The Hindu

India on track in reducing poverty: The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Report of 2015 shows that India is on track towards achieving the parameters in reduction of acute poverty, although, most of India’s neighbours have also achieved reduction and at faster rates. We have achieved 11 out of 22 parameters set under the MDGs. (The MDGs were set to be achieved by this year only. So, they are an important topic for the 2015 Civil Services).

Guardians for good: The Supreme Court decision to allow unwed mothers to become sole guardians of a child is a historical ruling. Two aspects come out from analysing it: Firstly, the interests of the child are above all other considerations, and it is imperative to name the mother as guardian in case of an absentee father. Secondly, a woman has a fundamental right on grounds of privacy to not disclose the identity of her child’s father. (Click here for the original SC ruling).

Equivocation on Palestine: India’s abstention from voting on the UNHRC resolution involving Israeli war crimes has been explained officially by saying that since India is not a signatory to the Rome Statute establishing the ICC, we abstained because of the reference to the ICC in the resolution. And that there is no change in India’s policy towards Palestine. But the real reason for this shift has to be the burgeoning strategic relations between India and Israel.

Understanding and countering IS: The IS is the most formidable terror machinery of our time because it has people with military experience in addition to a jihadist ideological vigour. And no one has been able to stop it because there is no cohesive strategy involving all the nations fighting it.

Putting out the West Asian fire: The Prime Minister’s ongoing visit to the five Central Asian States presents an excellent opportunity for India to nurture peace in a region being swept by radical extremist winds. India’s success, to date, in insulating our own Muslim population from radicalism has gained wide acceptance, and we are in a good position to help others do the same.

Greece’s fight is for democracy in Europe: This article is a short analysis if the Greece situation, and what it means for Europe in general. Read it for the background information and history.

A new bank for a new era: The New Development Bank should not become another World Bank which finances the same types of projects in the same countries, using the same tools and mindset. At the same time, its purpose should not simply be to symbolise emerging countries’ desire to show off their financial and political power. It must become a tool for bringing about substantive changes in the lives of people who have not been touched by modernity.

Why can’t we bring you under RTI, asks SC: Big, big news. In a maiden step to make political parties publicly accountable about their financial assets, the Supreme Court has asked six national parties to come clean and explain their hesitation to disclose complete details of their income, expenditure, donations, funding, including donor details etc to the public under the Right to Information Act. It gave them six weeks to file their responses.

Tardy pace on maternal mortality front: This has already been covered under the front page article today about MDGs.

No mining, polluting units in eco-sensitive zones: The Union Environment Minister has declared that as per the 2013 Kasturirangan Committee report. commercial mining and polluting industries would be strictly banned in areas identified as eco-sensitive zones in the Western Ghats region. The process of demarcation of Ecologically Sensitive Areas is going on right now.

It’s a long-term war, declares Obama: The US President has announced that the war between the U.S.-led coalition and the Islamic State in Syria will be a “long-term” campaign and it will take time to root out the group. In addition to the use of force, political and economic efforts are also needed to combat the IS.

Security experts warn against encryption ‘backdoors’: After claims from U.S. and British authorities that access to encrypted information is needed by law enforcement authorities to fight crime and terrorism, computer coders have said that such access is not possible without opening the door to malicious actors.

Plan afoot to mop up excess liquidity: Commercial banks and the RBI are at loggerheads again. The RBI wants to drain money markets of excess liquidity (using reverse repo rates) to counter inflationary pressures arising from higher government spending. But commercial banks don’t want it because they say it will be easier to reduce lending rates (as the RBI has urged them to do) if surplus liquidity continues to prevail for some months.

Reservation for jute packaging to stay: Because sacking and packaging accounts for around 65 per cent of the total jute usage, the Jute Packaging Material Act, 1987 was enacted to protect the jute sector against alternative modes of packaging such as synthetic HDPE bags. Currently, jute packaging is reserved for 90 per cent of foodgrains produced and 20 per cent of sugar. This reservation is likely to be continued further.

Newspaper Must Read Articles of The Day – 08 July 2015