10 June 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
Voting in 20 countries as European Parliament elections enter final day
Page no- the world section
GS2-Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
- Voters in 21 EU countries including France and Germany were casting their ballots on Sunday in an election for the European Parliament that is expected to shift the assembly to the right and boost the numbers of eurosceptic nationalists.
- The election will shape how the European Union, a bloc of 450 million citizens, confronts challenges including a hostile Russia, increased industrial rivalry from China and the United States, climate change and immigration.
The message from rural India
Page no- 10
GS3-Issues related to Direct and Indirect Farm Subsidies and Minimum Support Prices
- The election results are out. No one has complained about the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) or Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).
- The INDIA bloc that was alleging massive rigging when exit pollsters were predicting a huge win for NDA, did not speak a word about the manipulation of election results.
- India’s democratic process is reasonably good and foolproof. The Election Commission deserves some credit for that, especially for organising an election exercise at a scale the world has seen for the first time in history.
- As the Election Commission said, “Parinaam main hi pramaan hai” (The proof is in the results), so the EVM debate now should be buried forever.
Only 13.6 per cent
Page no- 10
GS2-Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections of the population by the Centre and States and the Performance of these Schemes
- The 2024 Lok Sabha elections mark an important point of departure in modern India’s political history.
- And while there is much to analyse and celebrate, on one front, we have taken a step backwards.
- The 18th Lok Sabha will have 74 women along with 469 men. While this cohort of 74 certainly includes many powerful, gritty and diligent elected representatives, together, they comprise only 13.6 per cent of all MPs.
- Not only is this share abysmally skewed, it is lower than the share of women elected in the 2019 election (14.4 per cent).
Extremely heavy rain predicted amid early onset of monsoon in Maharashtra
Page no- 12
GS1-geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes
- The Southwest monsoon Sunday advanced over parts of Pune, Mumbai and a majority of areas in Maharashtra. Since its onset on May 30, the southwest monsoon has made steady and swift progress.
- Continuing its early onset trend this season, monsoon arrived over Mumbai and Pune two days ahead of its normal date of June 11.
- With the latest advancement, the Northern Limit of Monsoon (NLM) now passes through Thane, Ahmednagar, Beed, Nizamabad, Sukma, Malkangiri, Vizianagaram and Islampur.
Cashless health claim settlement: Irdai asks insurers to deploy systems by July 31
Page no- 13
GS2-Statutory, Regulatory and various Quasi-judicial Bodies
- Insurance companies will have to go for cashless settlement of health insurance claims from August 1 this year, making hospital bill settlement of policyholders smoother and faster.
- The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has said necessary systems and procedures should be put in place by the insurer immediately and not later than July 31, 2024.
Agnipath scheme: why it was introduced, the opposition to it
Page no- 14
GS2-Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation
- The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government’s ambitious Agnipath scheme has faced opposition, from political parties and Armed Forces veterans alike, since it was announced in June 2022.
- In fact, a key plank in INDIA bloc’s campaign in states like Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan — where the Armed Forces are a sought after employer — was the opposition to this scheme for military recruitment.
- And the BJP’s performance in these states indicates that the pitch had some resonance on the ground.
Highway to climate hell
Page no- 14
GS1-geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes
- This May was the warmest May ever. In fact, each of the last 12 months have set a new warming record for that particular month, Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said last week.
- The average global temperature last month was 1.5 degree Celsius above the estimated May average for the 1850-1900 pre-industrial reference period.
- For the 12-month period (June 2023 – May 2024), the average temperature stood at 1.63 degree Celsius above the 1850-1900 average.
AP vs Telangana: unresolved issues between the states that went to court
Page no- 14
GS2-Issues and Challenges Pertaining to the Federal Structure
- Political analyses of the TDP’s kingmaker position in the NDA have discussed the years of efforts that Chandrababu Naidu has put in to obtain Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh, which would compensate for the loss of revenues suffered after the undivided state was split to create Telangana in 2014.
- A decade on, several issues relating to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 (APRA) remain pending between the two successor states, and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has said he hopes they are resolved soon.
