Newspaper Must Read Articles of The Day – 12 August 2015

Aadhaar shall remain optional, says Supreme Court: In an interim order, the Supreme Court has said that Aadhaar was neither mandatory nor a condition for accessing benefits one was already entitled to. It agreed, though, with the Centre that freezing Aadhaar registration at this point will do no good; so it has left the decision to sign up for Aadhaar entirely to the citizens.

OUP to launch English-Hindi dictionary app: To bridge the barrier between Hindi-speaking Indians using their smart phones and their inability to comprehend English, the Oxford University Press will soon launch an English-Hindi dictionary app, which will be the first in India.

General consensus on GST Bill likely: The indirect taxation via GST is likely to be approved in the current Parliamentary system, after the government moved for the consideration of the Rajya Sabha the Constitution Amendment Bill for its introduction. (The accompanying table summarizes it very well).

Accountability with autonomy: In February 2015, the Reserve Bank of India and the Government of India entered into an agreement on a new monetary policy framework. Under this framework, the inflation target is set at 4 per cent with a band of +/- 2 per cent beginning 2016-17. Because control of inflation has emerged as the dominant objective of monetary policy, the accountability of the RBI is clear, and the government will not interfere with any action that Reserve Bank of India may take to keep inflation within the limits. This is a welcome step.

A bird, a dam and a belief: An account of the black-necked crane, and an attack on its habitat at Zemithang due to the proposed construction of the Nyamjang Chhu dam.

Greece, lenders clinch ‘deal’ after marathon talks: Greece and its international lenders have reached a multi-billion euro bailout agreement, potentially saving the country from financial ruin. The deal still has to be ratified by the Greek Parliament and various Eurozone countries.

Amnesty endorses contentious policy on decriminalising sex work: Amnesty International has voted to endorse a contentious plan to support the decriminalisation of sex work, a move that will enable it to pressure on governments not to punish millions of sex workers worldwide.

China devalues currency by 1.9 per cent: The People’s Bank of China (PBoC), China’s central bank, decided to devalue the yuan by 1.9%, the largest devaluation in two decades. The declared reason for the devaluation is that China is moving towards a market determined exchange rate (as wanted by the IMF) but the devaluation itself on the other hand, is likely to be interpreted as interference.
Indian exports are going to be hampered because Chinese products are going to become cheaper on the world market, and will become more attractive to various countries, compared to Indian products.

SEBI notifies ‘fast-track’ route for share sales: To boost fund raising from markets, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), on Tuesday, notified new norms, which will provide all listed companies a ‘fast-track’ route for selling their shares. The minimum requirement for net worth of a company that can access this route through a follow-on public offer (FPO) has been lowered from Rs.3000 crore to Rs.1000 crore.

Make hallmarking mandatory, says IAHC: Hallmarking of gold jewellery in India has to be made mandatory to ensure transparency for consumers, according to the nodal body for gold jewellery hallmarking, Indian Association of Hallmarking Centres (IAHC). The importance of hallmarking can be gauged from the fact that the RBI has asked gold loan companies to credit loans of the full value of hallmarked jewellery to borrowers.

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