Comprehensive News Analysis - 04 August 2016

A. GS1 Related

Nothing here today folks!

B. GS2 Related

Category: Polity and Governance

Topic: Government Initiatives

Key Points:

• Curiously, the history of codification of the rights of people with disabilities coincides more or less with the commencement of the era of economic reforms.
• The landmark Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, stipulated specific provisions concerning equal opportunities to basic education, employment, and accessibility.
• India is home to 26.8 million people with disabilities, whereas other estimates put the figure at about thrice that number.
• The 2011 Census shows that 54.5 per cent of people with disabilities in India are literate — a 5.2 percentage point improvement over the previous decade.
• The Government of India has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and corresponding domestic legislation is in the making.
• Initiatives such as the Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan, which are designed to bridge physical barriers, are steps in the right direction.
• Women with disabilities are most vulnerable to exploitation, as also people with psycho-social impairments and those hard of hearing.
• The revised National Building Code of India and the corresponding revision of State bylaws, have the potential to break many of these barriers, provided elements of universal design are incorporated.

2. Saudi promises help, free passage to jobless

Category: International Relations

Topic: Indian Diaspora

Key points:

• The Government of Saudi Arabia has promised free passage and humanitarian support to Indian workers affected by widespread lay-offs.
• The issue was limited to one company that has violated Saudi laws.
• The Government of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken serious note of this lapse and has taken immediate action to ensure all camps where Indian workers were staying are provided facilities like medical, food, hygiene and sanitation.
• The meeting between Dr. Haqbani (Saudi Minister of Labour and Social Development) and Gen. Singh focussed on multiple options to solve the problem of unemployment the workers faced.

Category: International Relations

Topic: India and its neighborhood- relations

Key points:

• Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the Maoist chief who is better known as ‘Prachanda’ (the fierce one), was elected as Nepal’s Prime Minister for a second time.
• He has also become the first communist leader to become the Prime Minister twice.
• The Prime Minister’s post had been left vacant since last month after CPN-UML chairman K.P. Sharma Oli tendered his resignation.

C. GS3 Related

1. Centre’s flagship initiatives likely to get additional funds

Category: Polity and Governance

 Topic: Government Initiatives

Key Points:

• In terms of additional Budgetary allocation, National industrial corridors, ‘Make In India,’ ‘Start-up India’ and the national Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy may get a major fillip.
• The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has begun work on revamping its schemes and is likely to propose additional Budgetary support this fiscal, for implementing the above mentioned schemes.
• This proposal would be made in the ‘Supplementary Demands for Grants’.
• Effective implementation of IPR policy by boosting the research and innovation ecosystem is crucial to ensure the success of Make In India and Start-up India programmes.

D. GS4 Related

E. Important Editorials: A Quick Glance

Category: Indian Economy

Topic: Taxation

Key points:

• Eleven years after it was first mooted in Parliament, the Rajya Sabha has finally adopted a goods and services tax.
• Parliament’s stamp is historic as the proposed tax will alter the powers of taxation that States enjoyed under the Constitution and usher in a uniform consumption-based tax structure across the land for almost all goods and services.
• Only potable alcohol is proposed to be excluded from the GST’s ambit.
• The GST will usher in a nationwide common market and subsume a multiplicity of Central and State taxes.
• Among the tasks ahead is the drafting of the specific Central and State GST laws that will again need to be passed in Parliament and State legislatures.
• Important decisions, such as the setting of a proposed revenue-neutral standard rate, remain; these can have far-reaching cost and price implications for producers and consumers. These would also have revenue ramifications for governments.

2. Taking on the IS in Libya

Category: International Relations  

Topic: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests

Key Points:

• The United States has scaled up its involvement in the Libyan civil war.
• The U.S.’s deepening involvement points to the rising threat perception from Libya.
• The U.S. and its European allies must share some blame for the country’s present crisis.
• Qadhafi’s regime, on hindsight could be looked upon as a unifying force among the country’s diverse ethnic and tribal groups.
• NATO launched a disastrous war, the after-effects of which are still felt in Libya.
• There was little effort on the part of the invaders to reconstitute the Libyan state post Qadhafi.

Category: Economy

Topic: Taxation

Key Points:

• The introduction of a unified goods and services tax (GST) across the nation is the most important indirect tax reform since Independence.
• Without the GST, there are multiple points of taxation, and multiple jurisdictions.
• Interstate commerce has been hampered due to the dead-weight burden on Central sales tax and entry taxes, which have no offsets.
• Adoption of GST is an example of what PM Modi has called “cooperative federalism”.
• Once the GST is in place, it means a unified, un-fragmented national market for goods and services, accessible to the smallest entrepreneur.
• By their very nature, indirect taxes are regressive because they affect the poor more than the rich.
• India’s ratio of indirect to direct tax collection is 65:35. This is exactly the opposite of the norm in most developed countries.
• India’s ratio of direct tax to GDP is one of the lowest in the world.
• The third issue is of tax litigation.
• Around Rs.1.5 lakh crore is stuck in litigation related to Central excise and service taxes.
• The fourth issue in implementing the GST is the governance within the GST Council.
• The GST is obviously not a panacea for all ills of India’s economy. It is nevertheless a revolutionary and long-pending reform. It promises economic growth and jobs, better efficiency and ease of doing business, and higher tax collection.

F. Concepts-in-News: Related Concepts to Revise/Learn:

• GST
• Libyan civil war
• Cooperative Federalism
• GST Council
• Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP)

G. Fun with Practice Questions 🙂

Question 1: Consider the following statements?

Question 2: Consider the following statements?

Question 3: Consider the following statements,

Question 4: Consider the following statements,

Question 5: Consider the following statements,

H. Archives:

You can check out some more recent News Analysis sections to build even more context

3rd August 2016: Daily News & Current Affairs Analysis

2nd August 2016: Daily News & Current Affairs Analysis

1st August 2016: Daily News & Current Affairs Analysis

List of all DNA Articles

Practice More: Enroll for India’s Largest All-India Test Series