National
SC agrees to lay down law on LG’s power to run Delhi – Describing the prolonged Centre-Arvind Kejriwal turf war over who controls Delhi as an “extraordinary matter”, the Supreme Court agreed to lay down the law on whether the Lieutenant Governor (LG) can unilaterally administer the National Capital without being bound by the “aid and advice” of the elected government.
‘Gender crimes in U.P. rising’ – Crimes against women increased by a significant 61 per cent between 2010-11 and 2014-15, with a sharp climb during 2013-14, the Comptroller and Auditor General has noted in a new report, a performance audit on ‘women empowerment.’
Get ready to view degrees in digital format from end of 2017 – The government has set the ball rolling for the creation of an online database where all academic certificates will be available in digital format by the end of next year.
Central government seeks citizens’ feedback on simultaneous polls – The Union government has sought the views of citizens on holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies, following a debate sparked by statements made by the Prime Minister and the President.
Editorials
Dark clouds over the PDS – The imposition of Aadhaar-based biometric authentication in the Public Distribution System threatens to disrupt recent progress with PDS reforms. It also deprives millions of people of essential food entitlements.
Reining in the adventurist North – North Korea’s fifth nuclear test may have had an explosive yield of no more than ten kilotons, somewhat less than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, but its reverberations have set alarm bells ringing around the region, even across the Pacific.
Science & Technology
Road clear for Chandrayaan-2 – The space road to Chandrayaan-2 is now clear. The significance of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F05) mission’s success on Thursday is that the rocket is now more than qualified to put Chandrayaan-2 into orbit. The interfaces between GSLV-Mk II and Chandrayaan-2 have already been finalised, according to officials in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
NASA spacecraft starts mission to collect samples from asteroid – OSIRIS-REx (which stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) catapulted into space at 7:05 p.m. EDT (2305 GMT) yesterday, the first extraterrestrial step in its voyage to the asteroid Bennu and back.
International
Don’t segment terrorists, says India –
India continued its diplomatic onslaught against Pakistan on terrorism with Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar telling a conference of international journalists that no country could segment and differentiate between good and bad terrorists.
North Korea conducts fifth nuclear test – North Korea said it hit the button on its fifth and potentially most powerful nuclear test Friday morning, claiming to have successfully detonated a nuclear warhead that could be mounted on ballistic rockets.
Economy
Public goods cost may fall on anti-cartelisation drive – The government may be able to prune its massive public procurement expenditure soon, as a growing number of departments and public sector firms are cracking down on vendors indulging in cartelisation and collusive bidding for contracts to deliver public goods and services.
‘Microfinance sector could treble in 4 years’ – The country’s microfinance sector will grow nearly three-fold to reach up to Rs 4.3 trillion over the next three years on account of expansion into newer segments and enhanced average loan sizes.
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