Newspaper Must Read Articles of The Day – 04 August 2015

Centre inks peace accord with Naga insurgent outfit: The government signed a peace accord with the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), one of the largest insurgent outfits, which has been demanding a unified Naga identity and a separate ‘Nagalim’ State for over six decades. Besides the IM faction, there are two more groups – Khole-Kitovi (KK) and Reformation (R) – which were not part of the accord, although they have signed a ceasefire agreement with the government till April 27, 2016.

Centre disowns Indian Financial Code draft: The Union government has stepped back from the controversy surrounding the draft of the Indian Financial Code (IFC) that seeks to dilute the Reserve Bank’s powers to regulate the foreign exchange and government bond markets and set monetary policy. The draft also proposes, among other regulatory changes, the setting up of a Monetary Policy Committee that will set interest rates. (Click here for the original article on the subject).

U-turn by BJP could help Land Bill clear House hurdle: The ruling party has taken a step back, has agreed to bring back the key provisions of the previous government’s land law bill, including the ones on consent clause and social impact assessment into the current version of the Land Acquisition Bill. It will also drop the controversial amendments it brought about last year through an ordinance.

Call to save waterbody: The Andhra government is building the Polavaram Right Main Canal (PRMC) to irrigate the Krishna delta. But in doing so, two rivulets, Budameru and Tammileru, and 70 major and minor drains, will cease to flow into the Kolleru Lake. The Kolleru lake is a protected wetland, and as per the international Ramsar Convention, inflows to a protected wetland cannot be diverted for other purposes.

A victim’s submission to sexual assault does not mean consent, says SC: The Supreme Court has stated that submission to sexual assault should not be construed as consent by the victim, but immobility caused by sheer terror. The technical explanation is that ‘consent’ for sexual act required “voluntary participation not only after the exercise of intelligence based on the knowledge of the significance and moral quality of the act but after having fully exercised the choice between resistance and assent.” (ForumIAS: We should be appalled because in this country, the usual understanding is that if a victim submits to a rape, she is consenting to getting raped. Imagine how dreadful this thought-process is. When someone asks you why you want to become an IAS, say this and declare you want to become IAS to remove this mindset).

Abdication of responsibility: For the Lok Sabha Speaker to invoke the powers to suspend twenty-five MPs merely because the government failed in its efforts to persuade those MPs of its viewpoint, is but an abdication of that responsibility.

Freedom after many midnights: The settling of the enclave with Bangladesh has enabled those enclave-dwellers to become official citizens, with access to the basic requirements of life (electricity, running water, hospital and police services etc).

Swaraj and substance in the academy: The recent interventions by two leading figures — Amartya Sen and N.R. Narayana Murthy — in public forums, on the state of higher education in the country must lead us to rethink the architecture of our public educational institutions. Must read.

An iron curtain on the freedom of thought: A look at the issue of a perceived attack on freedom of thought and expression by the present govt, from the point of view of a Congress sympathizer. Not that important, read so that you know all the arguments from all the sides on this issue.

Obama takes ‘biggest step’ to tackle climate change: The plan, being announced on Monday, are designed to cut emissions from power plants and have been strengthened in terms of the long-term ambition as originally proposed by the president last year, but slightly weakened in the short-term in a concession to states reliant on highly-polluting coal. The final rules propose a 32 per cent cut in carbon emissions from power plants by 2030 on 2005 levels, up from the initial proposal of 30 per cent. However, states will only have to comply by 2022 rather than 2020 as originally proposed, and will be able submit their plans on meeting the targets by 2018 instead of 2017. Now, expect the US to start pressurising other countries (like us) to come out with similar emission reduction plans.

Look at the infographic about the MH370 plane on Page 14 titled “THE MH370 MYSTERY” to brush up your knowledge.

Afghan government says it won’t separately deal with Taliban: The Afghan government has addressed the growing leadership crisis in the Taliban for the first time, saying it will not deal with the militant group separately from other “armed opposition” in the country i.e. it will not deal two times with two different factions, but only with one combined Taliban. And, that the govt will not allow any parallel political structure of the Taliban to run concurrently with the national govt.

July factory output growth rebounds: India is one of only four major economies in the world that have recorded a growth in manufacturing output in July.

NBFCs prefer raising funds through debt route: Analysts say they prefer to raise money via this route rather than relying on banks, because the cost of raising funds through the debt route is cheaper.

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