[Burning Issue] India’s exit from RCEP

India’s decision to stay out of the China-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, Asia’s mega free-trade agreement (FTA), has been met both with a sense of approval and disappointment and divided economists on the issue. Context Last week, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was signed by 15 countries led by China, Japan, South… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] Strategic Autonomy vs NAM

Early this year, our PM attended the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) virtual summit, after previously skipping two summits. Not attending that last few summits, had signalled India’s sudden departure away from NAM and having adopted the policy of multi-alignment. This has raised eyebrows of those who still believe in the true spirit of Non-Alignment of which… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] US and Indian Election System: A Comparison

India and the US are the two largest democracies in the world but the electoral systems of the two countries are poles apart. While the Indian system is charmingly simple, the US system is extremely complex and confusing. Let’s have a look at that: A Brief about the US parliamentary system The senate of the US… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] Fiscal Stimulus & COVID

“In an economy that is overleveraged to historic proportions, economic stimuli may not do the trick.” – Kenneth Eade Several governments across the world have announced fiscal stimulus measures to help their respective economies stay afloat. India, with large swathes of people facing the risk of infection, has nothing significant so far to show to… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] India’s push for a Gas-based Economy

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has last month approved ‘Natural Gas Marketing Reforms’, taking another significant step to move towards a gas-based economy. What is Natural Gas? Natural gas is a fossil fuel source consisting primarily of methane. It is the cleanest fossil fuels among the available fossil fuels. It is used as a… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] India’s quest for Zero Hunger

Food has deep ties to culture, religion, ethnicity and most Indians regard food as sanctified or holy. We celebrate, mourn, express, entertain, donate and thrive on the food, boasting of countless regional delicacies, inherited recipes, as we continue to seek pride in our spicy curries and rich sugary deserts. The latest Global Hunger Index 2020… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] Uproar over AP CM’s letter to CJI

The judiciary is weakened by the very act of publication when legal remedies are not accessed. When that happens, ‘We the People’ are the losers. Andhra Pradesh CM has stirred a hornet’s nest by writing to the Chief Justice of India complaining about a Supreme Court judge for allegedly influencing posting of cases in the… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] 15 Years of Right to Information

“Information is the currency of democracy.” – Thomas Jefferson Fifteen years have passed since the Right to Information Act, 2005 was enacted. With this Act, India took a step forward to move away from the colonial system of arbitrary government to an era of more transparent and accountable government. What led to the introduction… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] CRISPR Technology and Associated Concerns

The CRISPR-Cas9 system has revolutionized genetic manipulations and made gene editing simpler, faster and easily accessible to most laboratories. To its recognition, this year, the French-American duo Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna have been awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize for chemistry for CRISPR. Gene editing using CRISPR technology The CRISPR is an acronym for Clustered… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] Paytm vs Google App Store Row

The altercation between technology giant Google and fintech major Paytm has brought the global debate around app store monopolies to India. Paytm has been at odds with Google ever since the tech giant removed its apps. Earlier this month, Paytm announced the launch of its Android Mini App Store to support Indian developers to take… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] New Labour Laws

The Parliament has passed new versions of three labour codes — Industrial Relations Code Bill, 2020, Code on Social Security Bill, 2020 and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code Bill, 2020. The Code on Social Security 2020, which received the Presidential Assent on 28 September 2020, subsumes major regulations relating to social security, retirement… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] Global Fuel Dynamics and India’s Energy Security

Context Despite the global decline in crude oil prices over the last month and buying of cheap Russian crude oil, the retail prices of Petrol and Diesel in India have remained high. These increased prices have also caused high inflation in India, leading to an increase in key policy rates by RBI. In this context,… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] Agricultural Reform Bills, 2020

Farmers in Punjab and Haryana have been protesting against 3 ordinances promulgated by the Centre back in June this year. After the Monsoon Session of Parliament began this week, the government has introduced three Bills to replace these ordinances. What are these ordinances? The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020; The… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] Quashing of the Question Hour

In view of the pandemic and a truncated Monsoon Session, Parliament has said no to Question Hour and curtailed Zero Hour. The opposition MPs have criticised the move, saying they will lose the right to question the government. A look at what happens in the two Houses during Question Hour and Zero Hour: What is… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] GST Compensation

During this pandemic, one significant area of loss of revenue to both the Centre and the states is GST. The states need all the funds they can get to ramp up the country’s rundown health system. The Compensation Act mandates compensating the states for revenue loss on GST implementation from the Compensation Fund. The Goods… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] India’s GDP Contraction

India’s GDP for the period April to June 2020 has contracted by 23.9 percent. In other words, the total value of goods and services produced in India in April, May and June this year is 24% less than the total value of goods and services produced in India in the same three months last year.… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] Rolling-out of National Digital Health Mission

The National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) announced by the PM on the 74th Independence Day has the potential to transform the healthcare sector, making it more technologically advanced, inclusive and delivery-driven. Digitizing Healthcare: A Backgrounder The National Health Policy 2017 had envisaged creation of a digital health technology eco-system aiming at developing an integrated health… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] Fiscal Council in India: Certain solution in uncertain times

The impact of COVID-19 on the economy is devastating and the government is forced to opt to borrow for spending more in order to support vulnerable households and engineer economic recovery due to the after-effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the economy. The BI highlights the need for bipartisan, independent Fiscal Council to report and analyse… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] Free Speech Vs. Contempt of Court

Power of judiciary lies neither in deciding cases, nor in imposing sentences, nor in giving punishment for its contempt, but in the trust, confidence and faith of the general public. Criticism is important for it helps to give us a new perspective and opens our eyes to things we may have overlooked or never considered.… Continue reading

[Burning Issue] Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy, 2020

The realities of International relations has ensured that the importance of hard power never diminishes. From China to USA, military power has time and again seen research, innovations and reforms. It is true if India wants to see itself as a hard power then innovation is the keyword. More precisely, indigenous production! In order to… Continue reading

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