26 July 2024, The Hindu
The ‘geo-calculus’ of the Moscow visit
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GS 2: International Relations- Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting the Indian interests
- Defending India’s “freedom of choice” in foreign relations, the government on July 25 reacted sharply to a U.S. official who told the U.S. Congress that Washington was “disappointed” about the “symbolism and timing” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow earlier this month.
- The exchange of statements came just as External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar began a visit to Laos and Japan, where he is expected to interact with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the ASEAN and Quad meetings.
The Karnataka Bill is a symptom of a larger problem
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GS 3: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilisation of resources, growth, development and employment.
Covering the Budget
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GS 3: Indian Economy - Government Budgeting.
- In India’s media timeline, one of the main annual highlights has generally been covering the Budget session of Parliament.
- As a reporter based in New Delhi between 2010 and 2013, my primary beat while working for a TV news channel was covering the Supreme Court.
- Almost as default, most beat reporters from “the south”, as we were all referred to, were given a secondary beat, which was to cover the representatives of southern India’s political parties in New Delhi.
- Today, it is more common to see New Delhi-based journalists from the south do a lot more than just cover the southern region of the country.
India’s illegal coal mining problem
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GS 3: Indian Economy - Infrastructure – Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
- On July 13, three workers died of asphyxiation inside an illegal coal mine in Gujarat’s Surendranagar district.
- The officials said that the workers were working in a mine near Bhet village in Thangadh taluka without helmets, masks, or other safety equipment.
- The first information report (FIR) indicated that the accused failed to provide essential safety gear to the labourers, who died after inhaling toxic gas in the mine.
- The police have registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against four people.
- The Surendranagar incident is not an isolated case.
Jaishankar pushes for urgency in resolving stand-off at LAC
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GS 2: International Relations- India and its neighbourhood
- For the second time this month, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, with the two leaders highlighting the need to resolve the four-year-old military stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with “purpose and urgency”.
Minister launches revamped Model Skill Loan Scheme
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Prelims syllabus: Current events of national and international importance.
- Close on the heels of the Union Budget announcement hiking the eligible size of loans for high-end skilling courses under the Model Skill Loan scheme from ₹1.5 lakh to ₹7.5 lakh, Skill Development Minister Jayant Chaudhary launched the revamped scheme on Thursday.
- The earlier Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Skill Development, notified in November 2015 to create a credit guarantee fund for courses aligned to the National Skill Qualification Framework, faced multiple challenges.
- As on March 31, 2024, loans amounting to ₹115.75 crore had been extended to just 10,077 borrowers.
‘Focus is on raising the employment intensity of growth’
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GS 3: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilisation of resources, growth, development and employment
- Employment has always been an important element of recent Budgets, but the difference in Budget 2024-25 is a direct thrust for job creation rather than an indirect one through economic growth, with the focus being on helping first-time job seekers break the Catch-22 quandary of ‘no experience, no jobs’ in the labour market, India’s top Finance Ministry official asserted on Thursday.
- “The growth thrust continues and the attempt this time is to increase the employment intensity of that growth.
- I would see it as an economic imperative, not a political imperative… India needs employment intensity growth which is a factor of what technologies you use and which industries grow faster,” Finance Secretary T.V. Somanathan told The Hindu.
Addressing risk factors could reduce dementia cases by 40%: report
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GS 2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
- The rapid growth of India’s aging population, coupled with a rise in modifiable risk factors such as air pollution, hypertension, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and obesity, presents a significant challenge for the nation’s public health and social care systems.
- Dementia, or neurodegenerative disorder, a major cause of cognitive disability and dependency among the elderly, is expected to affect millions of Indian families over the next two decades.
