9 PM Daily Current Affairs Brief – September 21, 2017

Who knew healthcare was so complex:  Context The NITI Aayog has proposed a solution to the issues plaguing India’s health sector. The solution is to incentivize the private sector via public private partnerships (PPPs), wherein the government provides land, infrastructure, capital for viability gap funding, and patients via referrals from public screening programmes. In return,… Continue reading Who knew healthcare was so complex: 

Call to wipe out modern slavery:   Context There is an urgent need for more aggressive and effective implementations of labor law protections to eliminate modern slavery and forced labour in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). What is the current incidence? The day International Labor Organization (ILO) released new global estimates of modern… Continue reading Call to wipe out modern slavery:  

A ‘Boat Lab’ to study Brahmaputra: Context The Department of Biotechnology will commission a two-tiered barge that will roughly be the size of two large conference rooms and host scientists and a full-fledged lab that will allow those on board to collect samples from various stretches of the river, perform tests on water quality and… Continue reading A ‘Boat Lab’ to study Brahmaputra:

India joins quantum computing race: Context The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is planning to fund a project to develop quantum computers. What are quantum computers? A quantum computer employs the principles of quantum mechanics to store information in ‘qubits’ instead of the typical ‘bits’ of 1 and 0. Qubits work faster because of… Continue reading India joins quantum computing race:

Taxpayer rights and obligations: Context The tax structure of the country is making a paradigm shift both in terms of direct and indirect tax, but it still requires more clarity and fairness in the assessment and collection of the taxes,  so as to bring in more trust among the taxpayers. What is missing? Taxpayers are… Continue reading Taxpayer rights and obligations:

A big broom:  Context: The government’s decision to publicize the identities of entities involved in malpractices through shell companies. What are the reasons behind the government’s crackdown on shell companies? Fight against black money Create an atmosphere of confidence Improving the climate for ease of doing business What is the government’s latest decision on shell… Continue reading A big broom: 

Is FDI the new engine of growth?:  Context FDI from private equity funds have mainly financed e-commerce firms. These have drove import-led consumption boom. Discussion paper on Industrial Policy – 2017 The official discussion paper (DP), Industrial Policy 2017 sets down a list of known constraints, but it ignores serious analyses of poor industrial performance.… Continue reading Is FDI the new engine of growth?: 

Take reform to fuel:  Context Prices of petrol and diesel will come down if states agree on a mechanism to levy GST for oil products Why is the sale price of oil as high as it was when the crude price was twice as high? The government has subsidized the consumers while OMCs and upstream… Continue reading Take reform to fuel: 

Bound by Paris deal, says India: Background President Donald Trump in June announced that America was withdrawing from the Paris deal, arguing that it gave undue advantage to countries like India and China. Amid this uncertainty, India reaffirmed its commitment to the Paris climate change agreement. What happened? External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj attended UN’s… Continue reading Bound by Paris deal, says India: