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GS 2
Shashi Tharoor gives Doklam report to Sushma Swaraj
Chairman of the Standing Committee on External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Friday met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to resolve the stand-off over the panel’s report on the Doklam crisis.
Tight-fisted neighbour? Indian aid to SAARC nations falls
Going by government data, assistance fell from ₹5,928.6 crore for 2013-14 to ₹3,483.6 crore for 2017-18; but Maldives has been an outlier, despite the dip in ties
North Karnataka, reeling under neglect
Thirteen districts of north Karnataka recently raised a fresh cry for a separate State, pointing out that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s budgetary allocations favoured only the southern districts.
GS 3
‘Ban on e-cigarettes to reduce safer choices for smokers’
The Council for Harm Reduced Alternatives (CHRA), a national tobacco harm reduction organisation, and the Association of Vapers India (AVI), an advocacy group that represents e-cigarette users, have warned the Central and State governments about the consequences of banning e-cigarettes.
Genetic ‘barcodes’ reveal three frogs unreported in India
Barcodes are not used in supermarkets alone. Each species can be recognised by its unique genetic ‘barcode’ and using this method, a team of scientists has identified three frog species not recorded in India before.
Centre to spend ₹10,000 crore on Northeast
Over 400 projects to be implemented; 8,621 unconnected villages in the region to get special attention
Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe’s new hope
Zimbabwe’s newly elected President, Emerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa of the Zanu-PF party, has seldom shrunk from the rough and tumble of realpolitik.
Why are the Marathas so restive?
Maratha Reservation