3 June 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
Qatar, UAE discuss Biden's truce plan as official says Israel accepts framework
Page no- the world section
GS2-Effect of Policies and Politics of Developed and Developing Countries on India’s interests
- An aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Sunday that Israel had accepted a framework deal for winding down the Gaza war now being advanced by US President Joe Biden, though he described it as flawed and in need of much more work.
- In an interview with Britain's Sunday Times, Ophir Falk, chief foreign policy advisor to Netanyahu, said Biden's proposal was "a deal we agreed to — it's not a good deal but we dearly want the hostages released, all of them".
China lands on Moon's far side in historical sample-retrieval bid
Page no- the world section
GS3- Awareness in the fields of Space
- China’s Chang’e-6 unmanned spacecraft successfully landed on the far side of the moon on Sunday, marking a historic mission to collect the first-ever rock and soil samples from this unexplored region of the lunar surface.
- The China National Space Administration (CNSA) confirmed the landing in the vast South Pole-Aitken Basin at 6:23 am Beijing time.
- The mission, launched on May 3, aims to retrieve some of the oldest rocks from the impact crater, making it a groundbreaking endeavor in lunar exploration.
In Telangana draft for gig workers, minimum wage, maternity benefits
Page no-1
GS2-Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections of the population by the Center and States and the Performance of these Schemes
- The draft Telangana Platform-Based Gig Workers Policy, 2024, has proposed minimum wages, an accidental insurance of Rs 5 lakh and a mandatory health cover for workers in app-based gig and platform companies.
- The draft policy, accessed by The Indian Express, also calls for contributions by aggregator companies towards a fund that will be managed by a board and used for the welfare of workers.
- Besides, it recommends contributory old age pension, a contributory wage compensation scheme, scholarships for children of workers, and maternity benefits.
Count postal ballot first: Opp underlines rules
Page no-1
GS2- Salient Features of the Representation of People’s Act.
- The INDIA parties asked the EC to ensure that counting of postal ballots is completed first and its results declared on the Returning Officers’ table before the final counting of the EVM votes.
- Besides, they wanted the EC to ensure “safe movement of the Control Units (of the EVMs) through a CCTV-monitored corridor, verification of the current date and time displayed by the Control Units and confirmation of the start and end time and date of the voting process to the counting agents”.
After the conviction
Page no- 10
GS2- Effect of Policies and Politics of Developed and Developing Countries on India’s interests
- In the aftermath of the conviction of former President Donald Trump last week in a New York court in a hush-money case, his supporters are accusing the Democratic Party of weaponising the courts to undermine a popular Republican leader who secured nearly half of the ballots cast in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.
- The Democrats, of course, have long demonised Trump as a reincarnation of the typical Third World dictator with American characteristics. Ignore for a moment the conservative contempt and liberal condescension towards the Third World in America.
- The multitude of cases slapped against Trump and his conviction in one of them just ahead of the November election points to the deepening structural crisis in the US system.
From repair to growth
Page no- 11
GS3-Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development
- India’s GDP data was keenly awaited, coming on the back of sovereign rating outlook upgrade by S&P and just days before the union election results are out.
- Indeed, it has surpassed market expectations, with a growth of 8.2 per cent in 2023-24 as against 7 per cent in 2022-23.
- It is to be noted that the growth in 2023-24 is much higher than MOSPI’s second advance estimate of 7.6 per cent released in February.
- While overall GDP growth is impressive, it is important to understand some of the nuances of the data to infer the sustainability of the growth this year.
A new kind of green
Page no- 11
GS3-Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development
- Generals are, on occasion, accused of preparing for the last war.
- The mandarins responsible for energy in the next government should not make this mistake.
- India is in the midst of a significant energy transition. The decision makers would be wise to create a new strategic framework for energy policy and its implementation.
- Our energy policy is dual pronged. One prong is focused on fossil fuels. The priority here is to manage and mitigate the increasing import dependency on petroleum.
- The specifics of this prong are diversification of the sources of imports, strategic reserves, domestic exploration, demand conservation and efficiency and environmental protection.
A woman president in Mexico, a victory for gender equality
Page no- 12
GS1-Role of Women and Women's Organization
- Mexicans will likely choose the first female president in the country’s history Sunday between a former academic who promises to further the current leader’s populist policies and an ex-senator and tech entrepreneur who pledges to up the fight against deadly drug cartels.
- Nearly 100 million people are registered to vote in the race to replace outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
- Voters will also elect governors in nine of the country’s 32 states, and choose candidates for both houses of Congress, thousands of mayorships, and other local posts, in the biggest elections the nation has seen and ones that have been marked by violence.
JWST spots earliest-known galaxy: what a new study says
Page no- 12
GS3-Awareness in the fields of Space
- NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has spotted the earliest-known galaxy, one that is surprisingly bright and big considering it formed during the universe’s infancy — at only 2% its current age.
- JWST, which by peering across vast cosmic distances is looking way back in time, observed the galaxy as it existed about 290 million years after the Big Bang event that initiated the universe roughly 13.8 billion years ago, the researchers said.
- This period spanning the universe’s first few hundred million years is called cosmic dawn.
Consumption and voting
Page no- 12
GS3- Inclusive Growth and issues arising from it
- Economists at the public sector Bank of Baroda have published a report about the finances of Indian states for the financial year ended March (FY2024).
- The report analyses state-level finances based on three variables: how much money they raised on their own, how much they spent to boost productive capacities of the state, and how much they borrowed from the market.
Why is Monetary Policy Committee likely to leave repo rate unchanged?
Page no- 13
GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development
- The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which is scheduled to meet from June 5 to 7, is expected to keep the repo rate steady at 6.5 per cent as sticky food inflation continues to remain a threat to the inflation.
- The rate setting panel may also leave the monetary policy stance unchanged at ‘withdrawal of accommodation’.
- Some market experts are of the opinion that the RBI may change the FY25 gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection but will leave inflation forecast unchanged.
