There will always be some states disgruntled over the devolution formulae of finance commissions (FCs). However, probably for the first time, the terms of reference (ToRs) of an FC have stirred a controversy. To the extent that finance ministers of most southern states came together to register a protest. And, plan to broaden their group by including other states, including Punjab and West Bengal. The positive side of such a development is that the protest will not remain only a divide between northern and southern states. However, it is taking a political shape, of a battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and…
Author: Loknath Das
Technology, education and trade will be the key areas of cooperation that will be discussed between India and the UK when Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets his British counterpart Theresa May next week. Modi is scheduled to visit the UK from April 17-20 for the Commonwealth Heads of the Governments Meeting. During the visit, he will hold a bilateral meeting with May on April 18 and also have an audience with Prince Charles. The meeting gains significance as it comes in the backdrop of Britain’s decision to exit the European Union. The Brexit “divorce” process is currently underway, and although…
Families of children with special needs are joining forces to fund legal action against local authorities in England that are cutting budgets, after the teaching union said children who could not be supported were being taken out of schools. Alicia McColl, whose 14-year-old son Kian has autism, raised £2,600 via the crowdsourcing website CrowdJustice to help pay for a judicial review of Surrey county council’s proposals to cut its special educational needs and disabilities (Send) budget by £20m. A similar challenge is under way in Hackney, London, watched closely by parents across the country who are also witnessing cuts. The backdrop to…
For Kris Halpin, a disabled musician who delivers music lessons in schools, the thought of being in front of a room full of students used to be terrifying. But he knew what it would have meant to him at 14 to see a disabled person teaching his class. “My experience in education [in the 1980s] was not immensely positive,” Halpin says. “I was bullied a lot at school because of my disability. Not by my peers but by the staff … When I had to flag an access [problem], I was told I was only disabled when it suited me. It…
You don’t have to follow up-to-the-minute reports on Silicon Valley to be aware that 2018, thus far, has been anything but smooth for the tech industry as a whole. Tesla and Uber are grappling with fatal self-driving crashes, Facebook is finally facing long-delayed comeuppance for its willingness to throw even the most basic user privacy under a bus in pursuit of revenue, the rise of so-called “deepfakes” suggests video may not be trustworthy much longer. And if we take a jaunt back into 2017, we’ve got arguably the worst security breach in history. Into this proud moment in history comes Mozilla, with its…
This week, three Osaka video game bars announced that they were closing. The reason, it seems, was copyright violation. According to IT Media, the three game bars—1Up, Catena and Clan—will cease operation on July 29 when their lease ends. 1Up opened in 2013, while Catena and Clan both opened in 2016. The bars allowed customers to play games for free, while charging them for drinks. The Association of Copyright for Computer Software (ACCS) pointed out that not getting permission from the creators violated copyright. In 2011, ACCS called on game bars across Japan to adhere to copyright law. An ACCS spokesperson told IT Media…
If there’s a niche that I occupy that very few other people do, it’s that I love video games based on 14th-16th century Chinese novels. That’s not a pre-requisite for me enjoying a game, but given on my enjoyment of games based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it doesn’t appear to hurt. Which brings me to Suikoden, a now sadly defunct video game series which is loosely (and I mean loosely) based on the Water Margin novel, written by Shi Nai’an in the 14th century about 108 outlaws (read: probably criminals) who form an army to overthrow the government but then are actually sent to…
That didn’t take long. After announcing that LawBreakers wasn’t living up to expectations (and making enough money), and teasing a new project on Friday, developer Boss Key has revealed the “passion project” it teased. Try to feign surprise when you find out that it’s a free-to-play battle royale game. On the surface, Radical Heights stands out from the crowd with a vibrant, quasi cel-shaded, retro-futuristic game-show vibe that hearkens back to the ’80s. Meaning, there are a lot of extreme pastels and hot pink triangles complementing its over-the-top Saturday morning cartoon tone. Based on the trailer below, the game looks like it’s every bit an Early Access title. There’s footage of…
Three non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled southern states on Tuesday demanded reframing the terms of reference (ToR) of the 15th Finance Commission for devolution of funds to states, saying it was in contradiction to the principles of federalism enshrined in the Constitution. In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the finance ministers of south Indian states that stare at drastic cuts in central transfers in the wake of the ToR meet in Thiruvananthapuram to discuss the challenges ahead, observing it was against the interests of the progressive states. At the conclave, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh as well as the Congress-ruled union territory of…
Three non-BJP ruled southern States on April 10 demanded reframing the Terms of Reference of the 15th Finance Commission for devolution of funds to States, saying it was in contradiction to the principles of federalism enshrined in the Constitution. In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Finance Ministers of three south Indian States and the Union Territory of Puducherry that stare at drastic cuts in Central transfers in the wake of the Terms of Reference (ToR) met in Thiruvananthapuram to discuss the challenges ahead, observing it was against the interests of the progressive States. At the conclave, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh as well as the Congress-ruled…