<ul><li>The <keyword id="6370199" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Federation-of-Sports-Gaming">Indian Federation of Sports Gaming</keyword> (IFSG) is the country’s only self-regulatory industry body.</li><li>It has appointed former <keyword id="137646" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Supreme-Court-judge">Supreme Court judge</keyword> <keyword id="798960" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="AK-Sikri">AK Sikri</keyword> as its Ethics Officer. </li><li>The Indian <keyword id="6370198" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="fantasy-gaming">fantasy gaming</keyword> market is projected to touch $5 billion in the next two years with players like Dream11, Mobile Premier League leading the industry.</li></ul>As the fantasy gaming market grows in India, The Indian Federation of Sports Gaming (IFSG), which is the country’s only self-regulatory industry body, has appointed former Supreme Court judge AK Sikri as its Ethics Officer. Sikri, as the Ombudsman, will be responsible for investigating queries/complaints raised by users. “The sports gaming industry provides an untapped opportunity for sports lovers to showcase their sports knowledge and come closer to their favorite sport. As the industry prepares for the next wave of sports enthusiasts, as a self-regulatory industry body it is important to protect and educate operators and users about the industry and its best practices,” said Justice A K Sikri, Ombudsman, IFSG. IFSG currently has 32 members across fantasy sports operators and sports analytics firms. The Indian fantasy gaming market is projected to touch $5 billion in the next two years and has players like Dream11, Mobile Premier League leading the industry. Dream11, which has over 60 million users is associated with major cricketing events like the Indian Premier League and the ICC World Cup. MS Dhoni is its brand ambassador. Dream11 also became India’s first gaming unicorn in April 2019. Another player in the same field is Mobile Premier League which gained 20 million users within seven months of its launch. It also raised $35.5 million from Sequoia India. MPL has Indian skipper Virat Kohli as its brand ambassador.

Indian regulatory body for fantasy gaming appoints former Supreme Court judge AK Sikri as its Ethics Officer

<ul><li><keyword id="6485927" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="realme" source="Orion">Realme</keyword> launched two new smartphones today, aimed at the budget and mid-range segments.</li><li><keyword id="13360654" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Realme-9-Speed-Edition" source="Orion">Realme 9 Speed Edition</keyword> features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset and a 144Hz display, which is a first in the sub-₹20,000 price segment.</li><li>Here is our review for the Realme 9 Speed Edition, find out if it is an option worth considering for your next smartphone upgrade.</li></ul>Realme today launched two brand new smartphones in the market – the Realme 9 and a slightly more powerful Realme 9 Speed Edition. Aimed at the value for money buyers, Realme’s latest mid-range offering promises to pack a punch and then some – after all, the sub-₹20,000 price segment is getting more crowded than ever before, especially with the launch of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/redmi-note-11-pro-redmi-note-11-pro-and-redmi-watch-2-lite-launched-in-india/articleshow/90096594.cms">Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G</a>. Realme is no stranger to the value for money audience – it is now the second-largest smartphone brand in India with a <a href="https://www.counterpointresearch.com/india-smartphone-share/">17% market share.</a> Unlike other companies, Realme is yet to touch the ultra-expensive price bracket and is doing fairly well in the sub-₹20,000 category – the new Realme 9 series is a continuation of the same philosophy. I have spent almost a week with the Realme 9 Speed Edition and here’s what I found out. Price and availability Realme 9 Speed Edition starts at a price of ₹19,999 for the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage variant. There is another high-end variant that is priced at ₹22,999 and packs in 8GB of RAM and similar storage. It is available on Flipkart and Realme’s own D2C website. Design and build quality At 199 grams, there is a certain heft to the Realme 9 Speed Edition that I felt after taking the phone out of the box for the first time. That being said the in-hand feel was quite satisfactory and holding it was not a difficult task at least for someone with relatively bigger hands. But if you are someone with small hands, then you might take some time to adjust for comfortable one-handed usage. <div type="image" title="DSC_0023_1200x900" msid="90150305" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Realme 9 Speed Edition sports a polycarbonate back. &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The variant with me is in a starry glow colourway which is a combination of blue and pink depending on the angle you are looking from. The matte finish gives it a premium look. The rest of the physical characteristics are what we see on classic Realme mid-rangers. There are volume rockers with satisfactory build quality, a power lock and unlock button incorporating the fingerprint sensor, which is very snappy, and a SIM card slot. The SIM card slot also has space for a microSD card (upto 1TB), alongside two SIM cards. <div type="image" title="DSC_0037_1200x900" msid="90150383" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Realme 9 Speed Edition has a bottom firing loud speaker, USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> There is a camera bump on the back that houses three cameras along with an LED flash. You also get a prominent feature on the Realme 9 Speed Edition which has become endangered lately, a 3.5mm audio jack. This is a welcome feature at a time when the audio jack has been disappearing from smartphones at an alarming rate. <div type="image" title="DSC_0038_1200x900" msid="90150841" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Realme 9 Speed Edition runs on Android 11. &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Software Experience– bloatware alert Quickly touching upon the software, the Realme 9-Speed Edition runs on Android 11 with Realme UI skin out of the box. My initial experience with the smartphone was smooth and fairly responsive. Do note, that this was a brand new unit, which is expected to feel fast and responsive, but usually, these phones tend to get slower with extensive usage. As I used the phone longer, the amount of bloatware stuck out like a sore thumb. Mixed between Google and Realme’s proprietary apps, there are some bad apples, like MX TakaTak and Josh, an image editing app Soloop, and even ShareChat. Thankfully all of the above can be uninstalled, but booting up the device and seeing them first hand was a turn-off for me. Also, I am still adjusting to ads. spamming my notifications. After getting rid of them, the actual user experience is intuitive, with plenty of options to customize including useful widgets to add intuitiveness to the experience, and the usual themes and fonts. Display – bright and smooth This is my first time using a Realme device at a stretch and the screen quality has amazed me. The Realme 9 Speed Edition features a 6.6-inch LCD display with a punch-hole notch. The display is adequately bright and produces vivid colours, which makes it a good device to watch content on. Even though it uses an LCD panel, the black levels are fairly good, having watched Zack Snyder’s Justice League on it. The maximum refresh rate on the Realme 9 Speed Edition is 144Hz. Be it browsing on the internet or playing video games, the experience is buttery smooth, as expected. Complimenting the display is a bottom-firing loudspeaker, which produces high levels of volume but underwhelms in terms of details. Also, if you use the phone in landscape mode, your palm tends to cover the speaker blocking the sound which is annoying for a mono loudspeaker. Performance Realme 9 Speed Edition is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset. In my four days of usage so far, the phone stands out with its smooth and fast performance. It boots up in a jiffy, with zero lags, and handles heavy games like Battlegrounds Mobile India smoothly, even at Ultra HD settings. <div type="image" title="IMG_1348_1200x900" msid="90151790" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Realme 9 Speed Edition runs BGMI on UHD settings. &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> My review unit has 8GB RAM which is ample to hold applications in memory for longer periods of time. Rarely did the phone miss a beat and I would usually jump straight to the point where I left off in a particular app. Internal storage is 128GB which should be sufficient for most users. Battery life and management is where the Realme 9 Speed Edition should get your attention. Packing in a decent 5,000mAh cell, I had to charge the smartphone once in two days. It is worth noting that your mileage in this regard might vary based on your usage patterns. This is incredible, given that the screen refresh rate and audio profiles were maxed out. When I had to put it on charge, the 30W Dart Charge fast charging came in handy, with the Realme 9 Speed Edition going from 0 to 100% in about 50 minutes. Now, it is a 5G smartphone but I can’t test that performance just yet because of the absence of infrastructure. What I can tell you is that on 4G LTE the performance was quite satisfactory, I used it with my Vi sim and there were no call drops. Data connectivity was also stable and 4G internet speeds were decent. Yet again, it is worth noting that your mileage may vary based on network conditions in your area. <div type="image" title="DSC_0029_1200x900" msid="90150684" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Realme 9 Speed Edition has a triple rear camera set-up. &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Camera performance Realme 9 Speed Edition features a triple camera array, housed in the camera island on the back. The primary camera is a 48MP sensor which is snappy to click pictures but the end results are not very pleasing. The colour tones do not look natural, and the pictures have a milk tint to them. The AI retouching does help, but the execution is not perfect yet, and it’s a little obvious that the picture has been enhanced post-capture. <div type="image" title="IMG20220310111733_1200x900" msid="90150481" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Realme 9 Speed Edition features a 48MP primary camera. &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>Then there is a dedicated 2MP monochrome portrait lens, which at first sounds like marketing lingo, but the results are good and worthy of your Instagram feed. <div type="image" title="IMG20220310125331_1200x900" msid="90150501" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Ultra-Wide angle shot from Realme 9 Speed Edition. &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>The 2MP macro sensor produces rich images in perfect lighting conditions, but I won't suggest keeping your hopes high with this one either. <div type="image" title="IMG20220311113447_1200x900" msid="90150532" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Realme 9 Speed Edition portrait selfie. &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The front camera is a 16MP shooter which performs decently by itself. But it's with AI retouching that things get interesting. The AI beauty selfie feature lets you fiddle around with everything on your face. You can change the size of your nose, eyes, and cheeks, and of course, the classic option to change your skin tone. It’s like giving yourself an AI plastic surgery. Maybe some users will find it amusing, I am not a big fan. After that experience, it’s the video mode that surprised me. With electronic image stabilization (EIS) enabled, you can document whatever is in front of the sensor without losing the meaning. Audio is also crisp and goes well with the visual outcome. There are classic features onboard as well like dual video mode which might come in handy. Verdict The Realme 9 Speed Edition has the potential to stand out and carve its own name in the mid-range smartphone category. It seems like a safe bet for buyers looking for powerful performance without shelling premium. To be more specific, gamers and aggressive users don’t mind compromising on the camera. In its price bracket of under ₹20,000, we only have a handful of choices from Xiaomi and Samsung both of which are now repeating the same recipe with multiple devices. In that situation, Realme 9 Speed Edition can be considered a value choice liberating the buyers from the obvious. But if you need an overall package with a better camera, display and can do with decent performance, you can explore other options like the Samsung A52 5G, Redmi Note 11T or Nord CE 2 5G. SEE ALSO- <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/nothing-android-smartphone-prototype-shown-off-at-mobile-world-congress-2022-says-a-new-report/articleshow/89961918.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Nothing Android smartphone prototype shown off at Mobile World Congress 2022, says a new report</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/oneplus-nord-ce-2-first-impression-review/articleshow/89644127.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G: First Impressions</a>

Realme 9 Speed Edition review – Great performance for price but underwhelming camera

The <keyword id="6354756" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="BCCI">BCCI</keyword> today decided against terminating the suspended IPL franchises of <keyword id="13886" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Chennai-Super-Kings">Chennai Super Kings</keyword> and <keyword id="13802" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rajasthan-Royals">Rajasthan Royals</keyword>, putting an end to the speculation surrounding their fate and ensuring their comeback in the cash-rich league in 2018. 
 
At its working committee meeting, the Board decided that it would go with the Supreme Court-appointed Justice R M Lodha committee's recommendation of suspending the two teams for two years, making the next two IPLs an eight-team affair. 
 
However, the BCCI did not clarify whether IPL will be a 10-team affair from 2018, when CSK and RR will come back to the fold. 
 
"The decision whether it will be a 10-team affair from 2018 will only be taken at the AGM where the other major decisions including bilateral series with Pakistan will be discussed," a senior BCCI office-bearer told PTI. 
 
Among other important decisions taken at today's meeting, the Board has scheduled its Annual General Meeting for November 9. 
 
The BCCI said it will invite fresh bids for two new teams, which will be competing from 2016 onwards to complete the eight-team format in the absence of CSK and RR. 
 
The Working Committee's decision was strictly in lines with the suggestions of the IPL Working Group, which comprised of IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla, secretary Anurag Thakur, former India captain Sourav Ganguly and treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhary. 
 
"The Justice Lodha committee interim report will be implemented fully The two franchisee teams, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals remain suspended for two years. BCCI will float tenders and invite bids for two new teams to replace CSK &amp; RR in the Indian Premier League for 2016 and 2017 (2 years)." 
 
Majority of the BCCI members were not too keen on termination of the two IPL franchises, which were involved in the spot-fixing scandal in 2013. 
 
The BCCI top brass has always maintained that it would implement Lodha Committee's recommendations in total and since the Supreme Court appointed committee had suspended for two years, the Working group also stuck by it. 
 The decision was also in consonance with president <keyword id="6379537" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Shashank-Manohar">Shashank Manohar</keyword>'s statement that BCCI won't be vindictive towards any of its state units. 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

BCCI won't terminate Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals; to invite tenders for new teams

Justice Lodha’s verdict on banning of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) would come down heavily on the revenue of the much celebrated cricket tournament. As per a news report by The Economic Times, IPL revenue is likely to drop by about 35 % if there are only six teams next year. About 25 % of this will be because of fewer matches while the rest will stem from a decline in interest from advertisers and sponsors. 
 
Every IPL game gets about 75 advertising spots of 30 seconds each. That comes to around 2,250 seconds of available advertising per match. At 60 games, this adds up to 135,000 seconds. This year, the IPL broadcaster sold spots at Rs 4.5-5 lakh per 10 seconds. If there are only 34 games, the number dips to 76,500. That also means IPL broadcaster Multi Screen Media pays a lower broadcasting fee to the BCCI. Each team gets a share of this. "When the collection is less, the whole kitty too gets redu too gets reduced," a media analyst told the ET. "Thereby, when it's time to distribute, it will be much less, affecting the (finances) of teams and their profitability." 
 
Chennai Super Kings is the top team in IPL, having won the league twice since its beginning in 2008. Among the top 10 matches in the last season of IPL, CSK featured in eight while Rajasthan was in two, according to television ratings data from Tam Media Research. 
Star players such as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Shane Watson, Steve Smith, Ajinkya Rahane among others are members of the two franchises. Their absence would hit IPL ratings, in turn lowering ad rates for the broadcaster. "With a lower number of matches, it will be difficult to make up for the difference in revenue (as the) the fixed cost remains the same," Basabdatta Chowdhuri, chief executive at Platinum Media, a part of Madison Media Group told the financial daily. "It is not good good for the game. The credibility suffers." 
 
She recalled that when the first match-fixing scandal broke in the late 1990s, the ratings of India matches, including those against Pakistan, had nosedived. 
 
Chowdhuri also said an exit by the Chennai team would lead to lower viewership. "CSK is a big team. It's like Manchester United going out of the EPL (English Premier League) or Barcelona going out of the Spanish league," she said. 
 
"Next year, an increase in rates will be impossible (if there are fewer teams). They would not be able to get even last year's rates," said a media planner, not wanting to be named. But Nandini Dias, chief executive officer at media agency Lodestar UM, offered a contrarian view. "A shorter, tighter tournament might actually be better for ratings. The dip we see in ratings in the middle of the tournament today might be less then," she told the ET. 
 
(Image: India Times)

Lodha’s verdict may prove painful for IPL coffers

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the new edition of <keyword id="9095853" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="insider-today">Insider Today</keyword>. Please <a href="https://www.insider.com/insider-today">sign up here</a>.QUOTE OF THE DAY"They came to Oakland to kill cops," — John F. Bennett, the special agent in charge of the FBI in San Francisco, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/steven-carrillo-charged-with-killing-officers-boogaloo-movement-2020-6">referring to the two far-right "Boogaloo boys" charged yesterday </a>in last month's murder of a federal officer. The accused men, one an Air Force staff sergeant, apparently used the George Floyd demonstrations as cover for their violence.<h2>WHAT'S HAPPENING</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/deadly-china-india-border-clashes-foreshadow-more-intense-competition-2020-6">The most dangerous place in the world is the India-China border:</a> Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his country could give a "befitting reply" after a skirmish in the Himalayas in which Chinese soldiers killed 20 Indian soldiers using rocks, fists, and nail-studded clubs. The two countries have squabbled about the border for 60 years, but both countries have become more aggressive in recent months. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doj-section-230-protections-facebook-twitter-trump-report-2020-6">The Justice Department is preparing a bill that would weaken Section 230. </a>President Trump wants to punish Facebook and Twitter by weakening the provision that protects them and other platforms from liability for content published on them. It would need to pass Congress. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aunt-jemima-is-changing-its-name-mascot-over-racial-stereotype-2020-6">Aunt Jemima will change its name and its mascot. </a>PepsiCo acknowledged that the <keyword id="5183270" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Aunt-Jemima">Aunt Jemima</keyword> character is rooted in minstrelsy and racial stereotyping. Uncle Ben's corporate owner, Mars, is under pressure to do the same. <h2>BLODGET &amp; PLOTZ</h2><div type="image" title="Tennessee restaurant reopening coronavirus" height="1250" width="2500" msid="76432791" hostid="261"></div>A simple plan for mitigating — but not stopping — the pandemic.Yesterday my pal Blodget <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-george-floyd-protests-have-become-five-different-movements-2020-6">bemoaned</a> that the US <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> response is a disgrace. I agree. Of course it is. But he's crying over spilt milk. The real question is: Now what? Caseloads are rising across the US. So what do we do? It's trendy to say "we've learned nothing" from the past three months. But we've actually learned a lot that we can apply to this stage of the crisis. We've learned that: <ul><li>The president and his administration are incapable of helping, and are even happy to<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-rally-tulsa-indoor-arena-super-spreader-event-2020-6"> promote viral spread with mass indoor rallies</a>. </li><li>The vaunted federal government, which has the most expensive health and research infrastructure ever built, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/why-americas-institutions-are-failing/613078/">is slow, bad, and disorganized</a>.</li><li>And most importantly, Americans have run out of patience with lockdowns, and don't want to hear expert advice unless it's clear and persuasive.</li></ul>Given these three essential facts, what do we do? First, accept that Americans — or at least enough of them to determine the fate for all of us — won't go back into a strict lockdown. Second, stop hoping to be rescued by contract-tracing and isolation. We missed our chance to build that capacity, and there are too many cases in most states for it to douse the outbreak now. (Though it could help limit outbreaks in defined areas with smaller caseloads.)But now the good part! We can still move into a focused mitigation strategy. We have also learned that: <ul><li>outside is much safer than inside; </li><li><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/17/masks-salons-missouri/">masking makes a huge difference</a>; </li><li>distancing helps too;</li><li>talky gatherings and densely populated buildings super-spread the virus;</li><li><keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> particularly endangers people with certain underlying medical conditions. </li></ul>These five points are simple, and Americans can mostly abide by them without destroying their lives. States, local governments, and big companies can band together on a public awareness campaign that makes these five points — and critically — urges Americans to go out and live their lives while keeping them in mind. The campaign shouldn't take the form of government order or even threat. It should come as friendly encouragement from trusted people in the community. Even if this works, it won't quench the virus. We've lost that battle. But it will reduce suffering and death, which is the best we can hope for. — DPYes! No more lockdowns. But we can't do nothing…<div type="image" title="trump coronavirus" height="512" width="1024" msid="76432793" hostid="261"></div>My friend Plotz (above) is sort of right. Bemoaning the US's disgraceful and incompetent response to the coronavirus is mostly crying over spilt milk. But it's also about grabbing the toppled carton before the rest of the milk pours out.A robust national testing, contract-tracing, and isolation plan would still help the US get the coronavirus under control. At a minimum, increased Federal funding for states to build these capabilities would help.More importantly, the federal government, and Trump, should issue strong and repeated warnings about the riskiest behaviors and places, and strongly encourage Americans to wear masks and maintain social distancing when engaging in these behaviors.Specifically, the government and Trump should warn again and again that most coronavirus transmission occurs in crowded indoor spaces with talking, singing, or other heavy breathing and prolonged exposure to others. Trump should of course cancel his reckless indoor rally this weekend, which will likely cause spread — in part because the president's refusal to wear a mask will encourage his MAGA fans not to wear masks. The fans' cultish chanting — "Lock her up! Lock her up!" — will fill the air with respiratory droplets that will be eagerly breathed in by those inhaling for the next chant. Based on previous super-spreader events, one or a few enthusiastic "virus shedders" at the rally could potentially infect dozens or even hundreds of others. (Skeptical? Please recall that a Champions League soccer game in Milan, Italy, in March is thought to have been <a href="https://www.pressherald.com/2020/03/25/spread-of-virus-linked-to-champions-league-match/">a super-spreader event that accelerated the virus's attack on Bergamo province</a>. 40,000 people packed into stands screaming at each other for over 2 hours, and, within a week, many were sick. One respiratory specialist described the event as a "biological bomb.")Also, Trump, Pence, and team should stop denying the coronavirus resurgence and stop saying things that insult Americans' intelligence — such as Trump's remark this week that "if we stopped testing right now, we'd have few cases." We'll have the cases whether or not we confirm them with tests. And the cases will kill some people and seriously sicken others regardless of whether we know for certain what the cause is. (As an aside, many people assume Trump says things like this because he's stupid. I respectfully disagree. I think he says them because he thinks we're stupid.)In short, there's a lot we and our government can do to get the coronavirus under control, even without reimposing "lockdowns." If the coronavirus continues to surge, our economy and freedom will be kneecapped with or without a lockdown. So, instead of pretending the coronavirus no longer exists, we should acknowledge reality, and take smart, simple steps (mask-wearing and distancing) to protect ourselves and our communities. — HBWhat we shouldn't do, meanwhile, is celebrate the end of quarantine with drinks at a bar…<div type="image" title="wisconsin bar crowd lockdown" height="1250" width="2500" msid="76432796" hostid="261"></div>A 40-year old healthcare worker and her friends in Jacksonville, Florida, celebrated the end of quarantine with an evening at "Lynch's Irish Pub" on June 6th. Two weeks later, <a href="https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2020/06/15/woman-15-friends-test-positive-for-coronavirus-after-night-out-at-lynchs/">16 of them have the coronavirus</a>.Lynch's was the only place their paths crossed, the healthcare worker said, so there's not much doubt about where they caught the virus or spread it to each other.This experience underscores the riskiest coronavirus behavior: Being in a crowded indoor space for a prolonged period with talking or singing without wearing a mask."I think we were careless and we went out into a public place when we should not have. And we were not wearing masks. I think we had a whole 'Out of sight, out of mind' mentality. The state opens back up and said everybody was fine, so we took advantage of that," News4Jax quotes the healthcare worker as saying. "We should be wearing masks. We should be social distancing. It was too soon to open everything back up." — DPDC Statehood is a great but doomed cause. Here's a better idea. <div type="image" title="House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., right, and District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, left, arrive for a news conference on D.C. statehood on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, June 16, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)" height="1592" width="3183" msid="76432800" hostid="261"></div>House Democrats will <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/us/politics/washington-dc-statehood-vote-house.html">vote next week to make the District of Columbia a state</a>. This is a righteous cause. It's shocking that 705,000 Americans live within our national borders, pay taxes, and lack representation in Congress. But it's also hopeless. As long as Republicans hold 40 senate seats, they'll never permit DC statehood, which would give Democrats two certain senate seats and a house seat. Democrats are making the perfect the enemy of the good, because there's a reasonable solution to DC disenfranchisement that Republicans might accept: "retrocession." DC was carved out of Maryland and Virginia, and in the 19th century, the southern chunk was "retroceded" back to Virginia. (It's now Arlington County, one of the most prosperous places on the planet.) Retrocession would return the rest of the city back to Maryland. Maryland's population would grow, giving it a new congressional district. Washingtonians would vote for a member of Congress and for Maryland's senators, and choose a governor and state legislators. The US would still have 50 states, and the Senate balance wouldn't change because Maryland reliably elects Democrats. Retrocession is not as sexy as statehood. It would weaken the power of DC's current mayor and council, and would dilute DC into Maryland. A lot of proud Washingtonians (and I'm a lifelong one!) would bristle at becoming Marylanders. But retrocession would end the injustice. It would make Washingtonians full American citizens. (No time to hit a much larger issue, which is that the US would be better off with a bunch more states — DC and Puerto Rico, but also a divided-up California and Texas. The fact that the obvious next two states — DC and Puerto Rico — are Democratic stalls us at 50. Republicans would only go for it if they got states in return.) — DP<h2>OBSESSION OF THE DAY</h2> Seattle's Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or, as some now call it, the Capitol Hill Organized Protest<div type="image" title="Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone" height="512" width="1024" msid="76432804" hostid="261"></div>Seemingly every media outlet in the country is reporting from the tiny, police-free neighborhood in downtown Seattle. Today alone brings big stories in the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/16/this-seattle-protest-zone-is-police-free-so-volunteers-are-stepping-up-provide-security/">Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/6/16/21292723/chaz-seattle-police-free-neighborhood">Vox</a>, and <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2020/06/seattle-capitol-hill-autonomous-zone-occupied-protest.html">Slate</a>, not to mention endless on-the-scene coverage on cable news. (Fox News, naturally, said its correspondent was reporting from the "US-CHAZ border.")Utopias are alluring: How wonderful, how scary to live outside the dreary, mundane constraints of regular life! And CHAZ arrives at a time — pandemic, protests, economic depression — when regular order has collapsed. Of course we want to hear about it. The frustrating part about CHAZ is that it probably won't last long enough to be a real experiment. Cops are back inside their abandoned precinct house. It's hard to imagine the police taking CHAZ back by force, but there will almost certainly be some kind of gentle return to city rule. Which is a shame: It would be great to see how a small, self-policing community handled property crime, violent crime, and public services. The rest of us would learn something. — DP<h2>OTHER NEWS</h2><div type="image" title="Obama doctors Obamacare" height="1000" width="2000" msid="76432808" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/details-of-house-democrats-bill-to-build-on-aca-obamacare-2020-6">House Democrats are preparing a bill to strengthen Obamacare.</a> It will surely fail in the Senate, but is intended to boost Democrats going into the election. It would strengthen Medicaid and limit junky short-term insurance plans.<h2>BUSINESS &amp; ECONOMY</h2><div type="image" title="facebook mark zuckerberg" height="750" width="1500" msid="76432811" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zuckerberg-facebook-will-allow-users-to-turn-off-political-ads-2020-6">Facebook will now allow users to turn off political ads.</a> But it still won't take down or flag ads that are dishonest.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/att-layoffs-thousands-jobs-cut-covid-19-june-2020-6">AT&amp;T is laying off 3,400 workers and closing 250 stores. </a>It's driven by the pandemic, of course.LIFE<div type="image" title="Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, right, passes while under pressure from Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Feb. 21, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)" height="2016" width="4032" msid="76432814" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://www.insider.com/what-nba-bubble-disney-players-looks-like-2020-6">What it's going be like inside the NBA's Disney World bubble. </a>Daily COVID tests, alarms the beep when someone's closer than 6 feet for five seconds, no room visitors, movie screenings and lawn games. Oh, and the better teams get to stay in the nicer hotels. <a href="https://www.insider.com/elon-musk-grimes-baby-birth-certificate-legally-named-xaea-xii-2020-6">The Musk/Grimes baby really is named X AE A-XII. </a>TMZ got hold of the birth certificate. <h2>THE BIG 3*</h2><div type="image" title="Neon fashion" height="922" width="1845" msid="76432822" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-falsely-claims-obama-never-even-tried-to-reform-police-2020-6">Trump falsely claims Obama "never even tried" to reform policing.</a> It's especially ludicrous since Trump himself rolled back Obama's reforms. <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-are-health-risks-plane-air-travel-2020-6">How to fly safely during the pandemic.</a> Frequent handwashing, wiping down the tray table, wearing a mask, and having the vent above you blow air down can help reduce risk.<a href="https://www.insider.com/popular-fashion-summer-trends-to-try-2020-6">19 fashion trends that will be popular this summer.</a> Trench coats, short suits, and neon? *The most popular stories on Insider today.YOUR LETTERSOn our view that the protests now encompass five separate issues...I have to disagree that the protests, or as you choose to call them "the George Floyd protests" are five separate protests. These protests are a culmination of the anger over multiple injustices perpetrated on people of color. The trigger was George Floyd's death, but it is all about one thing — gross injustice. Martin Luther King Jr. didn't march just to end Jim Crow laws. He marched for the rights, as stated in the Constitution, of all (wo)men. So, fixing one thing is not enough. They have to ALL be fixed in order to have ... order, justice, equality, parity, and right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for everyone in this country.— Lydia Sugarman

A simple plan for mitigating (but not trying to stop) the pandemic

The Supreme Court-appointed Justice <keyword id="2803450" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Lodha-Committee">Lodha committee</keyword>'s verdict to suspend two leading teams in the Indian Premier League stable—Chennai Super Kings (CSK), which won the title twice under MS Dhoni, and <keyword id="13802" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rajasthan-Royals">Rajasthan Royals</keyword> (RR)—for two years each, has brought the pompous <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IPL">IPL extravaganza</a> to a sudden pause. While the verdict has raised serious questions about the future of players who have been part of the two teams, it has shed light on the ugliness lying beneath the exuberance and jubilation—real or faked—of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Robotic-Cheer-Girls-Roll-Into-Real-World/articleshow/45297155.cms">cheerleaders</a> that have become the hallmark of <keyword id="6354312" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="IPL">IPL</keyword> or any sport event in the country for that matter where huge money changes hands. 
 
IPL’s downturn started when its founding chief <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Lalit+Modi+">Lalit Modi</a> became the target of serious allegations of misconduct, indiscipline, misappropriation and financial irregularities effectively translating into looting IPL coffers and was eventually banished from the country in 2010. A large chunk of cricket enthusiasts thought Modi’s banishment would bring in fresh air into the way IPL was organised. But unfortunately they were wrong and matters only worsened in the following years. 
 Three Rajasthan Royals players were arrested in 2012; charges of betting and corruption were levied against <keyword id="18641" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Raj-Kundra">Raj Kundra</keyword>, then co-owner of Royals, and <keyword id="1682587" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Gurunath-Meiyappan">Gurunath Meiyappan</keyword>, then official of <keyword id="13886" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Chennai-Super-Kings">Chennai Super Kings</keyword> and son-in-law of N Srinivasan, who headed <keyword id="6354756" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="BCCI">BCCI</keyword>. It was alleged that leveraging his status as Srinivasan’s son-in-law Meiyappan took leeway to bet on games and pass on team information to bookies. 
 
On the surface of it, the alleged misdoings of Kundra and Meiyappan have led to the suspension of the whole teams for two years irrespective of whether players actually involved in murky deals to rake in moolah in addition to the millions of dollars that top players bagged for agreeing to play for their respective teams. 
 
While the suspension of the two teams looks damaging to the future of IPL, earnest cricket enthusiasts hope that the episode will tell apart the chaff from the grain. Another worry is whether IPL—which started as an eight-team format—will be reduced to six teams with the absence of Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings. However, with huge money and stake being involved and advertisers and broadcasters batting for retaining the eight-team template, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=BCCI">BCCI</a> is unlikely to reduce the format to six teams. While it is difficult for RR and CSK to challenge the verdict of a SC-appointed panel, BCCI has three options in front of it—call in for new teams, ask for a complete overhaul of ownership of the suspended teams and bring in the old franchises—Pune Warriors India and Kochi Tuskers Kerala which has already expressed the desire to return to the fold. 
 
However, the cricket body is likely to find it tough to reinstate the implicated teams, if it desires so. On the other hand, the verdict in the right direction in terms of ensuring what can be called ‘poetic justice’—that is, corrupt players and teams should have no chance to play IPL or any other sporting event for that matter. Therefore, the verdict should be welcomed wholeheartedly. 
 
However, one questions remains—is merely suspending involved teams temporarily enough, considering the huge loads of money involved and the disrespect that a game like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=cricket">cricket</a>—which has been a saving grace for sports enthusiasts in the country as the India continues to lag way behind peers in almost all other sport event. There are those who believe that a harsher punishment, involving life ban for players, officials and teams, would have been much more effective as a deterrent that will remind possibly wrongdoers before trying to earn disrespect for themselves, teams and the country by turning sports into a number game to bloat bank accounts.

Why Lodha panel verdict is not too ominous for
IPL

He’s a Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences. He’s also a Thomas W. Lamont University Professor, Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University, and was the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge until 2004. He’s none other than Mr. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Amartya+Sen">Amartya Sen</a>. 
 Business Insider caught up with this great economist at the Tata Steel <keyword id="911395" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Kolkata-Literary-Meet">Kolkata Literary Meet</keyword>, chatting gleefully with fellow Harvard Professor <keyword id="283200" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Sugata-Bose">Sugata Bose</keyword> about his latest book – <keyword id="3219241" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="The-Country-of-First-Boys">The Country of First Boys</keyword>. 
 
Over the next hour, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Amartya+Sen">Sen</a> offered valuable socio-economic lessons on several issues. These had significant remarkable relevance for modern India. While the 82 year old economist didn’t name any individual or political group, but it wasn’t impossible to connect the dots. 
 
Sex-specific abortions: 
More girls are born than boys everywhere in the world. All of the States in the East and South of India have birth ratio of girls in the European range. That goes all the way from Assam to Bengal to Orissa all the way to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. However, all states in the north and west have lower than that. Sometimes considerably lower. In the case of Haryana and Delhi it will be in the 80s. That is quite dramatic. Some have gone even worse over the years. 
 
Connection between Sanskrit and Mathematics 
Indian mathematics didn’t flourish in the Vedic period as some nationalists tend to claim now. It flourished 4th-5th Century onwards and there was also quite clearly external impulse in it. I think Babylonian and Greek Mathematics came to India around that time. Then Indian mathematics took off in a dramatic way, and influenced not only India but what was the central area of intellectual excellence – the Middle East. 
 
The Arab and Iranian Mathematicians actually knew Sanskrit. Al-Khwarizmi, from whose name the word Algorithm, and from his book AlJjabr Wal-Muqābala the word Algebra is derived, he knew Sanskrit. 
 
There was a connection between Sanskrit and Mathematics as a conveyance, and I’ll be interested in both. 
 
Sanskrit used as tool for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Intolerance">Intolerance</a> and Communal Animosity 
The Hindu-Muslim divide was cultivated around the 40s. It’s important to recognize that in Bengal Muslim League didn’t win an election until 1946, and by 1952 Bangladesh is agitating about language. 
 
It’s got nothing to do with Sanskrit, really. Sanskrit is also where you have the skeptical documents. It offers all of that. 
 
Most people who advocate Sanskrit don’t know the language. That makes it very easy for them not to read any of these. They don’t have to read, because they couldn’t. So I think it comes as a political thing. 
 
After my Nobel, India Today had an article saying a Westernized Indian gets a Nobel. I asked the Editor that I would like to talk with the author. I would like him to come to my hotel, and to argue on it. The only thing I insist on is that we talk in Sanskrit! 
 
The quest for ‘Nyay’ (Justice) over ‘Neeti’ (Principle) 
I think very often that distinction has been misunderstood. 
 
It’s not compromise It’s accepting something with a gamble, and the gamble is that you wnd up not making that progress at all. What can de done now should be done now. What cannot be done shouldn’t be forgotten. That is what you may call a ‘sequence planning’ rather than a ‘spot planning’. 
 
Small industry as a means of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Sustainable+development">Sustainable development</a> 
Has there been any example of a country which has proceeded to have fairly fast economic expansion without industrial development and by which I do mean industrial development? That would be a good example. 
 
That's not true of America, that's not true of Europe, of Japan, of China, of Korea, of Hong Kong or Singapore. It's not true of Latin America. I think one of the things I have to resist is an imagined that these things are wrong, and there are all kinds of wrong that there is an alternative that is much better. New things have been tried. 
 
I am very suspicious of taking people on what I would call for a ride on the ground that some imagined alternative would be much, much better. What is a country which has no large industry but still is very rich? 
 
Justice and Workers' Rights 
The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=small+industries">small industries</a> are still there but the big industries have withdrawn. When I went to London first, I went by boat - not an adventurous boat, but by a ship - as I could not afford the airfare. In those days, there were 18 flights from Calcutta to London every week. Now there is not one. There is not a single flight to anywhere in Europe. You have to go to Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Bangkok or Singapore and then escape. But you can't go anywhere. 
 
I think that couldn't have been the intention to put so much focus on distribution and the workers' power and so on that you end up not having the industries and there is nowhere to demonstrate the workers' power because you haven't got the workers to demonstrate that with. Pragmatism is an essential approach to practical reasoning. 
 
Industrialization and Activism 
You can do very good <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=environmental+planning">environmental planning</a> along with a programme of industrial expansion. The conflict is not with the economic growth. The conflict is with the type of growth and care we take of the environment. 
 
So, the idea that any kind of attempt at having large industry must be combined with neglect of the environment, that actually is not a good way of thinking about it. Because there is no reason that must be the case. 
 
Revival of Humanities as a discipline 
There has been no decline within Humanities. There has been a shift away from Humanities to the Sciences. 
 
Tagore once complained about the lack of Science education. It could be certainly better, but scientific education has definitely progressed. Our best students and relatively smaller in number, and when there is competing priority they give priority to Science. Humanities tend to fall short. 
 
I think the IITs are good, and so are the likes of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

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