Must Read News Articles –December 18

Archives

GS: 2

International relations:

Hambantota augury (Indian Express Editorials)

Seven years after the China-built Hambantota Port was inaugurated with great fanfare by the then president of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, as a symbol of his country’s rising geopolitical aspirations in Asia, the Sri Lanka government has taken the project to its logical and inevitable, if not the aspirational, conclusion.

UN to vote on draft nullifyng Jerusalem (The Hindu)

The UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution affirming that any change to the status of Jerusalem has no legal effect and must be reversed, in response to the U.S. decision to recognise the city as Israel’s capital.

High road to democratic stability (The Hindu)

Nepal has been in distress for two decades, since  the start of the Moist war in early 1996, through royal autocracy, palace massacre, earthquake, foreign interference and communal polarisation. Finally, in a second try, the new Constitution was promulgated by the Constituent Assembly in September 2015. The last roadblock to its implementation was overcome with a series of local, provincial and national elections over the summer-winter of 2017.

Next Door Nepal: The morning after (Indian Express)

Post elections, Kathmandu must deal with a hopeful China, confused India.

U.S. has failed to walk the talk on Pakistan: Hamid Karzai (The Hindu)

India should rethink its support to U.S. President Donald Trump’s Afghanistan policy, said former Afghan President Hamid Karzai,   during a visit to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Indian Constitution and Polity:

Divorce as crime: on instant triple talaq (The Hindu Editorial)

The Centre’s proposal to make instant triple talaq, an offence   punishable with three-year imprisonment and a fine is an unnecessary attempt to convert a civil wrong into a criminal act.

SC push to public access for disabled persons (Indian Express)

The Supreme Court has come out with a series of directions to ensure that public infrastructure is accessible to differently-abled persons and ordered that the June 2019 deadline set by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 to make all government buildings providing public services made fully accessible to them be strictly adhered to.

Adding law to injury (Indian Express)

New law criminalising triple talaq may not be in best interests of Muslim women. Solution lies elsewhere

GS: 3

Economy:

The crisis of globalisation (The Hindu)

Today’s so-called crisis of  globalization is nothing more than a new variable of the old battle between protectionism and free trade. On the one hand it is the tribalists while on the other it is the globalists. On one side there are the anti-Amazon, pro-retailers, losers of a global challenge, while on the other, there are the pro-Amazon, e-commerce winners.

Bank insecurities (Indian Express Editorials)

Banking regulator should continue to handle bank failures, instead of the Resolution Corporation

Ministry may face fund crunch for UDAN (The Hindu)

With more routes set to be operational under UDAN, the Civil Aviation ministry is likely to face paucity of funds in providing viability gap funding (VGF) to participating airlines, an official said.

Pare stake in PSBs to 33%: CII to govt (The Hindu)

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) urged the Centre to dilute its majority stake in public sector banks (PSBs), from the current threshold of 52% ownership to 33% over the next three years, to complement its ₹2.11 lakh-crore recapitalisation plan for these banks.

What India’s student exodus means (The Hindu)

Indian consumers may be tightening their belts on many counts. But one item of expense on which they’re certainly not skimping is their children’s education.

Science and Technology:

Zealous frog fathers guard eggs against cannibals (The Hindu)

Bush frogs breeding in bamboo stems don’t mind pulling off an all-nighter on protection duty

A measured leap: on planetary system (The Hindu Editorial)

Scientists have announced the discovery of two new exoplanets,   Kepler-90i and Kepler-80g. Exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, are routinely being discovered, with the number of those that have already been found now standing at 3,567.

Nanoparticles may help detect cancer early: study (Indian Express)

Using light-emitting nanoparticles, scientists, including those of Indian-origin, have developed a highly effective method to detect tiny tumours and track their spread, potentially leading to earlier cancer detection.

Environment:

Lone great white pelican a visual treat (The Hindu)

Mingled with the thousands of winged guests is the lone great white pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) at Asia’s largest freshwater lake, Kolleru Lake, offering a rare visual treat to bird watchers.