Author: ForumIAS

‘RBI’s ban on LoUs may push up the cost of imports’ Context Interview with SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar What will be the impact of RBI’s ban on Letters of Undertaking (LoU)? The cost of imports will go up. What was happening was importers, through the route of LoU they were availing dollar funding which was cheaper… Continue reading ‘RBI’s ban on LoUs may push up the cost of imports’

‘LoU ban to hit importers as costs rise’ What happened? The Reserve Bank of India’s directive barring banks from issuing Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) has brought the $85 billion buyers’ credit market — a key source of low-cost trade finance for the country’s importers — to an abrupt standstill. What is a LoU? Letter of… Continue reading ‘LoU ban to hit importers as costs rise’

‘No bank regulator can catch all frauds’ Not possible to be in every nook and cranny of banking activity, says RBI Governor Urjit Patel Amid criticism from several quarters, including the government, for failing to prevent banking frauds in the light of the recent Punjab National Bank scam, Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel… Continue reading ‘No bank regulator can catch all frauds’

In civic ranking, Pune is Maximum City Context The Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS) 2017 Pune at the top, Bengaluru at the bottom The Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS) 2017, which uses 150 parameters to judge 23 cities, has placed Pune at the top and Bengaluru at the bottom of the rankings. While… Continue reading In civic ranking, Pune is Maximum City

Lok Sabha passes Finance Bill without discussion What happened? The Lok Sabha passed the Finance Bill, 2018, with 21 amendments, some of which had to do with the controversial long-term capital gains tax on equity and tax exemptions for start-ups. LTCG amendments Regarding the long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax, one of the major amendments made… Continue reading Lok Sabha passes Finance Bill without discussion

Explaining 1971 Context India’s intervention was altruistic only in small part but was primarily based on realpolitik (a system of politics or principles based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations.). Why India’s liberation of Bangladesh was a practical move? Eliminating a two-way front: The Bengali uprising provided India with the “opportunity of the… Continue reading Explaining 1971

Far short of the potential Context Indo-Japan ties:The India-Japan economic relationship remains underwhelming in relation to strategic ties The bright side Japan currently ranks as the third largest investor in India Japanese investment in India totalled $4.7 billion in 2016-17, up from $2.6 billion the previous year Japanese investment in India’s first bullet train Regular… Continue reading Far short of the potential

‘Declare polygamy in Islam illegal’ What happened? A fresh plea was filed in the Supreme Court seeking to declare as “illegal” and“unconstitutional” the practices of polygamy and ‘nikahhalala’ among the Muslim community What is NikahHalala? ‘Nikahhalala’ is a practice intended to curb the incidence of divorce, under which a man cannot remarry his former wife… Continue reading ‘Declare polygamy in Islam illegal’

Space travel causes changes to genes Context NASA’s Twins Study brought ten research teams together to accomplish one goal: find out what happens to the human body after spending one year in space Comparing the data Research includes data on what happened to Scott Kelly, physiologically and psychologically, while he was in space, and compared… Continue reading Space travel causes changes to genes

Antibiotic resistance: vultures wintering in India show pattern Context Escherichia coli, a pathogen seen in over 90% of Egyptian vultures that migrate to northwest India to spend the winter, tend to show significant difference in resistance to antibiotics within a single season, a study has found Study subjects A team studied vultures that arrived in… Continue reading Antibiotic resistance: vultures wintering in India show pattern