News: The ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis has given an impetus to the question of de-dollarisation of the global forex framework. Efforts are already underway for the possible introduction of a new Russia-China payment system, bypassing SWIFT and combining the Russian SPFS (System for Transfer of Financial Messages) with the Chinese CIPS (Cross-Border Interbank Payment System). What… Continue reading Why ‘de-dollarisation’ is imminent?
Category: 9 PM Daily Articles
Treating values of individual freedom as trifles
News: Recently, The Karnataka high Court has given its judgment in the hijab controversy case (or the Resham v/s State of Karnataka Case (2022), wherein a ban imposed on the use of hijabs by students in classrooms across the State (Karnataka) was upheld. What has the High Court said in its judgement? The High Court’s… Continue reading Treating values of individual freedom as trifles
United Nations votes are not black and white
News: Article highlights the finer details of the voting system followed at the UN and various other organs like UN Security Council. Nature of Voting in UN System The UN General Assembly: The member country has various options for voting like ‘Yes’, ‘No’, ‘Abstention’, ‘present and not participating’ or ‘absent at the time of the… Continue reading United Nations votes are not black and white
Looming fertilizer shortage
News: The Ukraine war has disrupted the supplies of fertilisers in the international market. It could impact India too, as it depends heavily on imports for meeting their burgeoning requirement of fertilizers, For example, India’s import dependence is about 25% for urea, nearly 90% for phosphates, and 100% for potash. Why the supplies of… Continue reading Looming fertilizer shortage
Why next FATF review is critical for India?
News: The evaluation of India by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) could start by the September-October year, followed by an on-site visit in February 2023. What is FATF and what is its objective? FATF is an inter-governmental body that Sets standards, and develops and promotes policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Generates… Continue reading Why next FATF review is critical for India?
Our weak educational outcomes have a wide set of societal causes
Context: There are various societal reasons due to which children are not achieving appropriate learning outcomes in schools. This article describes the societal reasons. Overall governance and administrative culture Low prioritization of education – as manifested in budget allocation and human resources. Failure to recognize that education is a matter of deep expertise: Key decisions… Continue reading Our weak educational outcomes have a wide set of societal causes
Towards inclusive education
News: Recently, the draft accessibility guidelines and standards for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Universities were released by the Universities Grants Commission (UGC). How can the guidelines be further improved Correction of Procedural flaw: The public notice preceding the guidelines was inaccessible to persons with visual disabilities. The document was poorly scanned, instead a digital… Continue reading Towards inclusive education
Electric vehicles can’t go too far in reducing our use of fossil fuel
News: The Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in fuelling the price of crude oil. It has triggered renewed calls for the use of electric vehicles (EVs) to lower the human dependence on fossil fuels which pollute the environment. Concept of Electric Vehicles The Electric vehicles don’t run on fossil fuels like petrol, diesel or… Continue reading Electric vehicles can’t go too far in reducing our use of fossil fuel
Let an open market for vaccines fulfill demand
News: India’s state-run covid vaccination drive was primarily aimed at pandemic mitigation for public health. Outcomes/Impressive coverage of the India’s Vaccine Program A vast proportion of our adult population has got one or more shots, for example More than 1.8 billion doses have been administered so far. The Children aged 15 years and above were… Continue reading Let an open market for vaccines fulfill demand
Why special situation funds are necessary
News: Recently, Indian financial markets witnessed two crucial reforms. One was release of a dedicated regulatory framework for special situation funds (SSFs) by SEBI and, the other was approval of a new dual-structure for bad-bank (called NARCL-IDRCL) by RBI. Why have such new reforms been undertaken? India suffers from a bad loan problem which requires higher… Continue reading Why special situation funds are necessary
