5 THINGS FIRST Supreme Court to hear 42 review petitions on Sabarimalaverdict; High Court to hear PIL challenging decision to rename Allahabad; Trade ministers of 16 countries meet in Singapore to discuss trade deal; Delhi HC to hear Daiichi-Fortispromoters case; China-Pakistan bus service via PoK to be launched

1. Rafale deal is a little less secret, thanks to SC The three public interest litigations (PILs) on the Rafale deal being heard in Supreme Court forced Centre to make another U-turn on Monday. The progress of the case in brief: Centre: Don't entertain such 'political' petitions SC: Submit the decision-making process of Rafale deal for us to see Centre: Done SC: Go ahead and make it public Centre: Oh... SC: Submit the price details to us Centre: It's top secret. Revealing it would inform enemy countries about it. SC: OK. File an affidavit saying it's top secret Centre (in the next hearing): Here are the price details. We have also made an edited version of the decision-making process public Not-so-secret: On Supreme Court's orders, the Centre on Monday made public an edited version of the Rafale deal decision-making process. It also revealed price details of the fighter jets in a sealed document to the top court. The U-turn came just 13 days after it had stoutly resisted revealing price details to SC saying its cost, weaponry and technical details were covered under the Official Secrets Act, 1923 and that such information had been withheld from even Parliament. When asked about it, Centre's counsel said the government has 'nothing to hide' and hence it was decided that Rafale prices could be revealed to the court. Not-so-open: The sealed envelope came from the ministry of defence and went straight to SC secretary general's office, instead of the usual mode of getting it filed in the Registry. Even the attorney general was not shown the contents of the report. What we know: Centre says the agreement with Dassault about inducting Indian offset partners does not mention any company's name and that no Indian partner would get any money till October 2019. The UPA era contract negotiations for 126 jets, including 18 in fly-away condition and 108 to be manufactured in India, was scrapped because the government-owned Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) was taking 2.7 times more man-hours to build a fighter jet than what Dassault, the original manufacturer, takes. Dassault did not agree to this and also refused to undertake contractual obligation for these 108 Rafale jets to be manufactured by HAL in India. What we don't: While the price of the jets is still a secret, the government has claimed (again) that it is getting the jets for less than what we would have paid under the previous deal (without revealing the price). To the question, why 36 jets instead of 126, government says this: During the 'long period of inconclusive' 126 jet deal process (2010-2015), India's adversaries inducted over 400 modern aircraft with advanced weapon and radar capabilities and this "made the situation asymmetrical and extremely critical" and an "urgent need was felt to arrest the decline in fighter squadrons". It doesn't say what happens to the Air Force claims of being short of fighter planes (as the original requirement was 126 jets). Centre, it seems, didn't involve the Air Force in deciding the deal for the new 'better' jets assuming its okay for the previous one was its nod for this one too. Read the full story here

2. Why India is renting out its caves to foreign firms Caves of oil: They are called strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs). India has three underground storage facilities (built at the cost of Rs 4,100 crore) that can store 5.33 million tonnes of crude oil. The one in Visakhapatnam is already filled with 1.33 MMT of oil, deals to fill another 1.50 MMT capacity in Mangalore have been signed, and the third (with 2.5 MMT capacity) in Padur, Karnataka, is built but awaiting oil for storage. India also plans to build an additional 6.5 MMT facilities at Chandikhol in Odisha and Padur. Caves on rent: India on Monday signed an initial pact to lease out a part of its storage at Padur to Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) for storing crude oil, the second such deal with the UAE firm this year. It had signed a pact in February to fill half of the storage at Mangalore. Why? The agreement allows ADNOC to sell or trade crude oil stored in these facilities to local refiners but it gives Indian government the first right to the oil in case of an emergency. Allowing foreign companies to store oil will help Centre save Rs 10,000 crore. The storage facilities are for India's energy security, and to insulate us from external price and supply shocks. The oil in the three facilities already built can help meet 10 days of crude requirement, and the two planned ones can hold supply of about 12 more days. What crisis? There was one during the Gulf War in 1990, when our oil reserves were adequate only for three days. Plus, others like US, Japan, China, UK and EU have it too. Read the full story here

3. India's most and least tongue tied communities Language chauvinism: People whose mother tongue is either Hindi or Bengali are the least multilingual, according to recently released Census figures, with the smallest share of people having the ability to communicate in more than one language — among the 52 crore Hindi speakers, only 12% or 3.2 crore were bilingual, their second language being English, while among the 9.7 crore Bengali speakers, just 18% or 1.7 crore were bilingual. Glib talkers: Only two language groups — those whose mother tongue is either Urdu or Punjabi — had more than half of their speakers proficient in two languages, with Urdu speakers leading, at 62% being bilingual and Punjabi speakers being the second most bilingual group, at 53%. Small means more: Given that smaller language groups tend to be concentrated to specific regions, smaller language groups tend to be more multilingual, partly due to the urban centric migration — for instance, among the 52 crore Hindi speakers, 60.5 lakh knew Marathi, an indication of the migration from the north to Maharashtra, while 82% of Konkani speakers and 79% of Sindhi speakers knew another language.

4. Hello, this is your captain and he's a little... drunk Pilot in trouble: A senior Air India pilot has been barred from flying for at least three years after he failed the mandatory alcohol test for the second time. He was grounded for three months in 2017 for skipping the test (which means failing the test). Drunk flying: A tipsy pilot flying a plane may sound scary but it's not entirely impossible. During the last five years, 188 pilots failed the pre-flight alcohol tests in India and the number keeps increasing every year (it's gone up from 30 in 2013 to 45 in 2017). The rules: Aviation regulator says the "level of blood alcohol compatible with safe flying is zero" and no pilot can take "any alcoholic drink, sedative, narcotic, or stimulant drug preparation within 12 hours of the commencement of the flight." It is mandatory for all pilots (of Indian airlines) to undergo pre- and post-flight breathalyser tests. The punishment: A pilot's flying licence is suspended for three months for the first breach (112 pilots did that in the last 3 years) and for three years for the second violation (15 pilots faced this). He loses his licence permanently if the rules are breached a third time (one pilot lost his licence between 2015 and 2017). The loophole: This rule is not applicable to international carriers and foreign pilots operating them. Pilot of Indian airlines flying international routes are also not tested on foreign shores (because the test and cost of a failed test is expensive for airlines). Some countries legally permit up to 20mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood in the system. The punishment, some experts say, should be more severe to deter pilots, like being made to face criminal charges as they do in some countries. Not just India: A Japanese pilot was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport last month, for being close to 10 times over the alcohol limit. That forced the airline to upgrade its rule prohibiting pilots from consuming alcohol 12 hours before a flight to 24 hours. Safe flight: By and large, though, air travel remains one of the safest modes of transport. Chances of a plane crash are just about one in 11 million. Drive to the airport is riskier, with the chances of a fatal car crash is one in 5,000.

NEWS IN CLUES 5. He's the 1st Indian politician to host his personal websites Clue 1: In 1998, he became the youngest minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet, aged 39. Clue 2: He supervised the midnight launch of GST in June last year, complete with a rehearsal at the Central Hall of Parliament. Clue 3: He represented Bengaluru South since 1996, and won non-stop for six terms. Scroll below for answer

6. An IPO in Tokyo that will impact tomorrow's tech What: Japanese giant Softbank Group's mobile unit, Softbank Corp, was on Monday given the green light for its initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The IPO, scheduled for December 19, will see Softbank Group sell close to 37% stake in the mobile business, and is expected to raise around $23 billion. A big deal: The amount will make it the largest IPO in the world in at least 4 years, and the second largest ever, after Alibaba Group Holding raised $25 billion in 2014. It also marks the return of Japan into the world of big listings. Of the 5 largest IPOs in history, four are from Greater China. Japan, once the undisputed world leader in technology, has only one in the top 10: telecom giant NTT Mobile Communication's nearly $18.4 billion IPO in 1998 is the sixth largest. A bigger impact: Softbank Corp's business is largely restricted to Japan. But Softbank Group's tentacles stretch well beyond the island nation. For starters, the group owns ARM Holdings, the chip designing company behind the microprocessor of your mobile phone. It also holds a large stake in Sprint, the US telecom company. Then there is the Vision Fund, the largest investment fund in the world with a $100 billion war chest to invest in startups and technology across the world. Some of Vision Fund's investment includes Uber, NVIDIA, WeWork, GM Cruise (the self-driving company), and India's Paytm, Oyo, Ola and Flipkart (sold to Walmart). So why the IPO: That leads to the reason behind IPO. Softbank Group previously used to invest in startups from its own balance sheet — one of its marquee investment was on Alibaba (it continues to hold a large stake). But dipping into own balance sheet to invest in startups across the world is not easy; so Softbank started Vision Fund and asked investors across the world to put in their money in return of a promise to yield a good return. Saudi Arabia is one of the largest contributor to the Fund. But Softbank Group's chief, Masayoshi Son, wants to keep investing — he has a 300-year roadplan where Softbank Group will drive the information revolution of the world. That means he needs more funds (he is eyeing a Vision Fund-2 with a $200 billion kitty). But the fund is not all someone else's money, Softbank too puts a large amount — after all, investors need to know Son is serious. So the Group needs money, and the IPO helps raise some of it.

7. India's future doctors will be more ethical and less judgemental New morality: India's medical students will now on not just study medical procedures, but also medical ethics, with a new course called Attitude Ethics and Communication (AETCOM) competencies being introduced by the Medical Council of India (MCI) as part of the five-year MBBS programme — the objective being to "effectively communicate with patients and their relatives in a manner respectful of the patient's preferences, values, beliefs, confidentiality and privacy". Theory of everything: According to Dr Arun Gadre of the Alliance of Doctors for Ethical Healthcare, however, teaching budding doctors the theory of ethics may not yield the desired results, given that there are very few vacancies in the government health system, forcing most doctors into the open market, where to survive there is a compulsion to be unethical as there is no delinking of patient care and profit motive. New mores: The MCI has also initiated steps to revise the MBBS curriculum after 20 years — imperative in light of recent SC judgments which decriminalised homosexuality and adultery. The existing curriculum lists adultery and lesbianism as criminal offences in the sections on forensic science, and obstetrics and gynaecology respectively, while labelling transvestism as a "sexual perversion" under Indian Mental Health Act, 1987.

8. Is India's obsession with myth and politics driving fake news? A report commissioned by BBC World Service, titled Beyond Fake News, was published on Monday. The report, a collaboration between BBC, research firm Third Eye and data science firm Synthesis, is a "work of empirical evidence, not of opinions". It aims to find out why common man shares fake news. Some of its findings: What do they share? 36.5% scares and scams Within scares and scams, 17.4% are related to tech (say a message that says something could ruin phone) and 5.5% are on money. 29.9% national myth Within national myth, 17.2% are on cultural preservation 22.4% current affairs Within that, 7.2% is on PM Modi, 6.4% on business and economy, 3.2% on Aadhaar, 2.3% on demonetisation, 1.8% on army, 1.5% on anti-BJP. How do people share fake news:The report says sharing a link or an entire article is not the most common, instead the form of information that is consumed or engaged with more is visual information — pictures or gif, sometimes layered with a minimum amount of text. 'Screenshotting' is a popular tactic. Who shares what?Fake news messages circulating amongst those with a right-leaning identity Overtly anti-minority discourse Hindu power and superiority Preservation and revival Progress and national pride Personality and prowess of PM Modi Fake news amongst left-leaning Opposition to PM Modi, the BJP and its affiliates The report says the volume of fake news messages from the right and supporting the right was significantly higher than that from the left and on the left. Why share?  Sharing to verify within the networks As a civic duty For nation building As an expression of one's socio-political identity The report says socio-political identity plays a key role in sharing fake news, especially for those on the right.

YOU SHARE YOUR B'DAY WITH... Source: Various

9. God's own country seeks Japanese forest jump Mini greens: A reducing green cover and rising pollution levels as a result of urbanisation has prompted Kerala's state government to adopt a Japanese method of afforestation, called Miyawaki method, wherein a dense forest is grown in a small space extending to less than five cents (approx 2,178 sq ft) in urban areas. Forest in a city: Named after Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, the miniature forests, called kavus, will be created by planting saplings adjacently and nurturing them, which after a stage would develop into a thick vegetation in the limited urban space, helping restore clean air and greenery. Wrong place? The plan, to be implemented from next June, to coincide with the monsoons, will be launched on government land, but is also open for private parties — which is all well, except perhaps the idea should have been tested first in Delhi NCR, which is in crying need of some drastic out-of-the-box solutions for its perennial pollution problem. Full story here

10. He can score, he can save as well Such is the impact of Cristiano Ronaldo. Two key contributions from the maestro meant Italian league leaders Juventus secured a 2-0 win over arch-rivals AC Milan on Sunday night. He can save: Having taken a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute, Juventus looked to have handed a lifeline to their opponents five minutes before half time. AC Milan were awarded a penalty with Argentine Gonzalo Higuain—who spent two seasons at Juve and reluctantly left shortly after they signed Ronaldo from Real Madrid—stepping up to convert. But before Higuain could take, Ronaldo wandered over to Juve goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny to have a word (read words of wisdom). "Ronaldo told me that I should move before Higuain's kick because his shots are always very powerful," said Szczesny, who tipped Higuain's effort on to the post. He can score: With the 1-0 lead intact and penalty saved, Juve piled on the pressure. And it was Ronaldo, who put the finishing touches on the victory with his eighth league goal of the season in the 81st minute, powering in the rebound after Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma parried Joao Cancelo's shot. Job done, as Juve made it 34 points in the first 12 Serie A matches this season—the highest ever points tally at this stage in the history of the division.

KEEPING TRACK Brave voters: Chhattisgarh's first phase of polling for the assembly elections saw a 70% voter turnout, with 18 of the 90 assembly seats going for polling on Monday — the remaining 72 seats will elect their MLAs in the second phase, due on November 20, with the results to be declared on December 11. Not sweet 16: In what could be a potential embarrassment for US President Donald Trump, who's vouched for North Korea's dismantling of its nuclear warheads, commercial satellite images accessed by US intelligence agencies have revealed the presence of 16 hidden bases of the communist country's missile programme — these strategic bases are suspected to house intercontinental ballistic missiles that North Korea test fired in 2017. Cubicle spy: Facebook will allow a small number of French regulators to "embed” inside the company and examine how it combats hate speech online, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday. Under the plan, France will send its top civil servants to the company for six months from January, with the working group aiming to verify Facebook's goodwill and determine whether its checks and balances could be improved.

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Answer To NEWS IN CLUES Ananth Kumar. The 59-year-old Union minister for chemicals, fertilisers and parliamentary affairs passed away in the wee hours on Monday. He was undergoing treatment for lung cancer at a hospital in Bengaluru. He is survived by wife Tejaswini and daughters Aishwarya and Vijeta. In January 1998, he became the first Indian politician to host his personal websites ‘www.dataindia.com’ and ‘www.ananth.org’.