28 June 2024, The Hindu
President flags NEET, mentions Emergency in Parliament speech
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GS 2: Parliament and State Legislatures- structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges
- In her first address to Parliament since the Lok Sabha election results were announced, President Droupadi Murmu asked MPs to rise above “partisan politics” with regard to the row over “paper leaks” in examinations for medical college admissions and government recruitment.
- The Union government is “fully committed” to investigating the issues and punishing the guilty, she said.
A phone of her own
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GS 1: Society: Role of women and women’s organisations
- In the winding alleys of Haryana’s Nalwa village, Hisar district, just about 165 km west of New Delhi, India’s Capital, a group of teenage girls takes time out from studying and housework to meet in the evening.
- They talk of leaving, to study in a bigger city and build a life of their own.
- For Raveena Saroha, 16, the appeal of going out to study stems from her desire to “experience the world outside”.
- Saroha, who hails from a family of farm labourers, has relatives who moved to Delhi, and who, in their weekly calls, tell her about the many reputed colleges that she can go to, given her calibre and performance in school.
Reasi and the ‘years-old’ issue of cross-border terror
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GS 3: Internal Security- Money laundering and its prevention
- The Reasi terrorist attack of June 9, the day the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, took his oath of office for a third term, is reminiscent of the attack on the Consulate General of India (CGI), Herat, Afghanistan on May 23, 2014, three days prior to his first swearing-in.
- Nine pilgrims lost their lives in the attack in Reasi (in Jammu and Kashmir) and 41 were injured.
- Fortunately, the four Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists who attacked CGI Herat were detected in time.
- One of the terrorists who reached the door of the building was neutralised by an alert Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) jawan.
- The terrorists had come with the intention of taking hostages and a long-haul operation to coincide with Mr. Modi’s oath-taking ceremony.
- Clearly, both attacks had the same objective: to embarrass and enrage Mr. Modi and India on a day of great political significance.
Get the Vande Metro routing right
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GS 3: Indian Economy - Infrastructure – Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
- The Vande Bharat trains have captured India’s imagination. But out of the 51 origin-destination (O-D) pairings with 82 VB rakes of Vande Bharat trains introduced by Indian Railways (IR), at least 10 O-D pairs have very low patronage.
- Since the Railways recovers only 47 paisa for every rupee it spends on passenger services, it stands to reason that before it introduced the Vande Bharat trains, the Indian Railways should have conducted a scientific identification of O-D pairs to guarantee that these trains are well patronised on all routes.
- However, that did not happen. Rough estimates indicate that the Indian Railways has been losing about ₹100 crore due to poor patronage of some of the Vande Bharat O-D pairs.
Net damage
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GS 3: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilisation of resources, growth, development and employment.
- The resumption of fishing off India’s eastern coast including the Palk Bay, after the annual 61-day ban on fishing, has led to the death of a sailor from the Sri Lanka Navy.
- The Sri Lankan Navy had carried out an operation on June 25 morning to “chase away a cluster of Indian poaching trawlers” in Sri Lankan waters off Kankesanthurai, near Jaffna.
- A trawler-vessel was impounded and 10 fishermen apprehended, of whom eight were from Tamil Nadu and the rest from Andhra Pradesh.
- There have also been several cases of Indian (Tamil Nadu) fishermen dying too.
- The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin, sought the intervention of the External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, in releasing the vessel and the men.
- In his reply sent to the Chief Minister on Thursday, Mr. Jaishankar said the Indian High Commission had been seeking the early release of 34 fishermen in judicial remand and six others who were serving sentences.
India and U.S. in talks for Stryker infantry vehicles
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GS 2: International Relations- Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting the Indian interests
- India has expressed interest in co-production of the Stryker infantry vehicles and it is in “relatively” early stages of talks with the U.S. on the Stryker and the javelin Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM), according to the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt M. Campbell.
- At the same time, deals for MQ-9B Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and GE-414 jet engines are making progress as well as defence industrial collaborations under the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) framework.
Plea in Supreme Court seeks stay on implementation of three new criminal laws
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Prelims syllabus: Current events of national and international importance.
Uttarakhand govt. to study risk posed by 13 glacial lakes during monsoon
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Prelims syllabus: General issues on Environmental Ecology, Biodiversity and Climate Change
- With the monsoon season setting in, the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Department (USDMA) is set to do a vulnerability study of the 13 glacial lakes, five of them in “high risk zone” from the coming month.
- The study aims to provide data to help avoid calamities such as lake outbursts.
- Ranjit Sinha, Secretary, USDMA, briefed the media about the new lakes which were identified through satellite, earlier this year.
- Mr. Sinha maintained that the Himalayan glaciers are in danger due to climate change, and that this requires continued checks to ensure nothing untoward happens.
‘Economy robust despite global risks’
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GS 3: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilisation of resources, growth, development and employment.
- The Indian economy and the financial system remain robust and resilient, anchored by macroeconomic and financial stability, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in the 29th issue of the Financial Stability Report (FSR) which was released on June 27.
- With improved balance sheets, banks and financial institutions are supporting economic activity through sustained credit expansion, it said.
Healthcare providers need to pay greater attention to informed consent
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GS 2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
- Informed consent is considered the cornerstone of a doctor-patient relationship.
- It means that a patient needs to be given all the information regarding their condition, including treatment options, the steps of a procedure if one is suggested along with possible complications.
- This information allows the patient to make a balanced, well-informed decision on available options, including whether they would like to undergo the procedure (or consent to a treatment option or procedure, so to speak).
