Autonomy of parliament under threat; tackling LGBTI discrimination in workplaces; and more

[View this email in your browser]( Top Story [In Setback to ‘Saraswati’ Theory, Study Says Sutlej Had Bigger Role to Play in Indus Civilisation]( Vasudevan Mukunth [Shortly after coming to power at the Centre in 2014, the Narendra Modi government revived efforts to ‘find’ the Saraswati, considered sacred by many Hindus. The governments of Haryana and Rajasthan also allocated Rs 80 crore together to aid the effort. A new study by researchers from India and the UK could give them pause. It claims that the portion of the civilisation between the Sutlej and Yamuna was not fed by a perennial river driven by melting Himalayan glaciers, as was previously thought. Instead, the researchers claim that Banawali and Kalibangan were located in a valley that used to be watered by the Sutlej, but that the river had shifted course over 3,000 years before the civilisation was even founded. In other words, the two settlements had flourished in an abandoned valley.]( [In Communally-Sensitive Bhuj, Modi Chooses to Ignore Local Developmental Issues]( Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta [Given Bhuj’s large Muslim population, the prime minister shifted away from his broader campaign tenor and raked up issues with the potential to polarise communities.]( [TRAI Says Net Neutrality Should Be Hard Coded Into India’s Telecom License Agreements]( Anuj Srivas [While the telecom department will have to take a call on the regulator’s recommendations, the regulator has also reserved the right to regulate and enforce non-discriminatory access within its existing framework.]( [The Upside Down World of America The Turbulent]( Manoj Joshi [Trump’s rise symbolises the US’s polarised polity, but he is only the manifestation of the disease, not its cause.]( [The Creeping Threat to the Autonomy of Parliament]( P.D.T. Achary [The delay in convening the winter session is symptomatic of a deeper malaise – the attempt by the executive to subvert the independent function of the legislature and its secretariat.]( [How to Tackle LGBTI Discrimination in Workplaces Across the World]( Siddharth Narrain [The UN standards of conduct to help tackle discrimination against LGBTI persons at the workplace can lead to a change in the arena of global LGBTI rights.]( [New Report Highlights ‘Moonlighting’ by ICJ Judges But Practice Has Long Had Official Sanction]( Seema Sirohi [The ICJ statute forbids judges from engaging in any other occupation of a professional nature but the court told the UN in 1994 that this does apply to paid international arbitration.]( [How Anonymity Allowed Sexism in Economics to Be Revealed]( Madhvi Gupta and Pushkar [A recent landmark study shedding light on the extent of gender bias in the profession was made possible only because of its reliance on a web forum that allowed economists to remain anonymous.]( 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](