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GS: 2
International relations:
Canada will not support separatists, says Trudeau(The Hindu)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday asserted that his country believed in a united India and assured the Punjab government that it would not support any separatist movement in India.
Fire and fury(The Hindu Opinion)
The Syrian regime’s offensive in Eastern Ghouta keeps up the brutality of the civil war.
The Israel factor in Syria(The Hindu Opinion)
The massive air raids that Israel carried out in Syria earlier this month against “Iranian targets” and the subsequent downing of an Israeli jet by Syrian fire showed how deeply and dangerously Israel is involved in the civil war in its neighbouring country.
India dismayed at Male’s move(The Hindu)
Expressing its disappointment over the Maldives government’s decision to extend the state of Emergency for another month despite India’s objections, New Delhi issued another statement on Wednesday, calling the move unconstitutional, words that could lead to a face-off with the Yameen government.
Pakistan Supreme Court rules ousted PM Sharif cannot lead his party(The Hindu)
Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif be removed as head of the political party he founded, six months after the court disqualified him as the country’s leader over unreported income.
Bangladesh fears exodus of Bengalis from Assam(The Hindu)
The ongoing process of compiling the National Register of Citizens in Assam may trigger an exodus of Bengalis and create one more Rohingya-like refugee crisis for Bangladesh senior officials of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government said here on Wednesday.
Indian Constitution and Polity:
Bench vs Bench in SC(The Hindu)
In a rare show of public anguish, a three-judge Supreme Court Bench led by Justice Madan B. Lokur criticised another Bench for “tinkering with judicial discipline”.
Learning from Cauvery(The Hindu Opinion)
The long-awaited judgment of the Supreme Court on the Cauvery dispute, delivered last week, by and large caused hardly any disruption to life in the river’s principal basin-States, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. This situation is refreshingly different from what was witnessed during many judicial pronouncements since the 1990s, leading to strikes, farmers’ agitations, vandalism and the loss of human life.
GS:3
Economy:
‘New law cannot cure past breach’(The Hindu)
Mere absence of a law can be cured by subsequently enacting one with a retroactive effect, but this new law cannot cure “breaches” that occurred prior to it, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud observed orally during a Constitution Bench hearing in the Aadhaar challenge.
As the borders begin to close(The Hindu Opinion)
After the global financial crisis in 2008, the world has begun looking to developing nations to show the way to high economic growth and development.
The nuts and bolts of a fraud(The Hindu Opinion)
Diamond merchant Nirav Modi has been accused of siphoning off funds worth about Rs. 11,500 crore from the public sector bank, PNB. A key element of the scam is the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), a messaging network that connects banks and other financial institutions across the world.
Blockchain tech could help prevent frauds like at PNB(The Hindu)
The adoption of blockchain by India’s banks could help avert frauds such as the one at Punjab National Bank as the disaggregated and transparent nature of the technology, which updates information across all users simultaneously, would have ensured that various officials would have instantly been alerted to the creation of the letters of undertaking (LoUs), according to bankers and blockchain specialists.
RBI: inflation could spur shift in stance(The Hindu)
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could shift from its current ‘neutral’ policy stance to a ‘withdrawal of accommodation’ stance if headline inflation projection for the year ahead remained well above the target, the minutes of the central bank’s interest rate setting panel’s last meeting show.
‘Only M2M SIMs to have 13-digit numbers’(The Hindu)
Starting July 1, all SIM-based M2M (machine-to-machine) communication devices will carry a 13-digit number, instead of the 10-digit number now. However, this is applicable only to numbers used by machines to communicate with other machines and not normal retail mobile numbers.
‘Niti Aayog working on new list of sick PSUs’(The Hindu)
Niti Aayog is working on a new list of sick and loss-making Public Sector Units (PSUs) that could be privatised, said CEO Amitabh Kant.
Science and Technology:
Magnificent launch(The Hindu Opinion)
On February 7, U.S. tech and automobiles billionaire Elon Musk made history when the Falcon Heavy, the world’s most powerful rocket, was successfully launched by SpaceX, a company he founded.
Meet Avani, first Indian woman to fly a fighter aircraft solo(The Hindu)
Scripting history, Flying Officer Avani Chaturvedi has become the first Indian woman to fly a fighter aircraft solo, an IAF official said.
Yesterday’s current affairs material by Forum IAS
