Wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the Paris Olympics after the official weigh-in on Wednesday morning, ahead of her scheduled gold medal bout in the evening. She will return from Paris without a medal. While she had cleared the weigh-in on Tuesday, Vinesh was found to be “a few grams over 50 kg” in Wednesday morning’s weigh-in. The Indian Express first reported that she was learnt to be 2 kilos overweight on Tuesday night — weight that she tried her best to cut overnight but could not. What is a…
Tag: Explained
Bill seeks to expand NDMA role, fails to strengthen its status | Explained News
Last week, the government introduced a Bill in Parliament seeking to amend the Disaster Management Act, 2005. It proposes to make important changes in the Act, aimed mainly at improving the operational efficiencies in responding to a natural disaster. The Bill seeks to significantly expand the role and responsibilities of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), especially in guiding state governments and organs of the Centre in dealing with disasters. However, it misses the opportunity to upgrade and strengthen the institutional status of NDMA. This would have empowered the body…
Paris Olympics boxing gender debate: Why was Imane Khelif allowed to compete against Angela Carini? | Explained News
On Thursday (August 1), Italy’s 66kg boxer Angela Carini withdrew from her bout against Algeria’s Imane Khelif after just 46 seconds. Carini’s reason for pulling out: She had never been punched so hard. Her withdrawal made news because Khelif is one of the two boxers allowed to compete at the Paris Olympics despite failing a gender eligibility test at the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) World Championships in New Delhi in March last year. What are the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) rules regarding eligibility for female competitions and how does it…
Russia to release Evan Gershkovich: Why was the WSJ journalist arrested? | Explained News
Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned in Russia since March last year, is expected to be freed in a major prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia on Thursday (August 1). Although neither Russia nor the US revealed any detail on the exchange location, Turkish intelligence said in a statement it would be coordinating the prisoner swap. Sources confirmed to The Guardian that the exchange would take place in Turkey on Thursday. Here is a look at who Gershkovich is, and why he was…
Why is there a move to split the Bengaluru municipal corporation into smaller bodies with a 3-tier structure? | Explained News
A legislative proposal to break up the Greater Bengaluru urban local body into several smaller bodies will be discussed at a meeting of all lawmakers from the city on Saturday. BJP MLAs protested after The Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, 2024 was tabled in the Karnataka Assembly on Tuesday (July 23), saying the proposal to restructure the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was against the interests of the city. Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D K Shivakumar said the Bill would be discussed on July 27, suggesting it would…
How the modern Olympics came to be | Explained News
The inaugural Olympic Games kicked off in Athens, Greece on April 6, 1896, paving the way for modern sports competition as we know it. Most people recognise French baron Pierre de Coubertin as the “father of the modern Olympics” but the idea well predates him, going all the way back to 1830s Greece. Panagiotis Soutsos’ idea to make Greece great again Modern Greece emerged from the throes of revolution which lasted from 1821 to 1829. After centuries of foreign rule — most recently, four centuries of Ottoman control — the…
Making sense of the Budget | Explained News
The Union Budget for 2024-25 — Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s seventh in a row and the twelfth Budget of the Narendra Modi government — departs significantly from all previous Budgets presented by this government in its approach towards managing India’s economy. Budgets serve two essential purposes. They provide details about a government’s finances, how much the government earned, how much it spent, and how much it borrowed during the past financial year, and what its projections are on all these three counts for the next financial year. Too much borrowing…
Scourge of the pink bollworm, and why cotton farmers struggle to deal with it | Explained News
For nearly four years now, the deadly pink bollworm has ravaged cotton crops in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan. Cotton cultivation in these states has fallen from around 16 lakh hectares last year to only 10 lakh hectares this year, as of the first week of July. The pink bollworm (PBW), known among farmers as gulabi sundhi, damages the cotton crop by burrowing its larvae into the cotton bolls. This results in the lint being cut and stained, making it unfit for use. While there exist effective…
National Quantum Mission: Why India has a lot of catching up to do | Explained News
India launched the National Quantum Mission last year and became one of the few countries in the world to have a dedicated programme to harness the power of quantum technologies. These technologies, which use special properties of the tiniest particles of matter, can yield radical solutions to some of the most intractable problems of our age, such as clean energy and affordable healthcare. But despite having a fairly strong research base in quantum science, India has a lot of catching up to do. A new report, surveying the existing capabilities…
Explained: Why Shaheen Shah Afridi might face disciplinary action by PCB | Cricket News
Pakistan ace-pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi may face disciplinary action for his non-cooperative attitude during the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2024 co-hosted by the West Indies and the USA where The Men in Green were out of the competition in the group stage. Allegedly the 24-year-old did not engage in team discussions ahead of the crucial games at the showpiece event according to Geo News. In addition to his attitude Shaheen also had a heated altercation with coach Mohammad Yousaf during one of the training sessions. The heated exchange between…