Newspaper articles bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation
The Hindu
National
India, U.K. sign £9-bn deals – India and the United Kingdom announced deals worth £9 billion as they signed a civil nuclear pact and decided to collaborate in the field of defence and cyber security besides launching a railway rupee bond. (International Relations – GS Paper II)
International
EU free travel zone in danger as nations fence out refugees -European leaders scrambled on Thursday to keep their passport-free travel zone from collapsing, after Germany, Sweden and Slovenia acted on their own to tighten borders or erect fences to slow the relentless influx of people marching into Europe.(International Affairs – GS Paper II)
Business
Rising food prices spur inflation to four-month high – Rising prices for some food products and firm demand during the festival season pushed up India’s retail inflation to a four-month high in October, making it less likely the central bank will cut interest rates at its policy review next month.(Indian Economy – GS Paper II)
Opinion-`Editorial
Standing to reason and reason alone -Author Nitin Pai highlights various issues including arguments for and against the beef ban must be based on reason. If democracy is not to become an instrument to impose majoritarian mores on the entire population, the only way is to use reason for public persuasion(IndianSociety & Constitution – GS Paper II)
Towards peace in the Northeast -Bangladesh’s decision to hand over ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia to India is an important step towards peace in the region. Together with the imminent extradition of Thai arms dealer Naru, it demonstrates the potential of nation-states cooperating to fight non-state actors. (International Relations- GS Paper II)
The Maldives needs democracy -While the Maldives government’s decision to lift a state of emergency after less than a week is indeed a welcome move, it is yet to convincingly explain why it took the extreme step in the first place. (International Affairs – GS Paper II)
The sum of three new gold schemes – The Indian government has come out with three new gold schemes, the combined purposes of which are to reduce India’s gold imports and bring all the gold lying idle with individuals and households in India into the economy.(Government Policies – GS Paper II & Indian Economy – GS Paper III)
Indian Express
Editorials & Columns
Dealing With Failure -The new bankruptcy code can stimulate credit availability for entrepreneurs. It sets down a ‘calm period’ of 180 days. During this time, the claims of all creditors will be suspended. (Indian Economy – GS Paper III)
All the sarkar’s land – The defence ministry’s successful digitisation and indexing should be replicated across the Union government to make an inventory of all the land it owns. (Union Government – GS Paper II)
Opening the door – It is not clear how much of an impact the Centre’s latest easing of FDI norms across 15 sectors — from single-brand retail and construction to civil aviation and defence — will have in terms of bringing in the investment the economy desperately needs. (Indian Economy – GS Paper III)
Victor’s challenge -Myanmar went to the polls. In essence, this was its first real election since 1990, and only the second since 1960, and the third if you count 2010, which moved Myanmar from a military junta-led government to a civilianised parliamentary system – (International Affairs – GS Paper II)
LiveMint
Easing the flow of global capital -The global economic pattern can and should propel over $100-150 billion of investment towards the growing Indian economy.The liberalization, involving 32 impact points across 15 sectors, is basically two-fold… Read on (Economy – GS Paper III)
India and the global standards race – Good technology is usually anchored by valuable patents. In 2014, no Indian firms ranked among the top 50 organizations that filed for patents in the United States. Standards touch every major technology, from the guts of the Internet to the networks that operate in the emerging smart home market.(Economy – GS Paper III)
Does India really need a Start-up Act? -it takes an average of two or three months to incorporate a company in India. It takes even longer to shut down a company. In Singapore, by comparison, it takes about two days to incorporate a new business venture. The Southeast Asian city-state also offers a more attractive tax regime—the maximum corporate tax rate is 17%. (Indian Economy – GS Paper III)
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