5 THINGS FIRST SC to hear CBI vs CBI case; ISRO to launch earth observation satellite; PM Modi to visit Argentina for G20 summit; Maharashtra to introduce Maratha quota bill; Farmers' protest in Delhi

1. Does India finally know how fast it grew? Turns out, the good old days of the Indian economy weren't so good after all or, at least, not as good as they seemed to be. The government on Wednesday released a new set of GDP growth figures, relative to the new base year of 2011-12 (revised from the old 2004-05 base), that led to a downward revision of India's economic growth rate during the Congress-led UPA government from 2004-05. The newest GDP: In what is sure to see political sparring in the days to come, India's GDP growth rate from 2004-05 to 2011-12 were lowered substantially — ranging from a little over a percentage point to over two percentage points, with the highest growth in the last 14 years being recorded in 2010-11, at 8.5%. The old, new GDP: Earlier in August, the National Statistical Commission (NSC) had released provisional figures for revised GDP data for previous years based on the new base year of 2011-12, which had given above average marks to the Manmohan Singh-led government for economic growth. But later Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar debunked the figures, saying there was nothing official about them. Curiously, in one particular case, in 2008-09 (during the global financial crisis), the GDP went from a healthy 7.16% to an anaemic 3.1% in the re-revision. Incompetent statisticians? According to Kumar, the report released in August that attributed a higher growth rate during the UPA regime was flawed due to a wrong methodology. For example, under the new base year of 2011-12, in the mining and quarrying sector, regular annual returns of the public sector have been used instead of data from the Indian Bureau of Mines in the 2004-05 series. Read more here

2. Is unemployment allowance the new loan waiver? What: Rajasthan BJP has (reluctantly, it's reported) promised a monthly allowance of up to Rs 5,000 for state's educated but unemployed youth over 21. Congress has promised Rs 3,000 (Rs 16 less than what TRS has promised) to jobless youth of Telangana. SP too has promised one (no figure yet) in Madhya Pradesh. Eyeing next year's state elections, Chandrababu Naidu plans to give Rs 1,000 a monthto all unemployed youth of Andhra Pradesh under the 'Yuva Nestam' scheme. Why: It's a political short-cut like farm loan waivers (creating infrastructure for irrigation or ensuring market access to farmers takes years of planning and execution) as skilling and job creation requires governments to perform over a much wider range of issues and can take years. A failure to deliver on the jobs front is seen as a massive failure of governance. It's also a compulsion because the 'young' jobless audience that it targets is big (there are over 30 million unemployed Indians) and also the one that comes with the least baggage of history making it easier for newcomers in the political arena to tap. How: Most states won't have the funds to pay massive amounts in unemployment allowance but like farm loan waivers, the outgo isn't as big financially as the likely gains politically. That's because of the conditions that are put in place to ensure a very miniscule percentage of the unemployed youth actually get it (Andhra claims 12 lakh will benefit). Conditions like: requirement of domicile, age group restrictions (some have an 18-to-35-year band, some 21 to 35 years), registration at employment exchanges, family income criteria (some give it to only below poverty line families), complete dependence on parents etc. Giving it out to a large section of youth also makes the state machinery look bad (as it means there aren't enough jobs). Where: The idea isn't new though. Centre promises unemployment allowance to workers who can't get jobs under its rural job guarantee scheme but it's rarely paid and many states do not even track the numbers. Similarly, some state governments (like Chhattisgarh, Haryana, J&K, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal) have such schemes but what's new this time is that the amount is in a few thousand instead of hundreds as part of the current schemes.

3. An encounter a day keeps peace away in Kashmir The latest: Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Naveed Jatt (a Pakistani), wanted in the murder of Shujaat Bukhari (the editor-in-chief of English daily 'Rising Kashmir' was gunned down on June 14), was killed in an encounter in J&K's Budgam district on Wednesday. Another militant was also killed and three army personnel injured in the gunfight. Followed by... On Tuesday, 3 militants and 1 soldier were killed in another encounter. That followed another week of encounters: Sunday (7 militants, 1 soldier killed), Friday (6 militants, 1 soldier), Tuesday (4 militants, 1 soldier). In the nine days between November 20 and 28, 26 people have died in encounters, most of them militants. So what? 2018 has been one of the bloodiest years in Kashmir in a decade, with over 400 people being killed in violence since January. The number of militancy-related incidents and casualties have also gone up since August when the state came under the governor's rule. Why: Security officials attribute the rise in the number of encounters to an improved (and better coordinated) intelligence network. The civilian casualties are blamed on the encounters taking place in civilian areas. Last year, security forces had launched 'Operation all-out' to flush out militants (the state police chief has said it will continue till there was complete peace in the state). A door-to-door search of houses, a practice stopped in the late 1990s, was reintroduced. Over 200 militants were killed under the operation last year. Meanwhile, the (BJP-appointed) J&K governor, hinted that he may be shifted out of the state following his remarks that BJP wanted to see People's Conference leader Sajjad Lone as CM.

4. Does SAARC still matter to India? No summit: After Pakistan said it will invite PM Narendra Modi for the SAARC summit scheduled to be held in Pakistan, India said it's not going to participate till Pakistan 'stops terrorist activities in India'. SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) is a grouping of eight countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and India. The last SAARC summit attended by Modi was in Kathmandu in 2014. In 2016, after the terror attack on an Army camp in Uri, India refused to agree to a summit (followed by Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan) and so it was cancelled. It has not been revived since. No surprise: The SAARC charter doesn't allow contentious bilateral political problems to be discussed at its meetings. However, it is the bilateral issues that keep derailing scheduled meetings. The first summit was held in 1985 (when SAARC was officially launched) but since then only 18 summits have been held (it is supposed to happen every year) — ten in the first 15 years (1986-2000) and only eight in next 15 years (2001-2016). A SAARC summit is announced only after it has been decided upon by all members. Plus, Bangladesh, which goes to polls this year, and Sri Lanka, embroiled in a political crisis, are also likely to be less keen on a summit now. No results: SAARC is an economic group but even after signing a preferential trade agreement in 1993, irrational trade barriers have ensured very little trade between its members. The movement of people within the region also isn't restriction-free (as with many other such groups). Political disputes and historic hostilities have overshadowed economic ties. A reason for lack of progress has also been the insistence on taking decisions on the basis of "unanimity" (that means any member can veto any proposal) unlike the decision-making process of, say, EU and ASEAN, which prefer a majority and consensus. Beyond Saarc: That has prompted India to look at bilateral or multilateral ties that do not involve Pakistan. BIMSTEC is one of them which includes India's northern, southern, and eastern neighbours, five of which are part of SAARC as well. Of the two SAARC members that are not part of BIMSTEC, India has a strategic partnership with Afghanistan and close ties with the Maldives.

NEWS IN CLUES 5. Who's the second-richest person in India? Clue 1: He enrolled at Stanford University in the mid-60s to study electrical engineering. Clue 2: He dropped out at the age of 21 to take over and shape one of India's largest IT exporters. Clue 3: He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2005 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2011. Scroll below for answer

6. What global warming is doing to your heart and kidneys Health & climate: More and more people around the world are at risk of heat-related death and diseases due to climate change, says a new study published in The Lancet journal. It's also causing significant loss of work hours in vulnerable areas like India, says the study. Heat & health: Due to rising temperatures (India's mean temperature increased by more than 0.5 degree Celsius between 1901 and 2007), people over 65 years, those living in cities or with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases are exposed to heat stress, increasing their risk of cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease. In 2017, over 157 million vulnerable people over the age of 65 were exposed to heatwaves, and 18 million more people compared to 2016. India saw an increase of 40 million in the number of people exposed to heatwaves from 2012 to 2016. Hours of work: Rising temperatures are also an occupational health hazard. As temperatures rise above physiological limits, sustained work becomes more difficult affecting output. In 2017, 153 billion hours of labour were lost due to heat exposure, an increase of 62 billion hours relative to 2000. Around 80% of these losses were in the agricultural sector. Read the full story here

X-PLAINED 7. ISRO's latest launch What:ISRO's PSLV-C43 rocket will launch the Earth observation satellite Hyperspectral Imaging Satellite (HysIS), which has a mission life of five years. Why: HysIS's primary goal is to study the Earth's surface in visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The satellite, which can see in 55 spectral or colour bands from 630 km above the ground, will be used for a range of applications like agriculture, forestry and assessment of coastal zones, inland waters, soil and other geological environments. Being an Earth observation satellite, HySIS will also be used by the military for surveillance purpose. Which: Also on board, along with HysIS, are 30 co-passenger satellites—one micro and 29 nanosatellites from eight different countries. In fact, satellites from Australia, Colombia, Malaysia and Spain will be launched for the first time by ISRO. The space agency, through Antrix Corp Ltd (its commercial arm), has so far launched 237 foreign satellites for 28 nations. With Thursday's launch, the number will go up to 32 countries. The US has 23 satellites on board PSLV-C43. How: The mass of the spacecraft is about 380 kg. And it will be placed in a 636 km polar sun-synchronous orbit with an inclination of 97.957°. When: Today. The time is tentatively scheduled at 9.57 am. Where: From the First Launch Pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

8. There's no stopping Magnus Carlsen This wasn't Bobby Fischer vs Boris Spassky — a game of chess that became more than that amidst the Cold War rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union. Yet America took interest in chess once again, hoping 26-year-old Fabiano Caruana will become the first American since 1972 to win the World Chess Championship. But to do that he had to beat Norway's Magnus Carlsen. A challenger: Carlsen had not lost a chess competition since he won the world title at the expense of India's Viswanathan Anand in 2013. But Italian-American Caruana pushed him — twelve classical games in the final match-up ended in a draw, making it the first title match in which no decisive results were managed in the competition's 132-year history. That led to Wednesday evening's tie-breaker. That also led to Carlsen the world was more used to seeing: In control. He won the first three games in the best-of-four quickfire tie-breakers. A blitzkrieg in the rapid and blitz format of tie-breakers. So close: If anyone could have beat Carlsen, it was Caruana. The Miami-born Italian-American has a rating of 2832, just three points behind Carlsen's 2835, and he had recently won the Candidates tournament in Berlin. But then, no one can beat Carlsen — not when he is at his prime. What Carlsen gets: €1m in prize money. A fourth world title. An opportunity to stake a claim for the greatest-ever tag. And magazine covers — this is Carlsen we are talking about, the man who made chess look cool.

9. How to eradicate mosquitoes? Google has the answer A for Alphabet: Google's parent company, Alphabet, is using technology to fight an unlikely battle — against mosquitoes. By initial reports, it is doing a Normandy on the malarial parasite carrier by using sex as a weapon and destroying female mosquitoes' ability to reproduce. Loaded dice: Verily Life Sciences, a unit of Alphabet, infected male Aedes aegypti — yup, the same deadly mosquito species that causes dengue and chikungunya — with a bacterium called Wolbachia, and when these male mosquitoes mate with wild female ones, the resultant eggs don't hatch — ensuring there's no GenNext of the winged menace. Different traits: The Aedes mosquito, commonly found in tropical and subtropical regions (such as India), made its appearance in California in 2013 and then rapidly multiplied. But it is more often a nuisance there, for its bite, and doesn't spread any disease in the dry and arid climate of California. In tropical areas, however, female Aedes mosquitoes — only the female bites — is the carrier of dengue, zika and chikungunya. India is trying a different approach to the menace — it has conducted trials with genetically modified mosquitoes to control the spread of the diseases. Field day: After the initial trials last year showed promise, Verily scaled up the project this year in the mosquito season that lasts from April to November — releasing 15 million infected male mosquitoes that brought down the female population by two-third. A second project, in Australia, that concluded in June, also showed encouraging results by bringing down the mosquito population by 80%. That's one female foeticide not even the most staunch feminist will complain about!

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10. CR7 hits another century As Italian giants Juventus saw off Spain's Valencia 1-0 in a Group H clash of the UEFA Champions League (CL) — qualifying for the tournament's last 16 five straight years for the first time — superstar Cristiano Ronaldo too created history. He became the first-ever footballer to win 100 CL matches. We're talking: 26 with Manchester United 71 with Real Madrid And 3, so far, with Juventus This, after having suffered defeat in his first-ever CL appearance — for Manchester United versus Stuttgart, in October 2003. But there's been no looking back since the victory against Glasgow Rangers in the following match. Amazingly enough, the Portuguese's 100 CL wins is more than 136 of the 140 teams that ever participated in the tournament's history. The only clubs which boast more CL wins than Ronaldo are: Real Madrid: 154 Barcelona: 141 Bayern Munich: 131 Manchester United: 116

PLUS The old war-horse is the new tech king Microsoft does not make any fancy phone — its attempt at smartphones, in fact, failed to impress. It neither has a smart speaker nor a streaming website. But guess what? Good old Windows maker from Redmond, Washington, has pipped Apple as the most valuable company in the world. Shares of Microsoft jumped 3% on Wednesday, pushing its market capitalisation up to $848 billion. With the broad market rebounding from a recent slump, Apple also rose, but less than Microsoft. Its 2.17% increase put Apple's market capitalisation at $845 billion, just four months after the iPhone maker breached the $1 trillion mark for the first time. Touch & go: In fact, Microsoft had briefly overtaken Apple on Tuesday — Apple was valued $826.8 billion Tuesday afternoon, while Microsoft was at $822.4 billion. But the two stocks recovered by end of the day, valuing Apple higher. Apple's market capitalisation overtook Microsoft's in 2010 as the world fell in love with touchscreen phones. iSore: But investors these days appear to be less enthusiastic about consumer products such as... touchscreen phones. Since early October, Apple had lost 20% of its value (also Amazon) but Microsoft lost only 10%. The US-China trade war and an expected underwhelming sales of iPhone in the quarter meant investors were betting more on the boring Microsoft, which besides its ubiquitous Windows operating system, has been impressing them with its cloud-service business.

KEEPING TRACK Hockey: India started their campaign at the Hockey World Cup (being played in Odisha) with a dominating 5-0 winagainst South Africa. India face World No. 3 Belgium, who defeated Canada 2-1, in their second pool match on December 2. Elections: Close to 75% voters exercised their franchise in the Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram assembly elections on Wednesday. However, polling in MP was marred by complaints of faulty electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines.

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Answer To NEWS IN CLUES Azim Premji. On Wednesday, the philanthropist and Wipro chairman received the highest French civilian award, Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour). Instituted in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, is the highest civilian award given by the French Republic for outstanding service to France, regardless of the nationality of the recipients. Notable Indian recipients include conductor Zubin Mehta and actor Shah Rukh Khan.