Quick notes: Padres power, Free tution...

• You connect the dots:
  

  > Dec 2013 - Kerala cardinals meet Sonia over green recommendations: Church leaders have been spearheading agitations against restricting commercial activities in ecologically sensitive areas.
  
  > Jayanthi Natarajan's sin: After my removal as Minister, there was widespread coverage in the Kerala media that my removal was because I had notified the order on protection of the Western Ghats, the Kasturirangan Committee report, on December 19, 2013, (just one day before my removal).  My successor Shri Moily, put my orders on hold.
  
  > P T Thomas's sin: I was dropped because I stood for Western Ghats conservation: P T Thomas




• Ganga drying up in summers due to groundwater depletion: “The trend can lead to disastrous effect on the riverine ecology and lead to food scarcity for 115 million people in the Ganga basin.”



• Tamil Nadu's role: Had TN started releasing water from the dam into Kerala when it had reached the critical level of 139 feet, the crisis could have been averted to some extent, officials said. “The 3 feet make a lot of difference. They contain 792 million cubic feet of water, which when released translates into a flow of about 9,000 cusecs, which got added to the flow caused by the rain”.



• Second tunnel in Mullaperiyar dam? “The maximum drawal from the dam through the tunnel is 2,300 cusecs. If this quantum is further increased with an additional tunnel, TN can evacuate more water during monsoons”.



• This is what causes floods and droughts:

This is how India completes the unfinished colonisation mission the British left incomplete in 1947. This is what causes floods and droughts. This is what aggravates climate change. This is how contractors get rich and ordinary people get impoverished. https://t.co/LU4TTZp8IM

— Bittu Sahgal (@BittuSahgal) August 18, 2018




• NYU Makes Tuition Free for All Medical Students: School officials worry that rising tuition and soaring loan balances are pushing new doctors into high-paying fields and contributing to a shortage of researchers and primary care physicians.



• US tech giants plan to fight India's data localisation plans: They plan to intensify lobbying efforts against stringent Indian data localisation requirements, which they say will undermine their growth ambitions in India.
  
  
• The Exercise That Helps Mental Health Most: Team sports, yoga and tai chi have the biggest positive impact on mental health, a large new study concluded. Team sports may have an extra benefit because of the social component, and yoga promotes mindfulness, which is often touted as beneficial for mental health.