title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: After the war, Prince Mikasa enrolled in the Literature Faculty of the University of Tokyo and pursued advanced studies in archaeology, Middle Eastern studies, and Semitic languages. From 1954 until his death in 2016, he directed the Japanese Society for Middle East Studies. He was honorary president of the Japan Society of Orientology. The Prince held visiting and guest faculty appointments in Middle Eastern studies and archaeology at various universities in Japan and abroad, including: Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Aoyama Gakuin, Tokyo Woman's Christian University, the University of London, Hokkaido University and the University of Shizuoka. He made numerous radio and television appearances, speaking on cultural subjects, and was known as "the Imperial scholar". He was especially interested in Jewish studies, and believed "The truth incarnated in Judaism, a truth of being rather than of theory, is the central meaning of history. … History had brought him—Prince Mikasa—to the Jew, he said, and Judaism had brought him back to himself. For the Jew is not only the father of the West, he is the scion of the Orient. He is the holy bridge (a traditional and poignant Japanese symbol) between East and West. Through understanding Judaism, the Prince regained a sense of his dignity as a member of his people; he was again proud to be Japanese."


title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: Towards the end of his life, due to his advanced age, Prince Mikasa rarely made public appearances, and regularly used a wheelchair. He and Princess Mikasa lived together at a residence in the grounds of the Akasaka Estate in Motoakasaka, Minato, Tokyo. He underwent heart surgery in 2012, and made a full recovery. His routine included exercising for about 30 minutes each day with his wife at their Tokyo residence, and he often went outdoors for a roll in his wheelchair. About once a week, he would leave his home for a haircut, or to attend various events for other family members. In October 2014, he attended the Tokyo wedding of his granddaughter Princess Noriko, the second daughter of his youngest son Prince Takamado. Palace staff noted that he appeared vigorous until his last days, and that he would always be seen helping his wife to get about. He continued to read newspapers, and enjoyed watching sumo and music programs on television.


title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: On 2 December 2015, Prince Mikasa became the first member of the imperial family to become a centenarian. On his 100th birthday, he said, "Nothing will change just because I turn 100 years old. I'd like to spend my days pleasantly and peacefully while praying for the happiness of people around the world and thanking my wife, Yuriko, who has been supporting me for more than 70 years." At his residence in April 2016, he met the Japanese ambassador to Turkey and took a stroll at the Akasaka Detached Palace.


title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: On 16 May 2016, Prince Mikasa was admitted to the intensive-care unit of St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo's Chuo Ward, having contracted acute pneumonia. He remained in hospital for the remaining months of his life. His heart weakened in June, and fluid accumulated in his lungs. Princess Yuriko frequently visited him along with other Imperial family members, including the Emperor and Empress in June. During his last days, Prince Mikasa remained responsive to visitors. On 22 October, Prince Mikasa and his wife celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary in his hospital room. His condition eventually stabilised to the point where he began to receive rehabilitation in his bed, which included stretching his arms and legs. At 7:40 a.m. on 27 October, however, his heart gradually slowed, stopping at 8 a.m. Prince Mikasa was pronounced dead at 8:34 a.m., with his wife at his side. At his death, he had outlived all of his siblings and all three of his sons. He was also the last surviving grandson of Emperor Meiji.


title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: Prince Mikasa's funeral was held on 4 November 2016 at Toshimagaoka Imperial Cemetery. About 580 people including members of the Imperial Family, Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, and former imperial family members Sayako Kuroda and Noriko Senge and their husbands, attended the funeral. Princess Mikasa hosted the ceremony as the chief mourner.


title: Riley McGree

text: Riley Patrick McGree (born 2 November 1998) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for EFL Championship club Middlesbrough and the Australian national team.


title: Riley McGree

text: Born in Gawler, South Australia, McGree played youth football for Gawler, the FFSA NTC and Adelaide United before starting his professional career with Adelaide United in 2016. He joined Club Brugge of the Belgian top flight in 2017, and spent two loan spells back in Australia with Newcastle Jets and Melbourne City before returning to Adelaide United. That club sold him to Major League Soccer expansion franchise Charlotte FC, who loaned him to English Championship club Birmingham City for 18 months before selling him to Middlesbrough in 2022.


title: Riley McGree

text: McGree was first called up to the Australian national team in 2017, having previously played for Australia under-17 in 2013.


title: Riley McGree

text: McGree was born and raised in Gawler, South Australia, to the north of Adelaide. He joined Gawler Eagles FC as a four-year-old after the town's Australian rules football club was full, and remained with the Eagles for eight years.


title: Riley McGree

text: McGree made his debut for Adelaide United in the A-League on 19 March 2016 in a draw with Western Sydney Wanderers. He made his first start for the club in a 2016 FFA Cup loss to Redlands United on 3 August 2016, having been called up from the club's youth squad. Two weeks later, McGree signed a one-year senior contract with Adelaide. McGree scored his first goal for the Reds in his second A-League start, on 29 January 2017, with a shot from the edge of the area in a draw with Wellington Phoenix.


title: Riley McGree

text: After impressing at Adelaide United, including being called up for the Australian national team, McGree left the national Australian league in July 2017 to join Belgian club Club Brugge.


title: Riley McGree

text: On 19 December 2017, it was announced that McGree would be joining the Newcastle Jets on a short-term loan deal for the remainder of the 2017–18 A-League season, as an injury replacement for Jake Adelson. The transfer would be officially lodged in January, with him expected to join the squad in late January, due to his international commitments in 2018 AFC U-23 Championship.


title: Riley McGree

text: In that season's A-League semi-finals, McGree became the subject of international attention after scoring with a scorpion kick, and which received a nomination for the FIFA Puskas Award for the most beautiful goal in the world that year.


title: Riley McGree

text: At the end of the season McGree returned to Club Brugge, though Newcastle Jets looked to sign him on loan once more.


title: Riley McGree

text: In June 2018, a few weeks after the announcement that McGree returned to Club Brugge, he returned to the A-League, joining Melbourne City on a season-long loan.


title: Riley McGree

text: On 5 July 2019, it was announced that McGree would return to Adelaide United for an undisclosed fee for the next three seasons. McGree starred for Adelaide United in his season back for Adelaide United scoring 10 goals in the league and 3 goals in the cup, including one in the FFA Cup final against Melbourne City. He capped off his season by winning the Aurelio Vidmar Club Champion award for the best and fairest player at Adelaide United, and winning the club's golden boot award.


title: Riley McGree

text: On 5 October 2020, McGree was sold to Major League Soccer expansion franchise Charlotte FC for an undisclosed fee.


title: Riley McGree

text: Immediately after joining Charlotte FC, McGree was loaned to English Championship club Birmingham City for the season. He made his Birmingham City debut on 17 October, as a substitute in a 1–0 defeat at home to Sheffield Wednesday. Two weeks later, he scored his first goal two minutes into his first start, away to Preston North End, when he reacted quickest to a loose ball after Lukas Jutkiewicz's mis-hit shot; the match ended 2–1 to Birmingham. McGree finished the season with 15 appearances, and his loan was renewed until 1 January 2022. He made his first league start of 2021–22 in October, in place of the injured Tahith Chong, and according to the "Birmingham Mail", became "undroppable, impressing with his work-rate, mobility, versatility and, latterly, quality." He scored twice and made two assists in 13 league matches before his loan expired.


title: Riley McGree

text: Although McGree was expected to return to Charlotte FC in preparation for their MLS debut, rumours in early January linked him with a permanent move either to Scottish Premiership club Celtic, managed by Ange Postecoglou, the coach who first called him up to the senior national team, or to another EFL Championship club. He chose not to join Celtic, and on 14 January, he signed for Middlesbrough.


title: Riley McGree

text: McGree signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with EFL Championship club Middlesbrough on 14 January 2022; the fee was undisclosed. McGree made his debut for the club on 12 February, coming off the bench during a 4–1 win against Derby County.


title: Riley McGree

text: McGree was called up to the Australia under-17 team in August 2013 for the 2013 AFF U-16 Youth Championship in Myanmar. He scored a hat-trick in the side's group stage win over Brunei.


title: Riley McGree

text: In March 2017, McGree was called up to the Australian team for the first time, for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Iraq and UAE.


title: Riley McGree

text: In November 2019 he was one of four players suspended by the Australia national under-23 soccer team due to "unprofessional conduct". The four players allegedly mistreated a woman after an intimate encounter. As a result, McGree was forbidden to play in the upcoming 2020 AFC U-23 Championship, but was free to be selected for their World Cup team if Australia qualify.


title: Riley McGree

text: McGree made his senior debut on 3 June 2021, as a late substitute in a 3–0 win against Kuwait in a 2022 World Cup qualifier. In a man-of-the-match performance on his first start, he provided two assists in a 5–1 victory against Chinese Taipei, and was a late substitute as Australia beat Jordan to complete a perfect record in the second phase of qualifying. He scored his first international goal to complete Australia's 4–0 defeat of Vietnam on 27 January 2022 in a third-phase qualifier.


title: Miss World 2019

text: Miss World 2019, the 69th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 14 December 2019 at the ExCeL London in London, United Kingdom. Vanessa Ponce of Mexico crowned her successor Toni-Ann Singh of Jamaica at the end of the event.


title: Miss World 2019

text: The official announcement was made on 19 February 2019, in Bangkok, by Miss World President Julia Morley, CEO Tanawat Wansom of TW Pageants, and guest Ashwani Kumar Rai. They announced a mid-December date for the contest. However, on 2 July 2019, Morley and Vanessa Ponce, the reigning Miss World, appeared on ITV's "Good Morning Britain" with Piers Morgan. Morley officially announced that the pageant will be held on Saturday, 14 December 2019, at ExCeL London and that Miss World 2020 will be held in Thailand in order to celebrate Miss World's 70th anniversary. The 2019 opening ceremony was held in London on 20 November. Contestants then competed in a series of fast track events around London.


title: Miss World 2019

text: Miss Nigeria Nyekachi Douglas won Top Model Competition and become the fourth quarter-finalist of Miss World 2019.


title: Miss World 2019

text: Miss British Virgin Islands Rikkiya Brathwaite won the Sports Competition and became the first quarter-finalist of Miss World 2019.


title: Miss World 2019

text: Miss Jamaica, Toni-Ann Singh, was the winner of the Talent Competition and became the second quarter-finalist of Miss World 2019.


title: Miss World 2019

text: Miss Nepal, Anushka Shrestha, was the winner of the Multimedia Competition and became the third quarter-finalist of Miss World 2019.


title: Miss World 2019

text: For the first time, all 10 finalists were placed in the Top 40 of Miss World 2019 due to their impressive projects and initiatives. Miss Nepal, Anushka Shrestha, received the award and will receive funding from the Miss World Organization for the establishment of her project.


title: Alexander II of Scotland

text: Alexander II (Medieval Gaelic: '; Modern Gaelic: '; 24 August 1198 – 6 July 1249) was King of Scotland from 1214 until his death. He concluded the Treaty of York (1237) which defined the boundary between England and Scotland, virtually unchanged today.


title: Alexander II of Scotland

text: He was born at Haddington, East Lothian, the only son of the Scottish king William the Lion and Ermengarde de Beaumont. He spent time in England (John of England knighted him at Clerkenwell Priory in 1213) before succeeding to the kingdom on the death of his father on 4 December 1214, being crowned at Scone on 6 December the same year.


title: Alexander II of Scotland

text: In 1215, the year after his accession, the clans Meic Uilleim and MacHeths, inveterate enemies of the Scottish crown, broke into revolt; but loyalist forces speedily quelled the insurrection. In the same year, Alexander joined the English barons in their struggle against King John of England, and led an army into the Kingdom of England in support of their cause. This action led to the sacking of Berwick-upon-Tweed as John's forces ravaged the north.


title: Alexander II of Scotland

text: The Scottish forces reached the south coast of England at the port of Dover where in September 1216, Alexander paid homage to the pretender Louis VIII of France for his lands in England, chosen by the barons to replace John. But since John died, the papacy and the English aristocracy changed their allegiance to his nine-year-old son, Henry III, forcing the French and the Scots armies to return home. Peace between Henry, Louis and Alexander followed on 12 September 1217 with the Treaty of Kingston. Diplomacy further strengthened the reconciliation by the marriage of Alexander to Henry's sister Joan on 18 June or 25 June 1221.


title: Alexander II of Scotland

text: In 1222 Jon Haraldsson, the last native Scandinavian to be Jarl of Orkney, was indirectly implicated in the burning of Adam of Melrose at his hall at Halkirk by local farmers when this part of Caithness was still part of the Kingdom of Norway. A contemporary chronicler, Boethius the Dane blamed Haraldsson for the bishop's death. After the jarl swore oaths to his own innocence, Alexander took the opportunity to assert his claims to the mainland part of the Orkney jarldom. He visited Caithness in person, and hanged the majority of the farmers, while mutilating the rest. His actions were applauded by Pope Honorius III, and a quarter of a century later, he was continuing to receive commendation from the Catholic Church, as in the reward of a bull from Pope Celestine IV.


title: Alexander II of Scotland

text: During the same period, Alexander subjugated the hitherto semi-independent district of Argyll (much smaller than the modern area by that name, it only comprised Craignish, Ardscotnish, Glassary, Glenary and Cowal; Lorn was a separate province, while Kintyre and Knapdale were part of Suðreyar). Royal forces crushed a revolt in Galloway in 1235 without difficulty; nor did an invasion attempted soon afterwards by its exiled leaders meet with success. Soon afterwards, a claim for homage from Henry of England drew forth from Alexander a counter-claim to the northern English counties. The two kingdoms, however, settled this dispute by a compromise in 1237. This was the Treaty of York, which defined the boundary between the two kingdoms as running between the Solway Firth (in the west) and the mouth of the River Tweed (in the east).


title: Alexander II of Scotland

text: Alexander's first wife, Joan, died in March 1238 in Essex. Alexander married his second wife, Marie de Coucy, the following year on 15 May 1239. Together they had one son, Alexander III, born in 1241.


title: Alexander II of Scotland

text: A threat of invasion by Henry in 1243 for a time interrupted the friendly relations between the two countries; but the prompt action of Alexander in anticipating his attack, and the disinclination of the English barons for war, compelled him to make peace the next year at Newcastle.


title: Alexander II of Scotland

text: Alexander now turned his attention to securing the Western Isles, which were still part of the Norwegian domain of Suðreyjar. He repeatedly attempted negotiations and purchase, but without success. Alexander set out to conquer these islands but died on the way in 1249. This dispute over the Western Isles, also known as the Hebrides, was not resolved until 1266 when Magnus VI of Norway ceded them to Scotland along with the Isle of Man.


title: Alexander II of Scotland

text: [King John] taunted King Alexander, and because he was red-headed, sent word to him, saying, 'so shall we hunt the red fox-cub from his lairs.


title: Alexander II of Scotland

text: Alexander attempted to persuade Ewen, the son of Duncan, Lord of Argyll (and King of the Isles), to sever his allegiance to Haakon IV of Norway. When Ewen rejected these attempts, Alexander sailed forth to compel him, but on the way he suffered a fever at the Isle of Kerrera in the Inner Hebrides. He died there in 1249 and was buried at Melrose Abbey.


title: Alexander II of Scotland

text: The "Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar" records additional information, in that before attempting to invade the Isles, where Ewen held power, he was supposedly warned in a dream by St. Columba, St. Olaf and St. Magnus to desist. King Ewen of the Isles' status as Monarch had been confirmed by Haakon IV and was disputed by Alexander. The episode might be emblematic of a broader desire on the part of Alexander to bring the Kingdom of the Isles fully into the power of the Scottish Crown. In any case, when he finally decided to continue in his endeavour, despite the dream, and having been advised against it by his men, he died shortly afterwards. The incident was portrayed in the saga as divine punishment. His body was then transported back to the mainland.


title: Alexander II of Scotland

text: 1. Joan of England (22 July 12104 March 1238), who was the eldest legitimate daughter and third child of John of England and Isabella of Angoulême. She and Alexander II married on 21 June 1221, at York Minster. Alexander was 23; Joan was 11. They had no children. Joan died in Essex in 1238, and was buried at Tarant Crawford Abbey in Dorset.


title: Alexander II of Scotland

text: He also had an illegitimate daughter, Marjorie, who married Alan Durward. She is the ancestor of James VI of Scotland, through his paternal great-grandfather Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus.


title: Climate change in India

text: Climate change in India is having profound effects on India, which is ranked fourth among the list of countries most affected by climate change in 2015. India emits about 3 gigatonnes (Gt) CO of greenhouse gases each year; about two and a half tons per person, which is less than the world average. The country emits 7% of global emissions, despite having 17% of the world population. Temperature rises on the Tibetan Plateau are causing Himalayan glaciers to retreat, threatening the flow rate of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Yamuna and other major rivers. A 2007 World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report states that the Indus River may run dry for the same reason. Heat waves' frequency and intensity are increasing in India because of climate change. Severe landslides and floods are projected to become increasingly common in such states as Assam. Climate change performance index of India ranks eighth among 63 countries which account for 92% of all GHG emissions in the year 2021.


title: Climate change in India

text: According to some current projections, the number and severity of droughts in India will have markedly increased by the end of the present century.


title: Climate change in India

text: Greenhouse gas emissions by India are the third largest in the world and the main source is coal. India emitted 2.8 Gt of CO in 2016 (2.5 including LULUCF). 79% were , 14% methane and 5% nitrous oxide. India emits about 3 gigatonnes (Gt) CO of greenhouse gases each year; about two tons per person, which is half the world average. The country emits 7% of global emissions.


title: Climate change in India

text: The Paris Agreement commitments included a reduction of this intensity by 33–35% by 2030. India's annual emissions per person are less than the global average, and the UNEP forecasts that by 2030 they will be between 3 and 4 tonnes.


title: Climate change in India

text: In 2019 China is estimated to have emitted 27% of world GhG, followed by the US with 11%, then India with 6.6%.


title: Climate change in India

text: As of September 2021 India generates 39.8% of its electricity from renewable energy sources and 60.2% of its electricity from fossil fuels of which 51% is generated from coal.


title: Climate change in India

text: As well as coal mining in India, the country also imports coal to burn in coal-fired power stations in India. New plants are unlikely to be built, old and dirty plants may be shut down and more coal may be burnt in the remaining plants.


title: Climate change in India

text: Switching from traditional fuels to liquefied petroleum gas and electricity provides health and climate benefits.


title: Climate change in India

text: A quarter of emissions are industrial mainly from producing cement, iron and steel. Industrial sector fuel consumption increased by 406% between 2000 and 2014.


title: Climate change in India

text: Agricultural emissions increased 25% between 2005 and 2014, in part due to significant increases in the use of artificial fertilizers and the burning of crops.


title: Climate change in India

text: In May 2022 severe heatwave was recorded in Pakistan and India. The temperature reached 51 °C. Climate change makes such heatwaves 100 times more likely. Without climate change heatwaves, more severe that those who occurred in 2010 are expected to arrive 1 time in 312 years. Now they are expected to occur every 3 years.


title: Climate change in India

text: A 2018 study projects droughts to increase in Northern and North-western India in the near future. Around the end of the century, most parts of India will likely face more and more severe droughts.


title: Climate change in India

text: Meghalaya and other northeastern states are concerned that rising sea levels will submerge much of Bangladesh and spawn a refugee crisis. If severe climate changes occurs, Bangladesh and parts of India that border it may lose vast tracts of coastal land.


title: Climate change in India

text: Thousands of people have been displaced by ongoing sea level rises that have submerged low-lying islands in the Sundarbans.


title: Climate change in India

text: Temperature rises on the Tibetan Plateau are causing Himalayan glaciers to retreat, threatening the flow rate of the Ganga, Brahmaputra, Yamuna, and other major rivers; the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of farmers depend on these rivers. A 2007 World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report states that the Indus River may run dry for the same reason.


title: Climate change in India

text: Ecological disasters, such as a 1998 coral bleaching event that killed off more than 70% of corals in the reef ecosystems off Lakshadweep and the Andamans and was brought on by elevated ocean temperatures tied to global warming, are also projected to become increasingly common.


title: Climate change in India

text: India has the world's highest social cost of carbon. A report by the London-based global think tank Overseas Development Institute found that India may lose anywhere around 3–10% of its GDP annually by 2100 and its poverty rate may rise by 3.5% in 2040 due to climate change.


title: Climate change in India

text: Climate Change in India will have a disproportionate impact on the more than 400 million that make up India's poor. This is because so many depend on natural resources for their food, shelter and income. More than 56% of people in India work in agriculture, while many others earn their living in coastal areas.


title: Climate change in India

text: Air pollution, which reflects sunlight, and irrigation, which cools the air by evaporation, have counteracted climate change since 1970. These two factors do however increase the impact of heat waves, as both lead to increased mortality.


title: Climate change in India

text: Heat waves' frequency and power are increasing in India because of climate change. In 2019, the temperature reached 50.6 degrees Celsius, 36 people were killed. The high temperatures are expected to impact 23 states in 2019, up from nine in 2015 and 19 in 2018. The number of heat wave days has increased—not just day temperature, night temperatures increased also. 2018 was the country's sixth hottest year on record, and 11 of its 15 warmest years have occurred since 2004. The capital New Delhi broke its all-time record with a high of 48 degrees Celsius.


title: Climate change in India

text: In India, exposure to heat waves is said to increase by 8 times between 2021 and 2050, and by 300% by the end of this century. The number of Indians exposed to heat waves increased by 200% from 2010 to 2016. Heat waves also affect farm labour productivity. The heat waves affect central and northwestern India the most, and the eastern coast and Telangana have also been affected. In 2015, the latter places witnessed at least 2500 deaths. In 2016, for the first time in history, Kerala reported a heat wave. The government is being advised by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in predicting and mitigating heat waves. The government of Andhra Pradesh, for instance, is creating a Heat Wave Action Plan.


title: Climate change in India

text: The death toll from India's heat waves has decreased in the last four years. More than 2,000 people died in 2015, 375 in 2017 and 20 in 2018. "Officials say this is because the government has made an effort to reduce the death toll by encouraging residents to reduce or alter the time spent working on hot days and by providing free drinking water to hard-hit populations". It also used water to cool streets and forced police to guard water tankers in Madhya Pradesh state after fights oversupply turned deadly. Those measures cost a lot of money and water, and the government's resources were limited in 2019 by the country's national election. The heat wave may continue, as monsoon rains have been delayed this year.


title: Climate change in India

text: Around seven million people are projected to be displaced due to, among other factors, submersion of parts of Mumbai and Chennai, if global temperatures were to rise by 2 °C (3.6 °F).


title: Climate change in India

text: Villagers in India's North Eastern state of Meghalaya are also concerned that rising sea levels will submerge neighboring low-lying Bangladesh, resulting in an influx of refugees into Meghalaya which has few resources to handle such a situation.


title: Climate change in India

text: Land use, land-use change, and forestry absorbed 300 Mt of CO in 2014 and in 2020 total carbon stored in forests was 7000 Mt.


title: Climate change in India

text: The National Energy Plan is in accord with the Paris Agreement target of 2 °C global warming, but if India stopped building coal-fired power stations it would meet the 1.5 °C aspiration. India pledged to achieve electric power generation of 40% percent non-fossil fuel energy by 2030.


title: Climate change in India

text: In its Biennial Update Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) submitted in February, India said it has progressively continued decoupling of economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions. India's emission intensity of gross domestic product (GDP) has reduced by 24% between 2005 and 2016. India is therefore on track to meet its voluntary declaration to reduce the emission intensity of GDP by 20–25% from 2005 levels by 2020, making India the only G20 nation to meet climate goals.


title: Climate change in India

text: India's Intended Nationally Determined Contribution includes reducing emission intensity by a third by 2030. India has adequate carbon neutral resources such as biomass, wind, solar, hydro power, etc. to achieve net zero carbon emissions.


title: Climate change in India

text: With accelerated coal plant closures, and an anticipated surge in renewables, thermal power will account for only an estimated 42.7% of installed capacity across India by 2027, down dramatically from 66.8% in 2017.


title: Climate change in India

text: Cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore air pollution in India, would have health benefits worth 4 to 5 times the cost, which would be the most cost-effective in the world.


title: Climate change in India

text: India has made significant strides in the energy sector and the country is now a global leader in renewable energy.


title: Climate change in India

text: The Indian Government as well as various state governments have taken certain steps in accordance with India's energy policy and the Paris Agreement. Following are some of those steps:


title: Climate change in India

text: In 2008, India published its National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), which contains several goals for the country. These goals include but are not limited to: covering one third of the country with forests and trees, increasing renewable energy supply to 6% of total energy mix by 2022, and the further maintenance of disaster management. All of the actions work to improve the resiliency of the country as a whole, and this proves to be important because India has an economy closely tied to its natural resource base and climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water, and forestry.


title: Climate change in India

text: While presenting the fiscal year 2020-2021 state budget for the Indian state of Odisha, Finance Minister of the state Niranjan Pujari introduced the Climate Budget. Climate budget aims to keep track of the expenses made by the government for climate change or to support mitigation and adaption actions to address climate change. As per the document, It will help the government to decide whether to redesign or safeguard the existing projects by seeing their impact on the climate change. Odisha has become the first state in India to introduce climate budget.


title: Climate change in India

text: Niti Aayog is in the process of devising a policy framework and its deployment mechanism in India for carbon capture and utilization or storage (CCUS) to reduce greenhouse emissions per unit of economic activity.


title: Climate change in India

text: Carbon trading is yet to be implemented in India. However, related instruments such as energy saving certificates (PAT), various renewable purchase obligations (RPO), and renewable energy certificates (REC) are traded on the power exchanges regularly.


title: Climate change in India

text: As a party to the Paris Agreement India is due to submit its first biennial transparency report to the UNFCCC by 2024 and inventory figures in standard format. In September 2021 India announced that it will submit a new Nationally Determined Contribution before COP26. At COP26, India set the latest target date planning to be net-zero by 2070. This was the first time in that a date for carbon neutrality has been given as part of India's climate policy.


title: Climate change in India

text: At COP26 Indian prime minister Narendra Modi announced 5 main commitments called Panchamrit - "India's gift to the world":


title: Climate change in India

text: The prime minister also proposed to advance a new agenda: LIFE - Lifestyle for Environment, meaning changing lifestyle for benefit the environment.


title: Climate change in India

text: Even though the date of net zero is far behind that of China and the US and India's government wants to continue with the use of coal, Indian environmentalists and economists applauded the decision, describing it as a bold climate action.


title: Climate change in India

text: An Ice Stupa designed by Sonam Wangchuk brings glacial water to farmers in the Himalayan Desert of Ladakh, India.


title: Climate change in India

text: A research project conducted between 2014 and 2018 in the five districts (Puri, Khordha, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Bhadrak) of Mahanadi Delta, Odisha and two districts (North and South 24 Parganas) of Indian Bengal Delta (includes the Indian Sundarbans), West Bengal provides evidence on the kinds of adaptations practiced by the delta dwellers. In the Mahanadi delta, the top three practiced adaptations were changing the amount of fertiliser used in the farm, the use of loans, and planting of trees around the homes. In the Indian Bengal Delta, the top three adaptations were changing the amount of fertiliser used in the farm, making changes to irrigation practices, and use of loans. Migration as an adaptation option is practiced in both these deltas but is not considered as a successful adaptation.


title: Climate change in India

text: In the Indian Sundarbans of West Bengal, farmers are cultivating salt-tolerant rice varieties which have been revived to combat the increasing issue of soil salinity. Other agricultural adaptations include mixed farming, diversifying crops, rain water harvesting, drip irrigation, use of neem-based pesticide, and ridge and farrow land shaping techniques where "the furrows help with drainage and the less-saline ridges can be used to grow vegetables". These have helped farmers to grow a second crop of vegetables besides the monsoon paddy crop.


title: Climate change in India

text: In Puri district of Odisha, water logging is a hazard that affects people yearly. In the Totashi village, many women are turning the "water logging in their fields to their advantage" by cultivating vegetables in the waterlogged fields and boosting their family income and nutrition.


title: Climate change in India

text: Education is an integral tool that can be used in the adaptation of the measures that have been put in place to curb climate change. When considering the adaptation of measures that have been established to curb climate change, it is important to ensure that the education system has been included in such a project.₳ By improving people's knowledge of climate change, it would be easier for them to adopt different mitigation measures. Also, there is a need to instill a culture among the younger generation on the best practices when it comes to environmental matters. The government must seek to ensure that systems that support learning, which undergirds adaptation are supported to enhance adaptation.


title: Climate change in India

text: A qualitative analysis of some mainstream Indian newspapers (particularly opinion and editorial pieces) during the release of the IPCC 4th Assessment Report and during the Nobel Peace Prize win by Al Gore and the IPCC found that Indian media strongly pursue the frame of scientific certainty in their coverage of climate change. This is in contrast to the skepticism displayed by American newspapers at the time. Alongside, Indian media highlight frames of energy challenge, social progress, public accountability and looming disaster. This sort of coverage finds parallels in European media narratives as well and helps build a transnational, globalized discourse on climate change. Another study has found that the media in India are divided along the lines of a north–south, risk-responsibility discourse.


title: Climate change in India

text: Calculations in 2021 showed that, for giving the world a 50% chance of avoiding a temperature rise of 2 degrees or more India should increase its climate commitments by 55%. For a 95% chance it should increase the commitments by 147%. For giving a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees India should increase its commitments by 191%.


title: Climate change in India

text: Tribal people in India's remote northeast planned to honor former U.S. Vice President Al Gore in 2007 with an award for promoting awareness on climate change that they say will have a devastating impact on their homeland.


title: Climate change in India

text: Meghalaya- meaning 'Abode of the Clouds' in Hindi—is home to the towns of Cherrapunji and Mawsynram, which are credited with being the wettest places in the world due to their high rainfall. But scientists state that global climate change is causing these areas to experience an increasingly sparse and erratic rainfall pattern and a lengthened dry season, affecting the livelihoods of thousands of villagers who cultivate paddy and maize. Some areas are also facing water shortages.


title: Climate change in India

text: People are becoming aware of the ills of global warming. Taking initiative on their own people from Sangamner, Maharashtra (near Shirdi) have started a campaign of planting trees known as Dandakaranya- The Green Movement. It was started by visionary & ace freedom fighter the late Shri Bhausaheb Thorat in 2005. To date, they have sowed more than 12 million seeds & planted half a million plants.


title: Snowball (Animal Farm)

text: Snowball is a character in George Orwell's 1945 novel "Animal Farm". He is largely based on Leon Trotsky, who led the opposition against Joseph Stalin (Napoleon). He is shown as a white pig on the movie poster for the 1999 film "Animal Farm", and as a white pig in the 1954 film. Snowball is voiced by Maurice Denham and Kelsey Grammer in the 1954 and 1999 films, respectively.


title: Snowball (Animal Farm)

text: Snowball believes in a continued revolution: he argues that to defend Animal Farm, he must strengthen the reality of Old Major's dream of a life without humans and that they must stir up rebellions in other farms throughout England. However, Napoleon always disagrees with any ideas that Snowball has because he does not want Snowball to lead Animal Farm and gain more popularity than himself.


title: Snowball (Animal Farm)

text: Snowball also writes the first version of the Seven Commandments. They are later altered by Squealer under the orders of Napoleon, to accommodate the actions of the pigs. For example, the commandment stating "No animal shall drink alcohol" is changed to "No animal shall drink alcohol "to excess"", and that which states "No animal shall sleep in a bed" has been changed to "No animal shall sleep in a bed "with sheets"". Another commandment, "No animal shall kill another animal" is changed to "No animal shall kill another animal "without cause"". Later all the commandments are replaced with one phrase: "All animals are equal", but some animals are more equal than others"". The last alteration to the commandments is seen towards the end of the book where Benjamin (the donkey) reads out the Commandments to Clover (an old cart horse).


title: Snowball (Animal Farm)

text: Snowball is eventually forced out of the farm when Napoleon uses his guard dogs to attack Snowball. After that, he is blamed for problems on the farm. It is believed that he was in support of Jones from the start as well as sowing seeds with weeds. Though he fought bravely at the Battle of the Cowshed, the facts are altered to say he openly fought for Jones and that the shot wounds are changed to wounds Napoleon inflicted on him. Those accused of supporting him are executed after being forced to confess, and a reward is offered for his capture.


title: Snowball (Animal Farm)

text: Snowball is an inventive pig who influences others to his side with intelligence and compassion. It is never revealed what happens to him after his escape. In the 1954 animated adaptation it is implied that the dogs kill him. However, in the 1999 live-action film adaption, he is shown escaping the dogs and surviving, though Napoleon declares him banished under pain of death.


title: Snowball (Animal Farm)

text: When the novel "Animal Farm" was adapted for the screen in the 1950s, the CIA investors were initially greatly concerned that Snowball was presented too sympathetically in early script treatments and that Batchelor's script implied Snowball was "intelligent, dynamic, courageous". A memo declared that Snowball must be presented as a "fanatic intellectual whose plans if carried through would have led to disaster no less complete than under Napoleon." De Rochemont subsequently implemented these changes.


title: Dust Brothers

text: The Dust Brothers are a pair of songwriters and producers consisting of E.Z. Mike (Michael Simpson) and King Gizmo (John King). They are famous for the sample-based music they produced in the 1980s and 1990s, and specifically for their work on the albums "Paul's Boutique" by the Beastie Boys, "Odelay", "Midnite Vultures" and "Guero" by Beck, the soundtrack to the film "Fight Club", and "MMMBop" by Hanson. They are based in Los Angeles, California.


title: Dust Brothers

text: Michael "E.Z." Simpson and John "Gizmo" King started working together as the Dust Brothers in 1985 at Pomona College radio station, KSPC, hosting a weekly hip-hop show called "The Big Beat Showcase".


title: Dust Brothers

text: They developed writing and producing skills creating music for their show and DJing and rapping at parties. In 1987, they began writing and producing for the Delicious Vinyl label. There they wrote and produced tracks on Tone Lōc's album, "Lōc-ed After Dark", Young MC's debut album "Stone Cold Rhymin'", and other Delicious Vinyl releases. They also worked with the Boo Yaa Tribe on the album "New Funky Nation", producing several songs on that album.


title: Dust Brothers

text: Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys stopped by mutual friend Matt Dike's apartment, where King and Dike slyly played music intended to be a Dust Brothers album. Horovitz liked what he heard and asked if he could buy the music. The Dust Brothers along with Dike ended up co-writing, producing and mixing the Beastie Boys' second album, "Paul's Boutique", considered one of the best albums of all time by "Time" in 2006.


title: Dust Brothers

text: Beck had the Dust Brothers produce his album "Odelay", released in 1996. The album spawned the hits "Where It's At" (#64 on the Hot 100), "Devils Haircut" (#94 on the Hot 100), "The New Pollution" (#74) and "Jack-Ass" (#73). In 1995 the Dust Brothers co-produced Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil's second solo album "Carved in Stone".


title: Dust Brothers

text: In 1997, they produced a track with Korn called "Kick the P.A." for the "Spawn" soundtrack; produced the number one hit "MMMBop" for Hanson's first major label album "Middle of Nowhere"; and created a song on the #1 soundtrack to the Howard Stern film "Private Parts" named "Tortured Man", featuring vocals by Stern. The Dust Brothers also co-produced three songs on the Rolling Stones album, "Bridges to Babylon".


title: Dust Brothers

text: The next year, the duo were approached by director David Fincher to assemble the score for the film "Fight Club", most notably "This Is Your Life", a song featuring lines from the film, including a monologue by the character Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). The same year also saw the Dust Brothers collaborate with Jeymes Samuel aka the Bullitts on the soundtrack for the film "Muppets from Space", recording a cover version of the Earth, Wind & Fire song "Shining Star".


title: Dust Brothers

text: In 1999, the two collaborated with Carlos Santana and Eagle-Eye Cherry on Santana's multi-platinum album "Supernatural". They received their first Grammy for 'Album of the Year'; after having received numerous nominations for their past work with Beck and as artists for their instrumental song on the "X-Files" soundtrack. They also recorded, produced and mixed an album by 'hip pop' group 10 Cents named "Buggin Out".


title: Dust Brothers

text: In the Aughts, the Dust Brothers had continued success, again collaborating with Beck on the album "Guero"; Tenacious D on their self-titled debut; Linkin Park with a track called "With You" on their first studio album "Hybrid Theory"; remixing the Styles of Beyond track "Winnetka Exit" on their promotional CD "Spies Like Us"; and producing the They Might Be Giants album "The Else".


title: Dust Brothers

text: The Dust Brothers name and trademark was used by the British duo that eventually became the Chemical Brothers as they began their career. Used as a homage to the American group, they changed their name when they were unable to convince the Dust Brothers to sell the name. Eventually the groups reached an understanding, and the Chemical Brothers' 1997 EP "Elektrobank" featured a Dust Brothers remix of the title track.


title: Caste politics

text: In India, a caste is a (usually endogamous) social group where membership is decided by birth. Castes often have related political preferences. Broadly, Indian castes are divided into the Forward Castes, Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes, though Indian Christians and Indian Muslims can also function as castes.


title: Caste politics

text: India's caste system has been influential. One's caste can control access to political power, land, and police or judicial assistance. Castes also tend to influence local politics by being local to certain areas. Political parties in everywhere tend to represent the interests of specific castes. Women in politics tend to be from upper castes.


title: Caste politics

text: In the era of British India, the British institutionalised caste into India's governmental institutions. However, by the 1990s, there was a social movement to empower the lower castes.


title: Caste politics

text: The removal of the boundaries between "civil society" and "political society" meant that caste now played a huge role in the political arena and also influenced other government-run institutions such as police and the judicial system. Though caste seemed to dictate one's access to such institutions, the location of that caste also played a pivotal role. If a lower caste were concentrated enough in one area, it could then translate that pocket of concentration of its caste members into political power and then challenge the hegemony of locally dominant upper caste. Gender also plays a significant role in the power dynamic of caste in politics. Women's representation within the political system seems to also be tied to their caste. Lower, more conservative castes have less female participation in politics than upper, more socially liberal, castes. This has caused a disproportionately large number of upper-caste women to occupy political office when compared to their lower caste counterparts. The hierarchy of caste and its role in politics and access to power and resources has created a society of patron-client relationships along caste lines. This eventually led to the practice of vote banking, where voters back only candidates that are in their caste, or officials from which they expect to receive some kind of benefits.


title: Caste politics

text: The caste system has traditionally had significant influence over people's access to power. The privileged upper caste groups benefit more by gaining substantially more economic and political power, while the lower caste groups have limited access to those powers. The caste system distributes to different castes different economic strengths. The upper caste groups can then manipulate the economic and political system to transfer economic strength into political power.


title: Caste politics

text: It has been argued by Professor Dipankar Gupta that the role of castes in Indian elections have been overplayed.


title: Caste politics

text: In rural North India, upper and middle-ranking castes dominate the ownership of land. They were able to transfer this control over wealth into political dominance over the Panchayat decision. The Panchayat is a local government unit that is in-charge of resources disbursement. The dominant caste groups monopolised leadership positions in the Panchayat, thus gaining more opportunities to government contracts, employment and funding.


title: Caste politics

text: Access to police and judicial assistance also depends on which caste one belongs to. By bribing, influencing and intimidating the police and judicial officials, the rural north Indian middle and upper castes tend to manipulate the local police and judicial power more successfully. These types of political rent-seeking have also helped secure the supply of rents to dominant castes through other channels such as 'rigging Panchayat elections, capturing electoral booths, and using pre-election intimidatory tactics in elections for the state assembly.' Whether an individual or a group can raise enough money for constant bribes depends on the caste-based socioeconomic status. Hence, the advantage in accessing economic resources not only transfers into but also reinforces the political might of the dominant caste groups.


title: Caste politics

text: Certain scientists and activists, such as MIT systems scientist Dr. VA Shiva Ayyadurai, blame caste for holding back innovation and scientific research in India, making it difficult to sustain progress while regressive social organisation prevails.


title: Caste politics

text: Caste, ascribed at birth, is also influenced by where one is born. Political lines in India have often been drawn along caste lines; however, this is only part of the story. Caste is often specific to a particular area. These caste pockets create a locally dominant castes. Because of the political structure in India, local dominance can translate into regional dominance. This concentration of caste population has meant that smaller, less influential castes have the opportunity stake there claims in the political power arena. However, if a non-dominant caste is not concentrated in a particular area, then they are not likely to get any representation without teaming up with another caste to increase their influence. This means that "localized concentration facilitates a space for contesting the domination of State-level dominant caste". For instance, the Maratha-Kunbi caste has concentrations of populations all over the Indian states. They thus managed to receive maximum representation at the state legislature.


title: Caste politics

text: Though the caste system factors greatly in determining who makes up the local elites, it also plays a huge role in determining women's influence and representation in the political system. In India's bicameral parliamentary system, women represent a minuscule amount of each house. Of the people's assembly, made up of 545 members, women represent a mere 5.2 percent; and in the State assembly, with 259 members, women make up only 8.8 percent. Both houses have seen an alarming decline in female representatives in the most recent decades. Of the 39 women representatives in the Indian Parliament most were members of higher castes. Caste, which eventually effects class, is one of the most important factors in determining a woman's successful inclusion into the political system. This may be due to the fact that higher castes challenge the role of the traditional Indian woman and so their caste position gives them a greater range of options that are not available to lower more traditional castes. This inflated representation of elite caste in public offices has meant that the impact they have on public policy is disproportionately large in comparison to their actual numbers.


title: Caste politics

text: Politics in India highly depended on patron-client ties along the caste lines during the Congress-dominating period. The caste that one belongs to serves as a strong determinant of his or her voting pattern. In India, different political parties represent the interests of different caste groups. The upper and merchant castes such as Brahmin, Rajput and Kayasth and the rich Muslim groups tend to express their interests through the Congress Party. The agrarian upper caste Jats tend to vote for the competing parties. Numerically minor parties, represented by the Jan Sangh, receive votes almost exclusively from the upper and trading castes. However, caste does not solely determine voting behaviours. Discrepancies occur . This means that not everyone from the same caste would vote for only one particular party. The upper caste people have more freedom to vote by political beliefs. The Mandal Commission covered more than 3000 Other Backward Castes. It is thus not clear which parties are associated with each castes.


title: Caste politics

text: Loyal groups of voters usually back a certain candidate or party during elections with the expectation of receiving benefits once their candidate is in office. This practice, called "votebank", is prolific throughout most regions of the country. Many political parties in India have openly indulged in caste-based votebank politics. The Congress party used votebank to maintain power; the competing parties constructed votebanks to challenge the Congress dominance of politics.


title: Caste politics

text: Historically it has been very hard to change the structure of caste politics in India. More recently however, there has been a flux in caste politics, mainly caused by economic liberalisation in India. Contemporary India has seen the influence of caste start to decline. This is partly due to the spread of education to all castes which has had a democratising effect on the political system. However, this "equalising" of the playing field has not been without controversy. The Mandal Commission and its quotas system has been a particularly sensitive issue.


title: Caste politics

text: The British institutionalised caste into the workings of the major government institutions within India. The main benefactors of this indirect rule were the upper castes or forward castes, which maintained their hegemony and monopoly of control and influence over government institutes long after independence from the British. The state of post-colonial India promised development, rule of law, and nation building, but in reality, was a complex network of patronage systems, which solidified the upper-caste position of dominance over civil service institutions. This network undermined the very promises of 'nation building' that post-colonial India had made and ushered in an area of upper-caste dominance that lasted for the next four decades.


title: Caste politics

text: In August 1932, the then Prime Minister of Britain, Ramsay MacDonald, made what became known as the Communal Award. According to it, separate representation was to be provided for communities such as the Dalit, Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans. These depressed classes were assigned a number of seats to be filled by election from special constituencies in which only voters belonging to these classes could vote.


title: Caste politics

text: By the early 1990s there began a shift in caste politics. The continuation of a one party system, which was the Congress party, composed mostly of upper-caste leadership, came to an end. This was partly due to economic liberalisation in India which reduced the control the state had on the economy and thus the lower castes, and partly due to an upsurge in caste based parties that made the politics of lower caste empowerment a central part of their political agenda. It should be pointed out that these new political parties emerged not on a national level but on a village and regional level, and were most dominant in North India.


title: Caste politics

text: These parties view development programs and rule of law as institutions used by upper caste to control and subjugate lower castes. As a result, these new political parties sought to weaken these institutions and in turn weaken the upper caste domination in the political arena in India. Since 'rule of law' was seen as controlled by upper-castes, these new parties adopted a strategy that had to operate outside of this rule in order to gain political influence and lower-caste empowerment.


title: Caste politics

text: Corruption thus translated into power and a means to enter the political arena, once only open to upper caste members. Corruption in India became a way to level the playing field. This struggle for empowerment that was forced to operate outside of the rule of law produced caste-based mafia networks. These mafia-networks began to chip away at upper caste control over state institutions.


title: Caste politics

text: However, unlike their predecessor, these "caste mafia" groups were not concerned with 'development', but mainly viewed elections and democracy as a way of gaining control of the state, which would enable them to level social inequalities. This new state envisioned a government of "Social Justice" through caste empowerment. Within the context of "social justice" corruption pontificated by the caste mafias became tolerated, and in some cases, as in the province of Bihar, even celebrated.


title: Caste politics

text: The very nature of caste politics inherently means that there are no boundaries between "civil society" and "political society", as demonstrated by the proliferation caste mafia. The mafia dons became mayors, ministers, and even members of Parliament. Therefore, there was no alternative to fight against these mafia figures and political brokers. Because rule of law was perceived to be a mechanism of upper caste control, corruption used by caste mafia became popularly accepted, as it was perceived to be a means to achieve lower caste empowerment. The corruption elevated to such a level that nearly all elected officials in some towns and regions were also criminals. The upper castes who had used their control over the state to discreetly plunder its institutions for their own gain, were now replaced by the mafia dons who now openly pillaged the state institutions. Many of these elected ministers/mafia dons were jailed for the illegal practices they employed; however, this was widely touted as the upper castes trying to regain dominance by eliminating supporters. Corruption and politics became so common that at a time it was not uncommon for election results to be contested from a prison cell.


title: Caste politics

text: Corruption therefore translated into power and a means to enter the political arena, once only open to upper caste members. In this way corruption was seen as a way to level the playing field, and as a result was tolerated and in some villages championed under the banner of "social justice".


title: Caste politics

text: In the 1951 election, three ethnic parties challenged the Congress party: the Ram Rajya Parishad, the Hindu Mahasabha, and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. These three sought to gain support from the Hindu majority. The All India Scheduled Caste Federation bid for support from the ex-untouchable castes. Three of the four ethnic parties gradually disappeared because they were not able to obtain enough votes. In the late 1980s, the Congress began to decline. More non-congress parties started to challenge the Congress dominance. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) descended from the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. It attempted to pit Hindus against Muslims. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Janata Dal (JD) tried to seek support from the Scheduled Castes, and Muslims against the upper castes.


title: Caste politics

text: The intense party competitions that started in the late 1970s have also weakened the influence of caste in Indian politics. Traditionally, Indian political parties have been constructed from top-down. Party leaders relied on preexisted patron-client networks to collect votes. Hence, no parties established fixed organisations to keep constant contacts with the village-level. Since 1977, the number of youth participating in politics has significantly increased. Due to the lack of fixed organisations, political parties had to rely on the young village members for political mobilisation. Often, these young villagers exerted more political influence than the upper caste leaders and patrons. The status of these young people in the village depended on how much he could contribute to the economic development of the village. It is easier for the youth to maintain their status by rallying rather than remain loyal to a specific party. This also weakened the influence of caste and clientelism on Indian politics.


title: Caste politics

text: In the 1990s, many parties Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Janata Dal started claiming that they were representing the backward castes. Many such parties, relying primarily on Backward Classes' support, often in alliance with Dalits and Muslims, rose to power in Indian states. At the same time, many Dalit leaders and intellectuals started realising that the main Dalit oppressors were the so-called Other Backward Classes, and formed their own parties, such as the Indian Justice Party. The Congress (I) in Maharashtra long relied on OBCs' backing for its political success. Bharatiya Janata Party has also showcased its Dalit and OBC leaders to prove that it is not an upper-caste party. Bangaru Laxman, the former BJP president (2001–2002) was a former Dalit. Sanyasin Uma Bharati, former CM of Madhya Pradesh, who belongs to OBC caste, was a former BJP leader. In 2006 Arjun Singh cabinet minister for MHRD of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was accused of playing caste politics when he introduced reservations for OBCs in educational institutions all around.


title: Caste politics

text: In Tamil Nadu, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party rose to power promising representation of all castes in all important sectors of society.


title: Caste politics

text: Studies have published which presented evidence would suggested that the influence of caste has been declining since the mid-1990s, including areas in rural India where the higher class castes held greater dominance over lower class castes, and also in urban interaction and hereditary occupations. Rather than a long-established, unchanging institution, caste is subject to political influence. Changes in political leadership throughout the history of India have led to changes in the structure of the caste system. India's colonial past has shaped caste into a flexible institution, generating a new system that has crucial influences on political mobilisation. In some regions of India, strategic reconstructions of the caste system have taken place. For instance, the Bahujan Samaj Party in the state of Punjab was first initiated by urban political entrepreneurs who belonged to the former lower caste groups. The pliable caste system in the post-independence era acts as a tool for identifying marginal groups and political mobilisation. Various political leaderships can alter and influence the caste system to give different groups of people unequal rights in accessing public services and political competition.


title: Caste politics

text: Education spread to the lower castes after India gained independence. The younger generations of all castes have had access to educational resources since the 1980s. The number of the Scheduled and Backward Castes people receiving education increased at a faster rate than that of the upper caste groups. The spread of education to all castes generated democratising effects. Some representatives of the SC and ST groups obtained access to Congress in the 1950s~1960s (1179). Due to their higher education levels, they are less likely to respond to the upper-caste patrons, but to the needs and interests of the lower castes.


title: Caste politics

text: Official lists are compiled by states recognizing the OBC, Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. The dividing lines can be ambiguous, several castes have demanded a lower rank so that they can avail the privileges offered. The term upper caste also refers to forward castes, when news reports refer to the Scheduled Castes in relation to the two upper groups.


title: Caste politics

text: In 1954, the Ministry of Education suggested that 20 per cent of places should be reserved for the SCs and STs in educational institutions with a provision to relax minimum qualifying marks for admission by 5 per cent wherever required. In 1982, it was specified that 15 per cent and 7.5 per cent of vacancies in public sector and government-aided educational institutes should be reserved for the SC and ST candidates, respectively.


title: Caste politics

text: The Mandal Commission, or the Socially Backward Classes Commission (SEBC), was established in India on 1 January 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai with a mandate to "identify the socially or educationally backward classes" of India. It was headed by the late B.P. Mandal an Indian parliamentarian, to consider the question of reservations for people to redress caste discrimination, and used eleven social, economic, and educational indicators to determine backwardness. In 1980, based on its rationale that OBCs ("Other backward classes") identified on the basis of caste, economic and social indicators comprised 52% of India's population, the Commission's report recommended that members of Other Backward Classes (OBC) be granted reservations to 27 per cent of jobs under the Central government and public sector undertakings, thus making the total number of reservations for SC, ST and OBC to 49%.


title: Caste politics

text: Though the report had been completed in 1983, the V.P.Singh government declared its intent to implement the report in August 1990, leading to widespread student protests. It was thereafter provided a temporary stay order by the Supreme court, but implemented in 1992 in the central government.


title: Caste politics

text: The commission estimated that 52% of the total population of India (excluding SCs and STs), belonging to 3,743 different castes and communities, were 'backward'. The number of backward castes in Central list of OBCs increased to 5,013 (without the figures for most of the Union Territories) in 2006 as per the National Commission for Backward Classes.


title: Nitrous acid

text: Nitrous acid (molecular formula ) is a weak and monoprotic acid known only in solution, in the gas phase and in the form of nitrite () salts. Nitrous acid is used to make diazonium salts from amines. The resulting diazonium salts are reagents in azo coupling reactions to give azo dyes.


title: Nitrous acid

text: In the gas phase, the planar nitrous acid molecule can adopt both a "syn" and an "anti" form. The "anti" form predominates at room temperature, and IR measurements indicate it is more stable by around 2.3 kJ/mol.


title: Nitrous acid

text: Nitrous acid is usually generated by acidification of aqueous solutions of sodium nitrite with a mineral acid. The acidification is usually conducted at ice temperatures, and the HNO is consumed in situ. Free nitrous acid is unstable and decomposes rapidly.


title: Nitrous acid

text: Nitrous acid can also be produced by dissolving dinitrogen trioxide in water according to the equation


title: Nitrous acid

text: Gaseous nitrous acid, which is rarely encountered, decomposes into nitrogen dioxide, nitric oxide, and water:


title: Nitrous acid

text: In warm or concentrated solutions, the overall reaction amounts to production of nitric acid, water, and nitric oxide:


title: Nitrous acid

text: Oxidation by nitrous acid has a kinetic control over thermodynamic control, this is best illustrated that dilute nitrous acid is able to oxidize I to I, but dilute nitric acid cannot.


title: Nitrous acid

text: It can be seen that the values of "E" for these reactions are similar, but nitric acid is a more powerful oxidizing agent. Base on the fact that dilute nitrous acid can oxidize iodide into iodine, it can be deduced that nitrous is a faster, rather than a more powerful, oxidizing agent than dilute nitric acid.


title: Nitrous acid

text: Such salts are widely used in organic synthesis, e.g., for the Sandmeyer reaction and in the preparation azo dyes, brightly colored compounds that are the basis of a qualitative test for anilines. Nitrous acid is used to destroy toxic and potentially explosive sodium azide. For most purposes, nitrous acid is usually formed "in situ" by the action of mineral acid on sodium nitrite:


title: Nitrous acid

text: Reaction with two α-hydrogen atoms in ketones creates oximes, which may be further oxidized to a carboxylic acid, or reduced to form amines. This process is used in the commercial production of adipic acid.


title: Nitrous acid

text: Nitrous acid reacts rapidly with aliphatic alcohols to produce alkyl nitrites, which are potent vasodilators:


title: Nitrous acid

text: The carcinogens called nitrosamines are produced, usually not intentionally, by the reaction of nitrous acid with secondary amines:


title: Nitrous acid

text: Nitrous acid is involved in the ozone budget of the lower atmosphere, the troposphere. The heterogeneous reaction of nitric oxide (NO) and water produces nitrous acid. When this reaction takes place on the surface of atmospheric aerosols, the product readily photolyses to hydroxyl radicals.


title: Henry Beard

text: Henry Nichols Beard (born June 7, 1945) is an American humorist, one of the founders of the magazine "National Lampoon" and the author of several best-selling books.


title: Henry Beard

text: Beard, a great-grandson of 14th Vice President John C. Breckinridge, was born into a well-to-do family and grew up at the Westbury Hotel on East 69th Street in Manhattan. His relationship with his parents was cool, to judge by his quip "I never saw my mother up close."


title: Henry Beard

text: He attended the Taft School, where he was a leader at the humor magazine, and he decided to become a humor writer after reading "Catch-22".


title: Henry Beard

text: He then went to Harvard University (from which he graduated in 1967) and joined its humor magazine, the "Harvard Lampoon", which circulated nationally. Much of the credit for the Lampoon's success during the mid-1960s is given to Beard and Douglas Kenney, who was in the class a year after Beard's. In 1968, Beard and Kenney wrote the successful parody "Bored of the Rings". Henry and Kenney would become longtime friends and collaborators. Many commented on how exact opposite they were. Kenney described Beard as "the oldest guy who was ever a teenager".


title: Henry Beard

text: In 1969, Beard, Kenney and Rob Hoffman became the founding editors of the "National Lampoon", which reached an average monthly circulation of over 830,000 for the year 1974 (and the October issue of that year topped a million sales). One of Beard's short stories published there, "The Last Recall", was included in the 1973 "Best Detective Stories of the Year". During the early 1970s, Beard was also in the Army Reserve, which he hated.


title: Henry Beard

text: In 1975, the three founders cashed in on a buy-out agreement for "National Lampoon"; Beard received US$2.8 million and left the magazine. After an "unhappy" attempt at screenwriting, he turned to writing books of humor. Those that have reached the New York Times Best Seller list are "Sailing: A Sailor's Dictionary" (1981, with Roy McKie), "Miss Piggy's Guide to Life" (1981), "Leslie Nielsen's Stupid Little Golf Book" (1995, with Leslie Nielsen), "French for Cats" (1992, with John Boswell), and "O.J.'s Legal Pad" (1995, with John Boswell and Ron Barrett). Other notable books include "Latin for All Occasions" (1990), "The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook" (1992, with Christopher Cerf), and "What's Worrying Gus? " (1995, with John Boswell).


title: Henry Beard

text: The "New York Times" has described Beard as "enigmatic". Among the enigmas, apparently, is his birthdate. Not even the year of his birth appears in the Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data of his books or in various Web and print sources. However, Josh Karp's biography of Doug Kenney says that Beard was "a nearly thirty-year-old man" when he left the "National Lampoon" on March 18, 1975, and an article published on November 29, 1987, gives his age as 42. The birth year given above, 1945, is based on these two statements. Public records show that a HENRY N BEARD was born on June 7, 1945, in New York, NY.


title: Henry Beard

text: According to Josh Karp, Beard is remembered from his Harvard years as patrician, a pipe smoker, not over-concerned with the appearance or cleanliness of his clothes, misanthropic but not malicious, capable of understanding and organizing any subject, a gifted student who occasionally wrote parodic papers. He was prematurely mature and the "Harvard Lampoon"'s arbiter. As a comic writer he excelled at parody, and his hero was S. J. Perelman. All these characteristics meant that he was an excellent partner with Kenney, who was flamboyant, fond of poses, and given to seeing humor where others recoiled.


title: Henry Beard

text: The comedy writer Chris Miller remembers that Beard "knew everything" and that he said on leaving the "Lampoon" that he was sick of being the father to all the writers. (Beard would have been about 30.) The comic writer and actor Tony Hendra says that at the beginning of Beard's tenure, he was painfully shy, though he was the magazine's authority over what material was used. In the next few years, he went through "the greening of Beard", growing his hair, switching from cheap beer to expensive whiskey, and in 1974, forming a relationship with the writer Gwyneth Cravens.


title: Henry Beard

text: In 1991, an article in a reliable publication said that Beard and Cravens divided their time between Manhattan and a renovated boat shed in East Hampton and referred to them as partners. A 2006 interview in a different publication said that Beard and Cravens had married. Also in 2006, Karp wrote that "reportedly" the couple had added California to their list of addresses and that Beard played golf almost daily but never kept score.


title: Sorry for Party Rocking

text: Sorry for Party Rocking is the second studio album by LMFAO. It was released June 21, 2011, physically and digitally by Interscope Records as the follow-up to their debut album "Party Rock" (2009). "Party Rock Anthem" was the first single released from the album and was an international hit. The second single was "Champagne Showers" and reached number eight in New Zealand, and nine in Australia. It became an international hit, also charting in France, Ireland, and Austria. The third single, "Sexy and I Know It" was released on September 16, 2011. It peaked at number one on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and also topped the charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. "Sorry for Party Rocking" was released on January 9, 2012, as the fourth single from the album and peaked at number 8 in Belgium, 16 in France, 18 in Ireland, 19 on the US Pop Songs, 23 in the United Kingdom, 27 in New Zealand, 31 in Canada, 32 in Australia, and 49 on the Billboard Hot 100.


title: Sorry for Party Rocking

text: The album was released first in New Zealand on June 17, 2011, followed by a UK release on July 18, 2011.


title: Sorry for Party Rocking

text: "Sorry for Party Rocking" has received mixed reviews from music critics. The album currently holds a score of 47 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 13 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Josh Bush from AllMusic gave it a favorable review, awarding it three and a half out of five stars. He said "Their second album, Sorry for Party Rocking, arrives at exactly the right time and includes exactly the right mix of energy and humor, plus a surprising amount of sincerity." They highlighted "Sorry for Party Rocking", "Party Rock Anthem" and "Champagne Showers".


title: Sorry for Party Rocking

text: "Billboard" had said prior to the promotion "LMFAO is, of course, not "Sorry for Party Rocking." But the dance duo's sophomore album is "more refined" and more experimental than its 2009 debut, "Party Rock."


title: Sorry for Party Rocking

text: British music journal "NME" were particularly scathing, giving it a score of 0 out of 10. Criticizing the album, Sam Wolfson wrote "... it's not the persistent and aggressive misogyny that is the most soul-destroying thing about the record. Nor is it songs so imbecilic that if you ate a can of Alphabetti Spaghetti you could shit out more intelligent lyrics to a more pleasing tune... It's that... LMFAO understood the pain they would be inflicting on the world and did it anyway."


title: Sorry for Party Rocking

text: Some negative feedback have also come in about their rapping and dance beats through the album. "Entertainment Weekly" gave it a negative review saying "It's topped off by truly terrible rapping, which often turns otherwise groan-inspiring instrumentals into jumbled, maddening filler." The "Rolling Stone" gave it two stars out of five, positively highlighting that "MC-DJs Redfoo and Sky Blu turn in some skillful hip-hop", but they also said "but also get seriously stupid, rapping about spanking girls and bathing in champagne, over a cheesy pastiche of Eighties synths and pounding beats."


title: Sorry for Party Rocking

text: "Sorry for Party Rocking" debuted at number 12 on the US "Billboard" 200 with 27,100 copies sold in its first week. As of March 2012, the album had sold 808,900 copies in the United States. On the chart dated January 14, 2012 the album archived a peak position of number five on the "Billboard" 200, making it their first top 10 album in the US.


title: Daddy Cool (Boney M. song)

text: "Daddy Cool" is a song recorded by Boney M. and included on their debut album "Take the Heat off Me". It was a 1976 hit and a staple of disco music and became Boney M.'s first hit in the United Kingdom. The song was produced and co-written by the group's founder Frank Farian, who also provided the male voice parts on the record.


title: Daddy Cool (Boney M. song)

text: The second Boney M. single, it was released in 1976 and made no major impact at first. After a spectacular performance on the "Musikladen" TV show in September that year, the single became a hit, topping most European charts. It reached number six in the UK charts and number 65 in the United States "Billboard" Hot 100. The single also topped the German charts and reached the Top 20 in Canada. It proved to be the band's major European breakthrough.


title: Daddy Cool (Boney M. song)

text: "Daddy Cool" was a novelty gimmick record with an unusual, percussive intro by producer Frank Farian doing rhythmic tic-tic-tics and playing on his teeth with a pencil. Farian also sang all male voice parts (Bobby Farrell always danced to full playback). His characteristic deep voice sings: "She's crazy like a fool..." and is answered by the multilayered voices of Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett: "...wild about Daddy Cool". This line has been misheard by listeners as "...what about Daddy Cool", so much so that the band started singing it that way during live performances. The bass riff kicks in and builds to the instrumental theme followed by the repetitive, nursery rhyme-like verse and chorus twice.


title: Daddy Cool (Boney M. song)

text: The song breaks down into a spoken passage by Farian before it goes back into the bass riff and repeats the verse and chorus for the last time. With its slightly hypnotic, repetitive bassline and strings and likewise repetitive, bright female vocals, the track is highly typical of mid-1970s "Munich disco".


title: Daddy Cool (Boney M. song)

text: Originally, Hansa Records wanted Boney M.'s cover of Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" as the A-side of the single but Farian - seeing that his own song was the clear winner when testing both tracks in his discothèque in St. Ingbert – managed to persuade the record company to have it his way. In the US, Hungary and Japan (where the single wasn't released until November), the single was backed by the album track "Lovin' or Leavin'". In East Germany the record was released in 1977, backed by their next hit "Sunny".


title: Daddy Cool (Boney M. song)

text: Boney M.'s 10th anniversary was celebrated with a TV special and the album "The Best of 10 Years – 32 Superhits". The original plans of releasing another single ("Dreadlock Holiday") from the group's final album "Eye Dance" were cancelled, instead producer Frank Farian recorded a new version of "Daddy Cool" in a special "anniversary recording", featuring rap parts, and new instrumental parts. The single, however, proved to be Boney M.'s worst-selling single, failing to chart anywhere. The B-side "B.M.A.G.O." appeared in a longer version on the 7" than on the 12" single. The 12" single also included an edit version of "Daddy Cool" which was not credited on the cover. The 7" version made its CD debut on "The Collection" (disc 2, track 1).


title: Daddy Cool (Boney M. song)

text: Following the successful Sash! and Horny United remixes of "Ma Baker", Frank Farian remixed "Daddy Cool" as a follow-up single. An all-new line-up Boney M. 2000 featuring three young girls and rapper Mobi T. was featured in the video and also announced to front a forthcoming remix album. This decision was not popular with the group's fan base, and Farian subsequently dropped the idea. "Daddy Cool" could not match the success of its predecessor, peaking only at no. 47 in the German charts.


title: Daddy Cool (Boney M. song)

text: United Kingdom 2001 remix to support the album "The Greatest Hits". Remixed by Jewels & Stone, the single peaked at no. 47 in the United Kingdom charts.


title: Daddy Cool (Boney M. song)

text: Placebo included a cover version in their 2003 album "Covers". The song was covered by Latvian trio Melo-M featuring vocals by original Boney M. singer Maizie Williams on their 2007 album "Singalongs". "Daddy Cool" was used in an advert for Vauxhall, promoting their Zafira GSi. The song was sampled by Korean hip hop band DJ Doc for their 2000 single "Run to You".


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: "When We Were Young" is a song by English singer Adele from her third studio album, "25" (2015). Adele and Tobias Jesso Jr. wrote the song, and Ariel Rechtshaid produced it. The song was written within three days in Los Angeles, after Adele struggled with writer's block during unfruitful early sessions for the album. XL Recordings released it as the album's second single on 22 January 2016. A soul ballad, the song has piano instrumentation that places emphasis on Adele's vocals. Inspired by the vision of meeting acquaintances at a party at an older age, it explores the fear of getting older and the loss of one's youth.


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: "When We Were Young" received acclaim from music critics, with praise directed towards its production and emotional lyrics. The song reached the top 10 in 11 countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Scotland. It received a 5× Platinum certification in Canada, and 2× Platinum in Denmark, Norway, and the UK. A performance filmed at The Church Studios in London was released on Vevo. Adele performed the song during her television specials, and at "Saturday Night Live", "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", and the Brit Awards 2016.


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: Adele announced in February 2013 that she was holding various meetings related to her third studio album. Initial recording sessions for the album were unfruitful, she recounted: "I felt like I was never going to finish this record. It was a long process. I wanted to give up a lot because I couldn't do it. I thought I'd run out of ideas and I'd lost my ability to write a song." Adele struggled with writer's block and her manager, who was also unsure about the material, asked Rick Rubin, a producer of many songs on her sophomore studio album "21" (2011). Rubin claimed he didn't believe in the songs. Adele, too, admitted she felt it was a little rushed. In early 2015, she flew to Los Angeles to work with new songwriters and producers for two months, including Canadian musician Tobias Jesso Jr., after discovering his song "Hollywood". Their managers talked about the collaboration, and they spent about three days writing, conceiving "When We Were Young". The song was written in a house in Los Angeles, at Philip Glass' piano that Jesso had inherited. They started the song from scratch, as Jesso "would play chords while Adele improvised melodies and lyrics". As Jesso recounted, "There was no studio, just a piano and us, and we wrote a lot. I mean a lot lot."


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: American record producer Ariel Rechtshaid heard rumours that Adele and Jesso wanted to work with him. He flew to London and produced two songs for her. After Adele told him that she loved the track, but had a lot of ballads on the album already, he returned to Los Angeles and started creating a rhythm track for it. Rechtshaid recalled struggling not to make it "over-the-top dramatic, kind of epic". He thought the song had "an old soul vibe", and desired to have it "a little bit more modern". Rechtshaid told "The Fader" that it only took two takes to record the song, and during the middle eight, he pushed Adele beyond her means, since he "felt that it needed to have a little bit more cry to it".


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: On 16 November 2015, Australian TV program "60 Minutes" broadcast a preview of "When We Were Young". A day later, the song's performance at the Church Studios in London was uploaded to Vevo. On 26 November 2015, "Billboard" wrote an article questioning what would be "25" next single, indicating either "When We Were Young" or "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" would be their pick. On 12 December 2015, the magazine confirmed "When We Were Young" as the album's second single, through a source at Columbia Records. It was released for radio airplay in Italy on 22 January 2016, and for digital download in various countries on 29 January 2016. The official artwork features "a throwback picture of her younger self". Lindsay Sullivan of "Billboard" called it "adorable", while Lewis Corner of Digital Spy wondered, "How much more cute can you get than a primary school Adele, grinning from ear to ear with her two front teeth missing?"


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: Adele and Jesso wrote "When We Were Young", and Rechtshaid produced it. The latter engineered the song and plays the organ, glockenspiel, synthesizer, and percussion. Jesso plays the piano and provided background vocals with Rechtshaid. The song incorporates bass, drums, and guitar in its instrumentation, was recorded at Dean Street Studios in London, and mixed at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles and Electric Lady Studios in New York City.


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: Musically, "When We Were Young" is a reflective soul ballad. Hattie Collins of "i-D" considered the song "a 70s styled shimmery disco ballad". It is built around "somber piano chords", which according to "Pitchfork"s Jeremy Gordon, are "designed to show off [Adele's] staggering, empathic voice". He said her vocals switch "between husky crackle to a soaring delivery before eventually climaxing with a come-to-Jesus money note". Adele described the song as "a very '70s singer-songwriter vibe". Brian Hiatt of "Rolling Stone" found it similar to the work of Elton John, and Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were" (1973). Bruce Handy of "Vanity Fair" also compared it to Streisand. The song reminded "The Fader"s Owen Myers of Gladys Knight.


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: Lyrically, "When We Were Young" deals with the fear of getting older, a recurring theme on "25". The song "finds [Adele] reconnecting with [an] old acquaintance years after their adolescence, which prompts her to revisit those memories and to wish she could stop time". As noted by Maeve McDermott of "USA Today", during the reunion, "Adele wistfully begins mourning before it's even over". During the song, she "watches as her youth slips away in real time", singing: "Let me photograph you in this light, in case it is the last time that we might be exactly like we were, before we realized we were sad of getting old." In the last chorus, Adele cries about "the inevitability of separation", singing: "I'm so mad I'm getting old, it makes me reckless." Spencer Kornhaber of "The Atlantic" stated that the first verse "is about her working up the courage to approach an old flame who 'everybody loves'". He added that the song "is another version of the revisitation narrative of 'Someone Like You' but this time, there's no 'never mind, I'll find someone else' portion. There's only her begging for a photo, because she's worried the future won't ever be as good as the past was."


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: In an interview with Sirius XM, Adele said the song "was based on us being older, and being at a party at this house, and seeing everyone that you've ever fallen out with, everyone that you've ever loved, everyone that you've never loved". In a song by song analysis by "The New York Times", she recounted having "a vision of my best friend putting makeup on me for the first time when I was 17" while performing the song during rehearsals, which she appreciated: "Every time a new memory comes back in one of my songs for myself, I love it. It's like remembering your life through song." When interviewed by Nick Grimshaw on BBC Radio 1, Adele said that "When We Were Young" was her favourite track off 25.


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: "When We Were Young" was met with acclaim from music critics. Gordon named it "Best New Track" and praised Adele's vocal performance and how she was "capable of elevating maudlin sentiment into high art". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic selected the song as one of the album's highlights, noting that she took a risk enlisting Retchshaid to produce the track. Leah Greenblatt from "Entertainment Weekly" considered it one of the three best tracks of the album, noting that she was sincere with the nostalgic theme. Steven Arroyo of "Consequence of Sound" selected the song as one of the essential tracks on "25". Rob Garratt from "The National" was positive about Adele's writing skills, and praised her "fragilely affecting, but ultimately affirming" performance. Writing for "Inquirer", Joseph R. Atilano remarked, "A single like this further showcases how lyrically intelligent she is as a composer as well as one of the greatest pure singers alive today." Matt Bagwell of "The Huffington Post" called it "stunning", and named it "the album's 'Someone Like You' – in other words, the 'big ballad'".


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: Corner noted that the lyrics "will squeeze your heart and give you a minor midlife crisis. That won't stop you from playing it over and over, though." Corbin Reiff from "The A.V. Club" praised Adele's "incredible, gritty sultriness on the verses". Justin Charity of "Complex" was also positive about her vocals, calling it "the wildest blossom of Adele's voice". Jon Dolan from "Rolling Stone" labelled the song a "mature [...] torchy ballad", while T. Cole Rachel of "Spin" defined it as "the kind of mawkish, overcooked melodrama that one imagines Adele could perform in her sleep". Chris Gerard from "PopMatters" was praiseful, naming the song "a bittersweet epic", and adding, "'When We Were Young' is breathtaking, an example of how great Adele can be when all the stars align. This slow-burning ballad which builds to a powerful climax should have been the first single. It's more complex than 'Hello', has more emotional depth, and Adele's vocals are good enough to bring tears to the eyes. "25" is worth picking up for this song alone."


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: "Time" named "When We Were Young" the seventh-best song of 2015. Several music critics have placed the song in their lists of Adele's best songs. "Rolling Stone" listed it as Adele's fifth-best, and Larisha Paul elaborated that "she spins the existential crisis-inducing topics of time and aging into what feels like a snapshot of our own past, present, and future". "Billboard"s Chuck Arnold placed "When We Were Young" at number 11 in a ranking of her discography, and noted that it "gets you all up in your feelings" and "longing for 'someone [you] used to know". "Parade" and "American Songwriter" each ranked the song number two on their lists of Adele's greatest songs. Alexis Petridis of "The Guardian" named it as Adele's 18th best song.


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: "When We Were Young" peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart, and received a 2× Platinum certification in the United Kingdom from the British Phonographic Industry. On 14 December 2015, "Billboard" reported that the song had sold 150,000 downloads in the United States, the second-most from "25". The song reached number 14 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, and the Recording Industry Association of America certified it Platinum. "When We Were Young" charted at number nine on the Canadian Hot 100, and earned a 5× Platinum certification in Canada from Music Canada.


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: In Australia, "When We Were Young" peaked at number 13 on the ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart and the Australian Recording Industry Association certified it Platinum. The song reached number 23 on the Top 40 Singles Chart in New Zealand, and received a Gold certification in New Zealand from Recorded Music NZ. Elsewhere, it charted within the top 10, at number three in Finland, Iceland, Scotland, Slovakia, number five in Switzerland, number six in Belgium, the Czech Republic, number eight in South Africa, and number 10 in Portugal. "When We Were Young" earned a 2× Platinum certification in Denmark, Norway, Platinum in Italy, Portugal, and Gold in Belgium and Mexico.


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: Adele performed "When We Were Young" live with numerous backup singers, afront large speakers, at The Church Studios in London, which was filmed and uploaded to Vevo on 17 November 2015. She reprised the song live during her BBC One special "Adele at the BBC", recorded at The London Studios on 2 November 2015. Adele sang it on "Saturday Night Live" on 21 November 2015; MTV News' Renan Borelli commented that she "absolute[ly] crushed [it]". She performed "When We Were Young" during her NBC special "Adele Live in New York City", recorded at Radio City Music Hall on 17 November 2015.


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: On 17 February 2016, Adele reprised the song at "The Ellen DeGeneres Show". She sang it as the closing song at the Brit Awards 2016 on 24 February. Adele included "When We Were Young" on the encore of her set list for the Glastonbury Festival 2016, and her 2016 concert tour. She sang the song during her CBS special "Adele One Night Only", ITV special "An Audience with Adele" (2021), and her British Summer Time concerts on 1 and 2 July 2022.


title: When We Were Young (Adele song)

text: American singer Demi Lovato covered "When We Were Young" at the Future Now Tour on 2 September 2016. "Rolling Stone"s Daniel Kreps wrote that "Lovato delivered a faithful, slightly sped-up take on the "25" single, which Lovato used as another vessel to showcase her powerful vocals". Colin Stutz of "Billboard" stated she "put her vocal chops on full display" and justified her place on the list "of the best singers in pop music". According to Digital Spy, Lovato "did justice" to the song and delivered "a performance that will blow you away". MTV News' Hilary Hughes commended her confidence for attempting to cover an Adele song and thought she "utterly nailed" it, adding, "[she] showcas[ed] her range and reach[ed] the rafters with high notes that just wouldn't quit".


title: Light the Torch

text: Light the Torch (formerly Devil You Know) is an American metalcore supergroup formed in Los Angeles in 2012. They are currently signed to Nuclear Blast Records and have released four albums: two under the "Devil You Know" moniker ("The Beauty of Destruction" and "They Bleed Red") and two under the "Light the Torch" name ("Revival" and "You Will Be the Death of Me").


title: Light the Torch

text: The band started when guitarist Francesco Artusato (All Shall Perish, Hiss of Atrocities) and drummer John Sankey (Devolved) began jamming and writing together in 2012. After 30 to 40 song ideas were written the two decided to look for a vocalist. A couple of early demo recordings were sent to Howard Jones (Killswitch Engage, Blood Has Been Shed) who subsequently got interested and joined the band in late 2012. They named the band Devil You Know.


title: Light the Torch

text: In early 2013, the band started recording with producer and ex-Machine Head guitarist Logan Mader (Gojira, Five Finger Death Punch).


title: Light the Torch

text: On October 23, 2013, it was announced the band signed to Nuclear Blast. A day later the first demo song "Shut It Down" was released online through the band's Facebook page. On October 31, 2013, the demo was released officially through the label YouTube channel.


title: Light the Torch

text: On December 19, 2013, it was announced that the band finished recording of the album and that bassist Ryan Wombacher (Bleeding Through) and guitarist Roy Lev-Ari (Hiss of Atrocities) joined the band.


title: Light the Torch

text: On March 5, 2014, the debut single "Seven Years Alone" was released. On March 27, 2014, the official music video for "Seven Years Alone" was released.


title: Light the Torch

text: The band's debut album "The Beauty of Destruction" was mixed by Chris "Zeuss" Harris and was released on April 24 (EU), April 28 (UK) and April 29, 2014 (US and the rest of the world) via Nuclear Blast. It charted at No. 50 on the "Billboard" 200, selling nearly 6,000 units in the first week.


title: Light the Torch

text: In April–June 2014, the band took part in "Revolver" Golden Gods Tour with Black Label Society, Down and Butcher Babies.


title: Light the Torch

text: On October 31, 2014, a music video for "It's Over" was released. On March 9, 2015, the band released an official music video for "As Bright as the Darkness".


title: Light the Torch

text: On September 10, 2015, the band released "Stay of Execution", the first single off the second album titled "They Bleed Red" which was released on November 6, 2015, via Nuclear Blast.