Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Recent happenings.

I'm gonna touch upon certain recent happenings that have a lot of relevance to our lives. And so here I go.

 (a) The World Wide Web @ 30.

       Tim Berners-Lee and his colleagues at CERN(The European Organisation for Nuclear Research)
       began a project, thirty years ago, to create an information retrieval service on the internet. The
       result, World Wide Web, was a phenomenon and today, more than half the world is online. A key
       reason for the web's growth is the idealism behind its creation. Berners-Lee says the idea was
       the web should be participatory, not discriminatory. Consequently, not only can a  child
       access all online public information from a remote home, citizens now directly engage heads of
       state.

       The web's scale and growth have been accompanied by challenges - both offline and online. The
       latter amplifies the negative aspects - the most dangerous threat, for example, come from state-
       sponsored groups which spread fake news to destabilise other countries. A separate set of 
       challenges are added by the internet companies which build business models that depend on
       dubious exploitation of data, triggering new problems centering on privacy. 

       State-led response to the challenges posed by a seamless online world has been to erect barriers
       or impose authoritarian regulations resulting in the 'balkanisation' of the web. It needs to be
       rejuvenated on its forward path on account of 'digital adoloscence' and its touchstone should be
       the idea of openness and net neutrality has to be the bedrock. 

       The evolution of the web makes the creation of a regulatory framework inevitable that's of a
       light touch variety.

  (b) Belt and Road Initiative Comes for Criticism.

        The Chinese President's Belt and Road Initiative has come under a rare dissent at the annual
        political session of the country. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
        (CPPCC) consisting of over 2,000 delegates is a national advisory body with nominated
        representatives from various walks of life.

       Xi's BRI carries over trillion US $ investment budget. The criticism stems from the following:-

            (i) China doling out huge loans spanning to billions of US $ for infrastructure development.
           (ii) The recipients are small countries which don't have the capacity to pay back.
          (iii) The US, India and several other countries have criticised that the initiative is driving
                 smaller countries into debt traps.

       Apprehensions over the huge loans grew after China acquired Sri Lanka's Hambantota port
       on a 99-year lease as a debt swap. The ongoing trade war with the US and the continuing
       slowdown of the Chinese economy also contribute to the apprehensions!


Tailpiece. 

Had got up with the alarm. Went through our chores and were ready well in time. made a trip to
the nearby supermarket to buy grocery/vegetables, pay up for the stuff delivered at home last evening and to buy a rugged stool to be used for washing in the bathroom.

Aniyan and Usha ammayi from Kidangoor, Rajish, his mom, Malu and their daughter, Prarthana arrived a trifle after 11 and went for the 'darshan' at the temple soon after. They were here till 1730 hrs and left for another 'darshan' of the good Lord and return to Kozhikode, after cutting the birthday cake made by Lekha.
             

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