Delhi Edition of The Hindu
Mending(मरम मत) the rift Intro:- The international community must push for a resolution of the Qatar crisis Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain etc- list of demands to the Qatari regime List has not been officially released, but is reported to include demands that 1)-Qatar break all but trade ties with Iran, 2)-End military cooperation with Turkey and 3)-Shut down the Al Jazeera news network. Cannot ignore their own role in building up Sunni extremist groups across West Asia, sometimes in partnership with Qatar. UAE has a thriving(स पन न) business relationship with Iran. Given to their dissidents on Al Jazeera- Other international news agencies. Qatar to enforce its own commitments from the 2014 Riyadh declaration of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on ceasing support to extremist and terrorist groups. This indicates that a path is being cleared for a resolution to the current crisis.
Conclusion Implications of this crisis that India and the international community cannot afford to ignore. While the action against Qatar is mainly political Saudi-led action on Yemen, where more than 10,000 people have already been killed. Muscle power of the regional bullies has been allowed to prevail over a weaker nation. Further weakening of the international order, the rule of law and the UN system of conflict resolution. There are also signs that this may be the precursor to a larger conflict with Iran. Troubling scenario for India- commitment to build connectivity and shore up oil reserves. India s dependence on oil supplies and remittances from some eight million Indians based there. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called it an internal matter of the GCC, is no longer an option.
Gulf Cooperation Council for the Arab States (GCC).
A controversial inheritance Intro:- Justice P.N. Bhagwati, who died recently, at 95, is perhaps the most influential judge independent India has had. What Indira Gandhi is to Indian politics, Justice Bhagwati is to the Indian judiciary. One can see strong resonances of Mrs Gandhi s style in the Modi govt s mode of functioning. 1)-Calling for the cow to be declared the national animal, 2)-Imposing the national anthem on cinema-goers and 3)-Imposing thoughtless prohibition near national highways A controversial judgment of Bhagwati was in the ADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla case or ADM Jabalpur case or the habeas corpus case. Where he decreed that during the Emergency of 1975 to 1977, a person's right to not be unlawfully detained (i.e. habeas corpus) can be suspended. This judgment received a lot of criticism since it reduced the importance attached to Fundamental Rights under the Indian Constitution.
Continue If this sounds rather familiar, it is because the Indian judiciary has implicitly followed the logic of Justice Bhagwati s dissenting opinion in recent years. Justice Bhagwati s legacy lives on- But it is high time we revisit it Bandhua Mukti Morcha vs Union Of India & Others- Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986. Maneka Gandhi case- Fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21
Who s afraid of neutrinos? Intro:- The India-based Neutrino Observatory would greatly advance scientific research Gravitational waves were first detected in September 2015 by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO)-USA. The waves passed, LIGO measured that they expanded and contracted the earth a tiny bit for a fraction of a second- LIGO did not produce the waves that it observed. Only other particles - speeds very close to that of light are called neutrinos. Billions of neutrinos the sun emits every second Proposed India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) aims to observe muon neutrinos that are continuously produced in the atmosphere when cosmic rays strike the earth. Unfortunately, some activists and political parties in Tamil Nadu have made baseless allegations This cannot be true since the neutrinos, whether they are naturally occurring in the atmosphere or from the sun, or are emitted by far away man made nuclear reactors. Nuclear or thermal power plants is spreading false fears and is unscientific.
India-based Neutrino Observatory India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) is a particle physics research project under construction to primarily study atmospheric neutrinos in a 1,300 meters (4,300 ft) deep cave Tamil Nadu, India. Project was originally to be completed in 2015 at an estimated cost of 1,500 crores, has been cleared by the Ministry of Environment (India) for construction in the Bodi West Hills Reserved Forest in Tamil Nadu Project, jointly supported by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST). Neutrino- A neutral subatomic particle with a mass close to zero and half-integral spin, which rarely reacts with normal matter- Travel at near light speeds. There are three types of neutrinos: electron neutrinos (ve), muon neutrinos(vu) and tau neutrinos(vt) differing in terms of mass.
Continue Suspension of INO s environmental clearance is a setback, the scientific community Now the earliest conceivable completion date is projected as 2022. INO will fall further behind other facilities including China s Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), expected to open in 2019. Long history of research Neutrino research has a long history in India. In the 1960s and 1970s, a group of scientists led by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research detected some unusual experimental observations, the so called Kolar events in the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) in Karnataka From the 1980s, neutrino enthusiasts discussed the possibility of a neutrino observatory located in India. In 2002, a document was presented to the Department of Atomic Energy which laid out an ambitious plan to establish the INO. Since then, fast-paced developments have taken place in neutrino physics.
An old new tax Intro:- The new GST regime is a work in progress, it must be fixed urgently PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new indirect tax at the stroke of midnight in Parliament. GST, to be collected on everything from matchboxes to gold, will touch everyone. Modern tax system should be 1)-Fair(न ष पक ष), 2)-Uncomplicated, 3)-Transparent and 4)-Easy to administer. 5)-It must yield revenues sufficient to cover the cost of government services and public goods The GST has been fixed for more than 1,200 categories of goods and services Electricity, real estate and alcohol will remain in it, exempt from the GST The GST rate for gold, a luxury good, is lower than that for matchboxes. The GST will be imposed at 18% on soaps and washing soaps, but at 28% on detergents. Not exactly the promised One nation, one tax.
Continue 29 States and 7 Union Territories agreed to give up their right to impose sales tax on goods (VAT) Centre gave up its right to impose excise and services taxes. Each receive a share of the GST collected nationally. Individually, States see this as an erosion of their financial autonomy. Union Finance Minister the states and Centre pooling their powers and sovereignty. Politicians, not tax experts, devised(त य र) the GST. The GST Council, made up of Ministers from State and Central governments. The GST Council must show sensitivity to transitional challenges. A hotline among its members, as an instantaneous problem-solving mechanism, may smoothen the transition. Increasing simplicity and reducing the complexities remains a promise made, not kept.
News Analysis Page-1,10- Cabinet to consider proposal for outright sale of Air India The three options on the table are 1)-A full 100% sell-off, 2)-a 74% stake sale or 3)-retaining a 49% share in the airline, as per the note prepared by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) for the Cabinet's consideration
Continue Page-7- Motorisation costs to soar in 3 years, says study Owning a vehicle in India in 2020 could cost up to 28% more than what it used to in 2012 34% to 36% increase in fuel costs in the next three years Larger workforce expected to settle in cities, People will travel longer distances to work; People will prefer public transport, cycles cost of one litre petrol in India is 37% of the average daily income, which is way higher than the 2% in the U.S., Germany and Japan. Registered cars per 1,000 population in India (16) is much lower than that of developed countries like the U.S. (423), Germany (517) and Japan (453).
Continue Page-5- Kasturirangan to head education committee Eminent scientist, former chief of ISRO and Padma Vibhushan Dr. K. Kasturirangan has been appointed Chairman of the committee tasked with preparing the final draft of the National Education Policy Eight members, apart from the chairperson. HRD Ministry has received thousands of suggestions from educationists, teachers, experts, students and other stakeholders from across the country. T.S.R. Subramaniam committee, will be considered by the committee.
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Continue Page-14- HPCL joins talks for Russian oilields State-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) has joined the Indian consortium negotiating the acquisition of a 49% stake in Russia s Vankor Cluster oilfields in the Arctic region
Q- Ans H1B visa-non immigrant visa ISRO-31 Satellite launched noorul Islam University Kanyakumari (TN) BCCI HQ-Mumbai ICC HQ-Dubai,UEA Tropic of cancer- Gujrat, M.P, chattisgarh, Jharkhand, W.B, Meghalaya, Mijoram, Manipur..(8) states