Must Read News Articles I 18th February 2020

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Women army officers eligible for permanent commission: SC

In a landmark judgement in the case Secretary, Ministry of Defence vs Babita Puniya and others,  SC has held that Women Short Service Commission Officers in the Indian Army are entitled to Permanent Commission at par with their male counterparts, regardless of their years of service.

The Apex Court also held that confining women officers to only “staff appointments” by denying them command assignments is a violation of equality principle under Article 14 of the Constitution.

Central government had made several arguments to oppose the command appointments to women officers.

The SC has ordered the government to implement its judgement in three months.

Women in Army: What SC Said

The article highlights that what are the implications of the Supreme Court’s order granting permanent commission to women on a par with men? What are the issues in the case, and how did it reach the top court?

Court begin hearing on religious rights

The 9 judge bench constituted by the SC has commenced hearing on the issues mentioned in the Sabrimala review order.

The bench has framed seven questions for hearing including – what is the extent and scope of judicial review with regard to religious practice as referred to in Art 25 in the constitution of India etc.

Why delay appointments, asks SC

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the government why it was “holding back” recommendations for appointments to various High Courts even after reiteration by the collegium.

The SC conveys its alarm at the rising number of vacancies in various High courts.

However, Attorney General blamed collegium for taking long time to forward files to govt.

Southern bench of SC not favoured

Law Minister  in a letter to has said that SC of India is not in favour of the idea of the separate bench of the SC outside Delhi.

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Fiscal deficits target realistic: FM

The Finance Minister has termed fiscal deficit mentioned in the Budget 2020-21 as absolutely realistic in terms of scope of revenue generation, scope of investments and projection for economic growth and consumption.

The Budget has set target of Fiscal deficit of 3.8% for 2019-20 and 3.5% for 2020-21.

Response to long term repo encouraging: RBI

The RBI has said that the response to the long term repo auction has been highly encouraging.

The RBI has decided to conduct term repos of one year and three year tenors upto a total amount of Rs. 1 lakh crore at the policy repo rate (at 5.15%)

It will allow banks to garner funds cheaper than the prevailing marketrs and in turn will help them to reduce interest rate costs.

The $5 trillion arithmetic

The article highlights the different scenario (ways) in which India can achieve the ambitious target of $5 trillion economy by 2024-25.

India’s bird population suffers long term decline

The State of India’s birds 2020 (SoIB) has been released.

Main points of the Reports – Over a fifth of India’s bird diversity has suffered long term decline over a 25 year period. It raises an alarm that several spectacular birds face a growing threat from loss of habitat due to human activity, the widespread presence of toxins, hunting etc,