5 July 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
For integrity of exams, Centre asks states to help in security
Page no- 1
GS2- Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education
- The Union government has reached out to the states for help in ensuring the integrity of its entrance tests.
- Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla held a meeting with all state Chief Secretaries and DGPs last week to seek their assistance in overseeing the conduct of upcoming tests including the All India Ayush Postgraduate Entrance Test (AIAPGET) and the Foreign Medical Graduate Exam (FMGE) on July 6.
India & China agree: Situation at LAC not in each other’s interest
Page no- 1
GS2- India and its Neighborhood- Relations
- In their first meeting after the return of the BJP-led NDA to power, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed Thursday that the “prolongation of the current situation in the border areas is not in the interest of either side”.
- The military standoff along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, which began in May 2020, is now in its fifth year and has soured relations between the two countries.
Before budget, DPIIT backs India Inc’s call to remove angel tax
Page no- 1
GS3- Government Budgeting
- Ahead of the Union Budget presentation expected later this month, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has backed the industry’s demand to remove angel tax that the policymakers introduced to deter the use of unaccounted money but was viewed by startups as an impediment to much needed capital raising.
- DPIIT Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh told the press Thursday that the department has reiterated its recommendation to remove angel tax based on the discussions with the startup ecosystem.
Health Ministry to MHA, MEA: Inform foreigner about organ transplant law
Page no- 9
GS2- Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health
- The Union Health Ministry has written to the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs to make the foreign nationals coming to the country for organ transplants aware of the key legalities of the Indian law governing such operations.
- “India has emerged as one of the leading destinations for foreign nationals to get their organs transplanted owing to the world-class health facilities in the country and its highly skilled medical professionals…. In order to sensitise foreign nationals who visit India …. the ministry of health and family welfare has prepared scroll messages and creatives, with a proposition of wide dissemination,” the letters written last month to the home and foreign secretaries states.
Data uninterrupted
Page no- 10
GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development
- On July 1, the Ministry of Finance marked seven years of the shift to the Goods and Services Tax regime.
- About the same time, the government reportedly decided to discontinue the practice of publishing detailed GST data on a regular basis.
- This is an unwelcome departure from the past.
- The monthly GST data, which contains information on gross tax collections, revenue from levy of the compensation cess as well as the state-wise tax collected, serves several purposes.
- As data on many other economic indicators tends to be released with a considerable lag, the GST data works as a timely barometer to gauge the state of the economy.
- For instance, the quarterly GDP data comes with a delay of two months — data for the first quarter of the ongoing year (April-June) will only be released at the end of August.
The Hathras questions
Page no- 10
GS3- Disaster and Disaster Management
- The horrific stampede in Hathras on July 2 was avoidable. The failures need to be examined in depth.
- But even preliminary reports indicated that the district administration has a lot of explaining to do for the tragedy, which claimed 121 lives, mostly of women and children.
- It all began with an innocuous application seeking permission from the district authorities.
- Approximately 80,000 devotees were expected to attend a samagam (a congregation of devotees).
- The officials approved this as a routine procedure.
- It seems that they did not take into account how crowds in such assemblies are known to swell beyond the sanctioned numbers.
- But more than three times the number of sanctioned devotees of Bhole Baba gathered at the site of the event.
SCO
Page no- 14
GS2- Important International Institutions, agencies and fora - their Structure, Mandate
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the ‘Make in India’ initiative can add to engines of global growth and help democratise the global economy, and highlighted the importance of creating multiple, reliable and resilient supply chains.
- External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is in Astana to attend the SCO Summit, delivered Modi’s remarks at the extended format meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of State here in the Kazakh capital.
Govt to streamline visa process for Chinese technicians, others
Page no- 19
GS2- India and its Neighborhood- Relations
- The union government is working on a framework to process visa applications for the entry of Chinese and other foreign technicians needed in non-Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme sectors to boost production, a senior government official said on Thursday.
- DPIIT Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh at a press briefing said that a framework for entry of technicians in PLI sectors already exists and that the government is looking at extending it to other non-PLI beneficiaries which are operating in those same strategic sectors.
New model of producer price index to capture input better on the anvil
Page no- 19
GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development
- The Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh on Friday said that the department has finalised a new model of the Producer Price Index (PPI) to efficiently capture input prices in the economy and has shared it with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- Singh during a press briefing said that the government is also working towards changing the base year of the wholesale price index (WPI) from 2011-12 adding that the government is slo mulling on moving from the WPI to PPI going ahead in line with most G20 economies.
- Consultations regarding the same have been undertaken with the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI), he said.
