Must Read News Articles – November 19

Archives

GS: 2

International relations:

Pakistan’s Jadhav dilemma(The Hindu)

As officials of the Foreign Office, the Law Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the military met in the office of Attorney-General Ashtar Ausaf last month, they had two proposals on their hands. One was to allow consular access for Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Indian national sentenced to death on spying charges, and the other was to grant permission to Jadhav’s wife for a meeting with him.

Chinese, North Korean Envoys Talk up Ties Despite Nuclear Tensions(Indian Express)

Song Tao is visiting on behalf of President Xi Jinping, ostensibly to brief the North’s officials on the recent Chinese Communist Party Congress and other “issues of mutual interest”.

Jadhav letter was sent to Pakistan, says India(The Hindu)

India has responded to  Pakistan’s proposal allowing former Indian naval official Kulbhushan Jadhav to meet his wife on humanitarian grounds, a senior MEA official confirmed on Saturday.

Manmohan wins Indira Gandhi Prize(The Hindu)

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be the recipient of this year’s Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development.

Indian Constitution and Polity:

Transgender rights: House panel proposed, govt rejects(Indian Express)

The report recommended specific provisions in the ministry’s version of the transgender Bill, to safeguard their rights, protect them against discrimination, and provide quotas in government colleges and jobs.

GS: 3

Economy:

 ‘Any government borrowing will impact fiscal deficit’(The Hindu)

But, recapitalisation bonds will spur credit growth; higher RoE will compensate for interest cost, says IIM-A professor

Smart cities project financially unsustainable: Expert(The Hindu)

“A rupee saved is a rupee generated.” That is how Ravikanth Joshi, a public finance expert with two decades of experience managing budgets for the Baroda Municipal Corporation previously, sums up the lessons he learnt on the job.

Environment:

Electric fences killing tigers in Maharashtra(The Hindu)

The electrocution of a tigress in the Chimur forest range in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra on November 7 brings the tiger death toll due to electrocution in the Vidarbha area alone to five this year.

Delay in the protection of corridors threatens tiger population(The Hindu)

It is not just poaching or habitat loss that threatens India’s tiger population. Delayed action to protect crucial wildlife corridors — despite the availability of relevant ecological knowledge — is also killing these big cats, shows a study published in conservation journal Oryx.

Plant emissions higher than believed(The Hindu)

Carbon released by plant respiration may be around 30% higher than previously predicted, a new study claims. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, suggests that as the mean global temperature increases, respiration will increase significantly.

In Asia, a path to cleaner air(The Hindu)

These are some of the life-threatening diseases caused by  air pollution, a problem that kills more than six million people worldwide every year, and also the most pressing environmental health risk humanity faces.

It has white flowers, but a covetous heart(The Hindu)

Parasitic plant found in Nagaland has no chlorophyll of its own, survives by stealing food from its host

The lowdown on the dengue epidemic(The Hindu)

The National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) records show that 1,29,329 people fell sick with dengue this year, while 200 died. India’s official numbers are well known to be gross underestimates, with private hospitals often not reporting the disease.