News Summary : July 15

                                                          

1: Employment : Government initiative can be seen in terms of National policy on skill development which envisions 500 million trained youth by year 2022. National skill development mission ( NSDM ) has been working on this front. Employment opportunities will get boost with initiatives like Make in India , Digital India , Skill India .

2: Harper Lee's new book is Go set a watchman. Lee is known for other book To Kill a Mockingbird.

3: Iran-US : Artificial crisis persisting for long has been resolved over Iran's Nuclear program. Iran has agreed to limit its nuclear Program in return for lifting economic sanctions.

4: Science : New horizon , an unmanned spacecraft , did pass in close range of Pluto. This was launched in year 2006 . Pluto has five satellites , charon is one of them.

5: International Maritime governance : UNCLOS 1982 has provided one framework. Issue of trial of Italian Marines has been persisting since long. Other legislation are Suppression of unlawful Activities Act Against safety of maritime navigation and Fixed platforms on continental shelf Act 2002.

6: Environment : Air quality is measured in terms of contents of PM10 , PM2.5 , SO2 , CO , O3 , NO2 ; AQ1 with range in 401 to 500 falls in severe category. Recent debate has been on quality of air people in Indian cities are breathing.

7: Indo-US : Bilateral relation can be seen on fronts like Nuclear energy , Patent ( medicines ) , climate change ( GHG emission ) , defense , clean energy , space co-operation . Patent negotiations did involve interpretation of article 3d of Indian Patents act.

8: SECC : Government has held back on caste specific information from the SECC report. One observation has been that responsibility to do SECC was given to states which has in a way compromised on quality . This has also led to diffused responsibility . Census falls in union list and same can not be transferred to states which is responsibility of center. Census activity mandate has got legislative framework with census act 1948 .

9: Corruption : Justice R M Lodha committee report has come on IPL match fixing scandal. Earlier Mukul Mudgal committee had come up with report. Chennai and Jaipur Franchises have been suspended for two years due to participation of owners in the betting scandal.

10 : Water security : River linking project is set to start with Ken-Betwa link in madhya Pradesh. Other link projects are Damanganga-PINJAL , Koshi-Ghaghra , Manas-sankosh-Teesta-Ganga . Linking will involve a lot of implications of the environment front . Altering the flow of water comes at own cost which should be understood before proceeding with the link projects.

Expert comment : Water security is topic of importance. The importance has increased with growing water demand and depleting water resources. River linking has been visualized to use excess water of one region in deficient region. India's foreign policy leadership should come up with comprehensive response in light of Iran-US deal . This has economic had ego-political implications in the region.

International maritime government is important topic from mains perspective as question was asked in previous years mains paper.

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News Summary : July 13

                                                             

1: Economy : Recently decision has been made to allow EPFO to invest 5 to 15% of incremental deposits into equity or equity linked instruments. NPS is allowed to invest in equities ( in small amount ) . Equity investments come with chance of higher returns but contain more ricks.

2: International : China's policy on belt and road initiative has regional and global implications. India is apprehensive about Gwadar-Kashgar economic corridor which passes through PoK. However , BCIM corridor has potential to help India’s bid to develop NE Indian region. BCIM will connect Kunming ( Yunnan ) with Kolkata through Myanmar and Bangladesh. BCIM will reduce Chinese dependence on Gulf of Malacca for cargo movement , which is under USA's influence.

3: India-Krygyzstan are to co-operate on combating terror through defense co-operation . Annual joint military exercise will be conducted to boost co-operation.

4: Poverty : In backdrop of SECC a valid question asked is how poverty reduction can be associated to development. Poverty has other dimension other than economic. Poverty should be determined on control over the factors that determine life chances of people. It should be kept in mind that development focus has been incorporated by developed countries in form of IMF , WB . USA led the economic world order after world war 2 e.g. Marshall plan , Truman Doctrine. Idea was to expand capitalism with control over science and technology .

5: Greece issue : Greece joined EU in 2001 with obligation to fulfill criteria of Maastricht treaty 1992. Greece can not devalue it's currency and raise interest rate to tide over monetary problems. It depends on troika i.e. ECB , EC , IMF to overcome financial difficulties. Greece lacks central bank which can provide liquidity to it's banks independent of ECB control. Problems can be seen in form of 27% contracted GDP since 2009 . 25% unemployment rate with youth unemployment touching 60% presents difficult situation s well. Greece leaving EU will be bad for EU and European unity.

6: Sri Lanka : Parliamentary elections are scheduled for August 2015 . Mahinda Rajpaksha will contest the election . This is being seen as President Sirisena going on back foot. Present ruling coalition has Rajpaksha supporters in form of faction inside SLFP . Present ruling co-alition name is united people's freedom alliance ( UPFA ) with main constituent in form of United national party ( UNP ). Sri-Lanka faces task to heal civil war wounds. Political and ethnic issue continue to find prominence for now.

Expert comment : Main articles revolved around China , Poverty , SL , Greece . Present government if focusing more on development to sort out poverty issue. Other dimensions should find place in policy framework , at least should be publicly discussed . Development criteria may face limitations and even become tool to continue poverty , exploitation and inequality. Outcome of Greece issue will see intense negotiations in coming days . So the news will sustain longer for now.

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News Summary : July 06

1: mKisan portal is step towards integrating mobile based services for farmers. This is under ministry of Agriculture.

2: MUDRA bank is step towards providing easy credit to start new business and self employment. MUDRA bank has been started with initial money of rupee 20,000 crores.

3: SECC perspective : This is step to have comprehensive data about citizens. SECC contains information down to family level. This will help to identify economic condition of people and policy can be framed for uplifting. Tendulkar ( 2009 ) and Rangarajan ( 2012 ) estimates had come in recent past directed towards knowing criteria for poverty estimation in India.

Highlight suggesting distress in rural areas :

a) less than 3% households have graduate in their families.

b) 50% depend on casual manual work

c) less than 10% have salaried job

Observation : Society should have information about all and should work towards equal opportunities for all.

4: Critic on Good Governance : Idea of transparency , accountability , participation , empowerment can get distorted in market led economy. People should get priority rather than economic gains for few who control neo-liberal economy.

5: Bhopal tragedy can be remembered in backdrop of BP paying compensation of 18.7 bn $ for deepwater horizon oil spill. Bhopal gas leak victims were not compensated adequately . It was example of failure on multiple fronts e.g. Political , administrative , judiciary .Lack of seriousness can be seen in fact that site clearance has not been completed at accident site.

We should be extra cautious so that no such accident happen in future and update our institutions to handle the situation if it happens.

Expert observation : SECC is significant report and was long awaited. This brings to front the distress condition in rural India. How government moves forward will decide future of population in rural India. In other important article , Good governance is important topic in syllabus of Mains. One can easily end up writing its components in multiple places in mains answers . The components should be prepared in terms of government initiatives in the direction of good governance. Precaution should be taken so that cherished idea of Governance gives prominence to citizens needs and aspiration.

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News Summary : July 07

1: SECC : The census brought to fore the reality of rural India example : ½ households are landless. Problems like bad infrastructure , limited irrigation , lack of credit facility is ensuring persistent poverty. Employment opportunities are not being created. The challenge is formidable as overwhelming population is unskilled.

2: S.P Mookerjee founded Jan Sangh . He worked towards elimination of Art 370 which gives special status to J&K.

3: Subsidy issue for fertilizer : Government is discussing towards DBT for fertilizer subsidy. Urea is out of NBS. Presently subsidy amount in given to producers . DBT will give it to farmers. The problem is how to identify the beneficiaries. Land ownership can be one criteria but it will lead to exclusion of landless farmers.

4: EEU : Eurasian economic union members are Russia , Belarus , Armenia , Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan . Tajikistan will be next country to join this. India is looking for possibilities to join the union. Other regional Economic unions which India in considering to join are American Integration Association ( ALADI , 13 members group ) , NAFTA , ASEAN Free trade area.

5: Governors enjoy immunity against criminal proceedings while in Office. Article 156( 1) of constitution.

6: Palestine joined ICC in March 2015 . India abstained recently from UNHRC resolution against Israel . This has been policy change of India Vis-a-Vis Palestine. India in not signatory of Rome statute under which ICC has been created. ICC looks into war crimes committed by nations.

7: BRICS : Two economic arrangements under BRICS in recent times are contingency reserve arrangement( CRA ) and NDB . In future Yuan will play key role in international currency arrangement. Increasing assertiveness of China in pointer towards future economic set up e.g. AIIB . Currently Dollar , Pound , Yen , Euro are part of IMF SDR. Yuan in not a convertible currency and is not used in SDR basket for now.

8 : Education : Debate over national education framework has come up recently. Notable commissions in past have been in form of Kothari commission , University education commission 1950 , Secondary education commission 1952 , Education commission 1964. NPE ( 1986 ) , NCF( 2005 ) , RTE( 2009 ) etc which provide guidelines for national education arrangement. The need is to work towards coherent progress on agreed principles . Past should be guide for future to come.

Expert comment : SECC is supposed to be input source to help government frame and implement policies. State governments are to decide their parameters from the census . This is long awaited census data and more information for observations made in it should be obtained in fact sheet. BRICS is important for India's foreign relations specially on economic front . Issue of fertilizer subsidy is hard to crack nut and this will remain a hot topic in government's agenda.

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News Summary : July 11

1: IIP data for month of may has come. At 2.7% growth it has showed 7^th consecutive month of growth.

2: FDI in ecommerce : Debate is to define what is ecommerce. Stakeholders include Retailer association of India , Confederation of All India Traders.

3: Greece has come up with Austerity proposals. Proposals include new VAT , pension , salary changes , New tax revenue policy , Privatization.

4: Coastal Zone management authority has responsibility of Project appraisal , coastal zone mapping , action against violations , conservation of coastal areas. Issues have been associated with post clearnace monitoring , lack of site visit , heavy load on state coastal zone management authority.

5: Antrix is commercial arm of ISRO . It takes order to send satellites ( nano , micro , normal ) into space using PSLV launch vehicle. This has added to monetary gains for ISRO.

6: Issue of protection of whistle blowers . For this act has been passed by parliament which is yet to be notified. One loophole in the act is that it fails to recognize corruption exposure through media.

7: Women sanitation is yet to find high priority. It is about woman’s right , dignity , safety , health . One of the challenges has been to spread awareness on this.

8: Indo-Pak : Issues under consideration are terrorism , tourism , Border management , Kashmir. Religious tourism centres are Nankana Sahib , Hinglaj Mata Mandir , Nizamuddin Dargah , Ajmer.

9: Black money Fight : Foreign tax compliance act ( FATCA ) , Black money Act 2015 , Multilateral competent authority agreement ( MCAA ) . Some tax heavens are Bahamas , Cayman Island , Luxumberg . Black money act has provision of 30% tax on foreign earnings and fine upto 90% . jail term can also be used. MCAA has 59 members.

Expert comment : Whistle blowers act and Black money act are important for exam point of view. Loop holes and implementation issues should be prepared thoroughly from current news and write ups prepared on this. On environment from project clearance will remain hotly debated topic for now with aggressive stance of government to clear the projects .

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News Summary : July 10

1. Public Health news : Government has continued with private players role in nutrient supplement program ICDS. This has continued in spite of Supreme court banning this ( 2009 ) .

2: NDB : New development bank in news . The bank to start working( lending ) with initial capital of 50 bn $ from next year.

3: IMF has come up with renewed global growth forecast . This has reduced growth numbers. Report name is called world economic outlook report.

4: Yugoslavia civil war massacre has now become 20 year old.

5: Xinxiang province in china faces terror activity led by ethnic group Uighur .

6: Sri-Lanka : Mahinda Rajpaksha is politician of SLFP ( sri Lanka freedom party ) . Mr. Rajpaksha is hoping to return to active politics after defeat in presidential

election held in January 2015.

7: BRICS summit : 7th Summit is being held in Russia. Mr. Modi has suggested 10 point agenda to be adopeted by BRICS . Example : Trade Fair , Research center for Railway , Agriculture .

8: FATCA : Foreign account tax compliance act can be used to control Black Money issue.

9: Urban Planning : Slum development has become important working area . Till now this was ignored in top down urban planning . Government response was seen in form of

target to make India Slum Free by 2020 ( World bank doubts this ). RAY envisioned to spend $20 bn ( Part of JNNURM ). Present government is working on Housing for all project by 2022.

10: Man V/s Wild issue : T-24 tiger of Ranthambhor. Wildlife protection is associated with tourism , resources , Bio-diversity. The debate is what method should be adopted for wildlife protection and how to integrate people in this.

11: Greece crisis : Austerity v/s Sovereign debt management of Greece has continued in news. Further proceedings will be mainly decided by Germany.

12: RTI : Political parties continue to refuse to come under RTI. CIC had observed that Political parties fall in category of public authority . Hence they should

being to light their expenditure and funding. Presently political parties are required to declare 20,000 rupee or more contributions . They circumvent this clause by declaring that they received funding as small contributions. This has led to persistent use of black money in elections and election malpractices.

Expert comment : BRICS summit is significant news . Outcome of the summit should be prepared as write up. How BRICS will feature in new world order is important in

international politics. On urban planning front problem of Slums is widespread . Government failure comes to fore with Slums and associated problem . Associated

problems are housing , poverty , lack of service delivery . In another significant topic , role of private players in Pubic health is debatable. Pros and Cons of the same should be written . In any case , Government should take up lead role in area of Public Health. Keywords like NDB , Xinxiang , IMF , Greece will continue to find place in news in coming days/months.

News Summary : July 02

1: Field medal : Highest honor given to mathematicians.

2: Physics aspect : Quantum mechanics to study materials made of atoms , molecules . EInsteins theory of relativity is used to study space , stars and universe.

Mathematics is the language in which physical laws are formulated .

3: Government is taking steps to reduce corporate tax from 30 percent to 25 percent level . Simultaneously exemptions and incentives will be removed. High tax rate end up making the products less competitive in international market.

4: Infrastructure : Eastern DFT from Ludhiana to Dhankuni . Funding to come mainly from world bank. This project will help in reducing GHG emission .

5: Greece issue : Referendum to decide future course of action

6: US-Cuba : Significant Geo-political development as diplomatic relations have been established between US and Cuba.

" We don't have to be imprisoned by the past " -- Barak Obama

7: ISRO has social-economic role to play in India's future. Main working area are communication satellites , remote sensing , navigation , regional co-operation , Indegenous satellites , launch vehicles . GSLV MKIII is long awaited project which uses cryogenic engines. Critical for sending larger weight satellites.

8: Government goes into action part of curbing black money issue. Statuary teeth has come in form of Black money ( undisclosed foreign income and assets ) and imposition of taxes act 2015 . This act has provision for jail term of 10 years. Implementation will be closely monitored in near future.

9: Maldives : India faces dilemma as it finds difficult to ignore handling of former president Md Naseed. Human rights issue have come up in this. India doesn't want to act against sovereign neighbor . This has Geo-political angle as well as China tries to get closer to Maldives. Mr. Abdulla yameed is the present President of Maldives.

10: Indo-UK : India has extradition treaty with UK since 1993 . For extradition process to initiate Interpol has to issue red corner notice against accused person of convict.

11: MQM funding by RAW : Allegation seem false as Indian policy has changed over the years. Currently India follows persuasive regional diplomacy to take into confidence the government of neighbors. Though this policy has limitation when the neighbor is persistently non-co operative like Pakistan.

12: PIO and OCI were merged in 2014 : Person holding the card is eligible to work in India for lifetime. However there is one restriction . For missionary , research , mountaineering activities prior permission of government oof India is required.

13: EU : It lacked features of Union as democratic mandate lacked. Whims of powerful economies play major role e.g. wish and wants of Germany .The Greek crisis is also about future of Europe. A country should carefully manage its relations to be able to get out of difficult situations which may arise.

14: AIIB : 100 bn $ fund with 57 member nations. Asian countries are is need of fund to fill gap of their Infrastructure financing. This has Geo-political limitations as Japan and Philippines have kept away from this. This bank will complement the belt and road initiative of china. Currently China has money to finance infrastructure projects.

UPSC( CS-Mains ) angle to see it : Some overview comment 

Not much on science page of the day. On economy front the news about Infrastructure , Degital India , Government taxation , Black money finds mention in the news. On international relations there is continuity of past news . US-Cuba relation is significant development . Greece issue will remain in news for time to come so comprehensive answer should be prepared on the topic. AIIB question was asked last year , this year too this will remain hot topic till exam date ; this demands well written article on China's AIIB project and its usefulness with implications. Agenda of Degital India will need to be prepared as a topic . It has wide scope and usefulness and is high on priority of the government of India.