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GS 2
Govt. grants divisional status to Ladakh
Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Friday granted Ladakh a divisional status, thus creating three administrative units of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh in the State.
Forty years after the Iranian revolution
The Iranian revolution was surprising not because it caused a monarch to collapse, but because of the way in which people organised themselves and participated in massive demonstrations. Like many other revolutions, it united several groups, classes and parties who, despite different ideologies, were all against the old regime.
The Supreme Court on Friday declined to stay operation of the Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019, which provides 10% reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for the economically backward in the unreserved category, but agreed to an early hearing of the challenge to the law.
U.S. may end zero-tariffs for India
India could lose a vital U.S. trade concession, under which it enjoys zero tariffs on $5.6 billion of exports to the United States, amid a widening dispute over its trade and investment policies, people with close knowledge of the matter said.
Government introduces Bill on northeast
The government quietly introduced a Constitution Amendment Bill in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday to increase the financial and executive powers of the 10 Autonomous Councils in the Sixth Schedule areas of the northeastern region. The amendment will impact one crore tribal people in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
Medical devices to be treated as drugs
The Centre in a notification on Friday said that medical devices — all implantable devices, CT Scan, PET and MRI equipment, defibrillators, dialysis machines and bone marrow separators — will be treated as drugs for human beings with effect from April 1, 2020.
GS 3
Startups to be listed for angel tax exemption
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Friday agreed to compile a list of startups eligible for angel tax exemption, based on their audited financial statements and income tax returns of the previous year. The notification is likely be issued in a couple of days.
Surveying India’s unemployment numbers
The Government of India does not produce any measure of monthly unemployment rate, nor does it have any plans to do so. Official plans to measure unemployment at an annual and quarterly frequency is in a shambles. This does not befit India’s claims to be the fastest growing economy and as the biggest beneficiary of a famed demographic dividend.
Vet institute, ambulances mooted in ₹98 crore lion conservation plan
Three months after at least 20 lions in Gujarat succumbed to a virus, the Centre and the Gujarat government have announced a Rs. 97.85 crore Asiatic Lion Conservation Project at a press conference here on Friday.
TB survivors challenge patent extension for latest drug
Two tuberculosis survivors from India and South Africa have challenged a patent to prevent pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) from extending its monopoly on bedaquiline, one of the two newest anti-TB drugs in 50 years.
