India Moon mission’s propulsion module returns to Earth’s orbit

• India’s space agency Isro says it has successfully brought back into Earth’s orbit a part of the rocket that carried its historic Moon mission recently.
• The “propulsion module” had detached from the Vikram lander after ferrying it close to the Moon where it finally touched down on 23 August.
• After a series of complex manoeuvres, the module re-entered Earth’s orbit.The experiment is significant for Isro’s plans to bring back manned missions in the future. The module will continue to keep an eye on Earth from its new perch, Isro said.
• The space agency says that after it had operated in the lunar orbit for a month, the propulsion module still had more than 100kg of fuel and it was decided to use it to carry out some “unique experiments” that will help provide “additional information” for future lunar missions.
• In a press release, Isro says the module orbited the Moon several times before exiting the lunar sphere of influence on 10 November and since 22 November, it has been orbiting Earth.

(For detailed report click on : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-67621968)

The Gulf News – Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra expelled from Indian parliament

• Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra was on Friday expelled from the Lok Sabha after a discussion on the report of the Ethics Committee in the ‘cash for query’ that was tabled in the Lower House today.
• Mahua Moitra, who was not allowed to speak during the discussion inside the House, the Trinamool leader read out her statement outside the Lok Sabha.
• Speaker Om Birla said, “…This House accepts the conclusions of the Committee that MP Mahua Moitra’s conduct was immoral and indecent as an MP. So, it is not appropriate for her to continue as an MP…”
• The Ethics Committee report probing ‘Unethical Conduct’ of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP had recommended that Moitra “may be expelled” from the Lok Sabha and called for an “intense, legal, institutional inquiry” by the central government in a “time-bound manner”.
• “The serious misdemeanours on the part of Mahua Moitra calls for severe punishment. The Committee, therefore, recommend that Mahua Moitra, MP may be expelled from the Membership of the Seventeenth Lok Sabha,” the report read.

(for detailed report click on : https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/trinamool-mp-mahua-moitra-expelled-from-indian-parliament-1.1702030481523)

CNN – Can India get rich and go green at the same time? The stakes couldn’t be higher

• India has made “significant investments and set ambitious targets for renewable energy,” the UNEP report said, noting that the world’s fastest growing major economy has earmarked over $4 billion toward energy transition in this year’s national budget.
• Other global agencies have also noted India’s growing ambitions in the pursuit of green energy. The Paris-based International Energy Agency said in a report in October that the country was “moving into a dynamic new phase in its energy development marked by a long-term net zero emissions ambition.”
• In 2021, Modi pledged India would achieve net zero emissions by 2070, which is still a couple of decades later than developed economies.
• Transforming India’s energy sector, like most things in the country, is going to be chaotic and muddled, but it will have far-reaching implications for the global energy market and the race to limit global warming.
• India is the world’s third-largest energy consuming country, although its energy use and emissions per person are less than half the world average, IEA data shows.

(For detailed report click on : https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/07/business/india-cop28-climate-change-intl-hnk/index.html)

France 24 – India’s ruling nationalist party leads in three of four states in regional polls

• The heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and the southern state of Telangana, voted last month in the last set of provincial elections before the national vote due by May, when Modi seeks a third term.
• BJP was leading in all three heartland states, trends from the counting of votes showed on TV channels.
• Modi remains widely popular after a decade in power and surveys suggest he will win again next year. However, a 28-party opposition alliance led by the Congress party has come together to jointly fight BJP, posing a new challenge.
• The opposition alliance, called the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or INDIA, did not feature in the state polls and it was a direct contest between BJP and Congress.
• The four states are home to more than 160 million voters and account for 82 seats in the 543-member parliament.
• Politicians and analysts say state elections do not always influence the outcome of the general elections or accurately indicate national voter mood.

(For detailed report click on : https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20231203-india-s-ruling-right-wing-nationalist-bjp-leads-in-three-of-four-state-poll-results)

AP – Heavy rains leave at least 12 dead before storm Michaung makes landfall on India’s southeast coast

• Twelve people died in the downpour before Tropical Storm Michaung made landfall along India’s southeast coast Tuesday, bringing further torrential rains and strong winds, officials said.
• The storm entered Andhra Pradesh state with maximum sustained winds of 90-100 kph (56-62 mph) and gusts up to 110 kph (68 mph), the Indian Meteorological Department said, adding that the storm would weaken over the next few hours.
• Another state in the south, Tamil Nadu, experienced days of heavy rains ahead of the storm. Downpours triggered accidents that led to at least 12 deaths across vulnerable districts, officials told the Press Trust of India news agency.
• In Tamil Nadu’s capital city of Chennai, rain from the storm’s outer reaches caused walls to collapse, uprooted trees and submerged roads and cars in knee-deep waters.

(For detailed report click on : https://apnews.com/article/michaung-tropical-storm-cyclone-india-3f1c3ff0a2f75578da5f8a815843ef1d)

The Japan Times – Narendra Modi’s party wins key state polls, boosting re-election bid

• India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won three crucial state elections and unseated the opposition in two of them, strengthening Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bid for a third term in office.
• The BJP retained power in Madhya Pradesh, a central state with 56 million voters, and wrested control of the state legislatures from its rival, the Indian National Congress, in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The results from the Election Commission of India on Sunday exceeded exit polls’ predictions.
• The Congress party was able to flip the southern Indian state of Telangana, where a regional party that had held power for two consecutive terms conceded defeat.
• While the state elections aren’t a proxy for 2024’s national vote, the fact that the opposition lost fairly comprehensively will buoy the ruling party and Modi ahead of the general election. The Congress party had tried to highlight issues such as joblessness and caste discrimination in the hope that they would resonate nationally in a few months’ time.
• “Prime Minister Modi remains exceptionally popular,” said Shumita Deveshwar, chief India economist at GlobalData.TS Lombard. The state polls show “the mood of the nation lies in bringing him back to power for a third consecutive term,” she said.

(For detailed report click on : https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/12/04/asia-pacific/politics/modi-party-state-polls/)

BBC – The Indian siblings taking the chess world by storm

• In the last decade, few have fit the chess prodigy descriptor as well as India’s Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa. He was 10 years old when he became the then-youngest International Master, the second-highest title after Grandmaster.
• He became the second-youngest Grandmaster in 2018, defeated five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen three times in a row in online games, and is only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to make a World Cup final and qualify for the Candidates tournament.
• While all of this unfolded, another chess-playing member of his family diligently awaited her turn – Praggnanandhaa’s sister Vaishali, who is older than him by four years.
• The first in the family to play chess, Vaishali’s skill and toil have never been in doubt. She’s now ended India’s 12 year-wait, becoming only the third-ever female Grandmaster after Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli. It also makes the Chennai siblings the first Grandmaster brother-sister pair in history.
• In November, 22-year-old Vaishali defeated three former women’s world champions to win the Women’s Grand Swiss tournament and qualify for the Women’s Candidates tournament
• The Indian siblings are a contrast in temperament.

(For detailed report click on : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-67516871)

(The Report is curated by Dr Vinay Nalwa)