US varsities see number of Indian students drop to 5-year lows

NEW DELHI, Nov 15: The number of Indian students pursuing education in US universities dropped to a five-year low at 167,582 in 2020-21. This gives a clear assessment of the impact of COVID-induced mobility restrictions on the aspiration of foreign studies.

According to data released by the US government on Monday, the number of Indian students this year was 13.2 percent lower than that in 2019-20, when 193,124 students were studying there. This was the second year in a row when the number of Indian students in the US went down after scaling a peak at 202,014 in 2018-19, the Open Doors data on international students showed.

The last time the US reported less than the 2020-21 figure was in 2015-16 when 165,918 Indian students were there. In 2015-16, however, the inflow from India was 24.9 percent more than the previous year.

“In 2020-21, the total number of international students at US universities declined by 15 percent to 914,095 students from the year-before period,” the Open Doors data on international students said.

The decline in overall numbers in 2020-21 put the foreign students’ population in the US at a seven-year low and shows how the pandemic induced economic and personal decisions have impacted the key overseas education destination. While the overall US numbers dropped 15 percent in 2020-21, it had declined 1.8% in 19-20.

Even as Indian students number dropped by 13.2 percent in 2020-21, Chinese students number dropped by 14.8 percent, South Koreans dropped by 20.7 percent and Saudi Arabia students number dropped 29.2 percent. Similarly, Japanese students’ population fell by 32.9 percent, and Taiwan students pursuing education there decreased by 17.1 percent, indicating a wider falling trend.

However, India remained the second largest source of foreign students for the US after China. While Chinese students comprise 34.7 percent of the cohort, Indians constitute 18.3 percent, followed by South Korea at 4.3 percent, Canada at 2.8 percent and Saudi Arabia at 2.4 percent. All the top five sources of foreign students to the US recorded a decline in traffic, according to the data.

“Despite the global pandemic, Indian students were able to apply for visas and travel to the United States. We issued over 62,000 student visas this summer alone, more than in any previous year. This goes to show that the United States remains the destination of choice for Indian students looking to study abroad. We look forward to issuing many more visas in the year to come, to help Indian students achieve their dreams of US study,” Minister Counsellor for Consular Affairs Don Heflin said at the release of the Open Doors report on international student mobility.

The US remained open and welcoming to international students throughout the global pandemic. Last year, the US government and higher-education institutions implemented measures to safely welcome international students in person, online and via hybrid learning methods, guaranteeing that opportunities and resources to international students remained robust, the US Embassy in New Delhi said.

Longest Partial Lunar Eclipse In 580 Years On November 19

KOLKATA, Nov 13: The longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years will occur on November 19 and will be visible from parts of Northeast India, an astrophysicist said on Saturday.

The rare phenomenon will be visible from a few areas in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, said Director of Research and Academic at MP Birla Planetarium Debiprosad Duari.

The partial eclipse will start at 12.48 pm and end at 4.17 pm, he said.

The duration of the eclipse will be 3 hours 28 minutes and 24 seconds, making it the longest in 580 years, Duari said.

"A few areas in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam will experience the last fleeting moments of the partial eclipse just after the moonrise, very close to the eastern horizon," he explained.

The last time a partial lunar eclipse of such length occurred was on February 18, 1440, and the next time a similar phenomenon can be witnessed will be on February 8, 2669, he said.

The maximum partial eclipse will be visible at 2.34 pm as 97 per cent of the moon will be covered by the Earth's shadow.

The moon is likely to appear blood-red in colour, which happens when the red beams of the sunlight pass through the Earth's atmosphere and get least deflected and fall on the moon.

The partial Lunar eclipse will be visible from North America, South America, eastern Asia, Australia and the Pacific region.

The penumbral eclipse, which occurs when the sun, earth, and the moon are imperfectly aligned, will begin at 11.32 am and end at 5.33 pm, Mr Duari said.

The penumbral eclipse will be visible from UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha but it can be seen only briefly from these places, he said.

A penumbral eclipse is not as spectacular and dramatic as the partial eclipse and sometimes does not even get noticed, he said.

The last lunar eclipse was on July 27, 2018. The next lunar eclipse will be on May 16, 2022, but it will not be visible from India, Duari said.

The next lunar eclipse to be visible from India will be on November 8, 2022.

Noted Kashmiri physician, writer, Dr Kundan Lal Chowdhury, is no more

By Prof Sanjay Kaul

BOSTON, Nov 1: Noted Kashmiri physician, social activist, journalist, poet, writer and essayist, Dr Kundan Lal Chowdhury, passed away on Sunday morning in presence of his kith and kin around him in Dallas (Texas), USA.

His funeral is on November 3.

A resident of Srinagar, Dr Chowdhury did his MBBS from Punjab University and MD from Delhi University. Besides, he also did a fellowship in Neurology from London.

In 1990, when there was an insurgence of terrorists, he moved to Jammu and started the charitable hospital Shriya Bhat Mission Hospital and Research Center, where patients would get free consultation and treatment.

Dr Chowdhury has published papers on various subjects, not limited to medical and science. He has authored books on socio-cultural, and political topics as well. Some of his critically-acclaimed works include "Of Gods, Men and Militants," "A Thousand-Petalled Garland and other poems," and "Enchanting World of Infants."

Dr Chowdhury is also a recipient of various awards, including 'Kashmiri of the Year' and Rajiv Ghandi Shiromani award in 2007, 'The Smiriti Samman' of 2006, Prem Nath Bhat Amateur Journalist award 2004, and "Best Book Award for Excellence in Literature" in 2008.

With his death, Kashmiri community has lost a great human being. He was loved as one of the great doctors of Kashmir and also at a time of painful exile, he offered a way forward necessary at the time with hope and pride and an inspiring vision. He was seen as a guide with positive impact on our community.

I have always been a big fan of his on everything he has written. His writings, may it be poetry or prose, had great teachings and the best understanding of our community in exile with deeper layer of heart.

His short stories pushed our understanding and unfolded clarity of thoughts, dazzling observations as a humbling doctor treating patients, or simply sitting watching or serving his family.

Dr Kundan Lal Chowdhary was a genius at weaving together these insights in some form of writings. Despite our mournful tragedies during our times, he never failed to satisfy and fill the souls with love.

He leaves behind his wife leela, elder daughter Anita and her husband Rajive; younger daughter Renuka and her husband Siddharth.
He also leaves behind his grand children Aditya, Nauseen and Sherren.

A Zen quote in his memory:

This way and that way
He tried to keep the pale together
hoping the weak bamboo
would never break

Facebook Face Recognition To End, Data Of Billion People To Be Deleted

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 2: Facebook is shutting down its facial recognition system and deleting a billion faceprints, its parent company said Tuesday, in response to serious concerns over privacy.

The announcement from the leading social media network was made as it battles one of its worst crises ever, with reams of internal documents leaked to reporters, lawmakers and US regulators.

"There are many concerns about the place of facial recognition technology in society, and regulators are still in the process of providing a clear set of rules governing its use," parent company Meta said in a statement.

"Amid this ongoing uncertainty, we believe that limiting the use of facial recognition to a narrow set of use cases is appropriate," it added.

It was not clear when the changes would take effect, but they will be widely felt with Facebook noting that more than a third of its daily users have opted in to using the facial recognition system.

Shutting down that system "will result in the deletion of more than a billion people's individual facial recognition templates," the statement said.

As the social media giant battles a whistleblower crisis, it has also changed its parent company name to "Meta" in an effort to move past being a scandal-plagued social network to its virtual reality vision for the future.

Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp -- which are used by billions around the world -- will keep their names under the rebranding that critics have called an effort to distract from the platform's dysfunction.

Facebook Whistleblower Blasts Meta Rebrand, Urges Mark Zuckerberg To Step Down

LISBON, Nov 1: In her first public address since she leaked a trove of damaging documents about Facebook's inner workings, whistleblower Frances Haugen urged her former boss, Mark Zuckerberg, to step down and allow change rather than devoting resources to a rebrand.

"I think it is unlikely the company will change if [Mark Zuckerberg] remains the CEO," Haugen told a packed arena on Monday at the opening night of the Web Summit, a tech fest drawing dozens of thousands to the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

The former Facebook product manager replied in the positive to the question of whether Zuckerberg should resign, and added: "Maybe it's a chance for someone else to take the reins...Facebook would be stronger with someone who was willing to focus on safety."

The social network, with nearly 3 billion users, changed its name to Meta last week, in a rebrand that focuses on building the "metaverse," a shared virtual environment that it bets will be the successor to the mobile internet.

But early adopters of the virtual worlds known as the metaverse blasted Facebook's rebranding as an attempt to capitalise on growing buzz over a concept it did not create to deflect from recent negative attention.

Commenting on the rebranding, Haugen said it made no sense given the security issues that have yet to be tackled.

"Over and over Facebook chooses expansion and new areas instead of sticking the landing on what they've already done," Haugen told an animated crowd which frequently burst into applause as she spoke.

Facebook's announcement came amid strong criticism from lawmakers and regulators over the corporation's business practices - particularly its enormous market power, algorithmic decisions and the policing of abuses on its services.

The social media network, which operates a dual class share structure through which Zuckerberg and a small group of investors control the company, has hit back saying the documents leaked by Haugen were being used to paint a "false picture."

Haugen told British and American lawmakers last month that Facebook would fuel more violent unrest worldwide unless it curbed its algorithms which push extreme, divisive content and prey on vulnerable demographics to keep them scrolling.

"A key problem is that the foundation of the platform's security is based on monitoring content language by language, which does not scale to all the countries where Facebook operates," Haugen noted.