HINDU NOTES are available free date wise| CLICK HERE

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Rs. 5.35 lakh crore for new road project

News:

• The Centre on Tuesday announced a Rs. 5.35 lakh crore road construction package, called BharatMala Pariyojana, in a bid to spur the economy as private investment remains moribund.

Beyond News:

• This follows the Cabinet nod to build 34,800 km of roads nationwide, including in border and coastal areas.
• The BharatMala project will include economic corridors (9,000 km), inter-corridor and feeder route (6,000 km), national corridors efficiency improvement (5,000 km), border roads and international connectivity (2,000 km), coastal roads and port connectivity (2,000 km) and green-field expressways (800 km).
• Further, the remaining road projects of 10,000 km under the National Highways Development Project will form a part of the programme.

The government has identified new routes between economically important cities that would be 20% longer in terms of distance but take relatively less travel time.

{Op}Complicated terms of engagement

Key aspect:  Analysis of SC verdict on OCT 17

• On October 17, the Supreme Court read down the marital rape exception for married girls between the ages of 15 and 18.

The judgment is prospective in nature. Essentially, the court held that since sexual assault in marriage is already a crime under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO), it is discriminatory and arbitrary to suspend the protection of the rape law for these underage married girls.

Understanding the law

• The Supreme Court decision makes it clear that sexual consent can only be given by an adult woman of 18 years.

The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 prohibits the solemnisation of child marriages wherein a child means a person who if male has not yet completed 21 years, and if female not yet 18 years.

Individual choice

• The Supreme Court rightly holds that the ‘the girl child must not be deprived of her right of choice’.

The right to choose, which is free and unfettered, includes freedom from parental pressure to marry early, freedom from forced marriages, freedom of choice of sexual orientation, and freedom to find self-fulfilment through study, work, profession, vocation or talent.

India, U.S. to take up ‘high tariff’, visa curbs in Washington meet

News:

India and the U.S. are slated to hold high-level talks this week to boost bilateral trade and investment.

Beyond News:

On the agenda of the India-U.S. Trade Policy Forum (TPF), scheduled to be held in Washington DC on October 26, are ways to iron out irritants including ‘visa curbs’ of the U.S. and India’s ‘high tariffs’ on manufactured products and ‘restrictions’ on e-commerce, as well as steps to expedite the conclusion of negotiations on a bilateral social security pact .

IPR issues

• The TPF, which is the main forum to resolve bilateral trade and investment issues, is also likely to take up the ‘challenges’ that American innovative industries face due to India’s ‘weak’ Intellectual Property Rights regime.
• It would also discuss the ‘non-tariff barriers’ of the U.S. that are adversely impacting India’s agriculture, pharmaceuticals and other industrial exports.
• Both countries aim to increase bilateral goods and services trade to $500 billion soon, from about $115 billion in 2016.
• Industry bodies including USIBC and US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) are working with the governments of both the countries on mechanisms to ensure greater engagement at the State-level, instead of focusing entirely on the Central/Federal-level discussions.

{Op} Shedding light on Saubhagya

Key Aspect: Analysis of Suabhagya scheme ,Its objectives & gaps in reality.

Overview:

The Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (‘Saubhagya’) launched in September, which claims to ensure electrification of all willing households in the country, is too ambitious a project.

This new scheme is just a way of refurbishing the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), the earlier scheme of rural electrification launched in July 2015, which aimed to electrify all un-electrified villages by May 2018.

Objective:

The objective of the Saubhagya scheme is to “provide energy access to all by last mile connectivity and electricity connections to all remaining un-electrified households in rural as well as urban areas to achieve universal household electrification in the country.”

Definition and the gap

• Under DDUGJY, the government managed to electrify 14,701 villages while 2,760 villages remain un-electrified;

However, out of the 14,701 villages, only in 8%, i.e. 1,198 villages, do all households have connectivity.

• Even if the programme is successful, hypothetically, and all households are provided a connection, there would still be the problem of regular supply.

Industry estimates suggest that this scheme would potentially require an additional 28,000 MW and additional energy of about 80,000 million units per annum, which is roughly 7% of India’s current installed power capacity.

• There is a power shortage even at this moment leading to scheduled and unscheduled load shedding, often up to 10 hours or more.

The problem is graver still in interior rural India. Considering the huge lapses as far as electricity availability is concerned, managing this additional demand would prove to be challenging.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

{Op}Bitcoin will crash

Key aspect: Bitcoins, Significance & challenges to national fiat currencies.

• The price of bit coin hit yet another lifetime high last week breaking the $6,000 mark for the first time across major exchanges. The rise of bit coin has also been seen as a serious challenge to national fiat currencies issued by central banks as well as physical gold.

While bit coin has indeed proved many of its critics wrong over the years, its immediate and long-term prospects may not be too bright.

 This is for at least two reasons.

One, the volatility witnessed in the price of bitcoin against major national currencies like the dollar does not suggest that the private currency’s trading price is reflective of its fundamental value.

• The fundamental value of any money, as a medium of exchange that helps in the exchange for goods and services, usually exhibits a fair amount of stability as people are willing to accept it in repeated transactions; if so, trading prices that track them are likely to reflect the same kind of stability.

Two, even if bitcoin were to hold some fundamental value as money, as it very well might if bitcoin speculators are right in paying its current price, the political risks facing the currency are simply too huge to allow its long-term survival.

• National fiat currencies like the dollar allow governments, through their central banks, to easily tax their citizens by printing a fresh supply of money whenever they need it.

Bitcoin strikes at the root of this centuries-long monopoly power over money held by governments, and the consequences are unlikely to work out in bitcoin’s favour.

GST afterthoughts

Updates:

• GST has brought 27 lakh new registered entities into formal tax coverage in its first three months,  over half of those in the GST net are paying taxes and filing tax returns.
• September GST collections stood at Rs. 92,150 crore by Monday — compared to over Rs. 95,000 crore in July, its first month.
• At the last GST Council meeting, rates of over two dozen items were reset, taking such rate changes since July 1 to over 100 — while some procedural and compliance-related norms were eased

Rs. 2.11 lakh crore for PSU banks to boost lending

News:

The Centre on Tuesday unveiled an ambitious plan to infuse Rs. 2.11 lakh crore capital over the next two years into public sector banks (PSBs)saddled with high, non-performing assets and facing the prospect of having to take haircuts on loans stuck in insolvency proceedings.

Beyond News:

• The move is vital for the slowing economy, as private investments remain elusive in the face of the “twin-balance sheet problem” afflicting corporate India and public sector banks reflected in slow bank credit growth.
• Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar said on Tuesday that the Union Cabinet had approved the capital infusion plan for PSBs, adding that the funding pattern would be front-loaded.
• The Financial Services Secretary added that this would be funded through budgetary provisions of Rs. 18,139 crore and the sale of recapitalisation bonds worth Rs. 1.35 lakh crore.

The balance would be raised by the banks themselves by diluting the government’s equity share.

[sociallocker id=”2087″] [/sociallocker]

CLICK HERE TO SEE DATE WISE CURRENT AFFAIRS