14 June 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
G7 Summit begins with $50 bn loan deal for Ukraine using Russian assets
Page no- the world section
GS2-Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
- Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) major democracies agreed on an outline deal on Thursday to provide $50 billion of loans for Ukraine using interest from Russian sovereign assets frozen after Moscow invaded its neighbour in 2022.
- The political agreement was the centrepiece of the opening day in southern Italy of the annual summit of G7 leaders, attended for a second successive year by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Why NTA withdrew ‘grace marks’ awarded to 1563 NEET candidates
Page no- the explained section
GS2-Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education
- The National Testing Agency (NTA) will re-conduct the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for undergraduate medical studies (or NEET UG) for 1,563 candidates on June 23.
- As first reported by The Indian Express on Wednesday, these candidates who were awarded ‘grace marks’ due to the loss of exam time now have two options before them: either to accept the NEET-UG score that they were originally awarded (without grace marks) or to re-appear for the exam on June 23.
- “The exam will be conducted in the same six cities but at different centres,” a senior NTA official told The Indian Express.
Vegetarianism in India
Page no- the explained section
GS2-Issues relating to Poverty and Hunger
- If being vegetarian means having diets loaded with dal (pulses), sabzi (vegetables) and phal (fruits), sans any animal-origin products, most Indians would probably not make the cut.
- The latest official Survey on Household Consumption Expenditure for 2022-23 (August-July) shows that the average monthly per capita spending in rural India on vegetables (at Rs 202.86), fresh and dry fruits (Rs 140.16) and pulses (Rs 75.98) was lower than on milk and milk products (Rs 314.22).
- The value of per capita consumption was similarly higher for milk (Rs 466.01) than vegetables (Rs 245.37), fruits (Rs 245.73) and pulses (Rs 89.99) even in urban India.
Red Fort case: standards for awarding death & President’s mercy power
Page no- the explained section
GS2-Functions and Responsibilities of the Union
- President Droupadi Murmu has rejected a mercy petition filed by Pakistani national Mohammed Arif who was sentenced to death for the December 22, 2000 terrorist attack at the Red Fort in which three people including two Army jawans were killed.
- The President’s decision, made on May 27, came after Arif failed to obtain relief from the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court in his appeals against a trial court order of October 2005.
- He can challenge the President’s decision and prolong the proceedings further.
PM: Deploy full spectrum of counter-terror steps in J&K
Page no- 1
GS3-Role of External State and Non-state Actors in creating challenges to Internal Security
- In the wake of a series of terror attacks in the Jammu region, including on a bus carrying pilgrims near Reasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who chaired a meeting Thursday to review the situation in J&K, directed the “deployment of the full spectrum” of “counter-terror capabilities”.
- The Prime Minister, sources said, spoke to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and discussed counter-terror operations and the deployment of security forces.
- He also took stock of the security situation in the Union Territory from Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
At Amazon warehouse, an oath: No toilet, water breaks till targets met
Page no- 1
GS4- Corporate Governance, Work Culture
- On May 16, after their team’s 30-minute tea break ended, a 24-year-old worker in one of Amazon India’s five warehouses in Haryana’s Manesar was asked to take an “oath” that they would not take toilet or water breaks until their target is achieved.
- The target: unloading packages from six trucks, measuring 24 feet each.
- Over the past month, the “inbound team” at the warehouse has taken the oath around eight times, particularly on hectic days when the workload is more, employees confirmed to The Indian Express.
- The “outbound team”, which took the pledge once, is reminded of their targets daily. The outbound team takes care of articles meant to be shifted/shipped out of the warehouse, while the inbound team deals with articles received from other sources.
PM may meet Meloni, Scholz, Sunak, Macron on G7 sidelines
Page no- 8
GS2-Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived in Italy for the G7 Summit early Friday, will likely meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in separate bilateral meetings today.
- These meetings will take place on the sidelines of G7 outreach summit in the Apulia region of Italy. In his departure statement, he said: “I am glad that my first visit in the third consecutive term is to Italy for the G-7 Summit.”
Staying hawkish
Page no- 10
GS3-Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development
- As the US heads for a presidential election in November, the Federal Reserve, the country’s central bank, has signaled that it is unwilling to let interest rates soften in a hurry.
- This may not just be a concern for President Joe Biden and his chances of re-election. Given that the US is the world’s largest economy and the US dollar is the most important global currency, actions of the “Fed” (as the Federal Reserve is called) are keenly watched by policymakers across the world, especially among emerging economies like India.
- That’s because higher interest rates in the US strengthen the dollar vis a vis other currencies, and this, in turn, incentivises investors to pull their money out of emerging economies and take it back to the US.
- In fact, even the mere suggestion of an interest rate hike can derail the macroeconomic stability of emerging economies, as was witnessed during the Taper Tantrum episode in 2013 when the then Fed chair, Ben Bernanke’s, hint at monetary tightening led to a flurry of capital outflows from the “fragile five” economies, which also included India.
Ineffective dispute resolution
Page no- 11
GS2-Dispute Redressal Mechanisms and Institutions
- On June 3, the Finance Ministry announced a surprising policy decision.
- After trying to promote India as a hub for arbitration for decades, the Government of India now feels that arbitrations do not work for them and that the arbitration clause should be dropped from all future government/government-controlled entities’ contracts (except in relation to minor disputes of a value of Rs 10 crore or less).
- The new policy is set out in the form of an Office Memorandum and provides that the government departments/ entities/ agencies should, “… amicably settle as many disputes as possible… in overall long-term public interest, keeping legal and practical realities in view, without shirking or avoiding responsibility or denying genuine claims of the other party.”
Mumbai, Delhi among top five global cities in house price rise
Page no- 17
GS3-Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development
- Mumbai and Delhi were among the top five global cities that recorded an increase in their average annual house prices while Bengaluru witnessed a slight drop in prime residential or luxury homes in the January-March quarter of calendar year 2024, says a study.
- Mumbai, with a rise of 11.5 per cent in the index, recorded the third highest year-on-year (YoY) growth in prime residential prices in the January-March quarter among global cities, pushing it up the ranking table by 3 places to the third position from its sixth position in January-March 2023, Knight Frank said in its recent report ‘Prime Global Cities Index January-March 2024’.
