Author: ForumIAS

Making financial savings less taxing Context Bumping up the household savings rate and nudging savers to park their surpluses in financial assets have always been high on the agenda of Indian Finance Ministers. Fully aware of this, different arms of the financial services industry — insurers, banks, intermediaries, mutual funds — usually present a long… Continue reading Making financial savings less taxing

Budget expected to focus on direct taxes Context While there are unlikely to be any major changes in indirect tax as most of them are now under the purview of the Goods and Services Tax Council, Budget 2018 could have several positive changes on the direct tax side, according to analysts. Effort will be to ensure… Continue reading Budget expected to focus on direct taxes

Testing waters Context We need to evolve credible and institutionalized practices to resolve inter-State river disputes We need to evolve credible and institutionalized practices to resolve inter-State river disputes Last week, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to constitute a tribunal within a month to adjudicate the Mahanadi river water dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh. The… Continue reading Testing waters

Italian anti-corruption officials to meet Indian counterparts Context An Italian delegation of senior anti-corruption officials is expected to visit India soon for a meeting with the representatives of various enforcement agencies to discuss issues of mutual cooperation in investigations. Backdrop The meeting follows the visit of Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni in October-November last year.… Continue reading Italian anti-corruption officials to meet Indian counterparts

Westinghouse teams visit revives hopes for Kovvada plant Context Officials of Westinghouse Electric, that went through bankruptcy proceedings last year, and was bought from Toshiba by a Canadian consortium last month, will visit India next week to discuss a reworked deal for nuclear reactors for the proposed nuclear plant in Andhra Pradesh’s Kovvada. Relook at… Continue reading Westinghouse teams visit revives hopes for Kovvada plant

Indian aid for Palestine diplomatic institute Context Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fly from Amman in Jordan on February 10 to arrive in Palestine where he is expected to lay the foundation stone of a new diplomatic training institute, a source familiar with the planning of the visit said. Prime Minister Modi to lay foundation Mr.… Continue reading Indian aid for Palestine diplomatic institute

Reality check in Sri Lanka Context Sri Lanka’s local government elections, scheduled to be held on February 10, have elicited the interest of a national election, and with good reason. Local government elections this month will have a bearing on the coalition government in Colombo This is the first time the country will go to… Continue reading Reality check in Sri Lanka

Don’t want India to become the refugee capital of the world, govt. tells SC Context The Union government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it does not want the country to become the refugee capital of the world. The Centre was responding to a submission by Rohingya refugees that the BSF was “pushing back”… Continue reading Don’t want India to become the refugee capital of the world, govt. tells SC

Graduates from IIT, NIT to teach in rural areas Context More than 1,200 youngsters with Ph.D and M. Tech degrees from institutions like Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and National Institutes of Technology will spend the next three years teaching at 53 government engineering colleges in rural areas of districts lagging… Continue reading Graduates from IIT, NIT to teach in rural areas

Stone tools offer insights into history of human evolution Context Based on the study of over 7,200 stone artefacts collected from the archaeological site at Attirampakkam in the Kortallayar river basin about 60 km from Chennai, researchers suggest that hominins in India may have developed a Middle Palaeolithic culture phase around 3,85,000 years ago and… Continue reading Stone tools offer insights into history of human evolution