The Hindu

National

• ‘Millers skim off Rs. 200 cr daily’ – The CAG is conducting an audit of financial dealings between government institutions and rice mills in eight major rice-producing States. It is alleged that Rs. 200 crore black money gets generated daily through false reporting of income from sale of paddy by-products by the millers.

• Centre makes it clear: no going back on legislation –The land ordinance could be re-promulgated before April 5, when it lapses.

• Lunar tunnels can house future human colonies, say scientists – Lava tubes or natural tunnels can  safely house permanent bases on the Moon, scientists have said.

• India vote at U.N. not anti-gay, explains government – India voted at U.N. for the withdrawal of benefits to same-sex couples. Govt explains that this was an issue of whether citizens of a country was governed by their laws or others’ decisions.

• Venkaiah for sharing GST with municipalities – Indian municipalities are the “weakest” in the world in terms of access to resources, financial autonomy and revenue-raising capability; So revenue from Goods and Services Tax should be shared with municipalities, says Minister.

International

• India, Qatar sign prisoner exchange deal – It will allow Indian prisoners in Qatar to complete their remaining sentence in India and vice versa.

• Lee’s Singapore model seen as benchmark for China – Singapore has shown  how Chinese culture  can be successfully integrated with Western culture for progress.

Business

• Windfall gain – The spectrum auction has concluded at Rs.1,09,874 crore. This is the highest ever in  Indian history.

• Exciting times ahead for Digital Media – India’s media and entertainment industry will grow at 13.9 per cent over the next five years, says KPMG.

Opinion-Editorial

• Land swap: can a deal be clinched? – India and Bangladesh should solve the land boundary disputes by exchange of  disputed territories. If so  it will help future cooperation, development, and trade.

• India’s Oscars? – Whenever  “National” Awards are declared,  different states and regions only count how many awards their language cinema has won.

• Victory for free speech – The Supreme Court judgment on Section 66A of the IT Act described it  “vague” and having a “chilling effect on free speech”.

SCI-TECH & AGRI

• Corruption in governance breeds antibiotic resistance – Corruption found to be dangerous for health; this is because of low supervision and enforcement of laws that cover drugs, food and water safety, says study.

Indian Express

Editorials & Columns

• Getting RBI out of debt – Govt should manage its own debt not RBI; Public Debt Management Agency is a good idea, says the author.

• Transmission defect – RBI cut the repo rate twice  in 2015,  but most banks are have not lowered their lending rates.

• Anti-science, absurd – The parliamentary committee has ignored several research findings and asked the Govt to set up a  medical board to examine the health effects of tobacco on Indians. Pictorial warnings on tobacco-product packages should be made compulsory after that, they say.

LiveMint

• RBI’s currency challenge – RBI knows that the rupee is overvalued, but continues to say that it will not act.

The Hindu

 National

• SC strikes down ‘draconian’ Section 66A-It invades right to free speech, every expression used in it is vague, says Supreme Court.

• Twitter Samvad to keep the govt.-citizen conversation going – Govt has launched a new platform, in association with Twitter to help its e-governance plans. It will provide for direct communication among leaders, government agencies and citizens through tweets and text messages.

• Centre plans security guidelines-Section 66A of IT Act has been declared invalid. But security establishments need a structured response in case of terrorism, extremist violence and promotion of communal violence through software technology says minister.

• Queen reigns at National Awards-The 62nd National Film Awards announced. ‘Court’ is the best feature film.

• Daily drug therapy for TB patients soon – The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will start daily drug therapy for TB patients in 100 select districts soon. The new treatment protocol, has been selected because experts found the old system ineffective and also a possible cause for MDR-TB.

International

• India, China agree to maintain peace, tranquility in border areas – The countries have re-emphasized “three-step process to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution” of border row.

• Bill curbing Sri Lankan President’s powers tabled – The Bill proposes to change the current presidential form of government to a presidential-parliamentary system.

Business

• BOOST FOR IT WORKERS – U.S. has made it easier to get L-1B work visas to attract foreign investment.  It will  also attract people with specialised knowledge to US.

• ADB too says India will overtake China in growth – ADB estimates India to grow at 7.8 per cent in 2015-16 and 8.2 per cent the next fiscal. These  rates are higher than that of China.

Opinion-Editorial

• Free speech Ver.2.0 – The Supreme Court has indirectly said that the right to critique and the right to dissent are a important parts of the freedom of speech.

• Debating religious conversions – Religious conversion is a topic of one’s choice guaranteed under the Constitution. It is not a collective right of any religious community.

• Defying RTI, undermining democracy – Six national parties have not followed the 2013 order of Central Information Commission which declared  them as Public Authorities.

Indian Express

 Editorials & Columns

• Making bad loans better– Sebi will change rules to allow banks to convert part of their outstanding debt into equity.

• ‘Govts may come and governments may go but Section 66A goes on forever’ – Edited excerpts from the Supreme Court’s judgment discusses different aspects of the Law.

LiveMint

•  Ending India’s housing squeeze – Building new houses alone cannot solve India’s housing problem.

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. 

The Hindu

National

• Hyderabad funds case: setback to Pakistan –  Pakistan has been asked by a U.K. court to pay £1,50,000 to India as legal fees in the Hyderabad funds case.  The 67-year-old case involves the transfer of £1,007,940 to a London bank account for the benefit of Pakistan by an agent of Hyderabad Nizam.

• India mulling defence exports: Parrikar – India will encourage export of defence equipment to 38 friendly nations. The nation wants good relations with neighbours, says Parikkar.

• ‘Paramilitary forces to have 33 p.c. women’ – seven paramilitary forces will increase the strength of women from less than five per cent to 33%, says minister.

• J&K getting a massive seismic station network – seismic stations, accelerometers and GPS instruments are being set up in J&K to track severe earthquake  prone regions.

International

• Pressure on Japan, U.S. to join Asian bank – many US allies are already supporting the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Some among the Western media want U.S. to join the initiative now led by China.
  

• Rupee third on fake foreign currency list in Switzerland –  the number of fake Indian currency seized by Swiss Police is third highest among all foreign currencies.

Business

• Jaitley denies rift with RBI – Govt to create a panel that will set interest rates and take monetary policy decisions instead of RBI. Govt. wants its nominee on the panel while RBI wants outside experts.

• SEBI clears municipal bonds, IFSC norms -new measures announced by SEBI  will expand markets and make  fund raising easier for business and infrastructure projects. SEBI will also set up a global financial hub within India.

Opinion-Editorial

• The nuts and bolts of skill development -for the skill development programme to succeed, markets and industry  should be involved in decisions on courses, curriculum and relevance.

• Persisting acts of intolerance – Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 has been used unreasonably to curb free speech on the Internet.

• Nuclear negotiations at a delicate stage – the central question involving U.S.-Iran negotiations is how many centrifuges can sustain Iranian nuclear development;   without imposing sanctions.

Indian Express

 Editorials & Columns

• Space for growth – ISRO is making noteworthy contributions to the business, industry and national development.

• Redoing India-China sums – India and China should turn to economic ties to ease tensions arising from disputes.

• So who needs reservations? -reservations should not be based only on historical injustice. If so, it can put those really deserving at a disadvantage.

LiveMint

• IMF, ADB add to supporters for China-led development bank – IMF and ADB, have expressed their ‘happiness’ to cooperate with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

The Hindu

National

• Budget Session, a victory for govt. and Opposition – the Budget Session has seen both sides scoring their own victories, the govt has also been given lessons in parliamentary democracy by the Opposition.

• Mass copying in Bihar a social issue – for the  families of girls, a pass is a must for their marriage. Many academicians favour an “open book system” to cure the malaise.

• Conservation goes hi-tech in Bandipur – Drones or unmanned aerial vehicles are used to monitor any unauthorised entry into forests and to detect any forest fire.

• ‘Water Man’ Rajendra Singh wins Stockholm Water Prize – the activist has been conferred the Prize for his innovative water restoration efforts. The man has shown extraordinary courage to empower communities in Indian villages.

• Chinese airline completes cooking oil fuel flight – China completes the country’s first commercial flight using bio-fuel. A Chinese airline used a 50-50 mix of conventional jet fuel and bio-fuel made from “waste cooking oil collected from restaurants in China.

•  Scientists planning audacious space mission -Researchers are proposing to send a robot submarine to study the oily seas of Titan, one of Saturn’s moons

International

• China, Japan, S. Korea to set up leadership summit -China, Japan and South Korea work to build closer relationships. How they manage to overlook Japan’s colonisation of the Korean peninsula and occupation China, will be a challenge.

• Bloody Nowruz: 45 dead in attacks on Kurds – Explosions disrupt new year celebrations in Syria’s Kurdish region

Indian Express

• Across the Aisle: Equity suffers Rs 75,000-crore blow – Devolution of a 42 per cent share of taxes would empower states. The Finance Minister thus, kicks the ball of welfare into the states’ corner. Chidambaram examines the argument.

The Hindu

 National

• Coal, mines Bills cleared as govt. has its way – The govt. managed to pass the Coal Mines Bill on the last day before the Parliament broke for month long recess in budget session.

• Black money Bill tabled in Lok Sabha -Undisclosed income abroad will no longer be taxed under IT Act, but at a flat rate of 30%.

• Law not a panacea for poll ills: CEC – Chief Election Commissioner H S Brahma talks about Electoral reforms for clean politics.

 International

• Putin sends out message with military drills – Keep you distance and do not overplay your hand – was the message of the huge Russian Military Drill from the Pacific to the Black Sea, odered by Putin.

• 142 dead in Yemen bombings– Suicide bombings by the Islamic State jihadist group killed at least 142 people Friday at mosques in the Yemeni capital, in an attack targeting Shiite worshippers including Huthi militiamen.

Business

• No intention to take away ‘significant’ power from RBI: Arun Jaitley-Government will not take away any ‘significant’ power of the RBI; its role in bond market regulation will be clarified later.

• Centre plans 10 pharma clusters-Government to set up 10 pharma clusters across the country in the next one year to make the sector globally competitive.

Opinion-Editorial

• Unlocking growth through labour reforms-By 2020, when the global economy is expected to run short of 56 million young people, India, with a youth surplus of 47 million, could fill the gap. In this context labour reforms are the way to unlock double-digit growth in India.

• National policy for Upper Houses?-There are several merits and demerits to having a Legislative Council. A national policy on having a permanent second chamber is necessary so that a subsequent government cannot abolish it at its whim.

• The polluted air we breathe -25-30 cities in the top 100 most polluted cities in the world are from India. Air pollution is most often a symptom of inadequate urban planning.

Indian Express

Editorials & Columns

• The Buddhist route – By reaffirming India’s historical leadership of the Buddhist world and projecting its Buddhist links in the Indian Ocean region, Delhi is evidently trying to counter efforts by China to extend its sphere of influence.

• Return of a spectre – Pakistan’s n-weapons could be misused during a crisis by military personnel sympathetic to the jihadi cause.

• Copy that – The roots of the mass copying problem lie in the structural flaws of an education system that continually fails students through its lopsided priorities and poor capabilities.

• Fine-tuning democracy  – Money power, inner-party democracy, defection, paid news and electoral reform are the current challenges of Indian democracy.

LiveMint

The Hindu

National

• Now, opposition from Japan blocks India-US deal – The major opposition from Japan is on the issue of ‘tracking’ nuclear activity.

• Centre yet to name two Anglo-Indians for Lok Sabha – The Anglo-Indian community has gone unrepresented for four sessions of the Lok Sabha.

• Japan firm on data sharing, weapons test conditions  – Japan’s key demand is that India sign a test ban treaty: the NPT or the CTBT.

• Opposition forces deferment of Mines, Coal Bills in Rajya Sabha – The opposition foiled the passage of the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill, 2015 and the Coal Mines Bill, 2015 in the Rajya Sabha. They claimed that the Select Committee violated the principles of democracy and of federalism as it had not consulted the the States.

• When the big dams came up – The building of big dams and their ecological and social impact is a very controversial topic. Jawaharlal Nehru’s endorsement of them as the “temples of modern India” is famous.

International

• European countries express readiness to join  China-led bank – Germany, France and Italy have expressed their readiness to join the AIIB. Objections from the United States have gone in vane.

• ‘Two-state solution impossible under Netanyahu’ – A two-state solution to the Middle East conflict will be impossible with an Israel under Benjamin Netanyahu; Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has said.

Business

• New tourism policy will have the taste of food – The new tourism policy 2015, will have several measures to develop the market for culinary tourism to India.

• Tata to head Railways’ Kaya Kalp council – Govt has constituted the Kaya Kalp council and appointed Ratan Tata as its head. The council will recommend innovative methods and processes for the improvement, betterment and transformation of the Railways.

• NSE launches Quality 30 index – The National Stock Exchange has launched ‘Quality 30’ index to capture the  performance of  top 30 quality companies’ stocks listed on the NSE.

Opinion-Editorial

• Status quo in Israel  – The victory of the right wing in 2015 Israeli elections implies that majority Israelites have become strongly opposed to any move for substantive peace with Palestinians.

• Perils abroad – The brutal murder of an Indian national in Sydney raises doubts about the safety of Indians abroad.

• Hitting all the wrong notes in J&K – If the Govt wants to check the profligacy of the J&K CM on matters of security,  it should rather act than talk.

Indian Express

Editorials & Columns

• Law Must be Enforced against Sexual Harassers  – The Supreme Court guidelines on mechanisms to deal with cases of sexual harassment of women have remained unimplemented.

• ‘Pakistan’s Use of Terrorism as State Policy Hits Peace Talks’  –  Terrorism is a state policy for Pakistan. This prevents peaceful talks between India and Pakistan says Ministry.

Livemint

• India remains bit player, China marches ahead in patent filings – India registered an increase of 5.6% in patent filings. China registered a higher rise  of 18.7%.

• Govt sets aside funds for BRICS bank, none for AIIB – India has set aside Rs.930 crore for the BRICS bank; but nothing was allocated for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

What to read in Today’s Paper

The Hindu

What to read in Today’s Paper

The Hindu

What to read in Today’s Paper

The Hindu