Scared is what you're feeling. Brave is what you're doing. - Emma Donoghue

Scared is what you're feeling. Brave is what you're doing. - Emma Donoghue

*Doklam still a mystery. *August 28: Our statement was about mutual decision *Last week Army chief, General Bipin Rawat, said Chinese troops are in parts of Doklam *Discretion and quiet negotiations are useful for such matters. *But divergence in public statements also fuels speculation *MEA s annual Raisina Dialogue: Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar put China s rise first on a list of major disruptors in the region. *Beijing s latest belligerent statements that all of Doklam belongs to China and is under its effective jurisdiction could be indicators that the agreement announced in August is unravelling.

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*Election Commission s advice to the President that 20 legislators of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi are liable for disqualification will inevitably invite legal and political scrutiny. *The party claims it was denied a hearing and alleges political motives behind the action. * It has questioned the timing of the decision, just ahead of the Chief Election Commissioner s retirement. *Correctness of the EC s decision will be decided on legal grounds. *Twenty-one MLAs were appointed parliamentary secretaries in March 2015. The Delhi High Court set aside the appointments in 2016 on the ground that the Lieutenant Governor had not given his approval.

*The key question was whether the post was an office of profit even after the Delhi government made it clear that parliamentary secretaries would not be eligible for any remuneration or perquisites. *They were only allowed the use of government transport for official uses and office space in the respective ministries. The EC has answered the question in the affirmative, and the President has acted on it. *In Jaya Bachchan, the court said it was an office of profit even if one did not actually receive payment; it was enough if some pay was receivable. *In Raman v. P.T.A. Rahim, the court said only posts that are capable of yielding pecuniary gains, as distinguished from compensatory allowances, would be offices of profit.

Disqualification of AAP MLAs approved *President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday accepted the recommendation of the Election Commission to disqualify 20 MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the ruling party in the national capital, for holding offices of profit. * We had requested a meeting for Sunday morning but were denied, and now [Sunday afternoon] we get this news. We will approach the court and hope for justice, Mr. Rai said.

*Aggressive salesman for American defence manufacturers during his foreign tours and to visiting heads of foreign countries in his first year in office. *Reuters: US Embassies around the world would be pushing the agenda. *How it has worked so far? *Foreign Military Sales: $40 billion every year *Direct Commercial Sales: $110 billion a year *foreign buyer and the American seller negotiate the deal directly *Foreign Military Financing: is done through American grants. *Of the roughly $6 billion under that head, $3.7 billion goes to Israel each year. Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan have been other significant recipients

*Arms supplies to foreign countries is critical to the U.S. for at least three reasons: 1. it is a key leverage of global influence, 2. it reduces the cost of procurement for the U.S. military by spreading the cost, 3. by employing 1.7 million people, the defence industry is a key component in the country s economy and consequently, its politics. *But the sale of weaponry, traditionally, is guided less by commercial considerations rather than strategic ones. *The Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at the Department of State is the lynchpin of this process; the other players are the Department of Defence, the White House and the U.S. Congress. *Proper vetting is conducted

Mr. Trump *He wants to reduce the Foreign Military Financing to the least *He wants American partners to buy more weapons from it *For him it is a move to reduce trade deficit with its allies. *He is hammering NATO partners to ramp up defence spending and believes that all these partners have taken the U.S. for a ride. *He has little patience for linking human rights to arms sales. *If Mr. Trump manages to emphasise the commercial benefits of arms sales, and de-emphasise the strategic angle, it could lead to a change in the dynamics of the India-U.S. defence trade, and bilateral trade in general.

*National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill 2017 : Section 49 (4) proposes a joint sitting of the Commission between Homeopathy and Allopathy. *(1): bridge connecting both *Primary Health System: struggling *below-par national physician-patient ratio *0.76 per 1,000 population, amongst the lowest in the world *Urban-rural disparities in physician availability in the face of an increasing burden of chronic diseases make health care in India both inequitable and expensive.

*There is an urgent need for a trained cadre to provide *accessible primary-care services that cover minor ailments *health promotion services *risk screening for early disease detection *appropriate referral linkages *ensure that people receive care at a community level when they need it *The issue of AYUSH cross-prescription has been a part of public health and policy discourse for over a decade *4th Common Review Mission Report 2010 of the National Health Mission *2013 Shailaja Chandra report *Solution: design and scope of the programme, implementation, monitoring and audit mechanisms, technology support, and the legal and regulatory framework.

*Towards a Payroll Reporting in India *Group Chief Economic Adviser of the State Bank of India and a professor from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore *Ostensibly, the main objective of the report was to make a case for a better payroll reporting system in India, which is perfectly justified and needed. *But, along the way, it also made an extravagant claim that 55 lakh new jobs are created every year in India. *How did the report arrive at the 55 lakh new jobs number? *It used data from the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) which registers employees from the formal sector for provident fund benefits.

*New 18- to 25-year-old EPFO members do not automatically mean net new jobs in the economy; an informal job that turns formal with an EPFO registration does not mean it is a new job *The Indian economy was subjected to massive external forces of formalisation by the twin forces of demonetisation in FY-2017 and the GST in FY-2018. *It is well-known that when an employee loses her job or stops working, her membership from the EPFO database is not removed automatically. *FY-2015, the total number of contributing EPFO members grew 7%. In FY- 2016, it grew 8%. But after demonetisation, in FY-2017, it grew 20% and by December 2017, it had grown a further 23%.

Padmaavat protests hit bus services *Bus services on more than 100 routes in half a dozen districts in north Gujarat were suspended after violent protests by the Rajput community continued over the release of the Bollywood movie Padmaavat. *Sunday also witnessed several protests, a day after protesters torched four public transport buses and vandalised a theatre in Ahmedabad. The authorities decided to suspend bus operations as a precautionary measure as protesters continued to block traffic on highways at several places. *In Rajasthan, a group took out a jauhar swabhimaan rally in Chittorgarh demanding a complete ban on the movie.

India can strike across the borders, says Rajnath *Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday warned Pakistan that India could kill its enemies not only within its borders but also across them, even as violence along the Jammu and Kashmir border continued to climb. *Holding Pakistan responsible for the poor bilateral relations, Mr. Singh told a public gathering in Lucknow, We want to maintain good relations with our neighbour but they don t stop doing mischief. We have given a strong message to the world that India can kill its enemies not only on this side, but on that side of the border as well. *His comments came days after Indian troops carried out retaliatory action against Pakistani troops, in which seven of their soldiers were killed and four injured in the Poonch sector. *He said that a few months ago, Pakistan had attacked and martyred 17 jawans.

Owner of illegal Delhi fireworks factory held *The Delhi police on Sunday arrested Manoj Jain, owner of the unauthorised fireworks factory, after 17 people were killed on Saturday in a massive fire in the manufacturing unit in the Bawana industrial area. *Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik also transferred the case from the Rohini district police to the Crime Branch.

Judiciary will sort out rift, says Modi *Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that the government and political parties must stay out of the unprecedented judicial crisis, gave enough indications that the upcoming Budget may not be populist, and asserted that his poll slogan of Congress-free India was not aimed at eliminating the party politically. *In a wide-ranging 75-minute interview to the Times Now television channel, Mr. Modi said he was open to more changes in the GST to plug loopholes and make it a more efficient tax. *Supreme Court: I think I should stay away from this debate. The government must also stay away. The political parties must also keep out of it. *Budget: Mr. Modi said the issue falls within the ambit of the Finance Minister and he did not want to interfere in it.

Scientists deeply pained by Minister s claim *Satyapal had said Darwin was wrong on evolution *Scientists have come out against the comment of Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Satyapal Singh that Charles Darwin s theory of evolution is a myth and should be taken off school textbooks. *The three academies are the Indian National Science Academy, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Indian Academy of Science issued a statement denouncing his claim.

18 killed after gunmen attack Kabul luxury hotel *A Taliban assault on the Intercontinental Hotel in Afghanistan s capital killed at least 18 people, including 14 foreigners, and pinned security forces down for more than 13 hours before the last attacker was slain on Sunday. *The casualty toll is expected to rise.

Turkish troops enter Syria to fight Kurdish militia *.

1. Name the last Mauryan emperor A. Jalok B. Avanti Varma C. Nandi Vardhan D. Brihadratha 2. Kautilya was Prime Minister of A. Chandragupta Vikramaditya B. Ashoka C. Chandragupta Maurya D. Raja Janak

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