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4 Diplomatic mayhem(ह थ प ई) Intro:- Saudi-led bid to isolate Qatar could have far-reaching economic-political consequences Tensions were brewing within the Gulf Cooperation Council for the past six years ever since Qatar started actively supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, a political Islamist movement that the Saudis and their close allies see as a threat to stability in West Asia. In 2014, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain had temporarily withdrawn their ambassadors from Qatar over this Saudi Arabia and Qatar back their proxy militant groups throughout West Asia. Take the case of Syria, where the Saudis back Salaf groups such as Ahrar al-sham, While the Qataris bankroll the armed wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. Both share the same goal: to overthrow the regime of Bashar al-assad. In Yemen, Qatar is part of the Saudi-led coalition- bombing the country for over two years.

5 Continue Emboldened by President Donald Trump s open embrace and anti-iran agenda. Renewed attempt to rally Sunni countries under its leadership against Tehran. Qatar s ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who had a phone conversation with Iran s President Hassan Rouhani last week, is reportedly critical of the Saudi-led efferts to drive up an anti-iran agenda. Qatar is an economic powerhouse in the Gulf and hosts the headquarters of the U.S. military s Central Command. Air war command for the U.S.-led fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is also in Qatar. Oil prices fluctuated soon after the decision was announced What West Asia requires is a united front against terror and lowering of Saudi-Iran tensions. Opening new fronts in the rivalry will only destabilise the region further.

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7 Gulf Cooperation Council Political and economic union consisting of all Arab states of the Arabian Gulf, except for Iraq. Member states are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates A 2011 proposal to transform the GCC into a "Gulf Union" with tighter economic, political and military coordination has been advanced by Saudi Arabia, a move meant to counterbalance the Iranian influence in the region. In order to reduce their dependence on oil in the future, the GCC states are pursuing unprecedented structural reform initiatives

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9 The case for a rate cut Intro:- If the RBI wishes to do its bit to boost growth, it must keep its inflation target flexible. Did demonetisation impact the economy badly? Well, the figures are out now- But the answer is not as clear as some would like to believe. Demonetisation happened on November 8, Observers had said its effects would be reflected in the figures for growth in the third quarter of the year (October-December). Proved wrong-growth held up quite well in Q3 compared to that in the previous quarter. Growth, measured by Gross Value Added (GVA)- slow down from 6.7% in Q3 to 5.6% in Q4. Growth in GDP, which is GVA plus net taxes, came in at 7.1% for Growth in GVA for the year as a whole, at 6.6%, is in line with estimates prior to demonetisation. Manufacturing slowed down from 8.2% in Q3 to 5.3% in Q4.

10 Continue In , the Indian economy reaped the benefits of a sharp drop in oil prices and the boost to consumption it gave. This gain was absent in when oil prices stabilised or even rose slightly. Private investment has continued to decelerate(npa). We cannot conclude demonetisation is primarily responsible. The fall in GDP growth from 8% in to 7.1% in reflects these larger factors.

11 Continue Reserve Bank vs CEA Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Arvind Subramanian and the RBI differ on this all-important question. Mr. Subramanian noted in an article last month that since the middle of last year (2016) there has been a noticeable deceleration in manufacturing activity. He went on to argue that there is a strong case for broad macro policy support, including monetary policy support, to reinvigorate the economy. Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of April 20- RBI noted that manufacturing activity had gained momentum in the second half of The RBI seemed to be saying: growth is recovering of its own accord, there isn t much that we need to do- This is not quite true. Even if growth were recovering, it would be below the output potential of the economy- We need to aim for higher growth.

12 Conclusion But growth is not the primary mandate of the RBI today. The primary mandate is keeping inflation within a targeted band of 4% plus or minus 2%. In his lecture last month, Mr. Subramanian argued that the economy has over-achieved on inflation. Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation is well below the RBI s medium target. True core inflation, that is, inflation minus food, fuel and transport services, has been falling for the past several months. RBI:- 1)-GST might impact the price level adversely- 2)-The climatic factor known as El Niňo could disrupt food output. 3)-Pay Commission could cause the inflation rate to edge up. 4)-December 2016, when the U.S. Federal Reserve announced- Exodus of funds from the Indian markets.

13 Finessing data collection Intro:- Government has set up a task force headed by the Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog to recommend a methodology to generate timely and reliable employment data. India already has several globally respected sources of employment statistics, include 1)-Employment and unemployment surveys (EUS) conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) till at an interval of five years 2)-Annual and sub-annual EUS by the Labour Bureau since ; 3)-Census of India conducted every 10 years; 4)-Economic Census conducted for agricultural (excluding crop production and plantation) or nonagricultural sectors at intervals; 5)-Other administrative data. However, with the changing times, new challenges need to be addressed.

14 Continue Filling in data gaps These include the need to collect detailed information on informal workers 1)-Their earnings, and 2)-Their working and living conditions, 3)-Absence of data on district level employment for decentralised planning, 4)-Data on circular migrant workers; 5)-The working and living conditions of women labour. 6)-The need to reduce the time lag between the survey and release of data and 7)-The need to conduct short-term surveys for quick assessment of the impact of different policies on employment.

15 Continue There are two more areas of employment statistics that need the attention of the task force. A)-Complementing surveys Time-use surveys (TUS) to complement labour force surveys: TUS, which collect comprehensive information on how people spend their time on different activities without missing any activity, are likely to capture even scattered, sporadic and irregular informal work of people. Includes the scattered nature of work 1)-Mainly of informal workers, multiple jobs performed by workers; 2)-The time spent on work in hours and minutes (useful in estimating underemployment); and 3)-Measuring time stress experienced by workers Compared in details the NSSO ( ) and TUS data ( ) on the workforce has shown that a TUS provides valuable additional information on the labour force in India

16 Continue B)-The ILO resolution Resolution by ILO (2013) on Statistics of Work, Employment and Labour Underutilisation Which set new standards for work statistics to guide countries in updating and integrating their existing statistical programmes in the field. It defies work as any activity performed by persons of any sex and age to produce goods or to provide services for use by others or for own use. Resolution -which includes 1)-Persons in employment, 2)-Persons in unemployment and 3)-Persons outside the labour force all defied slightly differently than earlier. In addition, there is a brand new concept of 1)-Labour under utilisation, which includes time-related underemployment, Potential labour force, i.e. persons not in employment but who are willing to work under specific conditions.

17 Conclusion All countries including India are expected to develop their own system of work statistics keeping in mind its various uses and a national data collection strategy. Finally, the task force should recommend modifications in a manner that comparability with old and new data is maintained The new data should not be used to hide the declining rate of growth of employment of recent times. Unless policymakers know what is really happening, they will not be able to design correct policies.

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20 News Analysis Page-1,7- India successfully fires heaviest launch vehicle GSLV MkIII places heaviest satellite GSAT-19 into orbit Indigenous cryogenic engine technology GSAT-19, a communication satellite, expected to enhance India s communication infrastructure, was placed into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO)

21 Continue Cryogenic rocket engine is a rocket engine that uses a cryogenic fuel or oxidizer, that is, its fuel or oxidizer (or both) are gases liquefied and stored at very low temperatures. Oxidizer is a type of chemical which a fuel requires to burn. Most types of burning on Earth use oxygen, which is prevalent in the atmosphere. However in space there is no atmosphere to provide oxygen or other oxidizers so rockets need to carry up their own oxidizers.

22 Continue Page-1,10- India rejects Trump s allegation on Paris pact India on Monday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump s allegation that it had joined the Paris climate agreement for a large financial incentive. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj described the allegation as unreal and said India did not join the agreement for financial greed.

23 Continue Page-5-1,420 Nilgiri tahr in Kerala: survey A major part of the habitat of the species has been lost to plantations Eravikulam National Park in Munnar. The population estimation was carried out by a technical committee chaired by P.S. Easa, member of the National Board for Wildlife.

24 Continue Page-7- India s biodiversity riches jump up by 499 species Himalayas, Northeast and Western Ghats yield the most World Environment Day, India has 499 reasons to cheer: 313 species of animal and 186 of plants have been discovered from various areas of the country last year. Western Ghats (17%), followed by the Eastern Himalayas (15%), the Western Himalayas (13%), the Eastern Ghats (12%) and the west coast (8%). Animal Discoveries 2016, New Species and Records, brought out by the Zoological Survey of India.

25 Continue Page-10- NSG goes without wings for 2 years The only two helicopters available with the National Security Guard (NSG), India s counter-terror force, have been grounded. One of its helicopters crash-landed and the other is unit for lying The NSG was set up in 1984 as a federal contingency deployment force to tackle terrorism. After the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the government opened regional hubs of the NSG in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata to reduce reaction time.

26 Continue Page-11- India to weather Qatar storm now More than half of the country s energy import needs are sourced from the Persian Gulf. The government and energy officials said on Monday that the decision by seven West Asian countries, led by Saudi Arabia, to cut all ties with Qatar would have no impact on Indian interests. It s not a challenge: Sushma

27 Continue Page-12 Nepal, China ink mega hydropower agreement To build 1,200 MW Budhi-Gandaki hydroelectric project Nepal has signed an agreement with a Chinese company to build the largest hydroelectric plant in the impoverished landlocked country, which suffers from a chronic energy shortage. Estimates put the project cost at $2.5 billion. Water-rich Nepal has a mountain river system Imports much of its electricity from neighbouring India. Page-14- Alibaba picks up majority stake in TicketNew The company was founded in 2007 by Ramkumar Nammalvar

28 Q- Ans GST comes under- 122 nd constitutional amendment bill and 101 st amendment act World's Environment Day,2017 theme - "CONNECT WITH NATURE Commerce Minister - NIRMALA SITHARAMAN

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