Let’s fight climate change unitedly – (International Relations)
· The Prime Minister said India and the Pacific Island Countries can enrich each other through bilateral and regional cooperation, and suggested they work together for UN reforms.
· Rich in seabed resources, the Pacific Island Countries (PIC) are keen to partner with India in the area of exploration of minerals.
Editorial: The Iran Momentum – (International Relations)
· India’s decision to remove Iran from the list of countries in the restricted visa category is another indication of New Delhi’s resolve to reinvigorate its engagement with the Gulf country.
· Ties with Iran are vital for India’s economic and strategic interests. India has to seize the momentum provided by the nuclear deal to step up energy trade with Iran. Imports from Iran are relatively cheap because of the geographical proximity and the extended credit period it offers.
Perspective: A crime well reported is half solved – (Social Issues)
· In the recent NCRB report, one can observe that the number of crimes committed in India have increased, however, it is important to understand that after the 16th December gang rape the number of crimes reported in the country has increased.
· Registration of crime is the culmination of multiple realities — the existence of crime, the empowerment of an individual to report it, and the willingness of the police to register it. With the second and third parts so sorely lacking in most of India, perhaps it’s time to stop reducing our analysis of the NCRB data to only the existence of crime.
Modi-Obama Hotline is now operational – (International Relations)
· The hotlines or secure lines of communication between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama and their national security advisors have recently become operational.
· This is a secure line between two very very close partners so that they can exchange views at the heads of state level exchange views and co-ordinate approaches to solving real problems.
Some improvements in child malnutrition: data – (Social Issues)
· New official data on nutrition in India’s nine poorest States has shown that while most states have successfully reduced the number of underweight children over the last decade, their record in reducing child stunting has been more mixed. While Bihar and Uttarkhand improved on all indicators, Uttar Pradesh got worse on all.
· The Office of the Registrar General of India released the findings of the Clinical, Anthropometric and Bio-chemical (CAB) Survey this week. The survey was conducted in 2014 as a sub-component of the Annual Health Survey.
Bandhan set to rise in eastern region – (Economics)
· The eastern region, which has some of the most unbanked areas in the country, is readying itself to witness the birth of a new bank on August 23, 2015, after a gap of 72 years with the Bandhan Financial Services.
· Bandhan Financial Services (BFS), which recently received its universal banking licence a year after getting a provisional licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last April, is all set to unfurl its banking operations on that day and trigger a wave of financial inclusion.