Newspaper Must Read Articles of The Day– 24 March 2015

The Hindu

 National

• Parties, activists not keen on simultaneous polls – Parliamentary committee is discussing holding Lok Sabha and Assembly elections together from 2019. The proposal has clear merits and demerits.

• Mufti: Govt. for gradual removal of AFSPA – J&K CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed wants to remove AFSPA with the support of army.

• Centre to re-brand ‘Jan Aushadhi’ scheme – The scheme aims to provide affordable medicines for all through fair price shops.  It will open 1,000 stores on a single day. Opening new stores will be made compulsory in select states.

• ‘More needs to be done for TB control’ – India has 2.2 million new cases of TB every year and three lakh people die of it each year;  Treatment protocols and measures taken against the disease need intervention and changes says Union Health Minister.

• Dadasaheb Phalke award for Shashi Kapoor – He will be conferred the Award for 2014 for exceptional contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema.

International

• Lee Kuan Yew dead at 91– Mr. Lee, the first Prime Minister of Singapore who transformed it into one of the wealthiest and least corrupt countries in Asia, is dead.

• Afghanistan: new entente in place? – Talks are likely between the Afghan govt and Taliban because of push from Pakistan and China. Pakistan’s increasing role in Afghanistan may impact India’s economic commitments in Afghanistan.

Business

• Centre plans 10 urea plants in coal-rich States – India’s annual demand of urea is 31 million tonnes; but it produces only 22 million tonnes. The balance is imported. The new plants will change all that.

• Centre front loads market borrowing for next fiscal -Govt will borrow Rs.6 lakh crore through bonds and treasury bills. It will issue 40-year bonds in 2015-16.

• Financial SEZs: move for capital a/c convertibility – More capital account convertibility will be allowed in financial  SEZs. The first such SEZ will be the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City).

Opinion-Editorial

• Strongman who took Singapore to the First World – Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of Singapore was inconsistent in his views on India.

• The supremo culture in Indian polity – Indian political parties and their leaders like to centralise authority because most parties do not have independent organisational bases. Other reasons of centralisation are citizens’ dependency on govt for their general well-being and the nature of financing election campaigns. 
  

•  Liberating black gold-Passing Mines and Minerals Bill, 2015 and Coal Mines Bill, 2015 is a big step. States will get high revenue. The Bills is a game changer in other ways too.

Indian Express

 Editorials & Columns

• Then who? – The acquittal of Hashimpura massacre suspects, 30 years after the  event raises many questions.

• Kisan ki baat – Agricultural reforms such as decontrolling urea, rationalising fertiliser and food subsidies, or replacing open-ended physical grain procurement & distribution with targeted direct cash transfers need to be discussed first. Removal of the “consent clause” from Land Bill is not bad.

• Faith in the prime minister – PM will act to check communalism and intolerance says the author.

LiveMint

• Govt plans investment channel for CLMV region – Govt will set up a project development firm to promote investments in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

• Global retailers looking at India as potential sourcing hub – International retailers are interested in India  both as a market and a sourcing hub.