15 June 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
G7 leaders discuss plan to invest in African countries to tackle migration
Page no-the world section
GS2- Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
- Reiterating the concerns and priorities of the Global South countries which “are bearing brunt of global uncertainties and tensions”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke at the G7 Outreach event on Friday and said: “India has considered it its responsibility to put priorities and concerns of countries of the Global South on world stage.”
- He further highlighted India’s presidency of the G20, under which the African Union was made a permanent member of the grouping.
- During G20 Summit hosted by India last year, we stressed on importance of international governance in field of AI,” he added.
Ukraine’s Switzerland peace meet falls short of isolating Moscow
Page no- the world section
GS2-Effect of Policies and Politics of Developed and Developing Countries on India’s interests
- Switzerland will host scores of world leaders this weekend to try to map out the first steps toward peace in Ukraine even though Russia, which launched the war, isn't attending.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government didn't want Russia involved.
- But the Swiss insist that Russia must be involved at some point, and hope it will join the process one day.
Delhi L-G sanctions prosecution under UAPA of Arundhati Roy, former professor
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GS3- Role of External State and Non-state Actors in creating challenges to Internal Security
- Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has sanctioned the prosecution of author-activist Arundhati Roy and Dr Sheikh Showkat Hussain, former professor at the Central University of Kashmir, under Section 45 (1) of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with a 2010 FIR over “provocative speeches in public” at a New Delhi auditorium.
- The FIR, registered on a complaint by social activist Sushil Pandit in 2010, accused Roy and Hussain of delivering provocative speeches at a conference organized under the banner of ‘Azadi-The Only Way’ on October 21 that year at the Little Theatre Group (LTG) Auditorium on Copernicus Marg in New Delhi.
Defence, AI, Ukraine: PM holds talks with Macron, Sunak, Miloni, Kishida
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GS2- Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi met French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, both facing elections at home, on Friday on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Apulia, Italy.
- Macron has called for snap polls after his party faced a drubbing in the European Parliament elections and Sunak also called for early polls on July 4 to battle his sagging fortunes after 14-year rule by the Conservatives.
Launch of Rupees 2800 cr Digital Agri Mission part of govt’s agenda for first 100 days
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GS3- E-technology in the aid of farmers
- In a push to the rural and agriculture sector under Modi 3.0, the Centre is set to announce big ticket initiatives as part of its first 100-day agenda, which include a Rs 2,800 crore Digital Agriculture Mission.
- Besides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to release the 17th instalment under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi from his parliamentary constituency, Varanasi, on June 18.
- The Indian Express has learnt that the Digital Agriculture Mission will pave the way for creation of a nationwide farmers registry, crop sown registry, and georeferencing of village maps.
- It is also learnt that the Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is expected to clear a proposal of this effect “very soon”.
Untidy NEET
Page no- 8
GS2- Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education
- The controversy over this year’s qualifying examination to medical colleges, the National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (NEET), draws attention to longstanding systemic deficits.
- The National Testing Agency (NTA) has reversed the grace marks of more than 1,500 candidates and given them the option of a re-test.
- These students were initially given the wrong question paper. They were then given compensatory marks to make up for the time lost in switching over to the correct paper.
- It required the Supreme Court’s nudge, in response to a slew of petitions, for the NTA to admit this “technical glitch”.
- Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said that the error happened in only six of the more than 4,500 examination centres.
- Even then, such a mess is consequential, especially in a high-stakes examination in which every mark is seen as decisive.
Vadodara home test
Page no-8
GS2- Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections of the population by the Centre and States and the Performance of these Schemes
- For most Indian families, a home of their own is a dream of a lifetime. It comes with a promise of security and belonging, an offer of a sense of community.
- Not so, it turned out, for the 44-year-old Muslim woman employee of the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Skill Development who was allotted an apartment in the Vadodara Municipal Corporation’s (VMC) low-income group housing complex at Harni under the Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana in 2017, whose dream was to bring up her son in an inclusive neighbourhood.
- The allotment has been met with complaints and demands to revoke it to government authorities from 33 residents of Motnath Residency Cooperative Housing Services Society Limited on the ground of her religion and possibilities of “threat and nuisance”.
The relevance challenge
Page no- 9
GS2- Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
- The Group of Seven countries (G7) began its summit meeting at Puglia in southern Italy on the Mediterranean coastline on predictable lines.
- On the first day of the summit, the seven leaders present — Joe Biden from the US, Olaf Scholz from Germany, Justin Trudeau from Canada, Emmanuel Macron from France, Fumio Kishida from Japan, Rishi Sunak from the UK and the host, Giorgia Meloni from Italy — announced that they reached a “deal” to “use profits from frozen Russian Central Bank assets” to shore up $46 billion support for Ukraine.
Exports jump 9% YoY amid demand revival; trade deficit at 7-month high
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GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development
- Driven by demand revival in India’s traditional exports markets such as Europe and the United States (US), India’s goods exports in May logged a sharp 9 per cent year-on-year jump, even as country’s trade gap swelled to a seven-month high of $24 billion due to higher oil imports, as per data released by the commerce and industry ministry on Friday.
- New Delhi’s goods exports in May jumped 9.10 per cent to $38.13 billion in May from $34.96 billion the year-ago month.
- The growth was led by electronics, petroleum, and engineering goods. Meanwhile, imports rose at a relatively slower pace of 7.6 per cent to $61.91 billion from $57.49 billion in May 2023, official data showed.
47% of urban Indians faced financial frauds in last 3 years: Report
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GS3- Basics of Cyber Security
- As many as 47 per cent of urban Indians said either themselves or someone in their family have been a victim of financial frauds in the last three years, said a survey.
- Among the urban Indians who have experienced financial fraud in the last 3 years, 43 per cent experienced fraud with their credit card while 30 per cent experienced fraud via UPI transactions, the survey conducted by LocalCircles said.
- “Nearly 1 in 2 credit card fraud victims experienced unauthorised charges by domestic and international merchants and websites,” it said.
No outcome in Bonn: why money is key to climate action
Page no- 13
GS3- Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation
- A climate meeting in Bonn, Germany, has failed to make much headway on the crucial issue of defining a new climate finance goal.
- By the end of 2024, countries have to finalise a new sum of money — above the existing figure of $100 billion per year — that the developed world must mobilise for the developing countries to help them fight climate change.
- The Bonn talks, an annual fixture in June, were expected to give at least some indicative numbers.
- They could have been worked upon before COP29 — scheduled to take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November — where they have to be finalised.
India & world in Modi 3.0
Page no- 13
GS2- Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
- What could the foreign policy of the Narendra Modi government in its third term look like? With no change at the top at the Ministry of External Affairs, a broad continuity is indicated.
- However, there will be some calibration and re-setting of the agenda for specific regions, depending on the changing global situation and Indian strategic imperatives.
- Leaders of seven countries in India’s neighbourhood — Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius, and Seychelles — attending the swearing-in of the new government. Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Myanmar were not invited.
