Training Women for Cultivating Chip-grade Potato
The world’s premier international development agency and a catalytic actor, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) drives development results. Its work advances US national security, economic prosperity, and demonstrates American generosity. It...
US Foreign Policy: India and Neighbours
US President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on January 20. He will have to do plenty of fence-mending with global allies in the coming months after four years of diplomatic tantrums by President Donald Trump. Among his...
India After Quiting RCEP: Contexts and Concerns
On November 15, 2020, 15 countries, except India, solidified their participation in the Reginal Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and made it clear that India can return to the negotiating table whenever it feels comfortable. India decided to exit the...
New Guidelines for ITES to Ease Work From Home
The Government of India on November 5, 2020 announced new guidelines to facilitate a friendly remote working regime—Other Service Providers (OSPs)—to fast track a permanent ‘work from anywhere’ facility for the Indian IT and ITES industry. Other Service Providers are...
New Law to Tackle Air Pollution
As reported on October 30, 2020, the Central government has decided to set up a new umbrella agency (commission) to fight air pollution. However, experts are of the view that the commission may face the same challenges that dogged the most crucial, monitoring, and...
Index of Eight Core Sector Industries (ICI)
On October 29, 2020, the Office of Economic Adviser under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade released the Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) for September 2020. The Index shows monthly growth rates of eight core industries of the Indian...
Standard Loan Accounts Eligible for Resolution: RBI
As reported on October 14, 2020, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has clarified that loans, which have remained standard without any defaults as of March 1, 2020, will be eligible for restructuring under the pandemic-related resolution framework, issued on August 6....
Rainfall can Move Mountains
As reported on October 17, 2020 a team of researchers from the University of Bristol have found that rainfalls could result in the moving of mountains in their study. The discoveries made by the team during this study could possibly help geologists study the impact of...
Hurricane Epsilon in the Atlantic
Hurricane Epsilon rapidly intensified on October 20 and 21, 2020, becoming a major Category 3 hurricane as it cruised northwest over the open Atlantic. On October 20, Epsilon was a 45 mph tropical storm; by early the next day, it had morphed into a Category 1...
Harappan Ancestry is the Largest Source Population for All Indians
The Hindu published a serialised review of a book Who We Are and How We Got Here (2018) by David Reich, a scholar of genetics and Professor at the School of Medicine at Harvard University. It consists a range of facts and ideas and has serious implications for the...
Poll Expenditure Ceiling Hiked
As per a notification issued by the law ministry on October 19, 2020, the ceiling on poll expenditure for Assembly and Lok Sabha elections has been increased by 10 per is accordance with recommendation by the Election Commission taking in view curbs imposed during the...
The Power of the House Panel
As reported on August 21, 2020 there has been a tussle between chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, Shashi Tharoor and BJP member Nishikant Dubey over the former summoning Facebook representatives on September 2 to depose before...
World Economic Outlook Report 2020
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its second World Economic Outlook (WEO) report on October 6, 2020. It deals with the economic forecast on certain indicators up to 2025. Though the data provided is not final, India’s post Covid-19 economic trajectory may...
Deadlier Future Pandemics May Occur Due to Loss of Nature: UN
As reported on October 29, 2020, a report drafted by the UN penal, namely, ‘Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)’ states that future pandemics will happen more often, kill more people, and wreak even worse damage to...
Gender Social Norms Index 2020
Gender Social Norms Index 2020 was released by the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The index measures how social beliefs obstruct gender equality in areas like politics, education, and work. It contains data from 75 countries, i.e., over 80 per cent of the world’s...
The Blue Wall and the Red Sea
The term ‘Blue Wall’ politically refers to 18 US States and the District of Columbia, won consistently by Democrats in presidential elections between 1992-2012, except George W. Bush, who narrowly won the electoral college in 2000 and 2004 outside the blue wall. Again...
Global Hunger Index 2020
The annual Global Hunger Index published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe ranked India at 94th among the 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2020. With a score of 27.2/100, India falls in the ‘serious’ hunger category. The GHI is an annual...
India–US Defence Deals
On October 27, 2020, a foreign and defence ministerial level dialogue took place in New Delhi between India and the US in which the two nations inked five pacts, including the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) for ‘greater geospatial information-sharing’...
India’s Stand on Peace in Afghanistan
India’s external affairs minister participated in the inaugural of the Doha inter-Afghan negotiations in September 2020. This does not suggest that India has now warmed to the Taliban; rather it highlights the fact that India has no reservations in interacting with...
Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA)
After two decades of negotiations and discussions between India and USA on October 24, 2020, the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) was signed at the 2+2 dialogue between the defence and foreign ministers of India and the United States in Delhi, which...