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GS-1
Population and poverty
Stairway to prosperity: (Indian Express, Editorial)
India’s record of reducing poverty pales in comparison to China, Brazil and Mexico. It needs to build social infrastructure capable of providing quality education, health, and nutrition to buck the trend.
Globalization
Globalization is not ending, it’s changing: (Live Mint, Editorial)
What we are witnessing is the emergence of a new global economy, an economy without borders propelled by digital rocket boosters.
Urbanization
The missing jobs: (Indian Express, Editorial)
Government must focus on basic education and let the market take care of skilling the workforce. Not even a tenth of the youth who had received training under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) as on early-July have obtained any job offers.
Social Issues
The need for reforms in healthcare finance: (Live Mint, Editorial)
India’s long-term strategy for health financing seems to be health insurance. This is a perilous path.
GS-2
Government policies
SC allows two minor rape survivors to abort foetuses: (The Hindu)
The Supreme Court on Thursday permitted two minor rape survivors to medically terminate their pregnancies on the advice of the medical boards which examined them.
Update for the online era: (The Hindu, Editorial)
The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, has largely proved ineffective in curbing this onslaught on the Internet. The government acknowledges that the law has to be more effective; stringent punishment which acts as deterrent also becomes essential.
Welfare schemes
Leg-up for PM’s pet housing project: (The Hindu)
People purchasing a low-end house from a private developer will be eligible for financial help under the ‘Housing For All’ policy of the Narendra Modi government.
Effects of developed and developing countries policies
Solving the Afghan riddle: (The Hindu, Editorial)
Trump’s policy envisages more pressure on Pakistan, no early U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, robust military action on counterterrorism and a greater role for India.
India and neighbors
Turn the page to a new chapter: (The Hindu, Editorial)
Negotiation for the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between China and India.
International institutions
The challenge of reforming the UN: (Live Mint, Editorial)
India needs to create a balance between the pursuit of its narrow national interest and its responsibility as a rising power.
GS-3
Indian Economy. Planning, Growth and Employment
Cabinet to soon take up $5 bn convention centre project: (The Hindu)
Union Cabinet will soon take up the proposal for a “$5 billion-worth world-class and state-of-the-art” Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (ECC) in the national capital, billed as the largest such facility in Asia when completed by 2021.
Taper timetable: (The Hindu, Editorial)
The conclusion of quantitative easing in the U.S. could affect investment flows into India.
The return of India’s super rich: (Live Mint, Editorial)
The trajectory of wealth concentration in the country, not just the levels of recently estimated inequality, is important.
Conservation and Pollution
Is the Sardar Sarovar Dam boon or bane?: (The Hindu, Editorial)
There is as yet no credible assessment of the costs, benefits and impact of the project.
Science and Tech
On GM crops, a failure to heed scientific evidence: (Live Mint, Editorial)
A wealth of research shows that GM crops make for good science and good economics—and India needs to embrace both.
Prelims Related Facts
Navy takes delivery of Scorpene submarine:
MDL handed over the first of the Scorpene submarines, Kalvari, to the Navy. This is the Navy’s first new conventional submarine in two decades.
