Bihar’s witch hunt for ‘illegals’
A Patna High Court order directed the state government to provide a plan for the “for identification and deportation of the persons suspected to be illegal migrant, more so from Bangladesh”—including a system to require citizens to identify “suspected illegal migrants.” According to an Article 14 investigation, the government has swiftly complied—taking just 13 days to issue a directive:
“The general public is informed that if foreign nationals (especially Bangladeshi nationals) are residing illegally near you or if you receive any such intelligence, then you should inform your nearest police station.”
A former senior police official says:
“It is acutely reminiscent of the Stalin era when people indulged in witch hunts by denouncing their enemies as ‘enemy of the people’...There is no law that says a citizen can ask somebody to show his Aadhaar card, and if he refuses, report the matter to the police.”
Amazon’s big unveil
The company rolled out a number of new devices at its annual event. The Verge has a list of all the gadgets—and a detailed write up on each. Everyone’s talking about Astro—an adorable looking robot that is being dubbed ‘Alexa on wheels’. Here’s a long list of the things it can do:
“It can map out your floor plan and obey commands to go to a specific room. It can recognize faces and deliver items to a specific person. It can play music and show you the weather and answer questions like any Echo smart display. It can be used for video calls, always keeping you in frame by literally following your movements. It can roam around your house when you aren’t home, making sure everything is okay. It can raise its periscope camera to show you whether you’ve turned the stove off. It can use third-party accessories to record data like blood pressure.”
But since it doesn’t have arms or legs, it can’t do a lot of other stuff that you may want from your pet robot—for example, climb stairs, clean floors etc. Also: It costs $999.99 and is currently invite-only. OTOH, it is kinda cute!
The Taliban’s latest bit of misogyny
The newly appointed chancellor of Kabul University has declared a permanent ban on women—both as students and instructors:
“I give you my words as chancellor of Kabul University. As long as a real Islamic environment is not provided for all, women will not be allowed to come to universities or work. Islam first.”
The group’s spokesperson tried to put a spin on the blunt declarations, saying it “might be his own personal view”—and that authorities are working to devise a “safer transportation system and an environment where female students are protected.” If so, they shouldn’t have appointed a chancellor who has no academic qualifications and once called schools “centers for prostitution.” A good related read: BBC News on the 220 female judges who are now in hiding—fearing they will be killed by convicts they once put behind bars. (New York Times)
R Kelly is going to jail
The R&B singer has finally been convicted on charges of racketeering and sex trafficking—more than 25 years after the first accusations of sexual abuse first surfaced, and after decades of absuing and exploiting underage girls and boys. Buzzfeed News has all the harrowing details of the case.
A ‘jeans’ test for diabetes
One of the world’s leading experts says that you may be in trouble if you can’t fit into jeans that you wore at 21. The reason: It indicates that you are “carrying too much fat” and have a higher risk of developing the disease. This is part of a study that shows people with Type 2 diabetes can “get rid” of it by losing 10-15% of their weight. Also: the results “demonstrate very clearly that diabetes is not caused by obesity but by being too heavy for your own body.” Hmm. (The Guardian)
Two new kinds of basmati
We now have two new kinds of rice—‘Pusa Basmati 1979’ and ‘Pusa Basmati 1985’—that promise to ease the labour and water-intensive practices involved in cultivating rice. These seeds can be directly sown into the soil—instead of nurturing them in a nursery and then moving them to fields with standing water. And these new varieties are resistant to herbicides—which can now be applied directly to crops. Point to note: “The conventional method uses 3,000 to 5,000 litres of water to produce 1 kg of rice. The new varieties could cut water use by at least 50% to 60%.” (Reuters)
Two bits of Indian data
One: Alarming data out of Mumbai shows a big spike in elderly citizens dying by suicide during the pandemic—jumping up by 31% in 2020. (Times of India)
Two: A new survey shows that 16% of urban Indians own cryptocurrency—and that will scoot up to 19% over the next six months. Most investors are between 21 and 35 years old. The most preferred currency is bitcoin—with a total share of 75%—followed by dogecoin and ethereum. (Quartz)
Good news about Google Meet
In the interest of promoting cross-lingual communication, the video conferencing platform will now translate speech into captions on the fly. For now it supports English translations into Spanish, French, Portuguese and German—and is only available in the beta version. (Mashable)
Netflix's list of biggest hits
The company released the “most comprehensive look” of its top 10 shows and movies. There were two separate lists. One measured the number of accounts which viewed a show—even for just two minutes!—within 28 days of its release. The other measured viewership in terms of total user hours spent watching it. Surprising no one, ‘Bridgerton’ was the top series on both charts. ‘Extraction’ was the most-viewed film in terms of households and ‘Bird Box’ was the most-watched movie in terms of hours. Looking to break all records: ‘Squid Game’ which is shaping up to be the most popular Netflix series ever. (Variety)
This great painting is a great fake!
The National Gallery in London bought Peter Paul Rubens’ ‘Samson and Delilah’ for a whopping £2.5 Million in 1980—which was then a record-breaking price. Now an AI analysis using technology called a “convolutional neural network” has found that it is most likely fake. The lead scientist said:
“I was so shocked. We repeated the experiments to be really sure that we were not making a mistake and the result was always the same. Every patch, every single square, came out as fake, with more than 90% probability.”
Why this matters: “The significance of this new AI method of authentication is potentially groundbreaking. Devoid of human subjectivity, emotion and commercial interests, the software is coldly objective and scientifically accurate.” (The Guardian)
Two surprising things about birds
One: Forget cuddly cats or clucking hens. Ancient humans had a far more perilous choice of household animals. Over 18,000 years ago, they domesticated and raised the cassowary—the world’s most dangerous bird and the closest living relative to the dinosaur. As the lead researcher notes: “And this is not some small fowl, it is a huge, ornery, flightless bird that can eviscerate you”—with its long, dagger-like toe. OTOH, cassowary chicks become attached to the first thing they see after hatching—which makes them easy to maintain and raise up to adult size. Well, it is kinda cute, right? (CNN)
Two: Humans are all excited about drone delivery, but birds are not exactly pleased with these flying intruders. A drone delivering coffee in Australia was attacked by a cranky raven—and it isn’t the first to take offence. As the person who ordered the coffee says: “It’s a matter of time before they bring one down… They think it’s Terminator or something.” The company has been forced to stop drone deliveries for now. Watch the aerial duel below. (Canberra Times)
Dine with Data: All about Jar 💰
Editor’s Note: Here is DWD’s weekly installment of one cool, innovative or just plain quirky startup from around the world.
Company: Jar 💰
About: Millions of Indians have bank accounts, but only a tiny proportion of them invest money. Jar wants to change that.
Whenever you carry out an online transaction, Jar rounds up the amount to the nearest whole number and invests the spare change. So if you buy something worth ₹131, your investment is ₹9.
In addition to that, you can set up a daily recurring investment of ₹1-₹500. Currently, the app only allows investment in gold, owing to India's large trust in the asset. Future expansion plans include Mutual Funds and other assets.
Food For Thought: Arkram Capital, Tribe, and other leading angels like Kunal Shah of Cred have come together to invest $4.5M in Jar's seed round and help it kickstart a habit of investing in India's masses.
DWD Take: Investing our spare change is the modern version of saving it in a coin box, and the passive nature of it ensures that we silently build a habit while accruing decent returns at the same time! Jar seems poised to take advantage of the Indian consumer's financial quirks.
About DWD: Dine With Data🍴sends you a short summary of one new startup every day, delivered straight to your WhatsApp inbox!
