One of these involves the future of the "leap second": Will international timekeepers continue to add a second every so often to adjust for natural variations in the Earth's rotation and revolution? Many of the world's largest digital businesses and several government bodies wish to abandon this practice. This decision, one way or another, will actually make a difference to ordinary citizens.
What is a second?
The basic unit of time, the second, was redefined in 1967. Until then, it was defined in terms of the day with 86,400 seconds (24 hours x 60 minutes x 60 seconds) per day. A day, however, is hard to measure precisely. While we understand a day intuitively as one rotation period, the Earth does not rotate at perfectly uniform speed.
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Jay Shah takes over as ICC chairman
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Nine states bet $18 bn on women's empowerment
Nine Indian states with ongoing or proposed cash transfer schemes for women have collectively allocated $18 billion in their 2024-25 Budget Estimates, amounting to 0.5 per cent of India's gross domestic product (GDP) for the same financial year, according to research by Goldman Sachs.
Every couple should have at least three kids, says RSS chief
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Painkillers, anti-infective drugs fail quality tests most in 2024: CDSCO
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Pollution rises while funds gather dust
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Robust taxes ease burden of freebies on states
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Monetary policy: Hobson's choice before RBI
This policy comes at a time when growth is slowing, inflation is still pretty high, and the rupee has started losing value against the dollar
CONSOLATION PRIZES
UN climate summit in Baku leaves the developing world with crumbs
SFBs: The canter on a chequered terrain
Segmental and geographical expansion, undergirded by strong and increasing presence in semi-urban and rural markets with large untapped potential, will help small finance banks (SFBs) clock robust 25-27 per cent growth in advances this financial year, just shy of 28 per cent in the previous year.
Now boarding
Governance premium is set to go up by many notches and banks will be put through the wringer, reports RAGHU MOHAN
