5 THINGS FIRST Today: BJP to release manifesto for Chhattisgarh, Congress its first list of candidates for Telangana polls; Politics over Tipu Sultan birth anniversary celebrations in Karnataka; US President Donald Trump to visit France. Tomorrow: Third India-West Indies T20 in Chennai; India vs Pakistan at Women’s World T20 1. A woman knows how to live healthier Sick life: The world, on an average, is certainly living a lot longer than it used to but several of those added years in long life are being spent coughing, sneezing, bed-ridden or maybe even in hospitals as people are falling sick more frequently, negating the benefits of an increased lifespan. In 28 years from 1990 to 2017, even as the global average life expectancy at birth went up — by 7 years, 4 months and 24 days, from 65 years, 7 months and 6 days to 73 years — the healthy life expectancy went up by only 6 years, 3 months and 18 days, from 57 years to 63 years, 3 months and 18 days. Healthier women: India is among the few countries where women are now living a longer, healthier life than men, compared to 1990 — women's healthy life years increased by 8 years, 8 months and 12 days from 1990 to 2017, while men's healthy life years increased by only 7 years, 10 months and 24 days in the same period. Shorter & healthier: Men may have shorter lifespans than women, but women spend more years in poor health — even in high-income countries, women are losing close to 13 years of their life to poor health, compared to men, who tend to lose a little over a decade of their life to bad health. 2. How 'Bofors' helped break 30-year-old Bofors jinx The ghost: India officially inducted its first advanced 155mm howitzers for long-range, high-volume firepower after a gap of 30 years, finally exorcising the Bofors ghost (the case is not over yet) that has haunted its artillery modernisation plans since the late-1980s. The first lot of M-777 guns from the US and K-9 guns from South Korea (both can fire up to a range of 30 kms) were symbolically inducted into the Army. The last 155 mm artillery guns were inducted in March 1986 when 410 of Bofors howitzers were bought for Rs 1,437 crore. Ghostbusters: Despite the controversy over its induction, Bofors guns were the mainstay of artillery operations during Kargil war and a big factor in India winning it. Its long range of 30 km enabled the army to strike deep in the enemy territory. A report submitted to the defence ministry in 2016 said that 'all future wars will be fought in the rugged Himalayas where all of India's disputed boundaries with Pakistan and China are'. On the other hand, the Dhanush artillery guns, the desi version of Bofors, based on the transfer of technology from the original manufacturer, AB Bofors were running late on schedule (trials for the guns are on). The utility of the original Bofors and the delay in making the Indian version ensured we had to buy these big guns. Make in India: India had inked the over Rs 5,000 crore contract for 145 M-777 guns from the US in 2016. While the first 25 guns will be imported, the rest 120 will be assembled in India, with manufacturer BAE Systems selecting Mahindra Defence as its business partner here. The Rs 4,366 crore deal for the 100 K-9 guns, in turn, was signed with Larsen & Toubro and its South Korean partner Hanwha Tech Win last year. Ninety of the guns will be largely manufactured in India. 3. Where have India's top women judges gone? Two-week history: Indian judiciary achieved a historic moment in April 2017 when four women judges headed most important High Courts of Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta and Madras. Interestingly, at the time in two HCs (Bombay and Delhi) the number twos were also women. But it lasted for less than two weeks with one of them retiring on April 13, another on September 19 and the third on December 4, 2017. The fourth one was appointed as Supreme Court judge. A long wait: Judiciary may have to wait another decade to repeat the enviable gender equality feat. In the 24 HCs with a sanctioned strength of 1,221 judges, there are only 891 in place (about 70 names have been recommended for appointment). Of these, only 81 are women judges, that is 9% of the working strength or 6.6% of the sanctioned strength. Watch out for: Over 20 women judges have been appointed in the last one year but that hasn't been enough to break the two-digit percentage mark of women judges. Of these, there are seven who would be the judges to watch out for after a decade (check out the names here) as they would be senior enough to head HCs or even get appointed as judges of SC, which in its 68-year-old history had just eight judges. Full story here 4. Are you still being overcharged for petrol? Crude joke: Your petrol bill, per litre, could possibly be cheaper by more than two rupees — on a day when the crude oil price fell to below $70 a barrel for the first time since April and India's crude oil basket was at $71.11 on Thursday, petrol was still being retailed at Rs Rs 78.06 a litre in Delhi. Contrast this with May, when India's crude oil basket was $75.25 a barrel and the average retail selling price of petrol that month was Rs 75.92 a litre (in Delhi) — cheaper by Rs 2.14. Part of the reason why prices may not soften as easily as they hardened is due to the depreciation of the rupee — the dollar-rupee equation currently stands at Rs 73.01, while it was Rs 67.54 in May. Why the dip: The US, Saudi Arabia and Russia have all increased their output, before the US sanction on Iranian oil sales came into effect, which led to the decline of Brent crude — the global benchmark for oil prices — from a high of $86 in early October to a low of $69.13 a barrel on Friday — Russia already indicating that it is unwilling to cut down production to ramp up prices. An easy winter? Crude oil prices, which usually spike during winters as US demand for oil peaks in winters, may be headed down, given that the US President Donald Trump's administration has granted a limited waiver on Iranian crude oil to select countries, including India and China, two of the biggest consumers globally. Additionally, about 200,000-400,000 barrels of oil from Iraq is likely to enter the market, following a deal between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government, which could see the opening up a field in the disputed region of Kirkuk that remained shut down for nearly a year. NEWS IN CLUES 5. This payments company is a major investor in Indian startups Clue 1: It is accepted in over 70 countries and supports 15 currencies. Clue 2: It has over 700 million monthly active users. Clue 3: It was founded in 2004. Scroll below for the answer 6. The 'rural' reason in PM's hatred of 'urban' Maoists Who are they? Urban Maoists live in AC surroundings, move around in big cars and their children study abroad, but they ruin the lives of our poor Adivasi youth here through remote control. That's how PM Narendra Modi describes them. Their targets are those who live in non-AC surroundings (read villages), move around (mostly) on foot (because they can't afford anything else), their children either don't go to school or go to a neighbourhood school if there is one and they are remote-controlled by people from the cities. They are also troubled by 'rural' Maoists. Central forces take care of rural Maoists, and state police handles their urban counterpart. Where did they come from? The new definition was endorsed by the PM at an election rally in Chhattisgarh but was coined earlier. The term came into prominence in August following the arrest of five rights activists on charges of supporting Maoists. BJP had accused Congress of supporting 'urban Naxals' then (for questioning the arrests) and the PM just repeated it. Who do they support? They help politics the most, especially during elections. Both Congress and BJP are busy wooing the non-city folk of Chhattisgarh - the 'poor Adivasi' in PM's definition. Tribal voters form a sizeable chunk in Chhattisgarh (31% of population and 29 reserved 'ST' seats) and Madhya Pradesh (21% of the population and 47 reserved seats). The erosion of its traditional tribal vote bank has kept Congress out of power in Chhattisgarh since 2003 but in the last elections, the party did well in tribal-dominated Bastar and Sarguja. BJP, meanwhile, got more votes in the SC seats and seats where OBCs (52% of the population) are dominant. This year the fight is even tougher with both parties targeting each other's strongholds. Expect more usage at least until 2019 polls. 7. A peace summit that was more posturing A multi-party conference on Afghanistan began in Moscow on Friday that, at the outset, aims to bring together all the stakeholders to draw a plan to end the 17-year war. But it was more than that. Who's who? Taliban sent its envoys from Doha, Qatar, where it runs an office. Russia, the host, was led by its foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, a close confidante of president Putin. Pakistan envoys too will be there. But Afghanistan government did not send an official representative, but members of the Afghan government-appointed Peace Council are attending. India, an Afghan ally, sent two retired diplomats as its "non-official observers". The US skipped the event. What it means: The talks in Moscow was really about Russia pushing its way into the Afghan issue — previously, peace talks were either pushed by the US, which continues to have a military presence in the country, or by the Afghan government. But by managing to get Taliban, a force that rose as a consequence of the Afghan-Soviet war of the '80s, Moscow is staking a claim as a world leader (at a time when the US is looking inwards in the Trump era). Moscow was also successful in bringing many tribal leaders of Afghanistan to the summit, which means the event will provide a platform to highlight their grievances. What it doesn't: With neither the Afghan government nor the US part of the talks, any outcome will only be relevant in theory. Afghanistan government wants the Taliban to talk to it directly, but the Taliban has so far refused to do that — Kabul is also critical of the backchannel talks the US holds with the Taliban. At Moscow, the Peace Council members told Taliban it is ready to hold talks. India, which is helping Kabul in rebuilding its infrastructure, as well as help train its diplomats, is of the view that talks should be Afghan-led. How's it on the ground: The fallacy of the talks was highlighted when Taliban attacks killed at least 10 Afghan soldiers and seven police officers early on Friday. Taliban militants attacked an army outpost in the Khwaja Ghar district of the northern province of Takhar, an official said. Taliban spokesman has claimed responsibility for the attack. On Thursday, a Taliban attack in Wardah province had killed 13 policemen. And the US? Donald Trump has separately sent his special adviser on Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, to Afghanistan to persuade all the parties to come to the table. He is expected to visit Kabul, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar (where the Taliban is based) this month, the State Department has said. 8. Electric vehicles are Made in China — and Germany is worried Me too: Germany has reportedly earmarked 1 billion euros($1.2 billion) to support a consortium looking to produce electric car battery cells and plans to fund a research facility to develop next-generation solid-state batteries as the home of BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen try to catch up with China and the rest of Asia. Not me: That the future of automobiles is electric is more or less accepted by all — and the future is drawing closer every passing day. If Germany, whose carmakers and race car circuits such as Nurburgring hold legendary status among petrol-heads, do not catch up with the changing technology, it could well be the new Detroit — a city that is nostalgic about its past automotive glory but today contributes a small share of the global car production volume as US carmakers moved to Mexico or beyond even as Japan, Germany and South Korea caught up and overtook. Rising Dragon: Detroit's decline was due to the land of the rising sun and its flagship carmaker, Toyota; Germany's, it seems, could be due to the land of dragons, China. In 2017, 777,000 electric vehicles (EV) were sold in China, compared to just 199,000 in the US and 1.2 million world over. China's carmakers' body reckons by this year-end China would have sold 1 million EVs, nearly 55% of the global market and more than twice the US market. Big guns: China is taking the lead in not just EV sales, but also EV makers. This September, China's Nio raised $1 billionfrom an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. But the startup is not alone — China's major carmakers such as Geely, which owns Volvo, and SAIC too are aggressively pursuing EV. Then there is BYD, which is already the largest EV maker in the world — besides cars, BYD makes electric buses that are popular across Chinese cities, and could soon dominate Indian public transport. BYD is building what would become the world’s largest vehicle-battery factory, with a capacity of 24 gigawatt-hours. More... Even the second position is not granted. South Korea's Hyundai-Kia, and Japan's Nissan and Honda too have tasted limited success with their electric cars. Then there is Tesla, which has cornered the premium market targeted by the likes of BMW and Mercedes in the US. YOU SHARE YOUR B'DAY WITH... 9. This misogyny takes the crown, as a village frowns on nightgowns Down with gowns: In another instance of women's clothing scaring the living daylights out of men in India, a village in Andhra Pradesh's West Godavari district has come out with a bizarre order — forbidding women from wearing nighties, or nightgowns, for 13 hours a day, from 6 am-7 pm, as the sight of a women in her nighties makes the village's men uncomfortable. A fine idea: The elders of the village, Thokalapalli, which is dominated by fisherfolks, have gone a step ahead on the way to bizarre-dom — they have also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on any woman seen wearing a gown during the forbidden hours and have also announced a reward of Rs 1,000 for anyone who reports about a woman wearing a nightie. Women to blame: While the rule has been in force for the last seven months, it only came to light on Thursday, after a visit to the hamlet by the area police sub-inspector, who received an anonymous letter about the diktat — the villagers meanwhile, have said that the rule has been enforced by the women only, after the village committee of elders spoke to the women's groups, asking them to limit wearing their nighties to the night time. 10. Slavery is still legal in the US One down, 15 to go: Abraham Lincoln may have outlawed it in 1863, a black American — Barack Obama — may have served two terms in the White House as the US President in the 21st century, but slavery, in the form of involuntary servitude, is still pretty much legal in 15 states — one less than the total number last week, thanks to Colorado voting for an amendment to its state constitution, which prescribed involuntary servitude as a punishment for a crime. The US federal law, however, still has the clause in its 13 Amendment. Language please: This is not the first time Colorado's denizens have voted against the law — they had nearly abolished it two years back but the language of the amendment was so nebulous that people were confused whether they were voting for, or against slavery. Which is why this time, the Amendment A, to Article II, Section 26 of Colorado's constitution (there "shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.") read as "There shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude" Slavery supporters: While the vote was well clear of the minimum required — 55% — to pass an amendment, at 65% for Amendment A, a significant minority of 35% also voted against the abolition of involuntary servitude, with critics of the abolition saying that it "could interfere with prison labour for things like fighting wildfires". KEEPING TRACK Free money question: Centre on Friday denied reportsthat it was seeking a massive transfer of reserves from the Reserve Bank of India. The RBI has Rs 9.59 lakh crore reserves and there were reports that the government wanted the central bank to part with a third of that fund (Rs 3.6 lakh crore) to show good fiscal deficit numbers. Visa problem: The Donald Trump administration wants to make changes in the existing H-1B provisions for it to attract highly skilled foreign workers as opposed to the what it has now evolved into an "outsourcing" role, the White House said. Top IT companies like Google and Facebook claim a 'dramatic increase' in H-1B visas being held up. Women at Sabarimala: 550 women between the age of 10 and 50 years have registered online (among 3.5 lakh pilgrims) for prayers at the Sabarimala temple during the upcoming festival season beginning on November 16. No woman in the age group has entered the temple amidst protest against the Supreme Court order that lifted a previously enforced ban. 3 CURATED WEEKEND READS 1. The healthiest people in the world don’t go to the gym If you want to be as healthy as possible, there are no treadmills or weight machines required. 2. Antibiotics may soon become useless. Now what? Antibiotics were one of the great achievements of the 20th century: They revolutionized medicine, saved millions of lives, changed the course of history. But they may not make it to their 100th birthday. 3. The American grandmaster who could become world champion Fabiano Caruana likes movies. He likes music. He likes to eat. He works out. He goes on dates. Just a normal guy. Just a normal guy who is ranked second in the world in chess. Follow news that matters to you in real-time. Join 3 crore news enthusiasts. GET APP Answer To NEWS IN CLUES Ant Financial. The company struck an 8-year partnership with European football body UEFA, which will see its Alipay mobile payment accepted at venues of international football, including the Euro 2020 and Euro 2024. Ant Financial, an affiliate of Alibaba, is the largest investor in Paytm, besides holding significant stakes in BigBasket and Zomato.