Pakistan’s finance minister said the government can consider importing vegetables and other edible items from India following the destruction of standing crops due to massive floods. Pakistan had suspended bilateral trade with India in 2019 after India abolished Article 370 thereby ending the special status accorded to J&K.   Details – Given the extent of… Continue reading Trade with Pakistan

Negotiations involving 168 countries, including the European Union, to agree on a UN treaty for protecting oceans failed. The latest round of talks was going on in New York. After the latest deadlock, talks will only resume next year, unless a special session is called.   Background – There is no treaty for conserving the… Continue reading UN High Seas Treaty

Registered violent crimes increased across India in 2021, after a decrease in these major offences in 2020 due to pandemic-related restrictions. Violent crimes include murder, dowry death, grievous hurt, kidnapping and crimes against children, rape and others. This was revealed by the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) recent ‘Crime in India‘ report, which includes data… Continue reading Crime in India Report 2021

In February 2022, Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs (SEED) was launched by the Union Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment. The implementation of the scheme is still pending as the categorisation of communities, to be covered under the scheme, is yet to be completed.   Details – In February 2022, Scheme for Economic Empowerment… Continue reading Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs

The Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100 was released by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).   Background – The roadmap, which is a part of the India Competitiveness Initiative, is a collaborative endeavour between the EAC-PM and The Institute for Competitiveness and is developed by Dr Amit Kapoor, Chair, Institute for Competitiveness, Professor… Continue reading Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100

India’s largest telecom company Reliance Jio announced the launch of its 5G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai by Diwali this year, with an aim to expand and cover the entire country by December 2023.   Details – The company said it will launch its 5G services on a “standalone” 5G architecture, against the… Continue reading Standalone 5G

Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a notification on 26th August 2022 for greater facilitation of citizens in the issue of International Driving Permit (IDP) across the country.   Details – India, being a signatory to Convention on International Road Traffic of 1949 (Geneva Convention), is required to issue IDP as provided… Continue reading International Driving Permit

Within hours of taking over, the new Chief Justice of India U U Lalit called a meeting of the ‘full court’ where the judges discussed how to deal with issues relating to listing and backlog of cases.   What is a full court meeting? A full court meeting literally means one which is attended by… Continue reading Full Court Meetings

Defence Minister has approved the third Positive Indigenisation List (PIL) of 780 strategically important Line Replacement Units (LRUs), sub-systems and components which are being manufactured by defence PSU. The indigenisation of the 780 items will be taken up under the ‘Make in India’ category. The category aims to achieve self-reliance by involving greater participation of… Continue reading Third Indigenisation List

In June 2022, the NITI Aayog, in collaboration with the UN World Food Programme, had published a report titled ‘Take Home Ration – Good Practices across the States/UTs’. The report outlines a number of beneficial and creative techniques that the States and UTs have used to implement the Take Home Ration value chain.   What… Continue reading Take Home Ration