Worried over India's future, scientist P.M. Bhargava to return Padma Bhushan

He expressed concern that "RSS people" had attended a meeting of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research labs recently. He was critical of the Government's decision to reduce funding for CSIR labs.
Dr. Bhargava's decision to return the Padma Bhushan, country's third highest civilian honour came after more than 100 scientists, including Mr. Bhargava, released a statement online expressing concern at the climate of intolerance and and "the ways in which science and reason was getting eroded in the country.

Super-speciality entrance should be for all medical students: Supreme Court

Echoing the aspirations of thousands of medical students across the country, the Supreme Court on 27th October reiterated its message that super specialities in medical education should be "unreserved, open and free" to usher in the best of talents.
In a 58-page judgment, a Bench of Justice Dipak Misra and P.C. Pant urged the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to drop its policy of reserving seats for super speciality medical courses to only students domiciled there.
The verdict came on a batch of petitions challenging the domicile policy followed by both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on the strength of a Presidential order, namely, Andhra Pradesh Educational Institutions (Regulations and Admissions) order of 1974 promulgated under Article 371(D) of the Constitution which gave special privileges of education and employment to the local people of Andhra Pradesh.
In his judgment for the Bench, Justice Misra wrote that any hope for a progressive change as far as reservation policy is concerned had remained merely a hope.

Nepal gets first woman President

A Communist leader who has long campaigned for women's rights was elected on 28th October as Nepal's first female President.
Bidhya Devi Bhandari of the Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist-Leninist received 327 votes against her opponent's 214 in the Parliament on Wednesday, Parliament Speaker Onsari Gharti announced.

Ceremonial head
The President is the ceremonial head in Nepal while the Prime Minister is the nation's leader.
Ms. Bhandari (54) is the deputy leader of the party led by Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, who was elected earlier this month and leads a coalition government. The new Constitution adopted last month required Nepal to name a new President.
Ms. Bhandari is an active campaigner for women's rights in Nepal and was among the politicians who campaigned for ensuring women's rights in the new Constitution. The document says one-third of the members in parliament have to be women and either the President or Vice-President must be a woman.

Leading poitical figure
The new President has been a leading political figure since her husband Madan Bhandari, who was then leader of the party, was killed in a still unsolved car accident in 1993.
She also led many demonstrations against the then King Gyanendra in 2006 that finally ended his authoritarian rule and restored democracy.
Ms. Bhandari is Nepal's second President since the Himalayan nation was turned into a republic after abolishing the centuries-old monarchy. The first President, Ram Baran Yadav, was elected in 2008 and was supposed to be in office for two years. But preparing and adopting the Constitution took seven years because of differences between political parties.

Dalai Lama to present Abdul Kalam Seva Ratna awards

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama will present the first edition of the Abdul Kalam Seva Ratna awards here on November 9. The awards were instituted by the Abdul Kalam Vision India Movement to recognise outstanding contribution of individuals/organisations to tree plantation, de-addiction, reviving waterbodies, providing safe drinking water and creating green campuses, villages and cities.
According to V. Ponraj, who was advisor to Kalam for over a decade, at least 10 lakh entries from individuals or organisations were received for the awards.
For the tree plantation category alone, 7.08 lakh entries from across the country were registered. Nine organisations had sent entries for rehabilitating 72,040 persons through de-addiction programmes.
A jury comprising eminent academicians, former bureaucrats and others will finalise the winners.
The movement decided to invite Dalai Lama as he and the former President Kalam shared the same ideology of peace and prosperity.

Mahatma, Modi among most admired globally: WEF survey

The former is ranked fourth while the latter is ranked 10th

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the 10th most admired personality globally, as per a new survey by the World Economic Forum (WEF) that has ranked late South African President Nelson Mandela on the top.
Mahatma Gandhi is ranked fourth most admired leader, according to a survey of more than 1,000 millennials. The respondents were spread across 285 cities in 125 countries.

Chetri hat-trick sinks NorthEast United FC

Sunil Chetri, the costliest Indian buy for Mumbai City FC at Rs 1.20 crore, scored a hat-trick and almost got a fourth in the home side's 5-1 victory over NorthEast United FC here on 28th October.
Sony Norde tapped in goal number four for the men in blue, and captain Frantz Bertin nodded in number five. The winner moved to second place in the league table, with 10 points from six games and a superior goal difference than FC Goa.

RIL, ONGC rank among top-20 global energy firms

Both of India's largest oil and gas explorers — ONGC and RIL — significantly improved their rankings in the 2015 edition of the benchmark Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings. RIL also regained its top spot among Indian companies on the list, usurping ONGC.
RIL, which ranked 22 last year, came in at 14 place in 2015. ONGC improved its rankings from 21 in 2014 to 17 in 2015.