LyrArc Article Gist
Justice Khanwilkar of the Indian Supreme Court (2016-2022) is appointed the second Lokpal of India. He wrote some of the key decisions of the court in recent years. As Lokpal he is head of the Anti-Corruption Authority of India, that was established in 2013 after the protests against widespread corruption and leakage of funds led by Anna Hazare of Maharashtra that led to loss of confidence in the government of that year. Justice Khanwilkar supported the strict provisions of the Prevention of Money Laudering Act (PMLA) that provide the essentials for a developing country to ensure good governance and prevent the leakage of funds that are destructive for improving the ease of living, and for the confidence of the people in the government. He also decriminalised homosexuality, and upheld the Gujarat government for handling of events in 2002. He was alsopart of the 5 Judge SC bench that upheld Aadhar documentation of every citizen of India that made it possible under Digital India to deposit money directly to bank accounts preventing leakage of funds going to hundreds of millions of needy Indians. This was key to supporting families across India during the pandemic. In 2020 he passed a ruling on regulating the NGO's in India and use of foreign funding, the Foreign Contribution Regulation Amendment Act (FCRA), which ensures the government of a developing country of over 1 billion people can be run by the will of the people for the people, free from interference by foreign ideologies and interests. He tackled a key environmental case in 1996 when surrounding tanneries were polluting the river Ganges. The range of Khanwilkar's decisions is as prolific as it is critical for shaping a modern nation of 1.4 billion people. He served as the Standing Counsel of the Election Commission of India aiding in the operation of EC that is crucial for Indian election process.. He wrote 226 judgements and sat on 817 benches, a hardworking and disciplined judge that is a reflection of the best of India from the period of Indian renewal under Vivekananda and Gandhi to this day. Khanwilkar started his career in 1982, representing the state of Maharashtra as Standing Counsel at the Supreme Court, and was later Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh, Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The difficulties faced by U.S. presidents in their second term, making the second term look different from the first, with difficulty getting talented individuals to join and stumbles in policy or actions. The stumbles by Roosevelt in cutting spending at the wrong time, in trying to stack the Supreme Court with his choices as justices, the scandals of Watergate and the the Lewinsky affair for Nixon and Clinton, the accumulating financial bubble under George W. Bush and deregulation failures, and a similar lack of progress for other presidents. A particular problem in the U.S. is the election cycle that makes the incumbent president a lame duck by the beginning or middle of the third year as the country moves on. By the third year of Truman's second term the country had moved on and the fatigue effects were felt in the country. By the time he leaves a president is quickly forgotten- president Adams quietly left town as Jefferson took over with stark differences between the two; Truman quietly left for Independence, Missouri, as Eisenhower took office; Hoover left office to go into obscurity and a sense of failed policy as Roosevelt took over. Woodrow Wilson was very sick during the last years of his second term a fact not known to the rest of the country. In most situations the world and the country has moved on, the aura of an incoming president in his first term is gone. Most of the successor policies to shape the future, organization and creating a talented core of support are taking place during the second term and lame duck period of the existing president, with a new vision of the future being shaped and new realities anticipated....

LyrArc Article Gist
How the new marketing approach for drug companies and Pfizer in particular is affecting how Pfizer is marketing an anti smoking drug. the approach is measure and careful and mindful of all the difficulties in making it work for patients including the psychological aspects of smoking addiction.

LyrArc Article Gist
China is still interested in a trade deal with the U.S. even after Mr. Trump signed a bill passed by Congress that it criticized as interference in its internal affairs. Mr. Trump's signing statement gave China an opening to continue its persistent effort to seek a trade deal that would lessen the effect of tariffs on its economy. It mentioned "constitutional authorities with respect to foreign relations," and stated Mr. Trump had signed the bill "out of respect for Mr. Xi, China and Hong Kong." This has credibility because Mr. Trump has consistently supported an effort to bring a peaceful end to protests and any efforts to that end that Mr. Xi has and would continue to make. Both sides see the role of the biggest economies in the trading system as too significant to be affected by different views on Hong Kong, as long as mutual respect is sustained.  

LyrArc Article Gist
Only 12% of England's professional engineers and technicians are women. There is demand for 124,000 engineers annually and 79,000 technicians, according to EngineeringUK A shortfall of 59,000 engineers means many positions are unfilled partly because women are not taking up these roles even now.

LyrArc Article Gist
Both the Remain and Leave campaigns for the EU referendum are suspended in Britain following the killing of Labor MP Jo Cox.  The killing was described by police as done by a man with links to right wing extremism and mental health services.  David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn, leaders of the Conservative and Labor parties, say this is an "attack on democracy."

LyrArc Article Gist
Walden International was founded by Lip-Bu Tan- similar to Morris Chang a graduate of MIT Engineering- in 1987. Between 2017-2021 Walden made investments in China's advanced tech companies in 40% of the venture deals from the US. At a time when some of these investments were larger than that in the US. 

National security adviser Jake Sullivan following these investments said in a speech in July 2024 that the Biden administration is “looking at the impact of outbound U.S. investment flows that could circumvent the spirit of export controls or otherwise enhance the technological capacity of our competitors in ways that harm our national security.”

LyrArc Article Gist
Refreshing view of children playing in Spain- in a park in Seville, children skating outside the Ventas building in Madrid, a girl playing at a fountain outside the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao. For a long time children were not allowed outside. Deaths drop below 300 in Spain. Growth of infected cases decreases from 38% on March 14, 2020 to 3% in recent weeks and 0.8% April 25 at about 1700 cases. Spain was the worst hit country with 23,000 deaths along with Italy and France.

LyrArc Article Gist
100 days of new governance in New Delhi and cleaning up of the Ganges river for swimming. Rekha Guta takes a dip at Har Ki Pauri in Hardwar, Uttar Pradesh, in a Ganges river that is being cleaned from pollution of the last 50 years of industrial development.