Kathmandu ignores Delhi’s concerns on Constitution – (International Relation)
- There is a proposal for a blackbuck conservation reserve at Ummathur and Bagli villages in Chamarajanagar district to sustain their numbers in the wild.
- The concept was mooted by the Chief Conservator of Forests of Chamarajanagar Circle under section 36-A of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
- A threatened species, which was bordering on the verge of extinction due to extensive hunting in the pre-Independence days, their numbers are confined to a few reserves scattered across India.
ISRO ready for one satellite launch every month: ISAC chief – (Science and technology)
- With different scholars having different takes on whether Netaji Subhas Bose died in an air crash in Taiwan in 1945, the controversy over his disappearance is unlikely to die soon.
Netanyahu sends envoy to speed up Modi visit – (International Relation)
- India, the U.S. and Japan are set to raise their trilateral engagement to the ministerial level, with a meeting of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry planned on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly
- “Noting India’s ‘Act East’ policy and the United States’ rebalance to Asia, the leaders committed to work more closely with other Asia Pacific countries through consultations, dialogues and joint exercises. They underlined the importance of their trilateral dialogue with Japan and decided to explore holding this dialogue among their Foreign Ministers,” the joint statement had said.
Centre drops two contentious clauses on NGOs – (Governance)
- The Mandal 2.0 politics proposed by the Lalu-Nitish alliance seeks to aggregate smaller caste groups by calling the BJP a party of the upper castes. Mr. Modi’s campaign talks about ‘jungle raj’, a euphemism for the Yadav social dominance
- Forcing the dominant castes to loosen their grip on power while integrating numerically insignificant caste groups has been an essential component of Hindutva 2.0. This strategy is being put on test in Bihar.
British wanted to ban INA song in last years of its rule – (Indian Culture)
- India today has a unique opportunity to rekindle the global nuclear disarmament momentum, and to kick-start this ambitious but useful project, New Delhi should offer to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).
- India’s resistance to the CTBT has lost relevance as it does not intend to conduct any more tests; signing the Treaty can be a bargaining chip in the new global nuclear order.
ASEAN trade corridor could ease regional tensions – (International Relation)
- India’s merchandise exports in 2015-16 are forecast to decline to $265-268 billion, significantly lower than $310.5 billion in the previous fiscal, mainly due to sharp erosion in commodity prices globally, according to a study by Assocham.
- The country’s outbound shipments stood at about $314.4 billion in 2013-14, $300.4 billion 2012-13, and $306 billion in 2011-12.