Morning Brief: US Gives Proof Of Pak Hand In Pathankot; China Installs New Official In Tibet

For Stray Cattle

The union government is considering building shelters for lakhs of stray cattle. It has asked the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) to assess the cost of building new shelters and maintaining existing ones to house stray cattle, according to this Livemint report. AWBI has also been asked to assess the state of registered gaushalas (cow shelters).

There are over 50 lakh stray cattle in the country. The government’s plan is to ensure that even after the cattle stop giving milk, they are well taken care of.

New Info

The US has handed over new evidence to India that shows IP addresses of Facebook accounts of JeM handlers who masterminded the Pathankot attack and IP address of the website of the outfit’s financial arm, Al-Rahmat Trust, are located in Pakistan.

JeM handler Kashif Jaan accessed FB groups related to JeM and contained photos of the four killed terrorists. He was using FB account connected to the same mobile number which the attackers called from Pathankot after abducting Punjab police SP Salwinder Singh.

All these accounts were accessed through IP addresses of Pakistan’s telecom firms.

Reshuffle In China

China has appointed Wu Yingjie to run Tibet. He will be the region’s next party secretary.

Wu belongs to China’s majority Han Chinese ethnic group and has worked almost his entire career in Tibet.

Two new party bosses, Chen Hao and Du Jiahao, have also been appointed to run southwestern province of Yunnan and the populous southern province of Hunan, respectively. Both worked for President Xi Jinping when he ran China’s commercial capital, Shanghai.

No More Editors

Facebook is modifying its popular ‘trending’ topics feature which shows the most-talked about topics of the day. It is being made more automated and will rely less on human editors.

The social media platform would no longer rely on curators to pick trending news and write descriptions for them and would instead show users just the topics and how many people are discussing it.

GST Update

Maharashtra assembly is expected to ratify the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitutional Amendment Bill today. It will be the ninth state to do so. 15 states need to ratify the amendment bill before the GST council is formed which will decide various rates and prepare Centre and state GST draft bills.

Meanwhile, the Union government is mulling to advance winter Session of Parliament by a fortnight to pass these draft bills so that the 1 April deadline can be met.

New Study

A new study has found that consuming traditional diets of countries such as India, which have lower meat content, may significantly reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. It shows how, when Japan made the nutrition transition from the traditional diet to the Western diet, Alzheimer’s disease rates rose from one percent in 1985 to 7 percent in 2008.

The study reveals that fruits, vegetables, grains, low-fat dairy products, legumes, and fish are associated with reduced risk.

MUST READ OP-EDS

Day Of The Specialist [Manish Sabharwal]: The idea of generalist senior bureaucrats is past its sell-by date. Public policy requirements of the 21st century demand a bureaucracy more technocratic.

Governor Patel [Vivek Dehejia]: Urjit Patel’s economics and central banking credentials are as mainstream and orthodox as one could imagine.

Seize The Crisis [Ashok Gulati]: If a bumper harvest leads to a price crash, it may drive farmers away from pulses. The solution to this is four-fold: Get the govt to procure pulses, abolish stocking limits, reintroduce futures and free international trade by abolishing export bans, and impose an import duty of 5-10 percent.

SWARAJYA SPECIAL

Kanhoji Angre: How A Maratha Grand Admiral Defeated The European Naval Powers.

We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Have a great day ahead!

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