Newspaper Must Read Articles of The Day – 06 August 2015

LeT militant captured in repeat of 26/11: A Pakistani militant was captured and another killed after they attacked a Border Security Force convoy in Udhampur, J & K. The police have launched a search for the two infiltrators still at large.

Furniture-makers take the e-route to beat competition: Kerala, a state dominant in the country’s furniture industry, will take the e-commerce route to scale up sale of knocked-down furniture and stave off competition from international players. An innovative international furniture hub housing a design facility, common facility centre, a permanent exhibition centre and a convention centre will be ste up near Karukutty. (Fifty per cent of the project fund will come from the Union government under the head of Modified Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme of the Commerce Ministry. Twenty-five per cent of the money will come from the State government. The stakeholder industry, which will float a special purpose vehicle, will pick the remaining share of investment.)

China media see border meet a step forward: The fifth border meeting point between India and China at Daulat Beg Oldie in Ladakh to resolve the border issue has opened.

Postman may verify passport applicants: The Union government is planning to use the postman for basic verification of passport applicants. (The process is now undertaken by the police after the particulars of the applicants are sent from the Passport System of the Passport Office).

Refugees as citizens: As far as the Union government’s move to grant citizenship to undocumented migrants who have come to India fleeing religious persecution in Pakistan and Bangladesh is concerned, the govt should be ready to include anyone, even Muslims, under this umbrella. Because, there are many minority sects within Islam itself that face persecution, especially in Pakistan.
Plus, we should keep our doors open to all people seeking refuge, not just ones fleeing religious persecution.

Deficient on the safety front: While it is cannot run a safe, dependable and comfortable railway system on the one hand, Indian Railways should not talk aboto flashy bullet trains on the other. What the accidents involving the two trains in Madhya Pradesh point to is the absence of a safety protocol to handle operations during extreme weather, particularly at vulnerable points such as bridges.

Chronicle of a struggle retold: This is an account of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, and the environmental issues that have been thrown up in its wake.

Nagaland – a long road to peace: This is a succinct account of the Nagaland issue, and how even an attempt to solve the problem should be applauded. The table given is particularly precise.

Hope, tempered by realism: An account of the steps that have been taken to solve the Naga isuue by the present govt, and what else is needed to be done from now on.

Military courts to try terror suspects in Pakistan: Pakistan’s Supreme Court has ruled to allow military trials for terror suspects, the latest in the government’s intensified campaign against terrorism in the wake of last year’s Taliban attack on a school that killed nearly 150 people, almost all of them children. But it has been criticised as going against the constitution and civil rights.

World Bank again under fire over ‘diluting’ lending norms: A second draft framework of the World Bank, for environmental and social safeguards projects it aims to finance, has been alleged as anti-environment. The bank intends to finance more high-risk projects, which could vastly weaken protections given to affected communities and the environment. This could have a serious impact in India, because we are the multilateral agency’s largest borrower.

Beijing ‘stops’ S. China Sea project: China said on Wednesday it has finished the land reclamation work in the South China Sea that has brought growing condemnation from its neighbours and the US. But a Southeast Asian diplomatic source said the Chinese Foreign Minister has said that only the land reclamation was completed and that the construction would continue.

BSNL to hive off tower assets: BSNL has the second largest mobile tower infrastructure with about 65,000 towers. The forming of a new subsidiary, which is expected to be valued at Rs 20,000 crore, will make sharing of towers with other operators easier. This is expected to help in come generation of both BSNL and MTNL (both loss-making ventures currently). The Union govt has decided to segregate the mobile tower assets of BSNL into this new subsidiary.

India defers trade talks with EU: India has decided to defer the proposed trade talks with the European Union (EU), because of the EU’s ban of around 700 Indian pharmaceutical products. Pharmaceutical industry is one of the flagship sectors of India and has developed its reputation through strong research and safety protocols over the years.

Mandatory export rules likely: India is the world’s largest sugar consumer and second biggest producer after Brazil. We have been producing more sugar than we need for the past five years and the trend is likely to continue. so, the govt is likely to bring in rules to make it compulsory for sugar mills to export millions of tonnes of surplus supplies to support local prices.

Comments