1 2 3 Jaipur: BJP's spectacular victory in the Jat-dominated constituencies of Jhunjhunu and Khinvsar after 21 and 11 years respectively has drawn attention to, and sparked a debate over, the party's revamped electoral strategies. These victories, coming just six months after BJP suffered losses in the Jat-majority Lok Sabha seats of Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Churu, and Nagaur to candidates of the Congress-led INDIA bloc, mark a significant political shift in Rajasthan. Despite BJP's landslide in the 2013 Assembly elections, where it captured 163 of the total 200 seats, and its strong showing in 2023, Jhunjhunu and Khinvsar remained elusive for the party. The latest bypolls, however, saw BJP securing these constituencies that the party's internal surveys had identified as challenging. Fear of a voting pattern similar to that in past elections jeopardising the party's prospects had loomed large. A glimmer of hope for BJP's Rajasthan unit came with the results of Haryana assembly elections defying the exit-poll predictions, prompting the party to lean on its former state president and Haryana poll in-charge, Satish Poonia, to script a turnaround in Jat dominated seats. Maharashtra Jharkhand Maharashtra Alliance View i Party View Seats: 288 Results Majority: 145 BJP+ 229 MVA 47 OTH 12 Results : 288 / 288 BJP+ WON Jharkhand Alliance View i Party View Seats: 81 Results Majority: 41 INDIA 56 NDA 24 OTH 1 Results : 81 / 81 INDIA WON Source: PValue "On Oct 7, two days after the unexpected Haryana results, BJP state president Madan Rathore congratulated Poonia and urged him to lead the efforts for bypolls in Rajasthan," said a senior BJP leader. Poonia's success in Haryana, where his "OBC-Farmer-Jat (OFJ) formula' proved highly effective, became the blueprint for Rajasthan's campaign. "Poonia's social engineering to unite OBC farmers and Jats was widely recognised by then. The state unit relied on his expertise to craft a strategy to win these difficult seats," noted a BJP insider. Before arriving in Jhunjhunu and Khinvsar, Poonia held consultations with booth-level workers from Jaipur to evaluate the party's standing. In a meeting with CM Bhajan Lal Sharma, he outlined an extensive outreach campaign aimed at OBCs, Jats, and farmers. "Leveraging his 3.5-year tenure as state president, Poonia engaged panchayat leaders and community influencers to highlight BJP's governance achievements, mirroring the promises made in Haryana," added the party insider. In the final stretch, key BJP leaders, including former Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore and cabinet minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar, played crucial roles in consolidating votes in favour of the party. Meanwhile, CM Bhajan Lal Sharma's rallies and public addresses in the campaign's closing days solidified the party's position, leading to a decisive victory, said BJP functionaries.
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An estimated 18 million Americans are invested in cryptocurrency, according to the Federal Reserve. And the United States just elected a pro-crypto president. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have become a trendy digital asset. Supporters claim that crypto subverts capitalism because it bypasses traditional bankers. Crypto can offer quick riches along with an air of high-tech sophistication. Early adopters reaped enormous rewards, many becoming millionaires and billionaires. Currently, there are about 100,000 crypto millionaires. Cryptocurrency wealth, furthermore, has built Fairshake, the largest crypto lobbying group in the U.S. During the recent election, it claims it helped elect 253 pro-crypto candidates. But is cryptocurrency a good ethical investment? As a business professor who studies technology and its consequences, I've identified three ethical harms associated with cryptocurrency that might give investors pause. The three harms The first harm is excessive energy use, most notably by Bitcoin, the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Bitcoins are created, or "mined," by tens of thousands of computers in massive data centers, contributing significantly to carbon emissions and environmental degradation. Bitcoin mining, which represents the lion's share of crypto energy consumption, uses as much as 0.9% of global demand for electricity – similar to the annual energy needs of Australia. Second, unregulated and anonymous crypto is the payment system of choice for criminals behind fraud, tax evasion, human trafficking and ransomware – the latter costing victims an estimated $1 billion in extorted cryptocurrency payments. Until about a decade ago, these bad actors generally moved and laundered money through cash and shell companies. But around 2015, many transitioned to cryptocurrency, a much less troublesome form of handling dirty money anonymously. A bank cannot hold or transfer money anonymously. By law, a bank is passively complicit in money laundering if it isn't enforcing know-your-customer measures to restrict bad actors, such as money launderers. In the case of a crypto coin, however, legal and ethical accountability cannot be transferred to a bank – there is no bank. So, who is complicit? Anyone in the crypto ecosystem may be viewed as ethically complicit in enabling illicit activities. I believe these first two harms are the most ethically troublesome. The first one harms the Earth and the second undermines global systems of trust – the interplay of institutions that underpin economic activity and social order. Cryptocurrency's third problem is its predatory culture. A predatory system, especially without regulatory oversight, takes advantage of small investors. And some cryptos have enriched their founders while taking advantage of investors' lack of knowledge about the virtual currency. Some cryptocurrencies, especially the smaller coins and initial coin offerings, have characteristics of Ponzi schemes. The now defunct Bitconnect, for example, promised large profits to investors who exchanged their Bitcoins for Bitconnect tokens. New investor money paid out "profits" to the first layer of investors with money from later investors. Ultimately, Satish Kumbhani, the Bitconnect founder, was indicted by a federal grand jury, and as of 2024 his whereabouts are unknown. Pernicious myth Besides cryptocurrency's ethical harms, a pernicious myth surrounds the digital coin. It is the myth of inclusion, that cryptocurrency has the power to benefit society's disadvantaged, especially the unbanked. The global poor who don't have bank accounts, and who could use cryptocurrency for international money transfers to family back home, do not necessarily benefit from crypto's advantages. That's because of the need to pay fees when converting and transferring, say, dollars to crypto and then from crypto to the local currency of the person receiving the money transfer. In reality, the distribution of crypto assets is highly concentrated among the wealthy. A 2021 study found that just 0.01% of Bitcoin holders control 27% of its value. Democratizing finance is often framed as a movement to break the dominance of traditional financial institutions – private banks and government central banks. However, this narrative has not played out. Instead, a new elite has emerged: cryptocurrency's creators, early backers and maintainers, who tweak the crypto's software code and influence its future direction. This group holds disproportionate control, including over the crypto coin's governance. All of this replicates the concentration of power that crypto was meant to dismantle. A bit more ethical? To be fair, the crypto community hasn't ignored the criticism, including calls for more environmental awareness. In early 2021, members of the community founded the Crypto Climate Accord. The group enlisted some 250 crypto firms to reduce environmental harm. The following year, Ethereum, with its Ether coin, took the most significant step. It reduced its energy consumption by over 99% by migrating to a coin mining mechanism called "proof-of-stake," which doesn't require miners to solve complex, energy-guzzling puzzles to validate transactions. This was a brave move. However, Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, hasn't followed Ethereum's lead. Bitcoin stands out because its energy consumption surpasses any other crypto coin. To address cryptocurrency's other harms, some regulatory bodies began controlling the crypto market in 2023. The European Union, United Kingdom and United States began attempting to curb illegal activities and protect investors. In January 2024, U.S. regulators permitted exchange-traded funds, which are popular investment funds, to invest in crypto. This move was meant to help small investors trade in a safer marketplace. But normalizing crypto trading can create perverse ethical repercussions. For example, the most successful 2023 "ethical" fund, Nikko Ark Positive Change Innovation Fund, prospered with a 68% return because it made a bet on crypto. Its manager rationalized this investment by repeating the myth that cryptocurrency allows "provision of financial services to the underbanked." Where does all this leave the ethical investor? Investors, I believe, have two clear ethical choices on cryptocurrency: They can divest from Bitcoin or, at the very least, invest in other cryptocurrencies that minimize harms, especially harms that jeopardize the environment. But even so-called ethical investments come with hidden ethical issues. Many ethical investors invest in so-called ESG funds that stress social or environmental impact. Some of these ESG funds may avoid shares in petroleum companies while investing directly or indirectly in crypto. This doesn't seem ethically consistent. While cryptocurrency offers exciting opportunities and the potential for high returns, its environmental impact, association with illegal activities and predatory nature all present significant ethical challenges. (The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)Seaway7 signs vessel reservation agreement for UK offshore wind farmWorld News | Apple's Latest IPhones Get the Gift of More AI as Holiday Shopping Season Heats Up
Jeeno Thitikul takes home $4 million for winning the LPGA's season-ending event. Michael Reaves/Getty Images Angel Yin had a grip on the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship since Friday afternoon, but finishing off a win for the largest prize in women’s golf isn’t supposed to be easy. Especially when a former World No. 1 like Jeeno Thitikul is chasing you down. Yin, one of the best putters on the LPGA Tour all season and had been even better this week in Naples, looked like she had locked up the massive $4 million payday when she took a two-shot lead to the 17th tee and knocked her third shot at the par-5 within five feet. But, in an instant, the momentum that had been in Yin’s favor seemingly all weekend swung back toward Thitikul. The 21-year-old knocked it on the 17th in two and drained the eagle putt from about 15 feet before Yin pushed her birdie effort. Then on 18, Thitikul threw a dart for an approach shot, landing her ball short of the hole and rolling it out to about five feet which she converted for birdie and a one-shot win at 22 under. She went eagle-birdie on the final two holes at Tiburon Golf Club for the second day in a row. It’s Thitikul’s second win of the season, but her first individual win on the LPGA Tour since her breakthrough 2022 Rookie of the Year campaign. Her other win this season came in June at the Dow Championship while teamed with Ruoning Yin. That’s also not to say Thitkul, who now has four LPGA titles, had been struggling either as she captured the Vare Trophy in 2023 before dealing with a wrist injury earlier this season. Thitkul was four back of Yin heading into the weekend but eliminated the gap on Saturday with a five-under-par finish over her last six holes. She even opened up a two-shot lead early Sunday before Yin caught her again at 16 under with a two-shot swing on the 4th hole. Yin seemed like she was pulling away once the back nine began, making long birdie putts at 10, 12 and 16, while adding another birdie at 14. But the miss at 17 loomed costly for the 26-year-old. It’s her second runner-up this season after a breakout season in 2023 where she won her first LPGA title and finished runner-up at the Chevron Championship. Thitikul takes home the $4 million first place prize, the biggest prize in women’s golf, and also won the $1 million for winning the season-long Aon Risk Reward Challenge, which she clinched before the week started. The $5 million from this week alone is nearly as much as Thitkul’s career earnings of $5.8 million entering the week and more than the $4.2 million Nelly Korda, who won seven times including a major, won all season. Latest In News Golf.com Editor Jack Hirsh is the Associate Equipment Editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com .
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