Front Page

• India ranked best for investment: India has risen from sixth to first place as a destination for investment based on profitability offered.

• U.S. Supreme Court lifts bar on gay unions: In a culmination of two decades of litigation over marriage and gay rights, the US Supreme Court has declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in that country.

• Pakistan seeks U.K. help to probe MQM-India ‘link’: In a development that is going to evolve over the next few weeks, Pakistan has officially sought help from Britain to establish whether whether India has funded and trained cadres of the Pakistan opposition party, the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM).

Editorial/Opinion

• Needed, a new urban vision: The announcing and features of the Smart Cities Mission as announced by the govt points to a bottoms-up approach, but resonates with American-style urbanisation which does not really benefit the urban poor.

• The promise of freight corridors: Poor infrastructure has been a principal worry for Indian industry. The East-West freight corridor promises to go a long way in alleviating this problem.

• We don’t want no education: The political class has heavily invested in the profit-making segment of higher education, ignoring the need for knowledge creation. Central institutions have been used to advance party-political agendas.

• Comment is free but abuse has a price: Moderators of internet sites, and news websites in particular, should exercise editorial judgment before clearing comments that have the potential to hurt others, to undermine the quality of public discourse or target an individual.

• Let’s not miss the wood: Millions of hectares of forest land inside revenue village boundaries, eligible to be identified as community forest resources (CFRs) as per the State of Forest Report of 1999 are actually not given this recognition.

National

• LCH clears hot weather trial: The Light Combat Helicopter, being developed by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), has successfully completed week-long hot weather flight trials at Jodhpur. It is expected to achieve Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) and enter series production by the end of the year.

• Government to revamp oil, gas block auctions: Because the previous round four years ago received a lukewarm response, the govt will revamp oil and gas block auctions for the tenth round of auctions under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) to be held in the current fiscal.

International/ World Affairs

• Sirisena dissolves Sri Lankan Parliament: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has dissolved the seventh Parliament ten months ahead of schedule. Elections will be held to elect a new ruling party and Prime Minister.

• Hard-fought victory for gay rights activists: The US Supreme Court’s ruling that the US Constitution’s guarantee of due process and equal protection under the law means that various states cannot ban same sex marriages should be seen as a precursor for similar decisions in other countries around the world.

• Greece, creditors get closer on terms of bailout: Greece and its creditors moved closer to clinching a deal this weekend that would allow the cash-strapped country avoid a default and stay in the euro currency club. Collapse of the Greek economy in 2008 was one of the first reasons responsible for the World Economic crisis.

Economy/Business

• Great Depression-like problems loom: The RBI Director has been warning against competitive monetary policy easing by central banks in countries, that could lead the world economy towards a situation like the Great Depression of the 1930s.  In India, though, RBI still needs to bring down lending rates to spur investments.

• RBI backs move to encourage e-deals: The government has released a draft proposal that, if accepted, will see income tax benefits for consumers, who predominantly use electronic transactions for payments.

• Surging imports worry steel makers: India could raise steel tariffs to check a surge of imports that are competing with Indian manufacturers. The tariffs have already been raised before. But Indian steel firms are still concerned that free trade agreements with Japan and South Korea would still let those countries boost sales to India.