31 July 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
Tightrope in the wind
Page no- 10
GS2-Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
- The joint statement at the end of the meeting of the Quad foreign ministers — the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue comprising the US, Australia, Japan and India — assumes added significance in the current moment.
- Ever since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine over two years ago, Delhi has had to walk, often against the wind, a diplomatic tightrope.
- The sharpening differences between the West and Russia-China and within Europe and the US, coupled with the uncertainty around what the results of the American presidential election might mean for European security, and the hard lines being drawn currently, make this balancing act all the more difficult.
Not somebody else’s war
Page no- 11
GS2-Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s likely visit to Ukraine next month should mark a reconfiguration of India’s approach to European security.
- Although political rivalries among European powers have shaped the evolution of modern India and Asia, European geopolitics has fallen off India’s strategic radar in recent decades.
- The war in Ukraine, however, has put the question of Europe right at the top of India’s international agenda.
- India’s public discourse has treated the Ukraine question either as a “pressure point” from the West or as a moment for solidarity with Russia.
- Delhi should instead see the war in Ukraine as an imperative for long overdue re-engagement with European peace and security.
- To be sure, India has in the last few years stepped up its political and diplomatic engagement with Europe, a leading economic partner, and an important source of technology — civilian and military. It now needs to lend a strategic character to it.
State Bar Councils can’t charge excess fees for enrolling law graduates: SC
Page no- 12
GS2-Statutory, Regulatory and various Quasi-judicial Bodies
- Underlining that charging exorbitant enrolment and miscellaneous fees as a pre-condition for enrolling law graduates creates a barrier to enter the legal profession, the Supreme Court Tuesday ruled that State Bar Councils cannot charge more money than what is stipulated under the Advocates Act, 1961.
- The direction by the three-judge bench, presided over by CJI D Y Chandrachud and also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, came while deciding a batch of petitions challenging the enrolment fees charged by SBCs beyond what is prescribed under Section 24(1)(f) of the Act.
- The petitioners also pointed out the “miscellaneous fees” charged by the SBCs.
Dementia has 2 new risk factor- untreated vision loss, high cholesterol: Lancet study
Page no- 13
GS3-Science and Technology- Developments and their Applications and Effects in Everyday Life
- Now you have another reason to watch your cholesterol.
- A new Lancet Commission report has flagged it along with untreated vision loss as significant new risk factors for dementia, a condition characterised by memory problems and disruptions in thinking and social skills.
- Its most prevalent form is Alzheimer’s Disease, which accounts for about 60-70 per cent of dementia cases.
- In fact, both these factors have been found to be a trigger for nine per cent of all dementia cases.
- Seven per cent of cases can be linked to high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), commonly known as bad cholesterol, which develops midlife around age 40. Two per cent of dementia cases are linked to untreated vision loss in later life.
PARAKH: class 10-12 boards tougher in Goa, Tripura, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra & Bengal
Page no- 13
GS2-Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education
- Students in Tripura, Maharashtra, Goa, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal face relatively tougher exams in their Class 10 and 12 state board examinations, an analysis of English and Mathematics question papers from 17 school education boards by PARAKH, a standard-setting body under the NCERT, has found.
- PARAKH carried out the analysis, a first of its kind by the Union Government, over the past year in a bid to develop a formula for standardising assessment by school boards across the country.
- The results were recently made public in PARAKH’s latest report titled ‘Establishing Equivalence Across Boards.’
Behind Leh flight cancellations: High temperature, low air density
Page no- 16
GS3-Science and Technology- Developments and their Applications and Effects in Everyday Life
- Sizzling day-time temperatures in Leh, Ladakh, led to many flight cancellations on Sunday and Monday.
- While the mercury peaked at 33.5 degree Celsius on Sunday, it touched 31.8 degree Celsius on Monday (July 29).
- “High ground temperatures and runway restrictions in #Leh have necessitated the cancellation of all flights for today,” Indigo, posted on X on Monday.
Why Maduro’s re-election has triggered protests in Venezuela, criticism abroad
Page no- 16
GS2-Effect of Policies and Politics of Developed and Developing Countries on India’s interests
