5 THINGS FIRST PM Modi to attend East Asia Summit in Singapore; ISRO to launch communication satellite for J&K and North East; Supreme Court to hear case filed by power producers against RBI's debt default circular; Inflation (WPI) data for October to be released; Children's Day 1. Should MLAs be paid for a month every year? All play, no work: India's 26 state assemblies sat on an average only for 28 days in a year from 2011 to 2016, shows an analysis by PRS Legislative Research. Kerala (46 days), Karnataka (46) and Maharashtra (45) assemblies figured at the top with 'above average' sittings while UP, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Haryana and Rajasthan are among 13 others which sat for less than 28 days in a year. Comparatively, Lok Sabha MPs sat for 70 days a year on an average and Rajya Sabha MPs for 69 days. Smooth politics: The numbers for Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh that will vote this month, also show the lack of debate in passing bills. The outgoing Chhattisgarh assembly, for instance, sat for 145 days (29 days a year) during which 15% of the Bills were passed on the same day as their introduction and 79% within seven days of introduction. Madhya Pradesh's outgoing assembly sat for 135 days (35 days a year) and passed 9% of the bills on the same day as their introduction and 80% within a week of introduction. Why it matters: In India's federal structure of governance, laws framed by states are as important (sometimes more) as those passed by at the Centre and MLAs as accountable to people as MPs. That makes debate and due diligence of the laws crucial too. The smaller state budgets (compared to Union Budget) add up to a budget bigger than the Centre's budget. The state budget size overtook Centre's in 2016-17 adding up to Rs 27.24 lakh crore compared to the size of the Union Budget (Rs 20.14 trillion). However, state budgets also add up to a bigger headache if not managed properly. The fiscal deficit of states is also higher than Centre's. Inadequate number of sittings, lack of discussion and passing of the budgets without debate show a lazy legislature. The smaller state budgets (compared to Union Budget) add up to a budget bigger than the Centre's budget but they also add up to a bigger headache if not managed properly. 2. A resignation that raises more questions than it answers Flipkart's remaining co-founder, Binny Bansal, resigned from his post as the Group CEO on Tuesday; the parent company Walmart issued a cryptic statement, saying the decision was made after allegation of "serious personal misconduct" against Bansal — he has denied the allegations, saying he was "stunned". So, why did he quit, despite Walmart saying that the "investigation did not find evidence to corroborate the complainant's assertions against Binny"? What misconduct? A report by Reuters, quoting an unnamed source, says an allegation of a sexual assault by Bansal surfaced in July — the complainant, a former Flipkart employee, alleged Bansal sexually assaulted her some years back. While Bansal has denied the allegation, Walmart cited the "lack of transparency" and "other lapses in judgement" on Bansal's part in its letter to the stock exchange. Part of the plan? Walmart, which bought 77% stake in Flipkart in May earlier this year for $16 billion, had been contemplating replacing Bansal for some months now as he was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the company, according to a report. So, is he out? Not quite, as Bansal, in his letter to Flipkart's employees, has stated that he will continue to be a member of the company's board and a significant equity shareholder, though he admitted to the investigation's verdict about lapses in judgement and lack of transparency on his part. Bansal wasn't the only founder quitting on the day — Subhash Chandra, who founded Zee Entertainment Enterprises, is looking to sell 50% of the promoter holding in the company, for which Goldman Sachs has been roped in as the investment banker, along with Lion Tree as strategic advisor; the sale is expected to be completed by the end of the current fiscal. 3. Despite Trump, Indians don't dump studying in US Academic pursuit: For the fifth consecutive year, the number of Indian students going to the US for studies rose, with 196,271 Indians landing up in the country for higher education in 2017-18, according to data from the 2018 Open Doors Report by the International Educational Exchange — India being the second largest country of origin for foreign students after China, at 363,341. Not a mad rush: The increase in absolute numbers however is at a much slower pace than the earlier years, partly because of the changed socio-political environment since Donald Trump took over as US President and partly because of the depreciation of the rupee vis-a-vis the US dollar, which has made studying abroad expensive — with the growth rate in the number of students falling from high double digits to single digit last year. Who's studying what: The largest chunk of students heading for the US are graduates, constituting nearly 50% of the total, followed by those going for optional practical training (OPT) as part of their study courses in India — though the number of graduates going for higher studies has seen a dip of nearly 9% in the last one year. Read more here 4. Why India is unsure of joining world's largest trade deal Big deal: The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), when signed, will cover half the world's population and will open markets in countries accounting for about a third of the world's GDP. Discussions for the deal have been on for five years and its on PM Narendra Modi's agenda as he travels to Singapore today. India's position: The official position is that the "future lies in RCEP" (trade minister Suresh Prabhu's words). Unofficially, India is a little unsure about the gains and the repercussions of opening up the market to Chinese imports and that has been one of the key obstacles in the finalisation of the deal. The problem: The broad contours of the deal worked out so far suggest that up to 90% of goods from Asean countries, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand will be allowed duty-free into India. That means losing over Rs 25,000 crore of customs duty and risk wiping out domestic manufacturers due to cheap Chinese imports in the absence of protection from higher duties. China sees this as an antidote to Trump's 'America First' policy that has imposed tariffs on almost half of all Chinese imports to the US. The opportunity: Opening up of services trade is also part of the deal and that could benefit Indian IT professionals. India also wants visa-free movement of its professionals but other countries haven't agreed to it yet. Services, though, is a tiny fraction of the goods trade estimated at $225 billion in 2017-18. The likelihood: The member countries stress on the urgency of reaching an agreement "given the current headwinds faced by the global economy" but given that some countries go to polls early next year - including in India, Thailand and Indonesia - that's unlikely to happen this year. NEWS IN CLUES 5. Which city houses the world's first underground park? Clue 1: One out of every 21 residents is a millionaire. Clue 2: Over 37% of its population were born in another country, resulting in nearly 800 languages being spoken in the city. Clue 3: It was chosen as the United Nations headquarters in 1946, following World War II. Scroll below for answer 6. For India, China may be a foe but not Chinese money Banking on them: The Indian subsidiary of China's largest bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), has set up a $200 million fund for investing in Indian micro, small and medium enterprises and ventures, its India CEO said in Beijing. The official was speaking at an event organised by the Indian embassy to showcase India's startups and small- and medium-size companies. The irony is India's Ministry of Home Affairs had in June objected to an ICBC — a China state-run bank — proposal to open a second branch in India; among its concerns were its existing Mumbai branch had more Chinese nationals as employees than prescribed. To be clear, ICBC had previously funded Indian companies — Indigo, Reliance Power and Reliance Communications are some of the companies that have taken finance from the bank. But here, the Indian embassy is rolling out the carpet to a Chinese state bank. This is not one-off. India is also seeking $200m from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which is owned by 31% by China, for India's sovereign wealth fund. Sandbank to stop them: This highlights the complicated nature of India-China relationship. India's army views China as a foe — there was the 2017 Doklam standoff with China, the army chief had said a two-front war with China and Pakistan cannot be ruled out, warned against taking financial aid from China, and urged the government to not let India's other neighbours "drift away to China". Even the Indian navy's recent nuclear submarine is intended to ward off China. It's complicated: Yet, Chinese money and goods have flooded India. A report says Chinese companies have invested $2 billion in Indian startups in 2017 alone. E-commerce, transportation and financial technology saw the most Chinese money — while the first would influence the future of India's retail, the other two are of strategic importance. China's Alibaba is a major investor in Paytm, BigBasket and Zomato, and Tencent is striking more deals than before. China is also India's largest trade partner, flooding the market with goods worth over $76.4 billion in 2017-18 (while buying just $13.3 billion). 7. The curious case of missing women voters Missing voters: The sex ratio (number of females for every 1,000 males) of the electorate in states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh remains below the sex ratio of the population. Election story: In Chhattisgarh, which has the best numbers of the three states, the electorate sex ratio has consistently declined since 2003. In Madhya Pradesh, it declined continuously since 1998 but has seen a significant improvement in the present election. In the case of Rajasthan, the electorate's sex ratio improved between 1998 and 2003 but then went down before improving sharply in 2018. Why: The election commission attributes the improvement in Rajasthan and MP to steps taken to delete names of male voters who migrated either within the same constituency or to other constituencies. It also encouraged more women to register their names in the electoral roll. However, the gaps between the general sex ratio and the ratio in the electorate remain significant. 8. Earth to 'coal' down. But will it get cleaner? By 2030, natural gas is expected to overtake coal as the world's second-largest energy source, behind oil. The International Energy Agency (IEA) in its World Outlook Energy 2018 report pointed to the drive to cut air pollution and the rise in liquefied natural gas usage as key factors. Natural gas, in fact, is set to become the fastest-growing fossil fuel, with global demand rising by 1.6% a year to 2040 — that's 45% higher than today. Coal's boom days are over. Take the case of China, which burns half the world's coal. IEA projects that China's coal consumption will plateau around 2025, with renewables (read wind and solar power) overtaking coal as its biggest source of electricity by 2040. In fact, coal and renewables will swap their positions in the global power generation mix. Coal's share is forecast to plummet from about 40% today to 25% in 2040; while renewables would grow to just over 40% from a quarter currently. The amount of oil to fuel our cars is likely to peak and decline, as countries up their fuel-economy standards and deploy more electric vehicles. But given that only 25% of the world's fuel is used by passenger cars, expect freight trucks, ships, and airplanes and a few industries to keep global demand rising. So, is the clean energy momentum strong enough to avoid dangerous global warming? Maybe not. Energy-related CO2 emissions will continue to rise slowly but steadily — by 10% from 2017 levels to to 36 gigatonnes in 2040. FYI: The IEA report also pointed out that India will overtake the U.S. to become the world's second-biggest emitter of CO2 from the power sector before 2030. Emissions are expected to rise nearly 80% by 2040 as power use almost triples, driven in part by air conditioning. China will remain the biggest emitter. Don't forget, India also has an ambitious target of generating 100 GW solar power by 2022. YOU SHARE YOUR B'DAY WITH... Source: Various 9. How to double farmers' income in a day Where: Tanzanian President John Magufuli has ordered the army to buy the entire country's crop of cashew nuts after private companies refused to pay the price fixed by his government. The move comes just days after Magufuli fired his agriculture minister and trade minister for "failing in their obligations" to the cashew industry. How much: Soldiers were ordered to buy up the nuts at $1.44 per kilogram, higher than the price companies were willing to pay. Magufuli ordered in October that the price of cashews be almost doubled from $0.65 per kilogram, a price the farmers said barely covered their production costs. What next: The state-owned cashew processing plant (where raw nuts are shelled) is also to be taken over by the army. The government is hoping for a crop of 220,000 tonnes this year for which it will look for buyers and "eat anything that is not sold". A cashew crisis in 2013 had resulted in widespread farmer protests and arson in southern Tanzania. 10. An invention to remove India's red 'rash' Red ready: Those ubiquitous pale red stains dotting every nook, corner and cranny of India's public space, courtesy the Indian male's (largely) habit of chewing and spitting paan could be a thing of the past if India is to use the latest invention that won eight Mumbai girls a gold medal at the Genetically Engineered Machines event in the US: a biological agent that turns the stain colourless. Going deep: The girls, students of Ramnarain Ruia College, found that the cause of the stain's colour was two ingredients used to make paan: catechu and slake lime, which give the smokeless tobacco product its reddish-brown colour. They then identified microbes and enzymes that 'eat up' the red colour and can be used in a gel form. Cost of that spit: In Mumbai's local train services alone, especially the Central and Western Railways, 60,000 litres of water is used every day to clean the trains in the shed car. In financial terms, removal of paan stains costs several crore rupees — at Mumbai's Sion station alone, 10 litres of acid is used every month to clean paan stains. Hopefully, this invention, for which the girls received a grant of Rs 10 lakh, will clean up India of its reddishness at a fraction of the cost, without any collateral environmental impact. Read more here PLUS Faster than Bolt, on a different field 29-year-old Bengaluru resident Krishnam Gadiraju, in less time than it took you to read till here, solved a Gear Cube (a 3D combination puzzle) in a Guinness World Record time of 3.79 seconds and a Rubik's Magic puzzle blindfolded in 2.99 seconds, also a record. Gadiraju had broken four Guinness World Records earlier, of which he continues to hold two — in 2016 he solved 170 cubes on a unicycle in less than 90 minutes, a record which was broken this year; in 2014, he set a then-record by solving 2,176 Rubik's Cubes in 24 hours using only his left hand; he still holds the records for fastest time to solve a Soma cube and for the fastest time to complete 2 Rubik's cubes simultaneously underwater.  KEEPING TRACK Lanka crisis: Sri Lankan Supreme Court overturnedPresident Maithripala Sirisena's controversial decision to dissolve Parliament and halted until next month preparations for the January 5 snap polls. Sabarimala: Supreme Court has agreed to reconsider its 55-day-old judgment quashing a traditional ban on entry of women in 10-50 age group into Sabarimala temple, which has sparked unprecedented protests across Kerala. However, women devotees of all ages are allowed to enter the temple for now. Rafale: Responding to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's charge that he is covering up for the Modi government, Dassault CEO said, 'I don’t lie' adding that the jets were 9% cheaper than the deal struck by the UPA government. Congress called it an orchestrated interview. Follow news that matters to you in real-time. Join 3 crore news enthusiasts. GET APP Answer To NEWS IN CLUES New York City. Along with suburban Washington it has been picked for Amazon's new, split headquarters. This, after a year-long search in which more than 200 cities wooed the e-tailer for the project. As The Wall Street Journal reported, nearly 50,000 jobs would be divided evenly between the two cities. Amazon’s current HQ is in Seattle. New York City also houses The Lowline, the world’s first underground park.