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GS: 2
International relations:
A breakthrough and a gamble(The Hindu Opinion)
The remarkable announcement of a personal meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears welcome news.
Saving Ghouta(The Hindu Opinion)
The agreement reached between armed groups in Eastern Ghouta and a UN delegation to evacuate some militants from the besieged enclave is the first major concession the rebels have made since Syrian government attacks began a month ago.
Indian Constitution and Polity:
‘Centre finalising Cauvery scheme’(The Hindu)
The Central government is “working for” finalising a scheme on the Cauvery issue within six weeks, as stipulated by the Supreme Court, Union Water Resources Secretary U.P. Singh said on Sunday.
Bifurcation and blame(The Hindu Opinion)
The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has left a troubled legacy. The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement of six paragraphs in Parliament on February 20, 2014 contained the promise of according special category status to the successor State of Andhra Pradesh.
Under a humane Constitution(The Hindu Opinion)
The Supreme Court’s judgment on passive euthanasia must compel more debate on technological self-determination
A welcome quietus(The Hindu Opinion)
The Supreme Court finally ends unjustified curbs on Hadiya’s personal freedom
GS: 3
Economy:
India commits $1.4 billion for solar energy worldwide(The Hindu)
India on Sunday announced one of the world’s largest investment plans in solar energy at the Founding Conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). The $1.4 billion line of credit will cover 27 projects in 15 countries and boost the much-required financial power to the solar sector.
PNB fraud: RBI starts special audit of public sector banks(The Hindu)
Rattled by a spate of banking frauds, RBI has initiated special audit of State-owned lenders with focus on trade financing activities, especially relating to issuance of letters of undertaking (LoUs) by them, banking sources said.
‘Bank recap should be part of broader reform package’(The Hindu)
The IMF has said that the recapitalisation of India’s public sector banks should be part of a broader package of financial reforms to speed up the resolution of their massive non-performing assets, which has attracted attention in the backdrop of the Nirav Modi case.
Two-factor authentication gathering steam, shows survey(The Hindu)
A majority IT professionals in India expect their organisations to start using two-factor authentication to protect enterprise applications in the future, with almost half expecting this to happen within the next year, according to a private survey.
U.S. tariffs: ‘India must raise dispute at WTO’(The Hindu)
India should drag the United States into the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) dispute mechanism against the latter’s move to hike import duties on steel and aluminium, as the decision will impact exports and is not in compliance with the global trade norms, experts said.
Science and Technology:
A curse to science(The Hindu Opinion)
In the last decade, predatory journals, which publish papers for a fee with little or no peer review, have become a curse to science. Despite the unethical business practices adopted by publishers of such journals, the number of researchers who publish in them has been increasing at an alarming rate. From about 53,000 in 2010, the number of papers published in these journals increased to 420,000 in 2014, noted a 2015 paper published inBMC Medicine .
