Capturing currents

  17 th Conference of Parties of United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity gets underway in Yerevan, Armenia Yerevan, Armenia 19.10.26 Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Executive Secretary Ms. Astrid Schomacher with other leaders at the inaguration of UNCBD COP 17 in Yerevan Armnia on 18th October 2026.  Official delegations were welcomed by Armenia’s Environment Minster with UN Secretary General Antonio Gueterres beside him on Friday  in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. The opening ceremony on 18.10.26 officially kicked off the 17 th Conference of Parties to the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity. The technical and Plenary Sessions are slated to commence at 10.00 a.m. in Yerevan from today Monday 19th October 2026. Headline was that the deforestation in the Amazon basin has decreased substantially for the first time since satellite monitoring commenced in 1988. The Amazon recorded a historic low in deforestation in 2026: 3.335 km², the lo...

                                An Open Letter to Anant Ambani A picture of abandoned "feral elephants" in interview Island, Andaman District.  © Department of Information and Publicity, UT Administration of ANI  By Malini Shankar  Digital Discourse Reliance chairman billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s son Anant Ambani has displayed some exemplary priorities in his own life. His passion for wildlife conservation saw the creation of Vantara a sprawling, reportedly well kept private zoo in their family backyard – Jamnagar in western Gujarat. Whether or not permits are available from CITES / UNCBD is a moot point as the influential billionaire has the blessings and patronage of the Indian Prime Minister himself. Anant Ambani is in the news again because he is trying to save Hippos in deceased Drug Kingpin Pablo Escobar’s private zoo from the Firing Squad; the Hippos are facing starvati...

By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Foundation Here’s another Earth Day. Another day to pay lip service to the environmental cause. But the real issues stare at us without recourse to solutions. Human wildlife conflict remains at the centre of environmental challenges facing conservation administrative challenges and politically expedient indecisiveness sustains the conflict instead of solving it. Meet Bobby Chand alias Bobby Bhai of Nainital district in Uttarakhand a survivor of a Conflict Tiger attack; Bobby survived a tiger attack in Panod Nalla range (29°30'27.22"N, 79° 6'48.59"E) of Corbett Tiger Reserve on 17 th June 2022 at around noon. He barely survived the attack. As Bobby sat in front of the (under-construction) bridge he was not aware of the nursing tigress who was possibly shifting her cubs behind the half constructed bridge in the thick tropical evergreen forests just beyond. Forest officials at that time said Bobby was in drunken stupor at that p...

  POTUS is yet to learn in his second term that statecraft is not a business transaction. By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Foundation There is fiendish delight in seeing a far right politician climb down on his far-fetched xenophobic war mongering rhetoric. US President Donald Trump fell prey to his own political fantasies of plundering Iranian oil reserves by proclaiming that Iran was ready to fire nukes at US interests and war was inevitable. Turns out that Iran has plenty of ammunition but does not have enough fuel to power them to land anywhere across the Atlantic. Obviously no lessons have been learnt from history. His Republican predecessor President George Bush II nd proclaimed Iraq was  under  threat under Saddam Hussain because he was developing Weapons of Mass Destruction and triggered the 2 nd Gulf War needlessly. WMDs were never found. Bush Junior never admitted to his failure. That accrues to a severe loss of face because of lack of credibility. ...

  By Malini Shankar  Digital Discourse Foundation  The aviation fiasco that led to the near collapse of a leading and successful private sector airline in India is being blamed on the federal Ministry of Aviation’s FDTL instructions. Halting operations of an entire fleet because the airline had not heeded to directives of limiting pilots’ fatigue bespeaks of a lot of rough edges inside the corrosive industry itself. The directive sought to protect the interests of overworked pilots and welfare of the passenger whose safety would be compromised if overworked fatigued pilots were being asked to overwork that too in unfair pay scales. The Ministry had given the directive with an 18 months window to implement changes…. Meaning, more pilots ought to have been recruited by 1.11.25. Why didn’t Indigo recruit more pilots in this period? Why did the DGCA not hold Indigo accountable by October 2025 itself? This is the one largest question that begs an open, scrutinisable answer....

মালিনী শংকৰৰ দ্বাৰা ডিজিটেল ডিচকোৰ্চ ফাউণ্ডেশ্যন দ্বিতীয় ট্ৰাম্প প্ৰশাসনত ভাৰতৰ নতুন মন্ত্ৰ স্বদেশী। ৰাষ্ট্ৰপতি ট্ৰাম্পে আমেৰিকাৰ অৰ্থনীতি ৰক্ষাৰ বাবে অৰ্থনৈতিকভাৱে আগশাৰীৰ সকলো দেশৰ নেতাক অসাধাৰণ শুল্ক আৰোপ কৰি ভাবুকি দিছে... আমেৰিকাৰ স্বাধীনৰ বাবে! প্ৰধানমন্ত্ৰী নৰেন্দ্ৰ মোদীয়ে স্বদেশীক আমেৰিকাৰ আমদানি শুল্ক বা শুল্ক পৰিহাৰ কৰিবলৈ কৰা স্পষ্ট আহ্বান, শুল্কৰ বিশাল বিত্তীয় বোজাৰ পৰা হাত সাৰিবলৈ থলুৱা উৎপাদনক পুনৰুজ্জীৱিত কৰাৰ বাবে দেশবাসীৰ বাবে প্ৰায় এক অসহায় আহ্বান আছিল। স্বাধীনতালৈ মোডীৰ আহ্বান ভাৰতত উৎপাদনক পুনৰুজ্জীৱিত কৰাৰ এক সুযোগ যিয়ে কেৱল গান্ধীজীৰ আহ্বানৰ দৰে জাতীয়তাবাদক পূৰণ কৰাই নহয়, গান্ধী চৰকা ব্যৰ্থ হোৱা এক সতেজ নতুন সুযোগ প্ৰদান কৰে। ল’ইন কাপোৰ এখন ঘূৰোৱাটো এটা প্ৰেৰণাতকৈ বেছি নাছিল যেন লাগে, আফটাৰ-থ’টত। কল্পনা কৰকচোন যদি ভাৰতৰ মানৱ উন্নয়ন সূচকাংক আৰু জিডিপি বৃদ্ধিৰ বাবে স্বাধীনতাৰ দৰ্শনক খিলঞ্জীয়া কৰি তুলিব পৰা যায়। স্ব-নিৰ্মিত কাপোৰ নিৰ্মাণৰ বাবে চকা এটা ঘূৰাই দিলে আজিৰ আন্তঃসংযোগী বিশ্ব অৰ্থনীতিৰ অনুভূমিক আৰু সৰ্বাংগীন বিত্তীয় বৃদ্ধিত অৰিহণা যোগাব বুলি স্পষ...