Date: 2/24/2019

English मराठी


24-Feb-2019 EIGHT-EYED AND EVERYWHERE Read More At least five new species of jumping spiders have been discovered from different parts of India over the past year Last week, a group of arachnologists from Thrissur came across a spider that had never been reported before. Hidden in the crevices of the bark of teak trees, Cocalus lacinia are hairy, yellow-brown spiders with a distinctive v-shaped mark on their head. They happen to be closely related to a species of spider in Australia, adding to the theory that the continents were once united. A couple of year earlier, this time in Assam, another researcher stumbled upon a large, hairy eight-eyed arachnid that had made a nest for itself between two leaves. He snapped a picture and posted it on Instagram, and last December, it was established that this was Hyllus diardi, a spider known to be so ‘friendly’, it’s kept as a pet in parts of the world. In the middle of last year, in West Bengal, a wildlife photographer chanced upon a bunch of very tiny spiders lurking in an orchard. They were identified later as belonging to the genus Neobrettus, which lives, hunts and breeds in the dried leaves of the banana plant. They are related to another genus, Portia, found across south and southeast Asia, Africa and Australia and known for their remarkably intelligent hunting behaviour and their penchant for feeding on other spiders.
24-Feb-2019 CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION RULES EVMS ARE 'INFORMATION' UNDER RTI ACT Read More An Electronic Voting Machine is "information" under the Right to Information Act and can be demanded by an applicant from the Election Commission of India on a payment of Rs 10, the Central Information Commission has ruled. This implies the Election Commission has to respond to an RTI application seeking the EVM either by providing it or refusing it under exemption clauses in the Act. But that also can be contested before the CIC, the highest adjudicating authority in RTI matters. Deciding a unique RTI application, through which the applicant had sought an EVM from the Election Commission, Chief Information Commissioner Sudhir Bhargava recently said the machine was covered under the definition of "information" and can be demanded from the ECI. The Election Commission had rejected the application saying the EVMs held by it do not come under the definition of "information". The applicant, Rajaak Khan Haider, approached the CIC with a strong argument that as per Section 2(f) and 2(i) of the RTI Act, the definition of 'information' and 'record' also includes 'any model or any sample' held by a public authority, calling the rejection as wrong.

24-Feb-2019

EIGHT-EYED AND EVERYWHERE

At least five new species of jumping spiders have been discovered from different parts of India over the past year
Last week, a group of arachnologists from Thrissur came across a spider that had never been reported before. Hidden in the crevices of the bark of teak trees, Cocalus lacinia are hairy, yellow-brown spiders with a distinctive v-shaped mark on their head.
They happen to be closely related to a species of spider in Australia, adding to the theory that the continents were once united.
A couple of year earlier, this time in Assam, another researcher stumbled upon a large, hairy eight-eyed arachnid that had made a nest for itself between two leaves.
He snapped a picture and posted it on Instagram, and last December, it was established that this was Hyllus diardi, a spider known to be so ‘friendly’, it’s kept as a pet in parts of the world.
In the middle of last year, in West Bengal, a wildlife photographer chanced upon a bunch of very tiny spiders lurking in an orchard.
They were identified later as belonging to the genus Neobrettus, which lives, hunts and breeds in the dried leaves of the banana plant.
They are related to another genus, Portia, found across south and southeast Asia, Africa and Australia and known for their remarkably intelligent hunting behaviour and their penchant for feeding on other spiders.

24-Feb-2019

CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION RULES EVMS ARE 'INFORMATION' UNDER RTI ACT

An Electronic Voting Machine is "information" under the Right to Information Act and can be demanded by an applicant from the Election Commission of India on a payment of Rs 10, the Central Information Commission has ruled.
This implies the Election Commission has to respond to an RTI application seeking the EVM either by providing it or refusing it under exemption clauses in the Act. But that also can be contested before the CIC, the highest adjudicating authority in RTI matters.
Deciding a unique RTI application, through which the applicant had sought an EVM from the Election Commission, Chief Information Commissioner Sudhir Bhargava recently said the machine was covered under the definition of "information" and can be demanded from the ECI.
The Election Commission had rejected the application saying the EVMs held by it do not come under the definition of "information".
The applicant, Rajaak Khan Haider, approached the CIC with a strong argument that as per Section 2(f) and 2(i) of the RTI Act, the definition of 'information' and 'record' also includes 'any model or any sample' held by a public authority, calling the rejection as wrong.