Lots and lots of news today, folks. Will take a lot of time to cover.

Front Page

• Finance Minister resigns to smoothen talks with creditors: The Greek finance Minister has resigned. He is a major critic of the austerity measures proposed by the Eurozone, and this can be seen as a clearing of the decks in Greece for reaching an eventual compromise with the Eurozone. Greece is scheduled to bring its own proposal for a cash-for-reforms deal to an emergency summit of Eurozone leaders today.

• Palestine shocked at Indian abstention: Palestine has said that India’s abstention from a vote against Israel at the U.N. Human Rights Council has been influenced due to India’s growing military relationship with Israel. (See the newspaper of July 4 for the original article on this subject).

• Consensus eludes meet on urea subsidy: Urea is the only fertilizer that remains under statutory price control and its maximum retail price is fixed by the government. The Centre is trying to shift the use of urea to the Nutrient Based Subsidy regime (like other fertilisers). This MRP policy is widely blamed for the overuse of urea on Indian farms, besides loss of revenue to the govt.

• Unwed mother can be sole guardian: The Supreme Court has upheld the right of an unwed mother to apply for sole guardianship over her minor son without prior consent of the child’s absentee biological father, because there was no need to thrust an uncaring father on a child. Note that the father has to be an “absentee”.

• Although the Vyapam scam is all over the news these days, ignore it because it is not required for UPSC preparation.

Opinion/Editorial

• Rural realities: After the release of the Socio Economic and Caste Census, instead of a fresh round of unending wrangling over precisely where to set India’s poverty line, the government would be well-advised to expand and universalise its social protection schemes, and leave some space for States to innovate.

• The threat of Boko Haram: Boko Haram is a separatist group based in Nigeria. It has been increasingly attacking govt installations and targeting villages. Read this article to be aware of what’s happening over there, so that a major development tomorrow does not catch you by surprise (“OMG, when the hell did this happen in Nigeria?”).

• For a rational education debate: The debate over ‘non-school going children’ has the potential to dismantle hard-earned consensus in academic structure and curriculum. Besides, such a debate should never take place in an emotionally charged environment. (See yesterday’s editorial for the last article on the subject).

• When three is a company: Crowdfunding is the process of raising capital for a venture from a large number of people (instead of one angel investor). Equity crowdfunding is one kind of crowdfunding. SEBI is trying to regulate this market, but may be overlooking the damage that equity  crowdfunding from abroad can do. (This is an important article, besides being very informative).

• Is India bending towards Israel: This is about India’s abstention from the UNHRC vote against Israel, and is mostly written from a Palestinian perspective. Important.

• Ufa could be the yuan moment: The Ufa summit in Russia, which will create a currency pool under the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) and officially launch BRICS’s New Development Bank (NDB) could herald the beginning of a new global financial order.

Economy/Business

• We are relatively well insulated: The Chief Economic Advisor has said that since the Greece situation is likely to cause some withdrawal of foreign investments that would affect the rupee, India is otherwise relatively well-insulated from that crisis.

• Life insurance sector likely to grow 12-15 %: This is being attributed to an improved market scenario and the government’s push to improve insurance penetration in the country. Since new business premium for private sector players rose by 18 per cent in 2014-15 and contracted by 13 per cent for LIC, it means more and more people are going for private life insurance rather than the govt run one.

• Govt sets rooftop solar targets for States: The Central government has recently set State-wise tentative targets for installation of grid-connected solar rooftop systems as part of its plan to achieve 40,000 MW of rooftop solar power by 2022. (This can be used to answer questions on what steps we are taking to achieve energy generation via renewable resources. No need to remember the targets set for individual states).

• Sales to hit $638 b in 2018: The increase in internet penetration and availability of e-commerce applications on various mobility devices is helping drive mobile commerce.

Open Page

• The rise and fall of television in India: This is an article discussing the fall in the quality of material being broadcast on television. Good article. Must read.

• Spare the railway hospital system: The Bibek Debroy committee on railway reforms has suggested that the railways not run hospitals and schools. But having separate medical facilities and services for the railways solves a far bigger purpose, and should not be discarded as such.