Must Read News Articles – January 13th, 2019

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‘Mental health apps have gaps in information’

Only a third encourage users to seek professional help, says NIMHANS study

Why is there a renewed quota debate?

The constitutional amendment passed by Parliament last week seeks to expand the concept of reservation, a form of affirmative action, to favour the “economically weaker sections.”

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‘70% towns along Ganga let out garbage into the river’

Four-and-a-half years after the Centre launched its flagship Namami Gange programme to clean up the Ganga, a government- commissioned assessment has found that 66 towns and cities along the river still have nullahs or drains flowing directly into the Ganga. Almost 85% of these nullahs do not even have screens set up to stop garbage from entering the river.

Quota Bill gets President’s assent, becomes law

President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday gave his assent to the Constitution amendment that provides 10% reservation to the economically backward section in the general category in government jobs and education.

The lowdown on HAL’s order book

HAL is facing a financial crunch owing to non-payment of dues and lack of new firm contracts.

Rapid diagnostic kit for chikungunya detection

An antigen-based chikungunya rapid diagnostic kit developed in 2013 by an international group of researchers was put to test in India, a dengue endemic country, to check its efficiency during co-infection with dengue.

Study shows solar wind fills the night side of the Moon

A study using observations from Chandrayaan 1 mission has found how plasma particles from the solar wind make their way into the Moon’s night side, filling up the wake region, long thought to be devoid of plasma particles. This has significance in understanding bodies like the Moon which do not have global magnetic fields.

Northeast is home to six new lizards

Not just remote forests, even crowded cities could be hiding new species. Researchers have discovered six new species of bent-toed geckos – a type of small lizard – from northeastern India, and one of them is from Assam’s capital, Guwahati.