In India, when you go to vote they mark a line on your left index finger's nail and cuticle with an "indelible" blue/dark purple ink to prevent voter fraud. This stain doesn't come off for a few weeks. What I didn't know is that there are several other countries that have also adopted this election ink and in some countries they stain the index finger tip completely!
It's 11 am here rn and already the temp has gone up to 38 deg C. I'm so glad that we left early in the morning today to go vote for the Lok Sabha elections. At 8 am it was cool cloudy weather and we didn't have to stand in the queue too long 🙂
Its now a common refrain in Indian politics that BJP has no qualms inducting leaders from parties that they have accused of misgovernance and corruption before. But are turncoats really a post-2014 phenomenon? I and Abhishek Jha attempt to answer to this question with the limited data we have available.
"Tourists to Japan from Singapore and seven other Asian countries will soon find it easier to pay for their purchases using their local QR code wallets under a new joint payment scheme.
[...]
The countries are Singapore (SGQR), Malaysia (DuitNow QR), Indonesia (QRIS), the Philippines (QRPh), Thailand (Thai QR Payment), Cambodia (KHQR), Vietnam (VietQR) and India (BharatQR)."
As the #ClimateCrisis forces people to abandon their land in #Rajasthan, a new industry has sprung up in the desert state, with thousands of gaily decorated vans setting off to sell ice-cream across the country. #ClimateChange
I thought #VanessaDougnac had a piece published somewhere in English that did the rounds here and elsewhere when she was forced to leave #India a few months ago, but I can't find it at all now. Does anyone else remember it?
(I can find lots of other stories talking about her departure, some with quotes from a statement she released, but what I thought I saw was a story, rather than a statement—though links to the statement also gratefully received!)🙏🧡
"In 1881, land here was set aside for a reserve forest," writes Sugato Mukherjee.
"In the decades that followed, however, many wrongs were committed, including a devastating decision to run a 1.6-kilometre railway track through the sanctuary, essentially dividing it in half.
"But the latest chapter is one of hope for both the gibbons and their forest-dwelling neighbours – thanks to rewilding."