It’s their daily riyaaz. Young girls in white, sarods in tow, walk in single file to the home of their Guru, Harjinder Singh. Today it is Bilawal, a morning raga, they are practising, the sun still some time away. It’s a magical moment. In Bhaini Sahib, the days are filled with music. For the 1,500 families in the village, there are no short-cuts to a passion passed down many generations. By tradition, at least one member of each family learns Hindustani classical music. Mellifluous notes of the dilruba, sitar and sarod soothe the ears even before the hour-and-a-half drive from Ludhiana winds up at the village. But even on a freezing winter’s dawn, the villagers will politely tell you that nobody is permitted to speak without the approval of Satguru Uday Singh, who heads the Namdhari sect here. The permission takes a few hours coming. “Music is meditation; so we start teaching the children at a young age and generally follow the time cycle of ragas. It is easy for them to soak in the rudiments of a raga. When they grow up, they get attached to music which leaves a lasting impact on their lives,” Harjinder Singh says. The tradition of learning from maestros began with Satguru Jagjit Singh, who desired that every child in Bhaini Sahib should learn from maestros, a practice that has endured till date. Gurpreet Singh, an athlete who has represented Punjab at the national level, does not miss a single day’s practice on his dilruba. Music has made him a better man, he says. For the pizza-rolling Gurmukh Singh Namdhari or the shoe-shop owner Sham Singh Namdhari, music comes first. They pay obeisance to music and then open their shops.
Fearing stepped up activities after two top militant commanders drafted ‘Operation Tiger’, the Jammu & Kashmir police have asked its personnel “to desist from visiting their families in south Kashmir for the next few months”.‘Impending threat’A communiqué, issued by the police brass and accessed by The Hindu, has asked police heads to brief their personnel regarding “the impending threat to ensure life and property of police personnel is well secured”. It has directed policemen “to exercise extreme caution while visiting their homes.” “Policemen should preferably avoid visiting their homes for the next few months as their security is of paramount importance,” it read.Police sources said two top commanders of the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar-e-Taiba held a meeting in Pulwama’s Koil recently to finalise their new strategy “to go after the local policemen”. According to police investigations, handlers across the Line of Control have given their nod to start ‘Operation Tiger’ focusing on attacks on policemen. Militants have already heightened activities against policemen. On Saturday night, suspected militants barged into the houses of two policemen and ransacked households in Shopian district. Police sources said the policemen were taken inside local mosques “to announce their decision to quit the police service, while asking the locals not to joins the police ranks”.For the first time since militancy broke out in Kashmir in 1989, militants entered the houses of over six policemen, including two Deputy Inspector General-rank officers, and warned their families of consequences “if the police officers try to harass the families of militants”. The militants are pressuring the police to distance itself from operations against militant outfits, said a police officer.Meanwhile, in the past 24 hours, militants released two videos showing a mainstream political leader and a traders’ body head distancing themselves from any mainstream political party.“It’s dirty politics. People are dying and losing their eyesight. I beg your pardon. I will never join politics,” said a PDP worker in south Kashmir in an undated video. Another video shows a Pulwama trader quitting the local traders’ federation, while raising slogans in favour of Islam and freedom.PDP worker Bashir Ahmad Dar, who owned a medical shop, was killed on Saturday night and another was injured in Pulwama. Unidentified gunmen on Sunday beat up PDP workers in Anantnag’s Kokernag too.
Odisha government has formally named the Outer Wheeler island in Bhadrak district as APJ Abdul Kalam Island as a tribute to the former president on his second death anniversary on Thursday.The revenue and disaster management department on Wednesday had issued a gazette notification after obtaining no objection certificate from the ministry of home affairs, said revenue and disaster management minister Maheswar Mohanty.Mohanty on Thurrsday handed over a copy of the gazette notification to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who had earlier announced to name the Wheeler Island after Kalam.Patnaik paid tribute to Kalam at a function on the occasion of the former president’s second death anniversary.He recalled Kalam’s emotional attachment with the interim test range at Chandipur in Balasore district and Wheeler Island in Bhadrak district.Kalam had spent most of his time in these two places as part of his efforts to develop missiles for the protection of the country, the chief minister said after paying floral tributes.
Veteran actress Sharmila Tagore has filed a complaint on behalf of the Bhopal royal family against occupants of a prime residential property in the picturesque Koh-e-Fiza area , following which the district administration has issued notices to them.Sharmila, wife of cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi Saif Ali Khan’s mother, has claimed ownership of the property.Pataudi was the rightful heir of the royal family of Bhopal’s princely state as he was the grandson of the last Nawab of Bhopal, Hamidullah Khan.“A couple of months back, Sharmila Tagore had claimed ownership on the land of Dar-usalam, a residential property in Koh—e—Fiza, and urged to get this property evicted. We have now served the notices to the present occupants — Azam Khan and Nawab Raza — to furnish their replies. These persons were named by her,” Tehsildar, Bairagarh circle, Ajay Pratap Singh Patel said.The administration was still waiting for the reply.The actress reportedly had said in her written complaint to the district administration that these persons (Syed Nawab Raza and Azam) had trespassed into her property.She has also alleged that they, along with some anti—social elements, broke locks of the house and stole some precious antiques, articles, furniture etc and has also accused the duo of forging the property ownership documents.Dar-us-Salam, the property in question, was the official residence of Chief Justice of the princely state of Bhopal, Justice Salamuddin Khan. The property is reportedly occupied by Azam Khan, husband of late Mahira Salamuddin who was the granddaughter of Justice Salamuddin.After the death of Mahira Salamuddin, Azam Khan reportedly put the property on sale citing a ‘hibanama’ or a gift—deed from Nawab to the Salamuddin family as ownership document.When contacted, Azam Khan, however, said that he was yet to receive any notice.“I have not received any notice so far. I cannot talk more,” he told PTI over phone.
Three Special Task Force (STF) personnel were injured on Tuesday, one of them seriously, when Maoists triggered a pipe- bomb blast in Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-hit Sukma district, police said. The incident took place at around 3 p.m. in the forests under Fulbagdi police station limits when a joint team of security forces was returning after an anti-Maoist operation, a senior police official told PTI. Separate teams of security forces, comprising CRPF, STF, DRG (District Reserve Guard) and district force, had launched the operation since Monday in the interior forests of Sukma, around 400 km from here, the official said. Maoists are known to mount attacks on I-Day.
Nagpur: A couple of days after he openly attacked the government from the floor of Assembly, former Maharashtra cabinet minister and senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse on Wednesday skipped the Rashtriya Swayamsevk Sangh’s yearly workshop in Nagpur for the BJP legislators fuelling speculations in the media about his future course of action.The disgruntled BJP leader, who lost his place in the Devendra Fadnavis cabinet over allegations of graft, claimed that he could not participate in the RSS workshop because of illness.“Since the last three-four days, I have been experiencing excruciating pain in my hip joint. I am not even able to walk properly. Yesterday, the pain was unbearable so I had to consult a doctor in Nagpur late last night, because of which I could not go to this workshop,” Mr. Khadse told The Hindu. Mr. Khadse’s absence from the RSS workshop led to many eyebrows being raised as it happened a couple of days after he was openly invited by the opposition to switch sides. Mr. Khadse, the six-time legislator from Muktainagar Assembly constituency in Jalgaon district, reportedly told some Congress legislators that he would do so at “an appropriate time”. He claimed today that those remarks were made in a lighter vein. “I have been working for the BJP since the time the party was far away from power. I promoted many youngsters who are big leaders now. It is painful to see that they don’t stand behind you when you are facing problems. The allegations against me were a part of a conspiracy. But I will rise again,” Mr. Khadse said.Asked about the possible inclusion of Narayan Rane in the Cabinet and his party’s continuous disregard to him, he said he had been working for the party and not for a ministerial berth.“I don’t need rehabilitation. I am an insider and an established leader working for over 40 years in the party. Rane is coming from outside which why he needs rehabilitation. I am active in the party and a member of the national executive. Not being a part of the Cabinet doesn’t mean that I am sidelined. There was an inquiry (over the allegations levelled against me) and the truth will come out soon I did not buy the land in question. My son in law, who is a British citizen, bought it. I had no involvement in it. It (allegations) was only in the media but there was no proof. The media never showed my side of the story. Media loves me, that’s why I don’t talk to the media much. More than 80 per cent of my property is ancestral,” Mr. Khadse stated.When asked about his open criticism of the government in Assembly, he said he was only raising “people’s issues”.
A cyclonic circulation over Haryana was the trigger for the deadly dust storm that swept parts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, weather experts said on Thursday, estimating that the wind speed during the storm might have gone up to 100 kms per hour.The winds were so violent that a number of houses collapsed and electricity poles and trees got uprooted, as the severe dust storm swept parts of these states.The phenomenon was restricted to these two states, largely because of external and domestic reasons, experts said.There were primarily four reasons that lead to the thunderstorm — excessive heating, availability of moisture, instability in atmosphere and a trigger for the storm, India Meteorological Department (IMD) Additional Director General Mritunjay Mohapatra said.“The northern plains have been witnessing temperatures of over 40 degree Celsius. There were two sources of moisture –a western disturbance over north Pakistan and adjoining Jammu and Kashmir and easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal,” Mr. Mohaptara said. | Photo Credit: Reuters A tree that fell in high wind during a storm onto a vehicle in Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh on May 2, 2018. | Photo Credit: AFP Laxman Singh Rathore, former Director General of the IMD, said wind speed is normally around 50 kmph in a thunderstorm.“In case of a dust storm, due to excessive heating, the water from the clouds evaporates before it could land. So soil is dry and the severe winds lift up this soil up to 500 metres above the land.“The wind speed can rise up to 100 kmph and in some case it can reach 130 kmph making conditions severe,” Rathore, who is also a member of the National Disaster Managment Authority, said.
The cold winds from the western disturbance was making atmosphere unstable.“The trigger was a cyclonic circulation over Haryana,” Mohapatra said.This led to the formation of two cloud patches, said Mahesh Palawat, Vice President (Meteorology and Climate Change) of Skymet, a private firm that provides weather forecastOne patch moved to north of Delhi, while another patch moved over the Alwar, Agra, and Dholpur belt, which was more deadly.Mohapatra said it was difficult to record the wind speed as the phenomenon was restricted to only small patches. In Delhi, where a milder version of the dust storm and thunderstorm struck, the wind speed was recorded as 69 kmph.However, Palawat estimated that the wind speed would have been more than 100 kmph. A damaged electric pole seen in a busy market in Alwar, Rajasthan on May 3, 2018.
Lok Sabha MP from Madhepura Rajesh Ranjan a.k.a. Pappu Yadav’s Jan Adhikar Party on Saturday observed a bandh in Bihar demanding special category status to the State.Party supporters burnt tyres near the Dak Bungalow Chowk and blocked traffic in Patna during the bandh. Similar reports of tyre burning, traffic blockades and protest marches came from different parts of the State.The party had called a day-long Bihar bandh on Saturday to press for implementation of various demands that included special category status to Bihar, safety and security of women and providing quality education and employment for youths.Pappu faintsMr. Yadav, who led the bandh in Patna, fainted at Dak Bungalow Chowk due to scorching sun but soon regained consciousness. Addressing his supporters, Mr. Yadav threatened to disrupt the Lok Sabha proceedings over the issue.Blames Lalu, Nitish“Bihar was denied special status when the UPA was in power at the Centre for 10 years, of which Lalu Prasad was a part. I thank Nitish Kumar for raising the issue, but where was he when the special category status was accorded to other States during Atalji’s regime, in which he was a Minister,” Mr. Yadav asked. “I will not allow the Lok Sabha to run… It does not matter even if I am marshalled out from the House… I cannot compromise on twin issues of special category status and creation of employment opportunities for youths of Bihar,” he added.
A postmaster in Odisha’s Malkangiri district was abducted and killed allegedly by Maoists on suspicion that he was a police informer, Malkangiri SP Jagmohan Meena said on Thursday.Around 20 armed ultras stormed Kamalapada village on Wednesday night and abducted Narayan Palashi (45), the postmaster of Papular post office, Mr. Meena said.The body of Palashi with gunshot wounds, was found by his family members and residents on the village outskirts.On being informed about the incident, a team from Chitrakonda police station rushed to the site and launched an investigation, the SP said.A handwritten note in Odia, which was found near the body, stated that the postmaster was “eliminated as he was operating as a police informer”, the police said, adding the note, which had CPI (Maoist) mentioned on the letter-head, also warned that “anyone found assisting the police in anti-naxal operations would be punished in a similar manner”.Combing operations and patrolling in the area have been intensified by the security forces in the aftermath of the killing, the SP said.A high alert was sounded in Malkangiri district on August 7 to prevent possible influx of Maoists from neighbouring Chhattisgarh, where security forces gunned down 15 ultras on Monday.
As Gujarat’s groundnut purchase scam unfolds, it brings to the fore the alleged role of local BJP leaders in the Saurashtra region, where police have already arrested 30 people, including four senior employees of cooperative institutions.CM worriedInsiders in the government claim that Chief Minister Vijay Rupani appears worried over the fallout of the scam involving alleged irregularities and financial wrongdoing in groundnut purchase worth ₹ 4000 crore at Minimum Support Price (MSP) from farmers.The irregularities include purchasing low quality groundnut, stealing off groundnut by mixing soil, mud and sand in sacks and setting the warehouses on fire where the stock was stored.According to police officials, in each sack of 35 kg, more than 10 kg mud and sand was mixed while the same quantity of groundnut was stolen away and sold to millers in systemic fraud.This is how the scam was carried out — a coterie comprising officials of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and the Gujarat State Co-Operative Cotton Federation Limited (GUJCOT) along with local politicians and middlemen allegedly stole and sold off the groundnut procured from farmers to oil millers.Stocks adulteratedThe stocks of groundnut were then adulterated with sand and pebbles to show that there was no loss of weight in the stocks after groundnut was illegally sold off to oil mills in the region.Moreover, there have been four instances of fires in the last six months in warehouses where these stocks were kept. Investigators believe it to be an attempt to cover-up the adulteration. Around ₹ 50.45 crore worth of groundnut was destroyed in the fires. The entire scam got exposed when 31,500 sacks, each containing 35 kg of groundnut, were found to contain huge quantity of pebbles and sand in a private warehouse where the bags were stored after procurement. These bags were kept by NAFED in a private warehouse in Pedhla village of Rajkot district. Subsequently, the police have unearthed a racket to adulterate bags of groundnut in Junagadh district and other places.Saparia’s role alleged “There is direct involvement of the then Agriculture Minister Chiman Saparia because his Jamjodhpur Cooperative purchased groundnut, which was found mixed with mud and sand,” said Leader of the Opposition Paresh Dhanani, who has been campaigning in Saurashtra districts to expose the role of members associated with the ruling party.Mr. Dhanani alleged that the former BJP minister is being shielded by the State authorities and the police, who are arresting only small-time foot soldiers, leaving out senior politicians of the ruling party.Among those arrested by the police include Magan Zalavadiya, warehousing manager of Gujarat State Co-Operative Cotton Federation Limited (GUJCOT), for allegedly colluding with the members of a cooperative society of Junagadh in adulterating groundnut procured from farmers.The investigators have foundtransactions worth several crores in Mr. Zalavadia’s accounts after when the procurement was under way last year.
Relatives of two cattle traders who were killed in Jharkhand’s Latehar district by suspected cow protection vigilantes in March 2016 have claimed threat to their lives and urged the State High Court not to grant bail to the killers who were convicted by the trial court last week.Eight persons were sentenced to life imprisonment on December 21 for beating to death Majlum Ansari (32) and Imtiaz Khan (12), who were reportedly taking their cattle to a village fair for sale, and hanging their bodies from a tree on March 17, 2016. Those convicted in the case are Manoj Sahu, Pramod Sao, Awadhesh Sao, Mithilesh Sao, Manoj Kumar Sao, Arun Sao, Sahadev Soni and Bishal Tiwari.At a press conference on Wednesday, Majlum’s wife Saira Bibi and elder brother Afzal said the killers had threatened the relatives of the victims with dire consequences. Afzal said the family had been going through tough times after the murder of Majlum, a father of five children. Imtiaz’s parents Azad Khan and Nazma Bibi said their lives were shattered after the death of their 12-year-old son. Imtiaz, a Class VI student, used to assist his father in his business. Shop shutAfraid of further attacks, Azad Khan shut his shop and his younger son dropped out of school. Nazma Bibi said the family did not even have enough money to get their two daughters married. “I request the government to provide proper security to my family. Also, the State government should provide financial assistance and a job to us,” Nazma Bibi added.The relatives said they had not got enough compensation from the government. The two families refused to accept cheques for ₹1 lakh each from the local administration as the amount was too little. They demanded government job for one member of each family, apart from appropriate compensation.
Peoples Democratic Party president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday chose the third death anniversary of party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to apologise for her controversial remarks made in 2016 and her father’s decision to ally with the BJP in a desperate bid to rebuild the party. Likening the alliance with the BJP to “consuming a cup of poison”, Ms. Mufti said her party took the decision “to resolve the Kashmir issue”. “However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wasted his mandate vis-à-vis Kashmir as well as the country,” she said. She was speaking to a thinly attended workers’ convection in Anantnag, after visiting the graveyard of her father in Bijbehara.Apologising to the people of J&K for her “toffee and milk” comment made in reaction to the unrest in the Valley following militant Burhan Wani’s killing in 2016, the former Chief Minister said she didn’t want to hurt any sentiments and the “the remarks were a pain from the heart of a mother”. Referring to the recent exit of around 10 prominent faces from the PDP, including four former Ministers, as “garbage gone with the wind”, she said: “The BJP in 2016 was about to agree to my demands but some persons within the party created trouble and went to Nagpur and asked them to sideline Mehbooba to allow formation of a new alliance. My position was compromised,” she said.She defended her recent visit the families of militants, saying “any harassment of militants’ families should stop”. “During my tenure as Chief Minister, I also visited the houses of slain policemen and bank security guards. I went to visit the families of militants to send a message that any harassment is unacceptable,” Ms. Mufti said.National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah and Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone also paid their tributes to Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on his death anniversary. Mr. Abdullah questioned Ms. Mufti’s remarks on those who quit her party. “Last year at this very time they were defending her in the assembly & council. With her they were “honest, decent, hardworking” people & after they leave they become “garbage”. The world of politics is indeed a cruel world,” tweeted Mr. Abdullah.
The candidates in Ghaziabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh are asking for vote in the name of development or the lack of it.At a booth workers’ meeting at the BJP office in the posh Raj Nagar area of Ghaziabad, where his supporters are indulging in religious slogans, General (retd.) V.K. Singh, who is seeking re-election, says he is a fauji (army man) by caste and religion.“In the Army, I was in the Rajput Regiment. Many people think that it comprises only Rajputs. The fact is it has a number of Brahmins, Gujars, and Muslims as well. The Rajput badge is just a symbol of pride,” says Gen. Singh.With BJP legislators in all five Assembly constituencies in Ghaziabad, the party seems to have a head start. “We are seeking votes on the basis of the development projects that we have brought to the city. From the extension of Delhi Metro’s Red Line to the widening of NH-24, all the projects have been completed without delay,” says Ajay Sharma, secretary, western Uttar Pradesh unit, BJP.Outsider tag In a constituency that is known to favour the outsiders, in 2014 Gen. Singh decimated another heavyweight outsider, Raj Babbar, by a margin of over 5 lakh votes. But this time he is up against two feisty locals — SP-BSP-RLD combine’s candidate Suresh Bansal and Congress’ nominee Dolly Sharma. Sources say even in the local BJP unit there are many who see Gen. Singh as an outsider but his closeness to the central leadership ensured that he got the ticket. While the BJP supporters swear by the development agenda of the Narendra Modi government, Suresh Bansal describes it as a “charade”. “Be it the expansion of the Metro network to Ghaziabad city or the construction of the elevated road that has cut down the travel time between Delhi and Ghaziabad significantly, both the projects were launched during the tenure of the Samajwadi Party government. I am raising the issue of joblessness, farm crises and the diminishing social amity in society,” says Mr. Bansal.This January, to the surprise of many, Ghaziabad finished third in the country in terms of cleanliness and sanitation in rural areas in a survey carried out by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. Mr. Bansal maintains that the cleanliness drive is limited to a few areas and it has made hawkers jobless. “Those who talk of Swachh Bharat should visit Sajwan Nagar, which is sitting on a mound of garbage,” he says.‘New image’A postgraduate with no criminal record, Mr. Bansal underlines that he fits into the new image that SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is trying to build for his party. For Mr. Bansal, who was a BSP MLA from Ghaziabad city from 2012-2017, the challenge lies in ensuring that the votes of the SP and the RLD get transferred to him. “It is not a worry. The voters will rise above the caste identity. We are working towards a bigger goal: saving democracy from an undeclared emergency.”Mr. Bansal was given a ticket at the last moment in place of Surendra Munni, a Brahmin, apparently because the Congress has also fielded a Brahmin candidate, Dolly Sharma. An MBA degree holder, she is banking on young voters.Minority concerns A few metres down the Ambedkar Road is the Congress office where Haji Akhtar Chaudhary, a farmer from the Vijaynagar area and a staunch Congress supporter, is finding hard to concentrate on the inane speeches being made from the stage. “The BJP has one agenda: Sabka saath, muslamaan ka vinash. Issues like love jihad are being raised again,” he says.Mr. Chaudhary is pained by the sudden closure of Haj House which was sealed for violating the norms of the National Green Tribunal. He holds the Yogi Adityanath government responsible for it.
The latest survey of U.S. government workers confirms that 2013 was a tough year to be a federal employee. And the malaise from sequestration and continued political gridlock (although the survey was taken 5 months before the 16-day government shutdown in October) seems to have been felt especially hard by those working at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).The annual Best Places to Work in the Federal Government survey released this week records a 3–point drop in the average score across all government agencies, to 57.8 on a scale of 100. That’s the third straight decline, and the lowest score in the survey’s 10-year history. The news for NIH is even worse: Its score plunged by 6.5 points, to 62.7.The biggest factor in an organization’s performance is what workers think of their bosses, according to the Partnership for Public Service, which analyzes the survey done each year by the Office of Personnel Management. And NIH Director Francis Collins and his team took it on the chin this year: NIH’s score on effective leadership fell by 4.2 points, to 55.4.Sign up for our daily newsletterGet more great content like this delivered right to you!Country *AfghanistanAland IslandsAlbaniaAlgeriaAndorraAngolaAnguillaAntarcticaAntigua and BarbudaArgentinaArmeniaArubaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBermudaBhutanBolivia, Plurinational State ofBonaire, Sint Eustatius and SabaBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswanaBouvet IslandBrazilBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryBrunei DarussalamBulgariaBurkina FasoBurundiCambodiaCameroonCanadaCape VerdeCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChadChileChinaChristmas IslandCocos (Keeling) IslandsColombiaComorosCongoCongo, The Democratic Republic of theCook IslandsCosta RicaCote D’IvoireCroatiaCubaCuraçaoCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkDjiboutiDominicaDominican RepublicEcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEquatorial GuineaEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFalkland Islands (Malvinas)Faroe IslandsFijiFinlandFranceFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabonGambiaGeorgiaGermanyGhanaGibraltarGreeceGreenlandGrenadaGuadeloupeGuatemalaGuernseyGuineaGuinea-BissauGuyanaHaitiHeard Island and Mcdonald IslandsHoly See (Vatican City State)HondurasHong KongHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIran, Islamic Republic ofIraqIrelandIsle of ManIsraelItalyJamaicaJapanJerseyJordanKazakhstanKenyaKiribatiKorea, Democratic People’s Republic ofKorea, Republic ofKuwaitKyrgyzstanLao People’s Democratic RepublicLatviaLebanonLesothoLiberiaLibyan Arab JamahiriyaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourgMacaoMacedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic ofMadagascarMalawiMalaysiaMaldivesMaliMaltaMartiniqueMauritaniaMauritiusMayotteMexicoMoldova, Republic ofMonacoMongoliaMontenegroMontserratMoroccoMozambiqueMyanmarNamibiaNauruNepalNetherlandsNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaraguaNigerNigeriaNiueNorfolk IslandNorwayOmanPakistanPalestinianPanamaPapua New GuineaParaguayPeruPhilippinesPitcairnPolandPortugalQatarReunionRomaniaRussian FederationRWANDASaint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da CunhaSaint Kitts and NevisSaint LuciaSaint Martin (French part)Saint Pierre and MiquelonSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesSamoaSan MarinoSao Tome and PrincipeSaudi ArabiaSenegalSerbiaSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSint Maarten (Dutch part)SlovakiaSloveniaSolomon IslandsSomaliaSouth AfricaSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSouth SudanSpainSri LankaSudanSurinameSvalbard and Jan MayenSwazilandSwedenSwitzerlandSyrian Arab RepublicTaiwanTajikistanTanzania, United Republic ofThailandTimor-LesteTogoTokelauTongaTrinidad and TobagoTunisiaTurkeyTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUgandaUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomUnited StatesUruguayUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofVietnamVirgin Islands, BritishWallis and FutunaWestern SaharaYemenZambiaZimbabweI also wish to receive emails from AAAS/Science and Science advertisers, including information on products, services and special offers which may include but are not limited to news, careers information & upcoming events.Required fields are included by an asterisk(*)“I think it’s a trickle-down effect from a lot of factors,” says Phil Lenowitz, deputy director of NIH’s Office of Human Resources. “These things weigh you down, and you start looking for someone to blame.”Lenowitz says those factors include a continued pay freeze, a 30% cut in travel budgets, and the elimination of a pot of money for year-end bonuses for exceptional service. Although these belt-tightening measures were mandated either by the White House or Congress, Lenowitz thinks that some employees may want to blame their bosses for not “pushing back harder.”Some 376,000 federal workers filled out the 84-question survey, and the response rate was 48%. Most federal research agencies cluster slightly above the midpoint for all federal units. (Click here to see table.)The National Science Foundation, for example, earned a score nearly identical to NIH’s, at 62.8. But that number represents a 1.4 point jump from 2012. And NSF’s leadership team—which changed 2 months before the survey was taken when Subra Suresh resigned and Cora Marrett was named acting NSF director—scored 3.7 points higher in 2013.NASA earned the highest score among large agencies (those with more than 15,000 employees), gaining 1.2 points to 74. And two of its subunits, Langley Research Center and Goddard Space Flight Center, topped the parent agency with identical overall scores of 76.1. Although the agency as a whole did well, NASA headquarters suffered a 2.2-point in its rating, to 67.8.The Smithsonian Institution, which conducts its own survey and feeds the results to the Partnership for Public Service, did even better than the space-related agencies, with a score of 77.2. And the Patent and Trademark Office topped the charts among science-related organizations, recording a 4.1-point rise to 84.4.Although it’s impossible to make a causal connection between the continued roller coaster budget rides and worker attitudes toward their agency, this year’s survey contains data that seem to point in that direction. The Office of Management and Budget, the White House’s lead agency in the budget wars, fell 14 points this year, from an impressive 70.7 in 2012 to a middling 56.7 in 2013.
For the first time, a drug being developed in part by a controversial new National Institutes of Health (NIH) center aimed at speeding drug development has been picked up by a major pharmaceutical company. Baxter International has acquired the biotech company developing Aes-103, a small molecule for treating sickle cell disease.Baxter’s acquisition of this drug is a victory for NIH’s 3-year-old National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). One of its programs is Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND), launched in 2009 with the aim of helping NIH and university scientists develop treatments for disorders that pharma has ignored because the target patient population is too small or poor. The $23-million-a-year program does not award grants, but instead provides support, such as chemists who tweak compounds to work better and regulatory experts who help navigate approval for clinical trials.“This is the first drug to make it out of that process,” NCATS Director Chris Austin tells ScienceInsider. “So it’s a really nice validation” of the center’s model.Sign up for our daily newsletterGet more great content like this delivered right to you!Country *AfghanistanAland IslandsAlbaniaAlgeriaAndorraAngolaAnguillaAntarcticaAntigua and BarbudaArgentinaArmeniaArubaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBermudaBhutanBolivia, Plurinational State ofBonaire, Sint Eustatius and SabaBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswanaBouvet IslandBrazilBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryBrunei DarussalamBulgariaBurkina FasoBurundiCambodiaCameroonCanadaCape VerdeCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChadChileChinaChristmas IslandCocos (Keeling) IslandsColombiaComorosCongoCongo, The Democratic Republic of theCook IslandsCosta RicaCote D’IvoireCroatiaCubaCuraçaoCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkDjiboutiDominicaDominican RepublicEcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEquatorial GuineaEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFalkland Islands (Malvinas)Faroe IslandsFijiFinlandFranceFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabonGambiaGeorgiaGermanyGhanaGibraltarGreeceGreenlandGrenadaGuadeloupeGuatemalaGuernseyGuineaGuinea-BissauGuyanaHaitiHeard Island and Mcdonald IslandsHoly See (Vatican City State)HondurasHong KongHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIran, Islamic Republic ofIraqIrelandIsle of ManIsraelItalyJamaicaJapanJerseyJordanKazakhstanKenyaKiribatiKorea, Democratic People’s Republic ofKorea, Republic ofKuwaitKyrgyzstanLao People’s Democratic RepublicLatviaLebanonLesothoLiberiaLibyan Arab JamahiriyaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourgMacaoMacedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic ofMadagascarMalawiMalaysiaMaldivesMaliMaltaMartiniqueMauritaniaMauritiusMayotteMexicoMoldova, Republic ofMonacoMongoliaMontenegroMontserratMoroccoMozambiqueMyanmarNamibiaNauruNepalNetherlandsNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaraguaNigerNigeriaNiueNorfolk IslandNorwayOmanPakistanPalestinianPanamaPapua New GuineaParaguayPeruPhilippinesPitcairnPolandPortugalQatarReunionRomaniaRussian FederationRWANDASaint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da CunhaSaint Kitts and NevisSaint LuciaSaint Martin (French part)Saint Pierre and MiquelonSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesSamoaSan MarinoSao Tome and PrincipeSaudi ArabiaSenegalSerbiaSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSint Maarten (Dutch part)SlovakiaSloveniaSolomon IslandsSomaliaSouth AfricaSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSouth SudanSpainSri LankaSudanSurinameSvalbard and Jan MayenSwazilandSwedenSwitzerlandSyrian Arab RepublicTaiwanTajikistanTanzania, United Republic ofThailandTimor-LesteTogoTokelauTongaTrinidad and TobagoTunisiaTurkeyTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUgandaUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomUnited StatesUruguayUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofVietnamVirgin Islands, BritishWallis and FutunaWestern SaharaYemenZambiaZimbabweI also wish to receive emails from AAAS/Science and Science advertisers, including information on products, services and special offers which may include but are not limited to news, careers information & upcoming events.Required fields are included by an asterisk(*)In sickle cell disease, which afflicts 100,000 Americans mostly of African descent, a defect in hemoglobin causes red blood cells to form a sickle shape that blocks small blood vessels. This can result in severe pain and complications such as strokes, and patients often do not survive past middle age. The disorder can be treated with a drug called hydroxyurea, but not all patients respond and many suffer side effects.Aes-103 binds to hemoglobin and prevents red blood cells from sickling; in clinical trials it has reduced pain in patients. AesRx, a biotech company in Newton, Massachusetts, worked with NCATS and NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to move the drug through phase II trials. NIH also provided more than $5 million for clinical trials, among other funding.But it is NCAT’s role that prompted NIH to tout the Baxter acquisition today. “This is a wonderful example of why NCATS was created,” said NIH Director Francis Collins in the press release.The sickle cell project was particularly attractive, says Austin of NCATS, because Aes-103 has unusual chemistry and a novel mechanism that made it too risky for most commercial enterprises. “This project was dead in the water” until NIH picked it up, he says. But with help from TRND experts, “within a year we were in clinical trials.” It could still take years of investment, tweaking, and testing for the drug to reach market.NCATS has drawn skepticism, with critics arguing that it couldn’t improve on industry’s efforts and would siphon funding from basic research—although rare diseases is one area where many agree the agency could play an important role. TRND has completed four other projects; two focusing on drugs for schistosomiasis and Fragile X syndrome were discontinued, and two others “graduated early” from TRND, Austin says, and are being pursued independently by companies.
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