5 THINGS FIRST PM Modi to address a farmers' rally in Rohtak, Haryana; BSP's rally in Lucknow on Kanshi Ram's death anniversary; Next hearing in construction ban over waste management case in SC; IMF to update its World Economic Outlook, may downgrade global growth; India play Japan in Sultan of Johor Cup junior hockey tournament in Malaysia 1. Why BrahMos is crucial to India A DRDO staffer working at the BrahMos Aerospace centre in Nagpur was arrested on Monday; the engineer is suspected to have leaked secrets on the supersonic missile system to Pakistan's ISI. Expect plenty of buzz on this as BrahMos missile system is crucial to Indian defence. Jointly developed by the DRDO and Russia's Mashinostroyeniya, the BrahMos is a stealthy, supersonic missile designed to elude shipboard defences such as the Aegis Combat System, a radar and fire-control system found on board US, Japanese, and South Korean destroyers and cruisers — China uses an Aegis-like system called Type 052D. Thus, the BrahMos is crucial to protect the Indian Ocean against enemy ships. It is also of symbolic and strategic value to India: When launched, the anti-ship cruise missile was thought to have been superior to even the US AGM-84 Harpoon (US has since developed new missiles such as the AGM-158C and a new system developed with Norway). That BrahMos can be launched from a jet or land or sea gives India an edge over ships of Pakistan and China, which has been increasing its presence in the Indian Ocean. China has since developed its own anti-ship Mach 3 supersonic missile called CM-302 — China says it is better than any other. Pakistan is thought to be interested in it. India, in response, is developing a 'BrahMos-II', called Zircon, that could reach Mach 7 speed — seven times the speed of sound. A spy too many: India has arrested its officials for spying before: in 2015, two (1 each from army and air force) were arrested for espionage; in 2017 two army personnel were arrested; and earlier this year an air force officer was arrested. In other security news, the CISF has ordered its officers to be not “overly friendly” with travellers at airport — “from broad smiles, we are now coming to a sufficient smile system...” said CISF additional DG. 2. Gujarat will miss its 'outsiders', politics won't Thousands of migrants from UP and Bihar continue to fleeGujarat after the backlash from locals following the rape of a minor (for which a labourer from Bihar has been arrested). But what are so many of them doing in Gujarat? They, like three out of every ten Indians, are internal migrants (who have moved to a new city or state) and India just can't do without them. They come from... The main source states of migrants are UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha and the destinations are mainly Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab and Karnataka. They go to mostly urban areas looking for work. The road they take: According to UNESCO, the main migration corridors in India are: Bihar to Delhi NCR, Bihar to Haryana and Punjab, UP to Maharashtra, Odisha to Gujarat, Odisha to Andhra, and Rajasthan to Gujarat Some stay, most don't: Most migrants, especially the poorer, deprived lot (the likes who are fleeing Gujarat) are seasonal or circular migrants who doesn't stay permanently in the destination states. 'Sons of soil' vote: Outsiders vs locals is a common ploy used by politicians, especially before polls. In Gujarat, the jobs minister has said that the state will bring an ordinance mandating companies to fill 85% of their workforce with ‘natives’. 'Outsiders' work: The fact is poor migrants not just subsidise 'natives' by providing cheap labour to the state's factories but they also do the '3D' jobs (dirty, dangerous and degrading) that locals do not want to. Think, construction, salt pans, or informal jobs like hawkers, rickshaw pullers. That is the reason the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industries had met the CM seeking protection of migrants — industry estimates 30-40% of its workforce to be migrants. False promises: Politicians promise to throw out migrant workers but the fact is that migration and urbanisation come with economic development, and flow of labour is an integral part of it. Real benefits: Source states of migrants benefit from the remittance as well as skills, and knowledge they take back with them. Meanwhile, in Mumbai, the city's Congress president Sanjay Nirupam warned that Mumbai will come to a standstill if the north Indians — largely migrant workers from Bihar and UP — leave, as they are largely responsible for the supply of daily needs like milk, vegetables and newspapers, apart from plying autorickshaws and taxis. 3. Just how powerful is 0.5 degrees Celsius? It is powerful enough to cause a cataclysmic change in Earth's ecosystem and the survival of all the species, humans included — it could even make several hundred million susceptible to poverty by 2050, says a report by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Here's how your life will be impacted if the earth's atmosphere heats up by 2 degree Celsius, and not the targeted 1.5 degrees Celsius: Sea, we told you so: The sea level would rise by 10 centimetres more by 2100 if the temperature rises by 2 degrees than if it rises by 1.5 degrees — if the temperature increase is limited to 1.5℃, the mean sea-level would rise by 26 to 77 centimetres by 2100. Avoiding the half a degree increase would also mean a slower rate of sea-level rise, affording greater opportunities for adaptation for humans and the ecological systems of small islands and low lying coastal areas, and 10 million fewer people exposed to flooding from sea-level rise by the end of the 21st century. Live a little longer: Limiting the global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius would also eradicate fewer plant and animal species — with just 6% of insect, 8% of plant and 4% of vertebrate species losing over 50% of their population, vis-a-vis 18% of insect, 16% of plant and 8% of vertebrate species losing half their numbers in the case of an increase of 2℃. Frosty future: Limiting the rise in global mean temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius would also help prolong, and hence delay, the melting of 1.5 to 2 million square kilometres of Arctic and Antarctic ice caps by a few centuries. It would also mean that we will witness just one sea-ice free summer in the Arctic Ocean every century, rather than a sea-ice free summer every decade in the Arctic Ocean, as would be the case if the temperature rises by 2℃ by 2100. Deadly heat waves: A 2℃ increase would put India at a higher risk of fatal heat waves, which could result in the loss of several thousand lives, not to mention the increase in diseases like malaria and dengue. Read more here 4. And the Nobel Prize for Economics goes to... ...the American duo of William D. Nordhaus and Paul M. Romer. The two will share the 9-million-kronor ($1.01 million) prize for their research on the relationship between global warming and economic growth. This, soon after the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned us of a 1.5°C global rise in temperature by 2030. A faculty member at Yale University since 1967, Nordhaus was named for integrating climate change into long-term macroeconomic analysis. And Romer, of New York University's Stern School of Business, showed how economic forces governed the willingness of firms to produce new ideas and innovations. Both their findings have significantly broadened the scope of economic analysis by constructing models that explain how the market economy interacted with nature and knowledge. FYI: The Economics prize has long been touted as the most sexist (just the one female among the 80 Laureates till date) and the most biased (nearly three-fourths of the winners are American) Nobel of them all. Full story here. NEWS IN CLUES 5. Who boasts the second-highest score in Test cricket? Clue 1: He's also scored the second most runs in Test cricket (8,625) by an opener. Clue 2: His IPL allegiance lay with the Chennai Super Kings, for the first three seasons. Clue 3: His whirlwind ton against South Africa in the 2007 World Cup earned him honorary citizenship of St Kitts and Nevis. Scroll below for answer 6. What power cuts tell you about elections Power cuts: As elections approach, states are trying to outbid each other in buying electricity to ensure voters are kept happy with adequate supply. Power market: Electricity is bought and sold in the wholesale market like any other commodity. The difference is that it's difficult to buy and store electricity in advance so most of the buying and selling is based on the available supply and the demand. Price of power: State power distribution companies (they buy electricity from producers) are offering to pay more than the asking price just to ensure consistent supply. That's because they have been asked to make electricity available around the clock in the run-up to the elections. That has set spot power rates on fire. Power rush: States like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar and Tamil Nadu have been placing desperate bids to buy electricity at Rs 20 per unit, 40% more than the asking price. That has led to prices hitting a 10-year high (of Rs 18 per unit) while the average price is about Rs 6-8 per unit. Read the full story here X-PLAINED 7. Canine Distemper Canine distemper has been identified as the reason to the death of as many as 23 Asiatic lions in Gujarat; the epidemic has made the National Tiger Conservation Authority fear for the well being of the tigers in India's forests. Canine distemper is a virus that affects the respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems. The Gir lions are thought to have gotten it from dogs, possibly wild dogs, as the expansion of lion population in Gujarat (411 in 2010 to 523 in 2015) has pushed them closer to other wild animals in search of prey — in 2013, the Supreme Court had order to transfer a few Gir lions to MP to avoid the kind of epidemic that we now see, but the order has not been followed. Dog owners would be aware of canine distemper virus; puppies are vaccinated against it within the first few months and then later after a year. Chances of a dog becoming infected with canine distemper virus is high if not vaccinated, and the virus can be deadly as there is no cure. Early symptoms: Pus-like discharge from eyes, fever, nasal discharge, coughing, lethargy, reduced appetite and vomiting. Though usually spread from one dog to another, canine distemper infect the big cats too — in 1994, 30% of the African lions living in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, died from an outbreak of distemper. There, domesticated dogs were thought to have been the carrier; a widespread vaccination programme was carried out on dogs afterwards, although cases of distemper were still reported in small numbers in lions, suggesting there could be other carriers (Distemper is also found in other canine species such as foxes, hyenas and coyotes, and also racoons, ferrets and the like). Got a puppy? Or perhaps you are a forest officer? Read about canine distemper here 8. Interpol's lost and found chief arrested by China Worst kept secret: Since the disappearance of the Interpol president, Meng Hongwei, during his trip to native China, there has been just one suspect: China. And now the Chinese government has come out with the truth, or at least its version of the it: Hongwei has been arrested as he is under investigation on "suspicion of violating the law" and was "under the supervision" of an anti-corruption watchdog. Fall from grace: The revelation marks a rapid fall from grace for a man who became the first Chinese national to be appointed the president of Interpol, in November 2016, as China pushed to increase its global influence. Chinese President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive has seen some of his rivals within Communist Party arrested, though it is not known if Hongwei's case is a similar crackdown or an actual corruption case. Emoji from hell: The bizarre episode of the arrest and disappearance of the chief of world's police network — Interpol can issue a lookout notice — even had a movie-like subplot. Hongwei's wife, who lives in Lyon, where the couple reside, suspected he was in danger when he sent her an emoji of a knife soon after landing. YOU SHARE YOUR B'DAY WITH... Source: Various 9. Meet Muzaffarnagar's homecoming guardian Halfway home: With nearly 50% of the Muslim families who had fled the Dulheda village in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district in the wake of the 2013 communal riots back home, former village head Sanjeev Pradhan is on track in his quest to resettle all the 65 Muslim families who had to flee — 30 have already acceded to his request and come back. Against all odds: The 42-year-old earned the trust of the Muslim families when he and his men gave shelter to the families in his house during the riots, and guarded the local mosque and other places where they had taken refuge. He had also taken care of the cattle and the houses of the Muslims till they returned home. Paying a price: It's not been easy for Pradhan, especially in terms of his relations with his community of Jats, who sarcastically greet and refer to him as a Muslim and voted against him in the 2015 village head elections, causing him to lose. Pradhan is not deterred, however. Pradhan says a person should be judged not on his or her religion but on their character. 10. How Nirav Modi broke a man's heart...and his engagement Diamonds aren't forever: A Canadian man is suing absconding scamster Nirav Modi for $4.2 million, alleging that the diamantaire sold him fake diamonds for $200,000 in April this year, which led to the cancellation of his engagement with his girlfriend. Making a mark: According to the Paul Alfonso, the Canadian national, he had met Modi during the latter's visit to Los Angeles in 2012 and the duo reconnected two years later and again earlier this year, which is when he told Modi about his plan to propose his girlfriend and sought to buy an engagement ring worth $100,000. Alfonso says he was unaware of Modi's involvement in the multibillion-dollar scam pulled off at the Punjab National Bank by forging letters of credit. Selling a con: Alfonso ended up buying two diamond rings — one of 3.2 carats and the other of 2.5 carat — worth a total of $200,000 from Modi after his girlfriend expressed interest in another ring. But when his girlfriend took the rings to an appraiser, to get them insured, she was informed they were fake, following which she broke-up with Alfonso; he says he was in a state of deep depression in the aftermath. Read more here PLUS SC locks horns with RBI over bank rate cuts Supreme Court on Monday asked the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) to break its 10 month-long silence and make public its decision on complaints that banks do not reduce floating interest rates on loans for houses, vehicles or consumer durables proportionate to the repo rate cut by the banking regulator. The petitioner had written to RBI in October last year complaining that "whenever the interest rate goes down, new borrowers are offered a lower interest rate. There is minimal or often no reduction in interest rates of old borrowers". According to the petitioner, "the wrongful loss to borrowers is in excess of Rs 10,000 crore for denial of every 1% of the benefit (reduction in floating interest rate)". CJI-led bench, in its order, said: "the RBI should communicate its decision within six weeks". Meanwhile, in a not-so-good news for the economy, the rupee continued its slide, touching an all-time low of Rs 74.23 to a dollar during the intraday trade, before recovering to close at Rs 74.06 to a dollar — the fall of 14% in 2018 make it Asia’s worst-performing major currency. Follow news that matters to you in real-time. Join 3 crore news enthusiasts. GET APP Answer To NEWS IN CLUES Matthew Hayden. On Monday, the former Australian cricketer stated that he had suffered severe head and neck injuries as well as spine fractures in a surfing accident while on a holiday in Queensland, Australia. The 46-year-old, who scored 380 versus Zimbabwe in October 2003, was dumped into a sandbank while surfing with his son Josh off North Stradbroke Island on Friday.