10 August 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
Cabinet clears 3 crore additional houses under PM housing scheme
Page no- 8
GS2- Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes
- IN A major push for rural and urban housing, the Centre on Friday gave its nod for three crore additional houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY).
- The decision was approved by the Union Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- Of the 3 crore houses, two crore will be constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) and one crore under the PMAY-Urban.
- Announcing the decision, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Information and Broadcasting Minister, said it is “one of the most inclusive growth schemes taken up by the NDA government”.
As ally JDU demands HC benches in Bihar, Centre refuses to relent, points to rules
Page no- 9
GS2- Structure, organization and functioning of the Judiciary
- The Janata Dal (United) and the BJP-led Central government sparred in the Lok Sabha on Friday over setting up High Court benches in the state.
- The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) accused both of misleading the people of Bihar and asked the JD(U) to withdraw support to the Narendra Modi government if its demand was unmet. The JD(U) and the BJP are allies at the Centre and Bihar.
- During Question Hour, the JD(U)’s Banka MP Girdhari Yadav raised the issue of a lack of High Court Benches in Bihar.
- “Setting up of High Court Benches is under the Central list.
- In Bihar, which has a population of 13 crore, there is just one High Court and no Bench.
- In states with much lower populations, there is a High Court and two Benches. Does the Centre have any intention to set up a Bench in Bhagalpur or elsewhere in Bihar?” asked Yadav.
CAA paperwork simplified, ambit of rules widened after Govt issues clarification
Page no- 10
Prelims Syllabus- Acts and policies
- The Centre Friday expanded the ambit of rules issued under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act to facilitate grant of Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities coming from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
- The Ministry of Home Affairs said any document issued by the Central or a state government or a quasi-judicial body in India proving that either of the parents, grandparents or great-grandparents is or had been a citizen of one of the three countries will be acceptable.
Reach out to Dhaka
Page no- 14
GS2- India and its neighborhood-relations
- That the Indian ambassador to Dhaka, Pranay Verma, attended the swearing-in ceremony of Muhammad Yunus, the head of the interim government, should send a positive signal to the people of Bangladesh and calm the over-the-top strands in the discourse in Delhi about the tumultuous developments next door.
- India should reinforce the message with a clear statement of continuing support for Yunus and the armed forces towards restoring order and protecting the life, liberty and property of its citizens.
- The Indian leadership has rightly pointed to the importance of safeguarding the rights of minorities amidst widespread violence, especially against the Hindu community, in Bangladesh.
- But Delhi should resist the temptation of focusing exclusively on the plight of the Hindu minority in a way that could complicate the extraordinary challenges at hand in Bangladesh and cloud the prospects for relations between India and the new regime.
Mapping a sharing
Page no- 14
GS2- India and its neighborhood-relations
- Google Maps is the go-to app for millions worldwide to navigate from one place to another. The tech giant recently introduced a new feature that allows users to share their live location with friends and family.
- Similar to messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram, Google Maps’ live location-sharing feature lets you fine-tune who you want to share your location with and for how long.
- Moreover, it also shares some additional information like the battery level of your device, whether it is charging or not and even shows the estimated time of arrival if you are navigating somewhere.
US antitrust ruling against Google and its implications for India
Page no- 16
GS2- Effect of policies of developed and developing countries on India’s interests
- “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Amit Mehta of the US District Court of Columbia said in a landmark verdict on Monday.
- He held that tech-giant Google violated antitrust laws to maintain a monopoly over “general search services” and “general search text ads” (ads that appear at the top of a search results page).
- The Justice Department and several states had sued Google for illegally cementing its dominance, in part, by annually paying the likes of Apple and Samsung billions of dollars to have Google automatically handle search queries on smartphones and web browsers.
