Dear Friends, We have initiated some changes in the 9 PM Brief and other postings related to current affairs. What we sought to do: Ensure that all relevant facts, data, and arguments from today’s newspaper are readily available to you. We have widened the sources to provide you with content that is more than enough… Continue reading 9 PM Daily Current Affairs Brief – March 17th, 2022
Clean energy should use the battery of a circular economy
News: The Union Finance Minister, in the Budget speech 2022-23, emphasised the role of circular economy, and cleaner technologies such as solar energy and batteries in India’s future economic growth. A robust renewables waste management and recycling ecosystem could help people and India reduce environmental harm, provide energy security, and also create new jobs. In… Continue reading Clean energy should use the battery of a circular economy
Why ‘de-dollarisation’ is imminent?
News: The ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis has given an impetus to the question of de-dollarisation of the global forex framework. Efforts are already underway for the possible introduction of a new Russia-China payment system, bypassing SWIFT and combining the Russian SPFS (System for Transfer of Financial Messages) with the Chinese CIPS (Cross-Border Interbank Payment System). Contents1… Continue reading Why ‘de-dollarisation’ is imminent?
Treating values of individual freedom as trifles
News: Recently, The Karnataka high Court has given its judgment in the hijab controversy case (or the Resham v/s State of Karnataka Case (2022), wherein a ban imposed on the use of hijabs by students in classrooms across the State (Karnataka) was upheld. What has the High Court said in its judgement? The High Court’s… Continue reading Treating values of individual freedom as trifles
United Nations votes are not black and white
News: Article highlights the finer details of the voting system followed at the UN and various other organs like UN Security Council. Nature of Voting in UN System The UN General Assembly: The member country has various options for voting like ‘Yes’, ‘No’, ‘Abstention’, ‘present and not participating’ or ‘absent at the time of the… Continue reading United Nations votes are not black and white
Looming fertilizer shortage
News: The Ukraine war has disrupted the supplies of fertilisers in the international market. It could impact India too, as it depends heavily on imports for meeting their burgeoning requirement of fertilizers, For example, India’s import dependence is about 25% for urea, nearly 90% for phosphates, and 100% for potash. Contents1 Why the supplies… Continue reading Looming fertilizer shortage
Why next FATF review is critical for India?
News: The evaluation of India by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) could start by the September-October year, followed by an on-site visit in February 2023. Contents1 What is FATF and what is its objective?2 What are the FATF recommendations?3 What is FATF’s grey list?4 Why should India be concerned this time?5 How are the… Continue reading Why next FATF review is critical for India?
Our weak educational outcomes have a wide set of societal causes
Context: There are various societal reasons due to which children are not achieving appropriate learning outcomes in schools. This article describes the societal reasons. Overall governance and administrative culture Low prioritization of education – as manifested in budget allocation and human resources. Failure to recognize that education is a matter of deep expertise: Key decisions… Continue reading Our weak educational outcomes have a wide set of societal causes
Towards inclusive education
News: Recently, the draft accessibility guidelines and standards for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Universities were released by the Universities Grants Commission (UGC). How can the guidelines be further improved Correction of Procedural flaw: The public notice preceding the guidelines was inaccessible to persons with visual disabilities. The document was poorly scanned, instead a digital… Continue reading Towards inclusive education
India is amongst the world’s largest arms importers, says SIPRI
What is the News? Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has released a report titled “Trends in International Arms Transfers 2021 Report”. What are the key findings of the report? The volume of international transfers of major arms in 2017–21 was 4.6% lower than in 2012–16, but was 3.9% higher than in 2007–11. The five… Continue reading India is amongst the world’s largest arms importers, says SIPRI
