Modi should explain the Rafale deal; Bangladesh academic 'held by military intelligence agency'; Patrick Modiano’s books; and more

[View this email in your browser]( Top Story [Modi Should Explain How Rafale Deal Went From ‘95% Complete’ to Zero in Two Weeks]( Ravi Nair [The main questions revolve around how the prime minister took such a big call on cancelling and revamping the Rafale deal – a subject closely related to national security and the public exchequer – before relevant approval or inter-ministerial discussion. And why did defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman beat around the bush last week by insisting that all due procedures were followed?]( [Bangladesh Academic Mubashar Hasan “Held by Military Intelligence Agency”]( David Bergman and Tasneem Khalil [The Directorate General of Forces Intelligence allegedly picked up Hasan soon after he attended a meeting at the UN headquarters in Dhaka on November 7. The reason for his detention remains unclear.]( [Are We the Aliens We Seek?]( Prakash Chandra [The significance of a new finding is that it is compelling evidence of life elsewhere, even if it doesn’t prove life on Earth originated elsewhere.]( [If Parliament Doesn’t Have the Power to Convene Itself, How Effective Can It Really Be?]( Trina Roy [Political compulsions and legislative demands have time and again resulted in deviations from the conventional three-session calendar.]( [The Crucial 48 Hours Before the Vote That Changed Everything]( Seema Sirohi [In some ways India’s victory at the International Court of Justice is a reflection of “change” at the UN, however small.]( [The Ram Sethu Canal Must Be Scrapped for Scientific Reasons]( C.P. Rajendran [There are plenty of reasons to scrap the Sethusamudram project: we don’t know how sediments behave within the canal, how cyclones will affect it and how its marine environment will be wrecked.]( [The Fleeting Nature of Memory]( Anu Kumar [Patrick Modiano’s recently translated Sundays in August and Such Fine Boys are poles apart in their themes, but are shrouded in mystery and manage to successfully build a sense of place.]( [Telecom Department Mulls Allocating Valuable V-Band Spectrum Without Auctions]( Manoj Gairola [The move, which is a gross violation of the Supreme Court order on 2G and auctioning spectrum, could result in potential revenue loss of up to Rs 4 lakh crore.]( [The Puzzle of the 1972 Shimla Summit, Or Why India Did Not Impose Its Will]( Zorawar Daulet Singh [In their quest to shape the post-war order, Indira Gandhi and her advisors sought to reorient Pakistan’s domestic politics and insulate the subcontinent from the next phase of the Cold War.]( 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](