Monday, July 20, 2015

News Summary : July 20

1: EU : Criticism : The arrangement has been union of unequal . Common currency of Euro Zone countries was created with decision made in 1999 . Currently Euro zone has 18 member countries. Greece has been facing fiscal crisis since 2010.

2: Energy Security : Indian coal is of inferior quality , it requires washing and is blended with imported coal whose prices have been rising recently. Alternative sources are being considered. 100GW solar power by 2022 has been ambitious focus area of the government.

3: Urbanization : AMRUT : Atal mission for Rejuvenation and Urban transformation is policy towards managing urbanization .

4: Inclusion : Continued manual scaenging is painful reality of modern India . Legislation in this regard have been failure . 1993 act was Manual scavenging and construction of dry latrines ( Prohibition ) Act . 2013 act was passed as well to end the tradition of manual scavengers and their rehabilitation.

5: Net Neutrality : India favors multilateral model approach on International platforms for Internet Governance. Net neutrality has emerged as prominent debate in recent time . Telecom operators have raised questions against Over the top services e.g. VoIP . Associated keywords related to internet governance are ICANN , IGF ( Internet Governance forum ) , Tunis Agenda , NetMundial etc.

6: Minority Issues : Exclusion issues can be seen in education , housing , employment , development schemes.

7: Judiciary : India has unitary system with supreme court at the top of the hierarchy. Article 141 says that law declared by SC is binding on oall lower court. Collegium system has come up as result of 2nd and 3rd judges case 1993 and 1998 respectively. Position of CJI has come under discussion in light of NJAC membership. According to which CJI becomes just one among 6 members . NJAC has been work in direction to make Judiciary share appointment powers with executive ( for HC and SC judges ) .
8: Net Neutrality : DoT report has come up recently on Net neutrality issue. Report suggests to bring VoIP services under licensing under telegraph act . Conditionality will be added and the services may become payable in the way. Telecom operators hold the view that VoIP is eating into their revenue . To counter this alternate argument put forward is that app use will lead to data use which telecom operators can charge as per their cost.

Good Quote : “ Technology is dominated by two types of people : those who understand what they do not manage , and those who manage what they do not understand “ ---Archibald Putt


Expert comment : Greece issue will find some sort of settlement in 10-15 days . Then write up should be prepared. Net neutrality has come up again in light of report of DoT. Closely associated topic is internet governance . Both are important from Mains prospective and write up should be created for this. SC's decision on NJAC is expected to come by September . So this should be kept in mind in future months. Minority face lack of inclusion on multiple fronts . Governments action/inaction should be seen in backdrop of this e.g. Beef ban , Madarsa education issue . Its high time to provide final assault in fight against Manual scavenging . Energy security and Managing urbanization are two prominent problems faced by India at the moment.

Fun Observation : It Seems First they wrote AMRUT then someone came up with full form to impress his/her boss . 




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