Newspaper Must Read Articles of The Day– 1 October 2015

The Hindu

National

• India to hold G20 Chair in 2018, Delhi may play host – India is set to be the G20 Chair in 2018, and New Delhi could host the prestigious annual G20 summit. The G20 operates as a forum and not as an organisation. Therefore, it does not have any permanent secretariat or management and administrative structure. One of the G20 countries is selected to hold the Chair in rotation, also known as ‘G20 presidency’. (International Organisation – GS Paper II)

• Natural gas price cut in line with new policy –  According to the new policy, the price of natural gas is to be revised every six months on the basis of a weighted average of rates in countries such as the U.S., Mexico, Canada and Russia, all gas-surplus economies. The price of domestic natural gas for the period from October 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016 is $3.81 per mmBtu on a GCV basis which amounts to 18% cut.(Indian Economy – Resorces – GS Paper III)

• INS Kochi COMMISSIONED -The INS Kochi, a stealth guided missile destroyer, was commissioned today at Mumbai. (Science & Technology-Defence – GS Paper III)

International 

• India, U.S., Japan say interests in Indo-Pacific converge – The article looks into the first trilateral meeting of Foreign Ministers of India, United States and Japan.  The meeting underscored the importance of international law and peaceful settlement of disputes; freedom of navigation and overflight; and unimpeded lawful commerce, including in the South China Sea.(International Affairs – GS Paper II)

Business

• Core sector registers 2.6% growth – Index of Industrial Production of eight core companies registered a growth of 2.6%. The three industries which failed to show substantial growth were coal, natural gas, and steel.(Indian Economy – Industries – GS Paper III)

• India climbs 16 places in WEF’s Global Competitiveness Index – India has moved up 16 positions to 55 place on a global index of world’s most competitive economies for the year 2015-16. The Geneva-based think-tank stated that while the quality of India’s institutions is judged more favourably (60, up 10 places), business leaders still consider corruption to be the biggest obstacle to doing business in the country, followed by policy instability, inflation, access to finance, government instability and inadequate supple of infrastructure, among others.(Indian Macroeconomy – GS Paper III)

Opinion-Editorial

• Scripting clean polls, via Aadhaar – The article looks into revision of electoral rolls.The article also looks into issue of multiple enrolment of voters and their intentions behind it are cleared through some examples. The article further investigates into how the duplication can be avoided. It explores what has been and what needs to be done in this context. (Elections Representation of People’s Act – GS Paper II)

• The inconvenience of the past – The article looks into how the History of India is manipulated, exaggerated, erased for the convenience of certain groups and how it hurts the country. (Academic Governance – Paper II, Ethical Issues in Governance – Paper IV)

• Lost in a forest of bad ideas – The article looks into huge sum fund of Rs. 38,000 crore, collected from cutting down forests, is to be used. The article looks into the difficulty of creating a complex forest ecosystem after cutting down one and also the non availability of land to do so which leads to CAMPA funds being diverted to administrative expenses. The article also looks into how this money can be invested into other complex ecosystem which are endangered due to lack of funds.(Government Policies – Paper II & Environment – Paper III)

• Development and security – The article looks into how development in Maoist infected areas seems to be more aligned with security issues rather than real intention of development for people. The article looks into how without investing in health and education infrastructure, increasing employment opportunities, and raising the quality of life in tribal areas, it would be difficult to address the socio-economic grievances that feed into the Maoist agenda. The article states that merely concentrating on upgrading infrastructure without addressing long-standing grievances will not meet the government’s objectives. (Internal Security – GS Paper IV)

Indian Express

Editorials & Columns

• India, US and a new moment – The article looks into different achievements out of the recent PM Modi’s visit to US on the front of climate and investment. The article also looks into challenges of Afghan policy for India. (International Affairs – GS Paper III)

• A Shaky Aadhaar – The article looks into the debate of making Aadhar scheme mandatory or voluntary. The article also looks into data security and privacy concerns. The article state that taxpayer money invested in Aadhar for over six years now which is devoid of legislative scrutiny and sanction is a waste of that money. (Government Policies – GS Paper II)

• They can change India – The article looks into how intervention plans by NGOs or Government in marginalised areas looks into availability of resources in the area and comes up with innovative solution which has the power to bring about change for good in the areas. (Social Empowerment – GS Paper I)

• A good low – The article looks into the new scheme of calculating prices of natural gas which is very close to deregulation and how it is beneficial to India. (Indian Economy – Mobolisation of Resources – GS Paper III)

• Eye in the sky – The article looks into the success and rise in credibility of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in past few years. ( Science & Tech – GS Paper III)

LiveMint

• Modi’s window of opportunity to bring in big reforms is closing fast – The article looks into the approach of governance with more decentralisation and a less of central governance. The article states that more the delay in reforms harder it becomes to implement them. The article looks into what should be done by government to bring in these reforms and make them sustainable. (Governance – GS Paper II)

• Don’t fear the IMF – The article looks into how IMF works for financial woes and how successful it has been. The article states that though IMF is criticised but it is way ahead than many other international organisation in handling crisis in their sphere for example UNHCR and refugee crisis. (International organisations – Paper II)

• Swachh Bharat Mission a misguided approach to ending open defecation – The article looks into how the absence of publicly available data for Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and different approaches by different state has led to a poor result in the past one year. The article calls for a nationwide survey for consistent data on achievements of SBM. (Government Policies – Paper II)