• “Dutch disease” refers to foreign currency inflows that keep the currency stronger than it should be, reducing the competitiveness of domestic enterprises, thereby boosting imports and hurting exports. • The phrase dates back to the 1960s when new discoveries…
==> NEWS CONTEXT • In 2005, for every 10,000 people, India had 10 doctors in urban areas but only one in rural areas. And the situation today isn’t a lot different. • The Lancet reports that even though the number…
• The WHO global air pollution database report that ranked 14 Indian cities among the 15 of the world’s most polluted, in terms of particulate matter (PM) 2.5 concentration, received great attention in India. • Cities provide 60 per cent…
• The Draft National Forest Policy, 2018, published for public comments in March, has generated a fair amount of public discourse. ==> Why new policy • In 2006, the supreme court held that the existing National Forest Policy (NFP), 1988…
• Amid concerns about Chinese assertiveness and the volatility of American policies, the quadrilateral dialogue of the United States, Japan, India and Australia can’t be the only effort at a new strategic arrangement for stability and balance. It’s time for…
==> THE PAST • The first blow to the independence of the judiciary came in 1973 with the supersession of the three senior-most judges of the Supreme Court because they had ruled against the government. • Two years later, the…
• The appointment of Indu Malhotra as a judge of the Supreme Court should have been a reason for unmitigated celebration. She will become only the seventh woman in the history of independent India to be appointed as a judge…
=> Global Inequality • Thirty years ago, income distribution in India was regarded as relatively equal, at least in international comparison. Meanwhile, Brazil was breaking world records for inequality. Today, inequality in India is high and increasing; while in Brazil…
• Raising agricultural exports requires the government to unburden policy of consumer bias. A balance should be struck between meeting the needs of food-insecure consumers and income-insecure farmers. • The Government has resolved to increase the value of the country’s…
• India’s larger security environment issue is, assuming complex dimensions with a US-China trade-war looming, US-Russia relations taking a nose-dive and China’s Belt and Road masterplan unfolding in the Indo-Pacific. For India, however, it is the emerging Moscow-Beijing axis and…
• The recent question papers’ leak for examinations conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and SSC. • The challenge of preserving the sanctity of major public examinations is acquiring huge proportions. There is a pressing need to…
• A recent judgment by a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court in S K Mahajan vs State of Maharashtra placed certain obligations on investigating agencies and the courts before taking action against the accused in cases registered under the…
