'World's costliest cow': Booming in Brazil, but dwindling in India

A small group of veterinary interns stand huddled together at the opening of Shed No 9 in a cattle farm on the outskirts of Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. Minutes later, a calf tumbles out of her mother and there are cheers all around. The group is witnessing the birth of a purebred Ongole calf at the Livestock Research Station, LAM Farm, in Guntur-one of the few government-run farms in the country dedicated to the conservation of the indigenous cattle breed.  

Seize the delimitation 

The delimitation debate has begun to make news and like most political controversies, it skirts the foundational issues. Exactly like some policy wizards of the Hindutva variety, chief ministers from the southern states have suddenly found virtue in large families and having multiple babies. 

A fig leaf for an imposition 

Education is the beating heart of Dravidian political philosophy. It is vital to the movement's core principles of self-respect, social justice, and equitable access. Given education's prior exclusivity, the first Justice Party government of the Madras Presidency sowed the seeds for universal education by legislating compulsory elementary education - for boys and girls - in 1920.

Target to limit global warming to 1.5°C is hanging by thread: IPCC chair 

The world's aspiration to limit global warming to 1.5°C is still possible but "hanging by a slender thread"- chairperson of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which assesses climate change science.

COP30 host Brazil calls for additional structures to ensure climate commitments are delivered 

Brazil, the host of this year's annual climate conference, COP30, has called for setting up of "additional" multilateral mechanisms "complementary" to the Paris Agreement framework to ensure commitments by countries on climate action are fulfilled. 

Next phase of chip incentive scheme in the works: IT Secy 

The government is currently working on the contours of the second phase of the India Semiconductor Mission, with the design and outline of the scheme finalised and discussions with the industry underway, a senior government official said Thursday. 

What USAID gives, to whom 

USAID has been a major contributor to health- and population-linked projects in India over the last two decades. Since 2001, USAID has disbursed a total $2.8 billion in Official Development Assistance to India.

A program to explore the creation of a secure 5G Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) for India as part of the United States' Indo-Pacific strategy, initiatives for clean air and water and sanitation, and dozens of health projects will come to a halt in India following an order of the Trump administration (January 20 Executive Order titled 'Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid'). 

Pashu Aushadhi initiative for health of livestock 

The government will open "Pashu Aushadhi" stores across the country to provide affordable generic veterinary medicines for livestock to people engaged in animal husbandry and dairying. The Pashu Aushadhi initiative is part of the revised Livestock Health and Disease Control Program (LHDCP), which was approved by the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.