9 July 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
TN to amend new criminal laws, forms panel to suggest changes
Page no- 8
GS2-Issues and Challenges Pertaining to the Federal Structure
- The Tamil Nadu government has ordered the setting up of a committee to study the recently rolled-out criminal laws and recommend changes to suit the state’s law and order needs, officials said Monday.
- At a meeting with the state’s Home and Law departments, Chief Minister M K Stalin ordered that the one-member committee, to be headed by retired High Court judge M Satyanarayanan, must submit its report on the three new laws, along with the amendments, in one month.
Menstrual leave policy issue for employers, especially Govt: SC
Page no- 8
GS2-Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections of the population by the Centre and States and the Performance of these Schemes
- Cautioning that forcing employers to provide menstrual leave should not actually end up to the disadvantage of women staff, the Supreme Court on Monday said the issue be better left to policy makers and asked the Centre to consider if a model policy should be framed.
- “There are two very different perspectives. Having a menstrual leave policy encourages the women to be part of the workforce, the other perspective is that mandating such policies will actually impose sort of a bar on women being employed because the employer will then shun women in the workplace.
- We do not want that to happen also”, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, presiding over a three-judge bench, said.
Trade policy need a reset
Page no- 10
GS3-Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development
- India’s resistance to the expansion of the World Trade Organisation’s negotiation agenda, especially in domains such as e-commerce, trade, climate change, and investment facilitation, has consistently ignited fervent debate.
- The country’s stance is primarily rooted in preserving policy flexibility for its economic development strategies.
- While this approach suits traditional sectors like agriculture and fisheries, it may hinder seizing new opportunities in emerging fields such as the digital economy and high-tech manufacturing, which are the signature strategies of its Vikas Bharat vision.
- The vision 2047 seeks to outline a comprehensive roadmap for the country’s development.
Why NEET does not work
Page no- 11
GS2-Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education
- Since its inception about a decade ago, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) has been a politically contentious issue in Tamil Nadu.
- The recent turn of events has made it a national issue.
- NEET was originally conceptualised to ensure merit-based selection to medical schools and standardise the medical entrance process.
- It was seen as a solution to the problem of high capitation fees being charged by private medical institutions. Has the examination achieved its intended goal?
- Has NEET curbed the commercialisation of medical education?
Joblessness and the skill gap
Page no- 11
GS2-Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Human Resources
- Most economists agree that a lack of good-quality jobs, particularly for India’s burgeoning young population, is one of the urgent priorities to address.
- It is also generally perceived that in the recent elections, joblessness was a critical issue.
- Election results in some states show that welfarism is not enough to placate large sections of the electorate.
- Although the pre-election Congress manifesto had shown a bit more sensitivity to the job issue than that of other parties and came up with some concrete suggestions (though not fully worked out), it is well-known that joblessness has been a persistent problem over many decades and across all regimes.
‘Cannot lampoon’: SC issues rules on portraying disabled persons in films
Page no- 12
GS2-Mechanisms, Laws, Institutions and Bodies constituted for the Protection and Betterment of these Vulnerable Sections
- Creative freedom of a filmmaker under Article 19(1)(a) “cannot include the freedom to lampoon, stereotype, misrepresent or disparage those already marginalised”, the Supreme Court said Monday while laying down a “framework of portrayal of persons with disabilities in visual media that aligns with the anti-discrimination and dignity-affirming objectives of the Constitution as well as the Rights for Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016”.
Employment rate rises 6% provisionally in FY24 from 3.2% in FY23: RBI data
Page no- 13
GS3-Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development and Employment
- The country’s employment rate grew by 6 per cent in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024 from a growth of 3.2 per cent in 2022-23, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s data.
- Employment in the country increased by 4.67 crore to 64.33 crore (provisional) in the fiscal year 2023-24, from 59.67 crore in 2022-23, the RBI’s Measuring Productivity at the Industry Level-The India KLEMS [Capital (K), Labour (L), Energy (E), Material (M) and Services (S)] database showed.
Govt reopens application window for white goods PLI
Page no- 13
GS3-Changes in Industrial Policy and their Effects on Industrial Growth
- The Government has reopened the application window for the Production linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for white goods from July 15 to October 12, citing industry appetite to invest more in the scheme originally launched in 2021.
- The Commerce and Industry Ministry said the fresh window was an “outcome of the growing market and confidence generated due to manufacturing of key components of air conditioners and LED lights in India” under the PLI White Goods (PLIWG) scheme.
Behind Russia’s high income
Page no- 14
GS2-Effect of Policies and Politics of Developed and Developing Countries on India’s interests
- Almost two and a half years after the imposition of wide-ranging Western sanctions, how is Russia’s economy doing? Unexpectedly well, global data sets suggest.
- Earlier this month, the World Bank upgraded Russia from an “upper-middle income” country to a “high-income” one, a status it last had in 2014.
- The ranking was boosted by growth in trade (+6.8%), the financial sector (+8.7%), and construction (+6.6%), which led to increases in both the real (3.6%) and nominal (10.9%) GDP.
How climate change fuelled Hurricane Beryl’s record early intensification
Page no- 14
GS1-Important Geophysical Phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc.
- Hurricane Beryl became the earliest storm on record during the Atlantic hurricane season to have reached the highest Category 5 classification.
- The storm, which tore through the Caribbean islands earlier this month, killed at least 11 people after triggering intense floods and dangerous winds in Jamaica, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and northern Venezuela.
- On Monday, it made landfall in Texas, United States, as a Category 1 storm, flooding streets and knocking out power for more than two million people in the state.
