Category: Featured Editorials

Context Despite launching many initiatives and forcing an act to eradicate manual scavenging, death of laborers during scavenging manually has become very common. What is manual scavenging? Manual scavenging refers to the practice of manually cleaning, carrying, disposing or handling in any manner, human excreta from dry latrines and sewers. Practice of manual scavengingis linked… Continue reading The menace of manual scavenging in India

Context: Sanitation is intrinsically linked to health. It is thus important to formulate and implement concrete plans in Wastewater and Faecal Sludge Management. What is the scope of sanitation? The entire cycle of sanitation is what to be considered as the scope of sanitation. It certainly begins with toilets but has to end with safe… Continue reading Sanitation in India: an overview

Context The government is planning to set up a committee for an institutional framework on large-scale adoption of electric vehicles in India as a viable clean energy mode chiefly for shared mass transport to help bring down alarming levels of pollution in big cities. The new initiative The government think-tank NITI Aayog has sought comments… Continue reading Electric mobility in India: a viable option?

Context  Moody’s has today upgraded the Government of India’s local and foreign currency issuer ratings to Baa2 from Baa3 and changed the outlook on the rating to stable from positive. Moody’s has also upgraded India’s local currency senior unsecured rating to Baa2 from Baa3 and its short-term local currency rating to P-2 from P-3 What… Continue reading Moody’s upgrades India’s ratings to Baa2

Context: The Supreme Court recently requested all States and Union Territories to move forward towards a nationwide ban on the use of pet coke and furnace oil to power up industries, in a bid to fight pollution. Introduction: The court was hearing a PIL filed in 1985 by environmentalist M C Mehta who had raised… Continue reading Ban on the use of pet coke and furnace oil

Context: West Bengal has been awarded the Geographical Indication (GI) for “Banglar Rasogolla” (Bengal rasogolla). In the backdrop, Odisha claims the origin of the sweet. It was noted later that the GI tag was for the “Banglar Rosogolla” — the rosogolla originating in Bengal.  Not the generic rosogolla (pronounced “rasgulla” across North India). The decision… Continue reading The debate over Rasogolla

Context: Without free freedom of speech & of the press no public education is possible which is essential for the proper functioning of the process of popular government. Thus, the government has recently underlined the commitment for “upholding the freedom of the press and expression in all forms”. What is Freedom of press? Freedom of… Continue reading Upholding the freedom of the press and expression in all forms

Context The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas announced that BS6 fuel might be available in Delhi from April 1, 2018 in order to try and curb the rampant air pollution crisis What is the present scenario? Pollution caused by the traffic menace in Delhi is the prime reason contributing to air pollution and smog.… Continue reading Delhi steps towards Bharat stage-6 (BS-VI) fuel

Context: The Pendency problem of the Indian Judiciary Introduction: There are around 59,000 case pending in the Supreme Court(SC), over four million in high courts (HC) and a mind-boggling 25 million in subordinate courts. As of March 2016 Supreme Court contributed almost 60,000 cases to blocklog/pendency India has just 13 judges per million of its… Continue reading The role of the Judiciary in pendency problem

Context The regional Quadrilateral group: India, Japan, Australia and the United States (U.S) are making China restless. What is Quadrilateral? The quadrilateral is a natural expression and convergence of interests between democratic countries in the Indo-Pacific region and it’s a natural stepping stone from the very productive trilateral conversations, exercises, and cooperation between India, Japan,… Continue reading The Quadrilateral formation: guarding Indo – Pacific region