Must Read News Articles – February 1, 2018

Archives

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Art and Culture:

‘Indus script was written from right to left’(The Hindu)

Two scientists working at The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, (IMSc) have figured out a way to computationally estimate whether a language is written from left to right or otherwise. Most interestingly, they have studied the Indus script and calculated that it must flow from right to left.

Stone tools offer insights into history of human evolution(The Hindu)

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 continuing up to around 1,72,000 years ago.

Society related issues:

Graduates from IIT, NIT to teach in rural areas(The Hindu)

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 behind in technical education.

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International relations:

Don’t want India to become the refugee capital of the world, govt. tells SC(The Hindu)

The Union government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it does not want the country to become the refugee capital of the world.

Reality check in Sri Lanka (The Hindu Opinion)

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.

Indian aid for Palestine diplomatic institute(The Hindu)

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.

Westinghouse teams visit revives hopes for Kovvada plant(The Hindu)

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.

Italian anti-corruption officials to meet Indian counterparts(The Hindu)

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.

Indian Constitution and Polity:

For a clean judiciary: the importance of in-house mechanisms (The Hindu Opinion)

With an in-house committee concluding that a judge of the Allahabad High Court had committed judicial impropriety serious enough to warrant his removal, the subject of corruption in the higher judiciary is in the news.

Testing waters(The Hindu Opinion)

We need to evolve credible and institutionalised practices to resolve inter-State river disputes

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Economy:

Budget expected to focus on direct taxes(The Hindu)

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.

Making financial savings less taxing(The Hindu)

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 laundry list of Budget demands. This year has been no exception.

‘Data safety: few firms ready(The Hindu)

With less than four months to go for the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation to kick in, “too many companies are still not prepared” for the regime that would also cover Indian IT firms, according to a global survey.

Power of a single identity(The Hindu Opinion)

Indian activists echo American conservatives of the 1930s, but Aadhaar is the best tool to administer the subsidy regime

 Internal security:

INS Karanj boosts Navy’s firepower(The Hindu)

The Navy’s third state-of-the-art Scorpene class submarine, INS Karanj, was launched by Reena Lanba, wife of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba, here on Wednesday. The new submarine is named after the earlier Kalvari class INS Karanj, which was decommissioned in 2003.

Rs. 370 cr. allotted for building border infra

Laying emphasis on building infrastructure along the Indo-Pak and Sino-India borders, the government has sanctioned nearly Rs. 370 crore to the BSF and the ITBP for construction of bunkers and special climate-controlled huts in forward areas, an official said on Wednesday.

Yesterday’s current affairs material by Forum IAS

7 PM Editorial: New Roman law doctrine for tobacco industry in India

9 PM Current affairs brief:

10 PM Current affairs MCQs