The Hindu

Govt. looking for common ground to break impasse over Land Bill: The previous govt’s Land Acquisition Act required that at least 80 per cent of landowners must give consent for land acquisition for private projects and 70 per cent for public-private partnership projects. The current govt’s Bill proposes to exempt from consent five kinds of projects (defence, rural infrastructure, affordable housing, industrial corridors and infrastructure) when the Centre owns the land. Because of disagreements over this consent clause, the Bill has been held up in the Joint Parliamentary Committee for quite some time.

Greece referendum today: The crunch referendum which could determine Greece’s financial future and its place in the Eurozone is being held today. On the eve of the vote, polls showed the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ camps (the question is “Do you want to accept the debtors’ proposals in return for calling off the loans that Greek owes?”) were neck and neck.

Will remove cobweb of multiple taxes: The Goods and Services Tax (which India has wanted for years and years, and which will finally be implemented from the 2016-17 financial year) will remove the levy of multiple taxes, the Finance Minister has assured. (It will be a BIG BIG thing when implemented, especially for next year’s Civil Services exam. Please read up everything you can on the GST).

Centre yet to define role of Scientific Adviser: The position of Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister was always held by the D-G DRDO, but the government had decided to separate the positions of Secretary DoDRD and D-G DRDO from that of the Scientific Adviser.

Easing of additional cabin crew norm: Amidst the ongoing reforms in the Civil Aviation sector, airline operators have taken up an issue with the DGCA. On longer flights, if they had to take cabin crew at all, they had to take two and not one crew member. They want this rule to change, to enable airlines to carry only one crew member.

The following articles are important for interview preparation in case of people who are going to list cricket as an interest/hobby. The articles are about the crisis in the governance of the game in the country, and how cricket broadcasting has changed over the years. Other people need not bother reading.

The following articles are important in the interview preparation of people who have sporting achievements in school/college or who are going to list sports as an interest/hobby. Others need not bother. The articles are about how data interpretation is helping teams and players in maximising the output they can achieve.

Endgame in sight in Iran n-talks: The P5 + 1 countries (Permanent members of UNSC + Germany) and Iran are into a key weekend of talks amid signs they may be within sight of an agreement. The aim of the negotiations is to finalise a deal which would put a nuclear bomb beyond Iran’s reach, in return for lifting a web of biting international sanctions slapped on the Islamic republic.

US-Russia relations key to stability: The Russian President has said that relations between the US and Russia are the key to world stability. These relations have worsened ever since the Ukraine crisis, that led to the European Union announcing sanctions on Russia (many suspect the US pressured the EU to do so).

Exporters asked to diversify: Due to the turmoil in Greece, and possible repercussions that may emerge from it, Indian exporters should look beyond the Eurozone and explore opportunities in emerging markets such as Latin America, CIS nations and Africa.

Database to check fraud: In a significant step to check frauds and multiple claims, a vendor shall be authorized by the Life Insurance Council to collect the details of policy-holders from 24 different Life Insurance companies by the end of this year.

Currency swing to pull down global IT spending by 5.5 %: With the growing currency fluctuation, global IT spending is likely to witness a steep drop in 2015 against the same mark in 2014, says a forecast by technology advisory firm Gartner. Of all the things that are going to be affected due to this, India’s services sector (the major contributor to our GDP) remains at the front of the firing line.

Newspaper Must Read Articles of The Day – 05 July 2015