south asia geopolitics-srilanka

India is planning to establish a naval base and listening post in the Maldives, the tropical holiday islands in the Indian Ocean, in an attempt to contain growing Chinese influence in the region.

Its naval chiefs and military strategists have become increasingly alarmed by China's expansion in South Asia where it has established a series of bases in neighboring countries.

It is currently developing a deep water harbour for its expanding fleet of nuclear submarines in Gwadar, Pakistan, and is developing ports in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Indian strategists have described its growing number of ports as a "string of pearls" around its neck.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

                                  SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
GRAPHENE OXIDISED:

 Graphene, popularly known as the wonder material,But there's a drawback of this material too.
It has a zero band gap which makes it impossible for pure Graphene to turn OFF when used as a switch. Hence, it is important that the material is doped with some impurities. This is where the researchers have really worked. They have oxidised Graphene to make it impure, but they have done it without damaging the lattice structure of the material.
Scientists could resort to only one process called Hummer’s method for making changes in Graphene’s structural characteristics. This process was developed in 1940s. But, because of the usage of harsh acids, it tends to make the Graphene structure unusable. But this latest technique overcomes such issues. Mark C Hersam, professor of materials science and engineering at the McCormick School explains the process. Hersam said that they had exposed hot Tungsten filament to Oxygen at about 1500 degree celsius in an ultra-high vacuum chamber. Molecular oxygen is transformed into atomic oxygen when both the elements come in contact. The researchers have introduced nascent Oxygen into Graphene which oxidises it to make it homogeneous. The researchers discovered that the electronic properties of Graphene are a result of the amount of Oxygen introduced.

It is worth mentioning here that like Silicon and plastic, Graphene has a chance to function efficiently in the modern day electronics industry.

GRAPHENE NANO RIBBONS.

A new synthetic strategy toward novel linear two-dimensional graphene nanoribbons up to 12 nm has been established. The nanoribbons are characterized by MS, UV/vis, and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Various microscopic studies of these novel structures showed a high tendency to self-assemble.

Graphene nanoribbons (also called nano-graphene ribbons), often abbreviated GNRs.Their electronic states largely depend on the edge structures Zigzag edges provide the edge localized state with non-bonding molecular orbitals near the Fermi energy.Graphene nanoribbons with controlled edge orientation have been fabricated by Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) lithography. Opening of energy gaps up to 0.5 eV in a 2.5 nm wide armchair ribbon was reported. Zigzag nanoribbons are also semiconducting and present spin polarized edges. Their gap opens thanks to an unusual antiferromagnetic coupling between the magnetic moments at opposite edge carbon atoms. This gap size is inversely proportional to the ribbon width and its behavior can be traced back to the spatial distribution properties of edge-state wave functions, and the mostly local character of the exchange interaction that originates the spin polarization.

Their 2D structure, high electrical and thermal conductivity, and low noise also make GNRs a possible alternative to copper for integrated circuit interconnects. 

a) Genetic Recombinant technique:PRDM9
During mammalian meiosis, double-strand breaks are deliberately made throughout the genome and then repaired, leading to the exchange of genetic material between copies of chromosomes. How the locations of breaks are specified was largely unknown until a fortuitous confluence of statistical genetics and molecular biology uncovered the role of PRDM9, a DNA binding protein. Many properties of this protein remain mysterious, however, including how it binds to DNA, how it contributes to male infertility—both in humans, and in hybrid mice—and why, in spite of its fundamental function in meiosis, its binding domain varies extensively among humans and across mammals. We present a brief summary of what has recently been learned about PRDM9 in different fields, focusing on the puzzles yet to be resolved.

b) GUT BACTERIA may override genetic protections against diabetes:
Obesity and type 2 diabetes have risen tremendously over the last 20 years, and the causes of these epidemics are complex. In both diseases, insulin resistance manifests early due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors, with gut bacteria and the immune system playing key roles. For example, weight gain and insulin resistance are linked to a group of gut bacteria called Firmicutes, which provide a source of extra calories by breaking down polysaccharides that are otherwise indigestible in mammals.

Insulin sensitivity is also affected by immune system proteins called Toll-like receptors (TLRs) that recognize microbial compounds. When raised in germ-free environments, mice that lack TLR2 are protected against obesity-induced insulin resistance. Intriguingly, the immune system helps regulate gut bacteria, and previous work suggests that TLRs may affect insulin sensitivity by altering the composition of enteric microbes.
present compelling evidence that gut bacteria can nullify the genetic protection against insulin resistance in TLR2-deficient mice.

To investigate the relationship between gut bacteria and insulin sensitivity, the researchers raised TLR2-deficient mice under conditions that were not germ-free. In contrast to previous findings, these mice became insulin resistant within 8 weeks, and were fatter at 12 weeks. Genetic analysis of their gut bacteria revealed that the abundance of Firmicutes was three times higher than that of wild-type mice, and the researchers suggest that this explains why these TLR2-deficient mice were not protected against insulin resistance. Because the composition of enteric microbes varies with the environment and diet, mice with the same genetic background can have different gut bacteria, and presumably this was the case for the TLR2-deficient mice in previous studies.

How could gut bacteria counteract the innate insulin sensitivity of TLR2-deficient mice? Insulin resistance can be caused by bacterial cell membrane compounds called lipopolysaccharides, and several lines of evidence suggest that this is a likely mechanism for the development of insulin resistance in the TLR2-deficient mice studied. Notably, they had higher serum levels of lipopolysaccharides, and absorbed more of them after oral administration. This suggests that these mice had more permeable guts, which is supported by the finding that their intestines had less of a tight junction protein.

The link between gut microbe composition and insulin resistance was further strengthened by a number of findings. In particular, treating TLR2-deficient mice with antibiotics brought their Firmicutes down to normal levels, reduced their fat, decreased their serum lipopolysaccharides, and increased their insulin sensitivity. This suggests that changing the composition of gut microbes reversed their insulin resistance. Moreover, when gut microbes were transplanted from TLR2-deficient mice into wild-type mice with only the genus Bacillus in their guts, the latter got fatter, had higher lipopolysaccharide levels, and were less sensitive to insulin. This suggests that the Firmicutes-rich gut bacteria from these TLR2-deficient mice were enough to cause insulin resistance.

Because obesity and insulin resistance may be promoted by fatty foods in people, the researchers compared the effects of high-fat diets on TLR2-deficient and wild-type mice. The TLR2-deficient mice got much fatter and glucose tolerance tests revealed that they also developed diabetes, indicating that the high-fat diet exacerbated their insulin resistance.

By showing that changes in gut bacteria can cause insulin resistance in mice that are genetically protected against this condition, this work suggests that the composition of enteric microbes may cause obesity and diabetes in animals that are predisposed to be lean. This work also sheds light on the interplay of genetic and environmental factors that cause metabolic syndrome in people, which is characterized by obesity and insulin resistance, and increases the risks of stroke and coronary artery disease along with type 2 diabetes.
....................................................................................................

1)      Molecular motors: A conventional electric motor has close resemblance to the molecular motors that propel flagella in a bacterium. A few well known molecular motors are KINESINS, DYNEIN, and MYOSIN.

KENISINS- are group of motor proteins. They move materials faster across nerve cell end with a velocity of 3 micro meters per second thereby causing the transmission of nerve impulses in lightening speed.

DYNEIN- cell division is aided with this protein motor.

               These natural molecular motors have immense application in bionano technology, pharmology                 and medicine. It can be a promising approach to drug system that can utilize motor transport with in human cells and mobile components for nanoscale manufacturing in adding life to nanotechnology.

2)      ACANTHAPSIS PEDESTISIS STAL: It is an important reduviid (a winged insect) predator found in Scrub jungles and agro ecosystems of India predating on insects, pests. It can be used as a Bio-control agent. It is scarce hence; mass production is carried out in labs and supplies them to farmers.

3)      MONKEY MALARIA: Researchers in Malaysia had found the occurrence of Plasmodium Knowlesi infection among the humans, which is up till now was believed to cause malaria in monkeys. The four Species of Plasmodium are- Falciparum, vivax, ovale and malariae apart from these there are 200 species of malaria.

4)      BIOSPARGING: last time bio remediation has asked in prelims. This time it is expected. Biosparging is an insitu remediation technology that uses soil micro organisms to bio degrade organic constituents in the saturated zone of water table .In this process air, water and nutrients are injected in to the saturated zone to increase biological activity of indigenous micro organisms. Biosparging can be used to reduce the concentration of petroleum constituents that are dissolved in ground water.

5)      AIR SPARGING: This is a process in which it removes constituents primarily through volatilization while biosparging promotes biodegradation airsparging promotes volatilization. Both processes are very efficient to treat the contaminated ground water.

GLASS CEILING

what is GLASS CEILING and explain its social significance?
Glass ceiling may be viewed or understood as an inherent"aspiration deficit" among some sections of society or a lack of opportunities that prevents the people from getting a break in the first place. In a sociological sense it may be a racial glass ceiling,gender glass ceiling, minority glass ceiling etc
Radical feminists like Simone-DE- Beauvoir, Sulasmith Firestone advocate patriarchy deliberately advances the technology which is not reached to the women exhibiting technological upper hand over women earning higher wages. Reflecting on the interface between poverty and gender WILCROFT indicates that most of the poor families in Europe  and america are the families of unwed mothers, Divorced women, Therefore poverty is adding to and subsequently intensifying gender inequality in class societies.
Modernization theory indicates women participation at work, The culture of democracy, Ideology of equality can put an end to gender stratification system.Breaking the theory of "glass ceiling" Indian women are aiming for sky taking the lead roles in many of the blue chips companies.some of them like
Nandini sethuraman-Bharati Walmart, Geetu Verma-Uniliver ltd, Anjali Mohanty-Deutsche bank, Anupama Ahulwalia-Coca cola, Sonu Grover-Coca cola, Sree Patel-Cadbury kraft, Raju Vashist-Walmart, Sangeeta Pedurkar-kellog. Diversity and inclusion is large on the agenda of most global companies.This is drilling down to the Indian subsidiaries as well. India inc has taken diversity seriously women are increasingly being hired for decision making roles.
In a country like India where there is a contesting relation between tradition and modernity, if the gender Glass Ceiling has to be really broken, women should be empowered socially and economically. It is just not the few individuals achievements that reflects the breaking of gender Glass Ceiling but the overall plight of the Indian women should be studied in a subjective manner where there is still a conflict between 21st century economy and the 20th century society is taking toll on the Indian women.

................................................................................................................................................................

ESSAY ON FOREST GOVERNANCE

                                                 

                                        FOREST GOVERNANCE

 Where does our system of forest governance stand? For this one has to start from the 1850s when the British government began the process of taking over direct control of the country’s forests. The structures they set up the forest laws and the forest bureaucracy were aimed at fulfilling colonial objectives, primarily of forest produce and revenues. The British divided forest in to three kinds

RESERVE FORESTS- State has absolute control over the forest.

PROTECTED FOREST- Which can be used by the local people for specific purpose. People cannot go for commercial use of forest.

VILLAGE FOREST- Forests outside settlements of villages

More than 150 years after the British began their takeover of the country’s forests, almost 60 years after independent. India’s first government reaffirmed the British approach  in the name of national development, 30 years after the centre began to regulate forests, and 20 years after it began a half –hearted attempt to change things through joint forest management , the issue of “who decides “ is being finally confronted head on. Who decides how much bamboo or firewood should be harvested in the forests of Gadchiroli? Who decides that the nayamgiri forests may be giving for mining? Who decides tigers and tribals cannot coexist in the Biligiri Rangan hills? The answer to all such questions was the same: the state forest department and the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) had made tentative attempts to go beyond this purely centralized system. The ministry has requested the states to bring joint forest management committees (JFMCs) under the gram panchayats.

Why govern forest at all?

Ecologically, forests generate multiple benefits simultaneously they not only produce tangible products such as timber, bamboo, fodder and wild honey, but they also moderate hydrological behavior of watersheds, provide habitat for wild life, and sequester CO2 and these benefits accrue to  different groups in the society. While tangible products may benefit villagers or logging contractors hydrological regulations benefit s downstream water users. Climate change mitigation due to CO2 sequestration benefits the entire world and the wildlife is also seen today as a global heritage of humankind.

Conservation gets priority:

The wild life act of 1972 led to the Re-Designation of significant areas of forests as Wildlife Sanctuaries and national parks. The forest conservation act 1980 was an attempt by centre to introduce some long-term thinking in to the otherwise short –sighted conservation of forests to other users. The national forest policy adopted in 1988 was the first coherent attempt by the government to formulate a new perspective on the forest question “environmental stability was to be the highest priority for forest-management, and diversion of direct economic benefit was to be subordinate to this.

The idea of joint forest management picked upon on a experiment in Arbari in West Bengal, suggested that sharing the harvests from generated or replanted forests would be the way to get communities involved in forest protection and regeneration. The JFM program received enthusiastic support from international aid agencies and several civil society organizations as it seemed to mark a shift towards the pro-people forest governance and involves participatory forest management.

Multi layered Democratic forest governance:

At the outset, There is a need to recognize that those living next to and manage these forests, and this is a natural right- similar to the rights to self governance we all enjoy under the 73^rd and 74^th amendment. This right cannot be seen as a concession, Privilege, benefit. Or sub- contract conferred by the state and it cannot be selectively conferred on “Well behaved communities “it accrues to all. But the right comes with responsibility to maintain some minimum level of environment benefits that go to larger society, a responsibility towards future generations, and a responsibility that the benefits of forest use are disturbed equitably within the local community. No bureaucracy can manage a forest that is spread over 70 million hectares and is in constant use by 250 million people. What is required is vesting day-to- day use and management rights with local institutions which function within well-defined frame work that is defined and enforced in transparent manner by a state regulatory agency. Three questions then arise.

1 .What should be the form of local institutions that manage these forests?

2. What kind of use rights should they have?

3. What should be the nature and structure of regulatory agency?

Answer regarding first, the proposal to bring JFMCs under Gram panchayats fails on several counts. On the one hand, retaining the Joint structure defeats the idea of day-to –day autonomy. Gram panchayats are generally large, dominated by an agrarian, mostly non- tribal, elite that tends to be less forest dependent, and is set up to implement development programs funded from above, rather than do bottom- up self governance. The need therefore is to vest rights in hamlet level bodies or panchayats extended to scheduled areas under JFM would have to be handed over to such bodies but this process will have to be part of settling community rights across the entire forested landscape that is under day- to –day use. So, as to avoid future conflicts this is already proposed in the Forests Rights Act, but should be extended to the whole country, and taken up by the state suo-moto, as it took up JFM not waiting for communities to come forward.  The answer to the second question tells the rights conferred must include all the rights to harvest and sale of non timber forest produce (NTFP) including currently nationalized ones such as some rights to timber. Ideally timber rights should be preferentially allotted to the landless marginal peasants, who have not benefited from land reform. Moreover, existing state level control over valuable NTFPs will have to be replaced by price and marketing programs. Thirdly, regarding the structure and functioning of the regulatory agency, clearly a professional service will be required. But the existing forest departments and service would have to be restructured extensively to ensure that they shed their colonial history and style and become more transparent and accountable to a body that includes much greater downward accountability and voice for local communities than provided by state governments so far. Given the size of the country and the diversity of socio- ecological conditions, such accountability structures are best set up at the district level. A problem being faced by communities that have received community transit permits for the sale of their produce outside the village. Mendha- Lekha village in Maharashtra for instance, has not been able to sell bamboo for over a year since it received CFRs. Finally when FRA listed bamboo as minor produce and MOEF asked all state governments to facilitate sale of bamboo by villagers and where CFRs are obtained to allow Gramsabhas to issue transit permits.

Critical wild habitat (CWH) as per FRA may only be established with in national parks and sanctuaries. CWHs within these areas have to be established on a case-by- case basis using scientific and objective criteria. The Process of on ground identification will be undertaken by state government appointed expert committee. CWH can be operationally successful only if the demand of conservation is recon cited with the individual and community rights of forest use. A dialogue that involves civil society mediators and forest dwellers is crucial in striking the right balance, securing a workable conservation paradigm. Protected areas today comprise about 4% of India’s land area and most parks are forest islands embedded in a matrix of human dominated land use. There is perhaps little doubt that the increasing rate of forest resource use and demands of a growing population is determined to preservation of these remnant national parks and sanctuaries. The potential of the FRA to stop destructive development process has already been shown by its use by the Dongira Kondh to deny permission to Vedanta Corporation to mine bauxite from its sacred hills in this regard MOEF rejected Vedanta’s application for mining in 2010.

In conclusion the Convergence of MGNREGA, Biological diversity act, The Panchayat extension of scheduled areas act and others would help dovetail various schemes and institutions together in to a comprehensive livelihood and conservation frame work. Several villages in Maharashtra Odisha have already moved towards such convergence. The powerful tools like CFR, JFM, and CWH can ensure secure access to forest conservation, protection and regeneration of India’s vast forest land requires a more democratic multi layered approach that will necessitate a transformation of mindsets, bureaucratic structures and powers, forest rights assignments and community attitude towards taking on responsibilities rather than just waiting for handouts.

THE HORROR OF POVERTY.

In 1993 East Africa was crippled with severe drought. 20 persons are dying for an hour in the refugee camps due to acute starvation. In those miserable days a photographer Kevin Carter from South Africa had reached Sudan.He heard a baby cry out side the refugee camp.The baby was crawling towards a food station. The baby is fighting with life and death as you can see in the picture the vulture is about to tear apart the little baby. Any one who has a responding heart will flood out tears but the photographer waited for 20 minutes for the vulture to spread its wings and captured the horror in his camera. This photo was published in New york Times 26th march of 1993 for which he was awarded Pulitzer prize in July 1994. He was flooded with mails querying about: what happened to the little baby, did you saved the baby. He replied that there were strict rules and restrictions not to touch the refugees. The baby died out of misery. people responded that he was the second vulture to the other side of the baby.
Kevin Repented that he had done a mistake, he committed suicide on 26th July 1994 just few days after he received the award.Had he saved the baby and also taken the photograph he would have got the credited of showing the world  THE HORROR OF POVERTY. That is why i always feel to respond in time is very essential, for that one need to have empathy,but this is the world we are living in.
Today the same East Africa,also known as horn of Africa, popularly remembered by the word SEED- SOMALIA,ERITREA,ETHIOPIA,DJIBOUTI. is again facing Severe drought.People are crossing the nations by walk to reach the food stations in the refugee camp held at north Kenya in DADAAB refugee camp. 10 million people have been affected due to drought in these nations because of prevalent LA-NINA effect that caused the prolonged crop failure.
"PEOPLE IN THIS PART OF THE WORLD ARE DYING TO LIVE WHILE WE ARE LIVING TO DIE"

VULTURE FUNDS

Speculators have made $1-bn from crisis-hit countries. A case in the Channel Islands could decide how much more will follow.

Jean Ngaigy, the head of a school in Lepaigagone, interprets the words of one of her six-year-old students. The girl is happy to have a school now. Her favourite subjects are maths and French.

Like many children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, both the girl's parents were killed in the country's civil war, which left up to 7.2 million people dead. Now, though, a fragile peace in the town, outside the capital Kinshasa, means mines are reopening and the factory is coming back to life. The school has been rebuilt and has running water. In the DRC, that represents hope.

Contrasts

The DRC should be one of Africa's richest countries. It has a mineral wealth estimated to be around $24-trillion (£15-tn). There are huge deposits of cobalt, diamonds, gold, copper, oil and 80 per cent of the world's supplies of coltan ore — a valuable mineral used in computers and mobile phones.

Yet 100 women a week are still dying in childbirth and 16,000 children under the age of five die every year. One in three children in the DRC will never get anything more than primary education.

One of the reasons the country has been unable to recover is that it is being pursued by international debt speculators, known as vulture funds, through offshore tax havens such as Jersey, for debts that were run up during 30 years of war and civil war.

What happens

Vulture funds operate by buying up a country's debt when it is in a state of chaos. When the country has stabilised, vulture funds return to demand millions of dollars in interest repayments and fees on the original debt. New York vulture fund FG Hemisphere has gone to Jersey to claim $100-m from the DRC because a legal loophole means that the island remains free of anti-vulture laws that were passed in the U.K. last year.

Jersey will decide next month (December) whether to allow its courts to let the $100-m go to FG Hemisphere.

It has been 16 years since most of the world began writing off the debts of the world's poorest countries, but the vulture funds, a club of between 26 and 35 speculators, have ignored the debt concerts by pop stars such as Bono and pleas from the likes of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to give the countries a break and a chance to get back on their feet.

The DRC has been a particularly fruitful target for vulture funds, being ravaged by conflict but rich in natural resources. One of the earliest cases against the country came in 1996 when $30m worth of Congolese sovereign debt was purchased by Kensington International Inc, a subsidiary of the well-established hedge fund Elliott Associates, headed by prominent vulture financier Paul Singer.

Singer, a major contributor to the Republican party, reportedly bought the debt at a significant discount and began pursuing lawsuits against the impoverished African nation through the world's courtrooms. Bloomberg has reported that the DRC has spent an estimated $5-m fighting Singer's lawsuits. Finally in 2005 Kensington International was awarded $39-m in the U.K. High Court.

So far, according to the World Bank, the top 26 vultures have managed to collect $1-bn from the world's poorest countries and still have a further $1.3-bn to collect. Gordon Brown, the former British Prime Minister and long-time Finance Minister in Tony Blair's administrations, has described the payouts as “morally outrageous.”

The World Bank has described vulture funds as “a threat to debt relief efforts” and the former, Bush-era U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said: “I deplore what the vulture funds are doing” in testimony before the House of Representatives' financial committee in 2007.

In terms of public donations, the impact of the vulture funds is huge. The $1-bn collected by the funds is equivalent to more than double the International Committee of the Red Cross's entire budget for Africa in 2011. One billion dollars could fund the entire U.N. appeal for the famine in Somalia and is more than twice the amount of money raised by Save the Children last year.

Vulture funds also scare off new investors, who the vultures will target their investment, from a country. In the DRC, a large U.S. company with plans to invest millions in mining pulled out last year after one vulture sued it as a result of its business with the DRC government.

It is thought FG Hemisphere bought the debt for which it is claiming $100m in the Jersey court for $3.3-m, with the help of another vulture fund, Debt Advisory International (DAI).

FG Hemisphere, headed by Peter Grossman and DAI, run by Michael Sheehan — both men were former Morgan Stanley consultants — have attempted to collect on the debt by suing DRC state companies and their foreign investors.

Joint media investigation

When interviewed as part of a joint investigation between the BBC's Newsnight and theGuardian, Grossman defending his involvement in the DRC, saying “he wasn't beating up on the Congo but collecting on a legitimate debt.” The last decade has seen FG and DAI chase the DRC, for the same debt, in the United States, Jersey, Hong Kong and Australia. In 2010, Britain passed a law banning vulture funds from collecting in U.K courts. But the legislation failed to mention Jersey. Because Jersey is not specifically mentioned, it is automatically excluded under British law, a loophole that FG Hemisphere immediately exploited.

Grossman said it was not the vultures whose activities needed to be investigated but mismanagement in the DRC. He also denied having any knowledge that, as alleged by the Bosnian police, the debt was acquired illegally in the first place.

Sheehan, who is nicknamed Goldfinger, brokered the original deal with Bosnian state company EnergoInvest and owns some of the debt. The DRC originally owed the money to EnergoInvest for a contract to build power lines.

But as Grossman looks for payment from DRC through the Jersey legal system, the world's biggest charities, including Oxfam, Christian Aid and Jubilee Debt Campaign U.K., are appealing to Jersey to close the loophole.

Jubilee Debt Campaign U.K., which has been campaigning for debt relief for over a decade, is sending a representative to Jersey next week to put the case directly to the island's government to close the vulture funds' loophole.

Tim Jones, of Jubilee Debt Campaign, said: “The DRC is the second poorest country in the world. The country desperately needs to be able to use its rich resources to alleviate poverty, not squander them on paying unjust debts to vulture funds left by the dictator Joseph Mobutu. Jersey has to shut vulture funds down.” U.K. legislation on vulture funds has already had an impact, when Liberia last year reached agreement to repay just over three per cent of the face value of a $43-m debt. That case was originally brought by two Caribbean-based vulture funds, Hamsah Investments and Wall Capital Ltd, over a debt dating back to the 1970s and it sparked a furore when the high court ordered Liberia to repay the full debt in 2009. Liberia mobilised debt campaigners, who pushed for a change in the law, resulting in the Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Act 2010 being passed.

The law, a world first, requires commercial creditors to comply with the terms of international debt cancellation schemes, which specify a single discount rate for creditors to ensure equal treatment. The law applies to the U.K. courts and ensures that public money given towards debt cancellation is not diverted to private investors.

The World Bank estimates that more than one-third of the countries which have qualified for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief have been targeted by vulture funds. HIPC countries are those whose debt is unsustainable and qualify for loans from the World Bank's International Development Association or the IMF's poverty reduction and growth facility.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is poised on the edge of a fragile peace but elections later this month could again destabilise the country. Having spent $5-m fighting off the vulture funds, the DRC is waiting for news from 4,000 miles away, where Jersey will decide whether the vultures will get their money. (Additional reporting by the Centre for Investigative Reporting in Sarajevo, Josh Strauss and Nicolas Niarchos.)

HORNBILL FESTIVAL

In 2000, state government of Nagaland started the festival to establish the different tribes of  Nagaland to understand each other's customs and culture better. The result is the Hornbill festival in which  all the 16 tribes of the state congregate in traditional dress and perform their folk music and dance at a single location-the Naga Heritage village, KISAMA 12 km away from Kohima. The festival will be held for a week from December 1-7 which also includes Hornbill literature festival that focuses on state writers and poets.