GS:1
Society related issues:
Haryana Assembly okays death penalty for child rape(The Hindu)
The Haryana Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a Bill which provides for death penalty to those found guilty of raping girls aged 12 years or less.
GS: 2
International relations:
Pakistan asks its envoy to return for ‘consultations’(The Hindu)
Pakistan on Thursday asked its envoy to return for “consultations” amid growing bilateral tensions over alleged harassment of its diplomats in India. Indian sources, however, indicated that Pakistan had not ensured the safety and security of Indian diplomats in Islamabad despite repeated requests.
U.S. announces expanded sanctions against Russians(The Hindu)
The U.S. slapped sanctions on 19 Russian individuals and five groups, including Moscow’s intelligence services, for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and malicious cyberattacks, the Treasury Department said on Thursday.
Arresting the drift(The Hindu Opinion)
India needs to re-engage with its ally Russia, which is getting closer to China and Pakistan
The strategy of conflict(The Hindu Opinion)
India must work towards some understanding with Pakistan before the situation on the border spins out of control
Indian Constitution and Polity:
Media think they’re on a pulpit: CJI(The Hindu)
Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said on Thursday that the press should not think they are “sitting on some pulpit.”
CoA curtails powers of BCCI officials(The Hindu)
The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), steered by Vinod Rai, on Thursday issued fresh directives that conveyed to BCCI acting president C. K. Khanna, acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary and treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry that their role would henceforth be very limited in the matter of running the day-to-day administration.
Is active euthanasia the next step?(The Hindu Opinion)
The right declared in ‘Common Cause’ extends to active euthanasia in certain circumstances
GS: 3
Economy:
Credit tangle(The Hindu Opinion)
The RBI’s omnibus ban on a legitimate financing instrument is not the solution
U.S. challenges Indian export programmes at WTO(The Hindu)
The move by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is broad and sweeping, in targeting the whole range of Indian export subsidy programmes.
To seize and punish(The Hindu Opinion)
The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha this week, aims to provide for measures to deter fugitive economic offenders from evading the process of law in India. It is a deterrent for those offenders who continue to stay outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts. The larger objective of the proposed legislation is to “preserve the sanctity of the rule of law”.
MoF declines 3% GDP allocation for defence(The Hindu )
The Finance Ministry has declined a recommendation from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence to have a fixed allocation of 3% of GDP for the Defence Ministry, a report of the Committee has stated.
India likely to push for dropping ‘Asian premium’ on oil prices(The Hindu)
India is likely to lobby heavily for an end to the discriminatory “Asian premium” on oil prices and a “responsible” price mechanism, as it prepares to host a major conference for oil producing and consuming countries.
‘RBI norms may push power projects worth ₹2.5 lakh crore into bankruptcy’(The Hindu)
More than 50,000 MW of stressed power projects, worth more than ₹2.5 lakh crore, with bank exposure of more than ₹1.75 lakh crore, are likely to face bankruptcy proceedings as, among others, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had scrapped all loan restructuring programmes in February, according to industry sources.
Trade deficit narrows to 5-month low(The Hindu)
India’s trade deficit narrowed to $12 billion in February, its lowest in five months, amid concerns that a global trade war could hit its exports because of U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to hike import taxes on steel and aluminum.
Science and Technology:
Antibiotic resistance: vultures wintering in India show pattern(The Hindu)
Escherichia coli , a pathogen seen in over 90% of Egyptian vultures that migrate to northwest India to spend the winter, tend to show significant difference in resistance to antibiotics within a single season, a study has found.
Space travel causes changes to genes(The Hindu)
Space travel caused lasting changes to 7% of genes of astronaut Scott Kelly, according to a NASA study which compared his DNA to that of his identical twin brother, who remained on the earth.
Yesterday’s current affairs material by Forum IAS
7 PM Editorial: Fresh plea in Supreme Court to declare polygamy in Islam illegal
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