Context – India’s decision to stay out of the China-backed RCEP agreement and its significance. What is RCEP and its significance? Launched in 2012, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is a trade pact between the 10-member ASEAN bloc, along with China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. However, India had been due to sign but pulled out… Continue reading India exits RCEP
Category: Current affairs Categories
Violence against women
Context: Domestic violence cases spiked during the COVID-19 lockdown. Explain about the violence during the pandemic? Shadow pandemic: The UN Secretary-General used the term for rise in domestic violence cases during the lockdown. Women and sexual minorities were confined indoors with their abusers and even making a call or stepping out for shelter were likely to be… Continue reading Violence against women
Contribution and Criticism of Supreme Court
Context- Criticism is the hallmark of a prosperous democracy, but unfounded and unrestrained criticism is harmful rather than contributive. Why judiciary is the strongest pillar on which the edifice of Indian democracy stands? India ranks in the top one-third of nations in efficiency of the legal framework to challenge regulations and in judicial independence. At the… Continue reading Contribution and Criticism of Supreme Court
Kerala’s new 118A law
Context – The Kerala cabinet recommended to the Governor the promulgation of the ordinance to insert Section 118 (A) into the Act. What is Kerala’s new 118A law? The new Section 118A has been introduced in the Kerala Police Act, 2011. According to the new law– The state government recommendation to amend the police act says that if the government… Continue reading Kerala’s new 118A law
India- West Asia
Context: Recently, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s visited Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. What is the significance of West Asia to India? Socio economic significance: Gulf is a source of oil and a destination for labour exports. The UAE alone hosts nearly three million Indian expatriates and the Gulf as a whole hosts large… Continue reading India- West Asia
Time for an Asian Century
Context: In a phase, where the west is adapting to Asian rules, RCEP will have immediate geopolitical and economic implications. India’s challenge will be in securing an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ in this phase. What is Asian centrality? ‘ASEAN centrality’ rejects the current frame of the West setting the agenda while allowing the West to adapt Asian rules… Continue reading Time for an Asian Century
Global governance
Context: Analysing the need for common global governance What are the impediments to international cooperation in the 21st century? USA & China: The rivalry between the world’s two largest economies has intensified spreading the fears of a new cold war breaking between them. India – China: The militaries of the two most populous countries of… Continue reading Global governance
The Wide Net of Hunger
Context: Since the lockdown, the Government of India (GoI) has announced Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) and Atmanirbhar Bharat. However, numerous studies have shown their inadequacy. What is the hunger watch survey? The Right to Food campaign in partnership with several civil society organisations initiated “Hunger Watch”, a rapid survey across 11 states from mid-September… Continue reading The Wide Net of Hunger
Relook agriculture subsidies
Context– The dire need to shift the nature of support to farmers from input subsidies to investment subsidies. What are the main reason of air pollution in India and its impact? Stubble Burning – Practice of farmers setting fire to plant debris that remain in farms after harvest. It emits large amounts of toxic pollutants in the… Continue reading Relook agriculture subsidies
Trade openness and globalization
Context- India’s External Affairs Minister believes that the economic growth that has accrued from globalization is not a good enough outcome for India. What are the views of External Affairs Minister on globalization and trade pacts? Trade pacts and globalization have allowed other countries ‘unfair’ trade and manufacturing advantages “in the name of openness”. The effect of past… Continue reading Trade openness and globalization
