30 August 2024, The Hindu
Pakistan invites PM Modi to SCO meet in Islamabad
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GS 2: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
- Pakistan on Thursday (August 29, 2024) invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Council of Heads of Government meeting to be held in Islamabad in October.
- Pakistan holds the rotating chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) and in that capacity, will be hosting the two-day in-person SCO Heads of Governments Meeting in October.
Nilgiris ration shops fortified to keep wild elephants and sloth bears at bay
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Prelims: Current affairs of national and international affairs
- Wild elephants and sloth bears raiding fair price shops in the Nilgiris have given officials of the Food and Civil Supplies Department food for thought.
- Much like the rice-loving Arikomban, who frequented ration shops and created havoc in Kerala, these animals have been shoplifting, forcing the authorities to improvise a three-layer security to keep the granaries and godowns safe.
- Joint Registrar of the Cooperative Societies (Nilgiris district), R. Dhayalan, said that in the past few years, fair price shops across the Nilgiris, especially in parts of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), have been damaged by elephants looking for rice and other edibles.
Assam Assembly passes Bill to make Muslim marriage registration a must
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GS 1: Indian Society - Social Empowerment
- The 126-member Assam Assembly on Thursday (August 29, 2024) passed a Bill to make the registration of Muslim marriages and divorces with the government compulsory.
- The Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages and Divorces Bill, 2024, introduced in the House by Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Jogen Mohan, will replace the British-era Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935.
Artificial rain likely to be part of Delhi govt.’s plan to curb pollution
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GS 3: Environmental pollution and degradation
- Artificial rain, a work-from-home policy, a ban on vehicles in air pollution hotspots, and awareness campaigns to bring about a change in citizens’ behaviour are likely to feature in the Delhi government’s Winter Action Plan, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Thursday.
- Addressing a press conference, Mr. Rai said suggestions were sought from officials of various departments and environment experts on dealing with the period around Deepavali when the air is calm and the pollutants cannot disperse.
- The government will discuss the suggestions on September 5 before releasing the action plan, he said, adding that artificial rain was the top recommendation.
- “I will write a letter to the Union Environment Minister, requesting him to hold a meeting with the experts of IIT Kanpur and the departments concerned to enable artificial rain as an emergency measure.
- Last year as well, we had received this suggestion…but we need the Centre to come on board,” Mr. Rai said.
Bonda tribe student set to pursue MBBS programme in Odisha
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GS 1: Social Empowerment
- Mangala Muduli, a 19-year-old Bonda tribe student, has undertaken the 420-kilometer journey from his Badbel village in Eastern Ghats in Odisha’s Malkangiri district to study medicine at MKCG Medical College in Berhampur.
- The journey represents not just a physical distance but a monumental generational leap.
- After cracking this year’s National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), Mangala is set to become the first member of Bonda, a particularly vulnerable tribal group and one of the oldest tribes of India, which a couple of decades ago was living in isolation and had little interaction with the outside world.
Give records on nod for probe against CM, Karnataka HC tells Governor’s office
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GS 2: Issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure
- In a temporary relief to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the High Court of Karnataka on Monday ordered a special court in Bengaluru, to defer further proceedings on complaints related to alleged irregularities in allotment of sites by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).
- The special court shall not precipitate complaint related to the sanctions granted by the Governor against Mr. Siddaramaiah till further orders, the High Court said.
- Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the interim order on a petition filed by Mr. Siddaramaiah.
Shun exotic trees, plant local species, says advisory from A.P. Forest Department
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GS 3: Conservation
- As part of its afforestation drive aimed at increasing green cover to more than 33% of the State’s geographical area, the Forest Department has recently recommended to the District Collectors, Municipal Commissioners and Zilla Parishad CEOs to raise trees from among a list of 25 indigenous species, and to dispense with the planting of three exotic species considered detrimental to the environment and human health.
- According to official sources, one of those three species — Conocarpuserectus (called ‘Buttonwood Mangrove’) — is currently the subject matter of a PIL (in the High Court), wherein the petitioners prayed for stoppage of cutting of the trees on the ground that there is no scientific evidence that they suck more water out of the soil than any other species and cause the depletion of groundwater, and cause respiratory illness, cold, cough and allergies among human beings during winters.
Connecting the dots in the Kyiv visit
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GS 2: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests
- In a historical and widely publicised meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, drawing significant attention from academics and journalists worldwide.
- While India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) emphasised that the meeting was not intended as an effort at mediation, the timing and the nature of this visit raise several questions, especially considering India’s traditionally cautious approach to foreign policy.
- Although the MEA was careful not to attract press attention due to the nature of the visit, much of the discussion in post-meeting briefings by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar centred around the potential role of India in mediating the conflict.
- The visit came at a difficult time for any immediate peace initiative by India as Ukraine opened a new front of war with a surprise incursion in the Kursk region.
Moving the spotlight to grassroots democracy
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GS 2: Election Commission
- The Election Commission of India (ECI), with its track record of conducting free and fair elections, and on time, to Parliament and State legislatures, has emerged as one of independent India’s most credible institutions.
- Yet, there are 34 State Election Commissions (SECs) that need serious attention and strengthening.
- The SECs were brought into existence by Articles 243K and 243ZA of the Constitution (introduced by the 73rd and 74th amendments in 1993), which vested them with the superintendence, direction, and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to panchayats and urban local governments (ULGs).
- In reality, however, SECs are increasingly disempowered and, in certain cases, even in litigation with their State governments.
Biotech enigma
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GS 3: Awareness in the fields of bio-technology
- Earlier this week the Cabinet cleared a proposal, though without specifying a budget, called BioE3 or Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment. Its thrust is to boost manufacturing in the biotechnology sector.
- Since 1986, India has had a dedicated department for biotechnology, and which deserves substantial credit.
- For instance, the progress in vaccine development, diagnostics and biologicals, that has bolstered India’s reputation as a ‘vaccine factory’, is due to the initiatives of this department.
- However, biotechnology did not quite spawn the equivalent of the IT revolution.
- There is much more to an industrialised biotechnology sector beyond vaccines.
- There are billion-dollar conglomerates today that rest on high-value microbes, gene-modification technologies, bio-plastics, bio-materials, and high-precision medical devices.
- However, despite the know-how and human resource capital, only a few Indian biotechs have global resonance, as there are few local manufacturers who can supply Indian laboratories/startups with the ingredients and devices to make products.
- The reliance on imports means that India loses its international competitiveness. The BioE3 policy aims to correct this.
Analysing the Gender Budget of 2024-25
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GS 3: Government Budgeting
- Women-led development remains at the core of announcements made by the Finance Minister (FM) in this year’s Budget.
- This commitment to women empowerment was reflected in Budget allocations to pro-women programmes, as reported by the Gender Budget Statement (GBS).
- The GB reached 1% of GDP estimates in 2024-25 for the first time, and overall allocations currently stand at more than ₹3 lakh crore for pro-women programmes.
- The GBS, since it was first introduced in 2005-06, consistently reported an average share of 5% of the total budgetary allocations, with marginal ups and downs.
- This year is special as the share of allocations to pro-women schemes stands at approximately 6.8% of the total budget expenditure for 2024-25, which is way above the usual trends and marks a positive departure from status quo.
Inform the public of government work, Modi tells Ministers
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GS 2: Important aspects of governance
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his first ever full interaction with his Council of Ministers in his third term, deputed Union Ministers Mansukh Mandaviya and TDP’s Ram Mohan Naidu to liaise with ministerial colleagues on their 100-day agenda and said that work in the government should go hand in hand with informing the public of this work.
- “Reform, transform, perform and now inform,” was the message that Mr. Modi reportedly gave to his Ministers on Wednesday (August 28, 2024), when the full Council of Ministers met.
- While the first three parts of this message had been spoken about by the Prime Minister on multiple occasions, the part about informing the public is new, possibly reflecting new political realities following the mandate of the Lok Sabha polls.
- The Prime Minister urged that various avenues of communication need to be tapped on these matters.
Submarine Arighaat set to add ballast to nuclear triad
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GS 3: Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology
- India’s second nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, the INS Arighaat, was commissioned into service at Visakhapatnam in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday (August 29, 2024).
- It joins the first such submarine, the INS Arihant, which was commissioned into service in 2016.
- “The Arighaat will further strengthen India’s nuclear triad, enhance nuclear deterrence, establish strategic balance and peace and play a decisive role in the country’s security,” Mr. Singh said at the induction ceremony.
Moody’s, Fitch flag concerns about jobs, private investments
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GS 3: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.
- Moody’s Ratings on Thursday raised its India GDP growth forecast for 2024 by 0.4 percentage point to 7.2% citing signs of a revival in rural demand, while Fitch Ratings retained the country’s long-term foreign-currency issuer rating at ‘BBB-’ with a stable outlook, even as it noted that fiscal metrics remained a credit weakness along with governance and GDP per capita trends.
- “We have raised our real GDP growth projections for the Indian economy [and] now expect 7.2% real GDP growth in 2024, and 6.6% growth in 2025 versus our earlier estimate of 6.4%,” Moody’s said in a global macro outlook update.
- “These forecast changes assume strong broad-based growth and we recognize potentially higher forecasts if the cyclical momentum, especially for private consumption, gains more traction,” it added.
SEBI moots UPI-like block mechanism for securities market
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GS 2: Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies
- The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has proposed mandating Qualified Stock Brokers (QSBs) to offer the facility of trading in the secondary market using the UPI-based block mechanism to their clients, similar to the ASBA facility.
- Per UPI block facility, clients can trade in the secondary market based on blocked funds in their bank accounts, instead of transferring it upfront to the trading member.
