GS1: Social Issues
- Increasing legal age for women's marriage has enormous social, economic benefits: SBI Ecowrap (ET) It said increasing the marriage age will push the mean marriage age higher and will lead to more females doing graduation and hence improving the female labour force participation ratio. As per its estimations, the percentage of females doing graduation will increase by at least 5-7 percentage points from the current level of 9.8 per cent.
GS2: Polity
- In bail to Pinjra Tod’s Devangana, aspects of Delhi-Centre division of powers (IE) The Delhi government had asked the Supreme Court to strike down the bail given by Delhi High Court to the activist who is accused in the Northeast Delhi riots case. How did the state government get into this matter when the police is under the Centre?
GS2: International Relations
- India’s outreach to Myanmar (TH) The recent announcement of initiatives establishes India’s presence in sectors where it ought to be more pronounced.
- Joint Statement of the 2nd meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue - https://mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/33148/Joint_Statement_of_the_2nd_meeting_of_the_IndiaCentral_Asia_Dialogue" The Ministers of the Central Asian countries welcomed the provision by India of US$ 1 billion Line of Credit for priority developmental projects in fields such as connectivity, energy, IT, healthcare, education, agriculture etc. They also welcomed India’s offer to provide grant assistance for implementation of High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDP) for furthering socio-economic development in the countries of the region.
GS3: Economy
- Explained: How Covid-19 has affected finances of state governments (IE) Given the clear inter-linkages between growth and tax revenues and considering the fact that tax revenues fall faster than GDP when growth is negative, tax revenues are likely to be reduced for the next few years, the RBI said.
- Shipping Ministry issues draft “Coastal Shipping Bill, 2020” for public consultation (PIB) The definition of coastal shipping and coastal waters has been expanded.It is proposed to do away with the requirement of trading licence for Indian flag vessels for coastal trade.
- Cabinet approves Externally Aided Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project – Phase II and Phase III (PIB)" The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) Phase II & Phase III with the financial assistance of the World Bank (WB), and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to improve the safety and operational performance of selected dams across the whole country, along with institutional strengthening with system wide management approach.
GS3: Environment
- Panel for Delhi air: role, powers, what’s new(IE) The Commission, the Ordinance says, will supersede bodies such as the central and state pollution control boards of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, UP and Rajasthan and will have the powers to issue directions to these state governments on issues pertaining to air pollution.
- Asan Conservation Reserve becomes Uttarakhand’s first Ramsar site (HT) ACR is declared as a site of international importance. With this, the number of Ramsar sites in India goes up to 38, the highest in South Asia.
PIB Corner
- Indian Railways launches OPERATION MERI SAHELI (PIB) Indian Railways has launched “Meri Saheli” initiative for focused action on security of women across all zones with an objective to provide safety and security to lady passengers travelling by trains for their entire journey from starting station to destination station.
- Dr Harsh Vardhan Launches DST initiative SERB – POWER (Promoting Opportunities for Women in Exploratory Research) (PIB)" peaking on the occasion, the Union Minister emphasized the significance of empowering the women researchers in our S&T landscape. He said, “Integration of the gender dimension in research design has gained considerable attention in the global scenario. Enhancement of participation and promotion of women in the research workforce is one of the prime priorities of our Government”. He appreciated that DST through the Women Fellowship Scheme had introduced some significant women empowering policies and supported thousands of women researchers in the past.
