GS: 1
Society and women related issues:
Saving lives(The Hindu Opinion)
A new country-wise ranking of neonatal mortality rates — the number of babies dying in their first month for every thousand live births — gives India cause for both hope and shame. Shame, because the report, produced by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), ranks India behind poorer countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal and Rwanda.
Game-changer in quiet villages of Solapur(The Hindu)
Till two years ago, not a single woman in Waluj village of Mohol Taluka in Solapur district, 400 km from Mumbai, knew what a gram sabha was. Purdah was widely prevalent and women were labourers at home and farms.
GS: 2
International relations:
Canada, India red-faced over invite to Khalistan activist(The Hindu)
Visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office and the Modi government faced a major embarrassment on Thursday after it emerged that a convicted terrorist and Khalistan activist from Canada had been part of the delegation’s events in Mumbai and was personally invited to a reception by the Canadian High Commission in Delhi.
Talk like a South Asian(The Hindu Opinion)
The Maldives imbroglio has become a fable for international politics. Politics, especially international politics, often appears to be an eerie combination of slapstick and farce
Bilateral trade must benefit poor: Justin Trudeau(The Hindu)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday said while the focus of his relations with India has shifted from aid in the 1950s to trade today, it was important to ensure that greater bilateral trade and investment benefits all, especially the poor.
India, Canada hold strategic dialogue(The Hindu)
Ahead of Friday’s India-Canada bilateral summit, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland held a strategic dialogue here on Thursday covering a wide range of bilateral issues.
India is ignoring facts, says Maldives(The Hindu)
India’s public statements regarding the suspension of democracy in the Maldives have ignored facts and ground realities, the government of President Abdulla Yameen said on Thursday.
Pakistan moves against terrorists “superficial, reversible”: U.S(The Hindu)
The Donald Trump administration is not satisfied with the measures taken by Pakistan in recent months to crack down on terrorist groups, a senior U.S official has said. “So far, these steps have been reversible, superficial, and steps that we have actually seen them take in the past, in periods of high pressure,” the official told The Hindu in an exclusive conversation on background.
Indian Constitution and Polity:
Two Benches refer land acquisition cases to CJI(The Hindu)
A day after Justice Kurian Joseph voiced his concern over a February 8 judgment on land acquisition, two separate Supreme Court Benches, led by Justice Arun Mishra and Justice A.K. Goel, on Thursday referred certain land acquisition cases so far heard by them, to Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra to take a call.
Cannot annul marriage between adults: SC)(The Hindu)
Courts cannot annul marriages between two consenting adults or resort to a “roving enquiry” on whether the married relationship between a man and a woman is based on consent, the Supreme Court said on Thursday.
SC against disclosure of IAS prelims marks(The Hindu)
The Supreme Court has held that details of marks — raw and scaled — scored in the Civil Services Exam cannot be “mechanically” disclosed under Right to Information.
Is the Supreme Court verdict on Cauvery fair?(The Hindu Opinion)
With an additional allocation of 14.75 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) of water to Karnataka, the Supreme Court has given the State reason to rejoice. The order is fair and does not take away anything significant from Tamil Nadu. What it has done is to address some concerns that were present in the 2007 order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, such as of drinking water in Bengaluru and the constraints of irrigation in southern Karnataka.
An umbrella for the consumer(The Hindu Opinion)
As online transactions become a way of life, the Consumer Protection Bill, 2018 is a step towards providing ordinary consumers some protection of their interests and establishing points for quick and effective administration and settlement of disputes.
GS: 3
Economy:
The next innovation(The Hindu Opinion)
Blockchain could be the least elucidated among the disruptive technologies rapidly transforming the world around us. It is widely known that some of the most valuable companies of our times, such as Uber and Airbnb, are effective aggregators of resources, including cars and apartments. They are using the Internet to reach out, and match the supply and demand in a global market.
DoT’s plan to spur synergy among 7 PSUs(The Hindu)
The government on Thursday unveiled a ‘strategic plan’ to enable seven state-owned companies under the Department of Telecom (DoT) to work closely with an aim of promoting greater operational synergy among them, including pooling in of resources and effective utilisation of human resources as well as land and buildings.
Environment:
Planning for electric mobility(The Hindu Opinion)
In October 2017, the Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health, published by the peer-reviewed Lancet medical journals, attributed to air pollution an estimated 6.5 million premature deaths globally, with 1.1 million being from India.
Yesterday’s current affairs material by Forum IAS
7 PM Editorial: Banking fraud and blockchain technology
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