The Hindu
GS2: Functioning of Judiciary
- Filled to the nines Appointment spree in SC is welcome, and augurs well for diversity and representation
GS2: India and Neighbourhood-Relations
- Near and present India does not have the luxury of distance from the ticking bomb in its neighbourhood
GS2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
- India-Australia aim for ‘early harvest’ trade pact by Dec. The trade ministers of India and Australia have agreed to speed up trade negotiations with an aim to reach an interim ‘early harvest’ pact by December for liberalising the bilateral flow of goods and services.
GS3: Indian Economy, Mobilization of resources
- Asset monetisation — execution is the key The Government’s plan needs an Asset Monetisation Monitoring Authority to evaluate the execution
- Government to ease path for monetisation Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will soon chair a meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) to nudge financial regulators to relax and harmonise investment norms for instruments like Infrastructure Investment trusts (InvITs) to be used to monetise public assets like highways,
GS3: Infrastructure, Environmental Impact Assessment
- Ministries agree to allow 7 Himalayan hydel projects No new projects will be allowed in upper reaches of Ganga
GS3: Environmental Conservation
- India added 557 new species to faunal wealth in 2020, says ZSI 407 new species, 150 new records documented from the world’s 8th highest ‘mega biodiverse’ country
- ‘Deepar Beel breathes easy after eco-sensitive zone notification Deepar Beel is the State’s only Ramsar site and an Important Bird Area.
GS3: Science and Technology
- Indian astrophysicists spot rare merger of three jumbo black holes The study has been published as a letter in the ‘Astronomy and Astrophysics’ journal
Indian Express
GS2: Schemes for vulnerable sections
- Explained: Govt’s clarifications on CSR expenditure; what impact will these have? Companies with a minimum net worth of Rs 500 crore, turnover of Rs 1,000 crore, or net profit of Rs 5 crore are required to spend at least 2 per cent of their average profit for the previous three years on CSR activities every year.
GS2: Indian Constitution- Significant provisions and Basic Structure
- Explained: Delhi High Court’s observations on the ‘Right to be Forgotten’ Earlier in July, Ashutosh Kaushik who won reality TV shows Bigg Boss in 2008 and MTV Roadies 5.0 approached the Delhi High Court with a plea saying that his videos, photographs and articles etc. be removed from the internet citing his “Right to be Forgotten”.
GS2: Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education,
- Explained: What’s new in higher education Delhi University has approved a four-year undergraduate course from next year as part of the new National Education Policy. How do this and other concepts in the NEP aim to achieve multidisciplinarity?
- Making sure that girls don’t drop out of school Fourth, special education zones need to be set up in areas which have been traditionally backward in education. Every panchayat showing a consistent trend in girl child drop-outs should have composite schools till higher secondary (classes I-XII).
GS2: Indian Constitution- Significant provisions and Basic Structure, GS3: Internal security
- Facial recognition spreads concerns over absence of data protection law. The systems seek to achieve a range of objectives: better identification of criminals, law enforcement use at railway stations, passenger check-ins at airports, biometric attendance at companies, and even student authentication mechanisms.
GS3: Agriculture
- No realistic plan of reducing import dependence in edible oils is possible without recognising the role of oil palm The focus on oil palm is not misplaced as it is a crop that can yield 20-25 tonnes of FFBs per hectare, translating into 4-5 tonnes of CPO. No other oilseed can give so much.
GS2: India and Neighbourhood-Relations
- India’s limited options in Afghanistan Delhi cannot shun a Taliban-dominated government. It will have to fine tune its diplomacy, engage China, Russia, Turkey and the US.
PIB Corner
GS3: Indian Economy, Schemes
- IT Minister Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw’s vision for startups takes shape of SAMRIDH Scheme “Start-up Accelerators of MeitY for pRoduct Innovation, Development and growth (SAMRIDH)”programme, which was launched today by Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology so as to create a conducive platform to Indian Software Product star-ups to enhance their products and securing investments for scaling their business. The programme is being implemented by MeitY Start-up Hub (MSH).
GS2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
- Indo-kazakhstan joint training exercise to commence on 30 august 2021 The Indian Army contingent represented by a battalion of The Bihar Regiment consists of a total of 90 personnel led by a Contingent Commander. The Kazakhstan Army will be represented by a company group.
Down To Earth
GS3: Environmental pollution and degradation
- Climate crisis putting a billion children at ‘extremely high risk,’ warns new UN report “Adults keep saying we owe it to the young people to give them hope. But I don’t want your hope,” said Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg in 2019. “I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day.”
