Modi’s ‘Good and Simple Tax’ was neither good nor simple; a new initiative promises greater dialogue between scientists and society; and more

[View this email in your browser]( Top Story [A Sad Moment in India’s Judicial History]( Shanti Bhushan [What happened in the chief justice’s court on November 10 raises very serious questions about the future of the Supreme Court of India and the Indian judiciary as a whole. On November 9, the bench of Justice J. Chelameswar entertained a very important writ petition. The petition sought an independent investigation into an alleged act of corruption which may involve members of the higher judiciary. Since this matter pertains to the integrity and credibility of the judiciary, the bench headed by Justice Chelameswar issued notice to the respondents, directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to produce all relevant papers relating to the investigation including the case diary in a sealed cover before the Supreme Court, and listed the matter for Monday, November 13 before a constitution bench of the five senior-most judges of the court (including the chief justice) for further hearing.]( [Narendra Modi’s ‘Good and Simple Tax’ Was Neither Good nor Simple]( M.K. Venu [A simpler and lower rate of tax is what was needed to widen the country’s tax base substantially. This was totally missing in GST’s initial design.]( [New Initiative Promises Greater Dialogue Between Scientists and Society]( Lakshmi Supriya [There is a perception that the organised scientific community has been “conspicuously” silent and that it is high time that changed and they started engaging with society.]( [Substance in Birthwort Plant, Staple of Herbal Medicine, Linked to Liver Cancer]( Sarah Iqbal [As a mutagen, aristolochic acid is more potent than ultraviolet radiation. If unaware, people could be consuming it for relieving lesser discomforts in the name of ‘chemical-free’ herbal remedies.]( [Celebrating Sharadchandra Shrikhande, the Mathematician Who Disproved Euler]( Nithyanand Rao [Fifty-eight years ago, the mathematician Shrikhande, along with his mentor R.C. Bose and their collaborator E.T. Parker, proved Leonhard Euler wrong and made the headlines.]( [Plugging the Holes in India’s ‘Independent Contractor’ Economy]( Meghna Bal [Inadequate vetting of Ola and Uber drivers is as much a function of institutional failure as it is the negligence of shared economy businesses.]( [What I Learnt From My Attempt at Being a Well-Networked Writer]( Anu Kumar [While networking is essential for any writer, sometimes one gets so set in making connections, or in figuring out the story one must tell the world, that somehow one loses the stories that matter.]( Copyright © 2017 The Wire, All rights reserved. You're getting this email because you recently subscribed to receive email digests from The Wire via our website. Our mailing address is: The Wire 13, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg Gole MarketNew Delhi 110001 India [Add us to your address book](//thewire.us11.list-manage.com/vcard?u=6b988b13445248b1268a308f2&id=4808224841) Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](