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India’s retail inflation remained virtually unchanged at 5.09% in February, even as food prices paid by consumers resurged from 8.3% in January to 8.66% spurred primarily by vegetables, which rose at a seven-month high pace of 30.25%.
Inflation measured by the Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) accelerated from 9% in January to 9.2% for urban residents.
Meanwhile, rural India experienced an 8.2% uptick in February, compared with 7.9% in the previous month.
Overall retail inflation stayed higher in rural India, unchanged from the 5.34% recorded in January, while urban inflation eased slightly from 4.9% to 4.8% in February.
Most economists expect inflation to stay in the 5.1%-5.2% range in March as well, which would lift average inflation in the last quarter of this year over the 5% average projected by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Editorial
Intra-group caste variances, equality and the Court’s gaze (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
Soon, a seven-judge Bench of the Supreme Court of India will deliver its judgment in State of Punjab vs Davinder Singh, on a question of law that carries with it enormous significance for the future of affirmative action and reservations under the Constitution.
Can State governments make a sub-classification within the proportion prescribed to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in recruitment to public employment?
In other words, by making a special allowance for certain groups that are more backward than others, are regional units encroaching on a domain that remains within Parliament’s exclusive preserve?
Opinion
Khelo India: Perfect present, bright future (Page no. 9)
(Miscellaneous)
We recently concluded the Khelo India Games with resounding success. While the magnitude of the mission has grown exponentially, the government has been adding new facets to the Khelo India campaign in terms of both technical and demographic diversity. Change is constant and if results are any yardstick, we are on the right track.
The Khelo India mission has been the cornerstone of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a nation oozing with energy.
India is a young country: 65% of the population is below 35 years. Sports is arguably the ideal glue to bring everyone together.
Sports now provides a serious career option to our youth. We understand that every athlete has a career span. While achieving excellence is their primary goal, we as the government must reciprocate.
Khelo India medal winners, who can potentially go on to win laurels for the country, deserve a tension-free existence. In a recent notification, the government has decided to provide jobs to those who meet the necessary criteria.
Text & Context
How is nuclear waste generated? (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Recently, India loaded the core of its long-delayed Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) vessel, bringing the country to the cusp of stage II — powered by uranium and plutonium — of its three-stage nuclear programme.
By stage III, India hopes to be able to use its vast reserves of thorium to produce nuclear power and gain some energy independence. But the large-scale use of nuclear power is accompanied by a difficult problem: waste management.
In a fission reactor, neutrons bombard the nuclei of atoms of certain elements. When one such nucleus absorbs a neutron, it destabilises and breaks up, yielding some energy and the nuclei of different elements.
For example, when the uranium-235 (U-235) nucleus absorbs a neutron, it can fission to barium-144, krypton-89, and three neutrons.
If the ‘debris’ (barium-144 and krypton-89) constitute elements that can’t undergo fission, they become nuclear waste.
News
‘India the top arms importer between 2019-23’ (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
India was the top arms importer in the world in the period 2019-23, with imports having gone up by 4.7% compared with the period 2014-18, according to Swedish think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
At the same time, arms imports by European countries increased by 94% between 2014-18 and 2019-23, the report said, which comes against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.
Although Russia remained India’s main arms supplier [accounting for 36% of its arms imports], this was the first five-year period since 1960-64 when deliveries from Russia [or the Soviet Union prior to 1991] made up less than half of India’s arms imports,” as per new data on international arms transfers from SIPRI released.
Nine of the 10 biggest arms importers in 2019-23, including the top three of India, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, were in Asia and Oceania or the West Asia. Ukraine became the fourth biggest arms importer after it received transfers of major arms in 2022-23.
UCPMP specifies the rules for the use of the words ‘safe’ and ‘new’ for drugs (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Department of Pharmaceuticals issued the Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP), 2024, specifying the rules for the use of the words “safe’’ and “new’’ for drugs, and stated that medical representatives must not employ any inducement or subterfuge to gain an interview, and that they must not pay, under any guise, for access to a healthcare professional.
Engagement of the pharmaceutical industry with healthcare professionals for Continuing Medical Education (CME) should only be allowed through a well-defined, transparent, and verifiable set of guidelines, and conduct of such events in foreign locations is prohibited by the uniform code.
World
Indian troops begin Maldives withdrawal after govt. order (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Indian troops stationed in the Maldives have begun withdrawing from the island nation, its defence authorities said, in line with President Mohamed Muizzu’s ‘India out’ promise to his supporters.
We can confirm that the Indian troop withdrawal is under way,” the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) said in a statement to news agency, confirming the development.
Last month, the Ministry of External Affairs said a technical team from India had reached the Maldives to replace the troops that were stationed to operate the India-gifted aircraft and coppers.
The deployment of a technical crew indicated that Male and New Delhi had reached a compromise after many rounds of bilateral discussion following Mr. Muizzu’s relentless demand that Indian troops leave the island nation.
Business
FY24 GDP growth to be closer to 8%: CEA (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
India’s real GDP growth in FY24 will be “closer” to 8% on higher activity in the industry and services verticals, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran.
Addressing a conference, he said growth will be higher than the Ministry of Statistics’ estimate of 7.6%, and added that there is much reason to be optimistic in the near term about India’s prospects.
Unless the Q4 GDP numbers fall very significantly from the momentum that we have seen in the first three quarters, GDP (growth) will be closer to 8% rather than 7.6% as the Ministry of Statistics is currently estimating.
However, he stressed on the need to put heads down and work towards the goal without “succumbing to triumphalism and exuberance”.
“As a country, we should realize that we are in it for the longer haul, not for the short term,” he said, adding that gratification will be delayed.