PM relents, may agree to amend Land Bill: Because land is seen differently (and used for different purposes) in different regions of the country, and because various political parties are in power in various states, Chief Ministers had demanded flexibility to the States to frame their own laws for land acquisition at the July 15 meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog. The Union Govt has acquiesced to this, paving the way for the passing of the Land Acquisition bill in Parliament.
Govt extends interest subvention scheme: The government has extended the interest subvention scheme under which banks advance crop loans of up to Rs. 3 lakh at the rate of 7 per cent for another year. It also extended the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme by another five years and expanded the scope of the programme to cover 15 new product categories, mostly electronics.
Scrapping Aadhaar will hurt welfare schemes: After the Aadhaar scheme was launched, many government authorities were insisting on presentation of the Aadhar card for providing government subsidies and basic services to ordinary citizens. In a 2013 order, the Supreme court had directed that no person should suffer for not getting the Aadhaar card, inspite of the fact that some authority had issued a circular making it mandatory. But since that order has not stopped some officials, the apex court had asked the govt as to why the Aadhaar card shouldn’t be scrapped altogether.
Opinion/Editorial
Trial and error: In 95% of cases where a lower court awards a death penalty, the higher courts are overturning that verdict in India. So, to save a lot of time spent in deliberations, should India stop awarding death penalties altogether?
Historic fly-by: Please know facts about the New Horizons spacecraft, why it was launched, what is the need to explore stuff far far away when people in the world (and in the country) are dying of hunger, what are its aims and till when is it supposed to keep functioning.
Crime and commensurate punishment: An analysis of the Juvenile Justice Bill, and what are the advantages/disadvantages of its implementation (if passed by Parliament) for the 16 to 18-year-old age group. Must read.
Has the IIM faculty been sidelined: Over the years, IIM boards (with mostly non-executive members) have assumed sweeping powers, relegating the actual faculty in the institutes to merely followers of their diktats. The IIM Bill might do well to focus on this anomaly, and enable the faculty/teachers to determine the education policy (fees, curriculum, domains, recruitments) of IIMs.
International/World Affairs
New Development Bank of BRICS opens in Shanghai: The BRICS grouping has formally opened the New Development Bank (NDB) as a dedicated channel of alternate finance (to World Bank/IMF), which will focus on emerging economies and those nations that are turned away by Western financial institutions.
Greece braces for next vote: The next set of bills the Greek Parliament has to pass (after the first one last week) to satisfy its international creditors involve adoption of new rules on propping up failed banks and new rules for Greece’s civil justice system.
Leave a Reply