24 August 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
India, US sign key defence supply pact as Rajnath begins 4-day visit
Page no- 1
GS2- India and its bilateral relations
- As Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reached Washington DC on a four-day official visit, India and US on Thursday signed two key pacts — a non-binding Security of Supply Arrangement (SOSA) and a Memorandum of Agreement regarding Assignment of Liaison Officers.
- The SOSA will mandate the US and India to provide reciprocal priority support for goods and services that promote national defence.
First time offenders to get retrospective benefit of BNSS Section 479
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Prelims Syllabus- Current Affairs
- The Supreme Court Friday said that first-time offenders who have completed one-third or more of their maximum possible sentence as undertrials shall be entitled to bail under Section 479 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
- While BNSS, which replaced the Criminal Procedure Code, took effect on July 1, 2024, Friday’s order would mean that the benefit of Section 470 would apply to cases even prior to that date.
Getting India into power play, Modi tries to bring Kyiv Moscow to table
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GS2- India and its bilateral relations
- EXACTLY TWO-AND-A-HALF years into the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, India on Friday took a remarkable step to proactively offer New Delhi’s help — at the highest level by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself — to any “active role” that will help end the Russia-Ukraine war.
- This is the most clear and categorical statement that has come from New Delhi, in the first ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Ukraine since it became independent in December 1991, and diplomatic ties were established between the two countries in January 1992.
New Delhi’s gift to Kyiv: 4 BHISHM cubes for emergency medical care
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GS2- India and its bilateral relations
- After his bilateral talks with President Volodymr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted four BHISHM cubes — compact, mobile medical units aimed at providing emergency care — to his government.
- “Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita & Maitri (BHISHM) is a unique effort which will ensure medical facilities in a rapidly deployable manner.
- It consists of cubes which contain medicines and equipment for medical care.
- Today, presented BHISHM cubes to President @ZelenskyyUa,” Modi said in a post on X.
CAG reports subject to scrutiny of Parliament: Supreme Court
Page no- 6
GS2- Functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies; Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability
- Reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) are “subject to scrutiny by Parliament and the Government can always offer its views on the said report”, the Supreme Court said on Friday while setting aside a Delhi court order framing charges against a Karnataka-based private firm accused of facilitating illegal sale of coal rejects.
- The court said the CBI embarked on a “roving and fishing inquiry” based on a CAG report, which had not received parliamentary approval and as such had not attained finality.
Insult an offence under SC/ST Act only if based on caste: SC
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Prelims Syllabus- Current Affairs
- The Supreme Court on Friday reiterated that “insults or intimidations” of a member of Scheduled Castes (SC) or Scheduled Tribes (ST) are not an offence under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, unless it is on the ground that the victim belongs to an SC or ST.
- In its ruling, a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra also said that Section 18 of the Act does not impose an absolute fetter on the power of the courts to examine whether a prima facie case attracting the provisions of the 1989 Act is made out or not.
ISRO: Chandrayaan-4 design final, samples from Moon by 2027
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GS3- Awareness in the fields of Space; Indigenization of technology and developing new technology
- The designs of India’s next mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-4 — which will bring rock and soil samples back to the Earth — has been finalised, and will most likely happen in 2027, said ISRO chairman S Somanath said on Friday on the occasion of National Space Day.
- The Chandrayaan-4 spacecraft will have five separate modules, officials said.
- The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which made a historic landing near the South Pole of the Moon, had three modules — the propulsion module (or the engine), a lander and a rover.
Death of a reform
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GS2- Role of civil services in a democracy
- A confused BJP that lacks a majority in Parliament, a weakened Prime Minister who lacks the courage of conviction, and a Congress-led Opposition that lacks a long-term plan for India’s inclusive development but only seeks short-term electoral gains have combined to kill a key administrative reform.
- The lateral entry scheme meant to revitalise a moribund babudom is dead. It will be long before a strong and visionary PM arrives on the scene with a resolve to infuse life into it.
Where to tax a company
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GS2- Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests; Important International institutions
- The inexplicably low rates of tax paid by multinationals stirred a row after the global financial crisis.
- In response, the G20 mobilised the OECD’s technical wherewithal to address some of the concerns.
- The last decade was dedicated to the cause and the OECD anchored the work of creating a profit-shifting programme. Fifteen action points to ensure transparency in cross-border income reporting and anti-avoidance measures were recommended.
- The organisation opened its gates to low-income countries to participate on an “equal footing” with its developed peers at the Inclusive Framework (IF).
- The seat at the table was made available not only because the world was changing and markets mattered, but also because tax competition among developed countries had intensified.
- They competed to offer low tax hubs while bilaterally negotiating treaties with preferential terms with developing countries.
Don’t control the rupee
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GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment
- The Indian rupee follows a managed floating exchange rate regime.
- This means that the central bank intervenes in the foreign exchange market to buy or sell dollars in order to stabilise the value of the rupee.
- In recent times, however, the RBI seems to be using its regulatory powers to gain greater control over the rupee.
- We argue that currency management must not entail the use of regulations.
- The purpose of regulations is to address market failures.
- Currency volatility is not a market failure — it is the fluctuation of the currency in response to demand and supply forces.
- The use of regulatory powers for currency management introduces uncertainty in the central bank’s currency policy, and also increases the cost of doing business in RBI-regulated sectors.
- We discuss three such regulatory measures and the problems associated with them.
Govt invites proposals for setting up e-comm export hubs
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GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment
- After Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech announced the establishment of e-commerce export hubs, modelled on similar initiatives in several Southeast Asian countries, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has invited proposals to finalise the operational modalities of these hubs.
- Based on these proposals, further details, including software requirements for e-commerce export hubs (ECEH) to facilitate seamless and expeditious export clearances, will be finalised, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) stated in a trade notice.
Heavy Rain in Tripura, But no role of dam in Bangla flood
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GS3- Disaster and disaster management
- The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday clarified that the floods that have hit several districts in eastern Bangladesh were not triggered by release of water from Dumbur dam in Tripura, as has been claimed by some social media accounts.
- Nearly 18 lakh people belonging to 1.9 lakh families were marooned in 43 upazilas of the districts of Comilla, Feni, Chattogram, Khagrachhari, Noakhali, and Moulvibazar, according to the Department of Disaster Management and Relief of Bangladesh, The Daily Star reported. Five of these districts share borders with Tripura.
What is ‘Rail Force One’, train PM Modi took from Poland to Ukraine?
Page no- 19
Prelims Syllabus- Current Affairs
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv from neighbouring Poland by train on Friday (August 23), an unusual mode of transport for a head of government, but one that has been used earlier by other global leaders as well.
- Foreign dignitaries visiting Kyiv have been taking the train ever since Ukraine’s airspace was closed following the Russian invasion in February 2022. After Joe Biden rolled into Kyiv last year instead of flying in on Air Force One, the US President’s iconic Boeing 747 aircraft, the train was dubbed “Rail Force One”.
Keeping an empire alive
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GS1- Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times
- Monuments are everywhere in Hampi. Some stand tall and elegant against the backdrop of giant granite boulders, others lie low and truncated.
- There are sculptures of elephants with missing trunks, court musicians with an amputated limb or nose – reminding the visitor of the devastation caused by a 16th century war to this once thriving metropolis that was at the centre of the Vijayanagara Empire.
- Then there are the other monuments – those that peek out from behind thick foliage and debris, waiting to be rescued through the exploration and conservation efforts that have been on since the 18th century.
