Weekend reads

  1. In his column in the Indian Express, former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram tells you why forcing people to go cashless is also an assault on the right to privacy. 
  2. Noah Smith argues in the Mint that international community coming forward to invest in renewable energy and provide technology access could help India skip coal and move to solar energy completely. 
  3. In the Guardian, Dan Collyns on why unfettered development could mean that about 15 tribes in the Amazon will be the last of the isolated, indigenous people untouched by civilisation.  
  4. In The Hindu, Aditi R traces the travails of poor urban families relocated to Chennai’s fringes following the December 2015 floods. 
  5. In a reflective piece on the eve of Christmas, Michael Gerson, writing in the Washington Post, says we should all have the right to question both the existence and the nature of God in a world writ with uncertainties and violence. 
  6. In the Hindustan Times, Prakash Chandra looks at how countries are using mathematical models in their fight against terrorism. 
  7. Eric Schlosser in the New Yorker says the cold war mood reemerging between America and Russia poses the threat of a nuclear catastrophe. 
  8. In Arre, Parthshri Arora narrates the story of Deaflympics champion wrestler Virender Singh Yadav, who despite two international golds and an Arjuna award is struggling to keep his passion alive. 
  9. The New York Times brings to you the best pictures of 2016. 
  10. In the Roar magazine, Ricardo Masstini writes on why the changes to the Constitution and electoral laws in Italy could pave the way for more governmental control.