27 October 2015

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After IAF, Navy opens its doors to women pilots  –    (Defence)

  • After the Air Force opened its doors to women fighter pilots, the Navy has decided to follow suit. However, they will be shore-based for the moment, because infrastructural needs have to be addressed.
  • The army and the Navy are also looking at appointing women in combat roles.

 

Indian historiography under threat  –    (Indian Culture)

  • Religious identity and religious conflict became the central analytical category in colonial history. All diversity of explanation was lost to the uniformity of the religious identity of all the rulers, whether Hindu or Muslim.
  • Since independence Indian historians have revisited all the assumptions of colonial historiography; religious identities were no more the determining element. History was no longer mono-causal but multifaceted to include social and economic structures.

 

Indian historiography under threat   –    (Indian Culture)

  • Religious identity and religious conflict became the central analytical category in colonial history. All diversity of explanation was lost to the uniformity of the religious identity of all the rulers, whether Hindu or Muslim.
  • Since independence Indian historians have revisited all the assumptions of colonial historiography; religious identities were no more the determining element. History was no longer mono-causal but multifaceted to include social and economic structures.

 

Barbaric indeed  –    (Indian Polity)

  • ​When judges assume messianic roles while seeking to act on perceived outrage, it may result in inventive remedies but not necessarily achieve complete justice. It is not unusual these days to find some of them traversing beyond the remit of the cases before them and seeking to find or suggest solutions to many of society’s crimes and ills.
  • In the Madras High Court, one has seen recent instances of a judge suggesting mediation between a victim and the perpetrator of a rape, another laying down that mere sexual relations amount to marriage, and one prescribing pre-marital potency tests to prevent divorces happening.

 

Crises in the Maldives  –    (International Relation)

  • ​​The dramatic arrest last week of Ahmed Adheeb, the Vice-President of the Maldives, has escalated the political crisis in this young democracy, already fragile.
  • The government says Mr. Adheeb was involved in an explosion on board the presidential boat on September 28, and that it was aimed at assassinating President Abdulla Yameen, as rumours in Male had claimed. He has, therefore, been removed on charges of “high treason”. A day after the arrest, President Yameen said his ex-deputy was a “threat to national security”.

 

We need to talk about the Brahmaputra  –    (International Relation)

  • India and China need to engage in co-managing the regions’ rivers and ensure that development is not impeded by unnecessary posturing on the sensitive issue of water.

 

Re-envisioning the collegium  –    (Indian Polity)

  • The true worth of the NJAC judgment will be tested only when the Supreme Court implements the urgent reform that is needed in the collegium system.
  • The notion of a legitimate expectation of a judicial career has no place in appointments to superior courts. Instead, merit should be the main criteria for selection.

 

Eurosceptic party wins big in Poland  –    (International Relation)

  • Poland’s eurosceptic Law and Justice party (PiS) crushed the pro-EU ruling party in Sunday’s parliamentary election, but it will have to wait for the final vote tallies to discover whether it can rule alone or will need a formal coalition partner.
  • Detailed exit polls showed three smaller parties, including the leftwing alliance that grew out of the pre-1989 Communist Party, teetering on the edge of the threshold for entering parliament.

 

Comedian elected Guatemala President in landslide victory    –    (International Relation)

  • Comedian and political neophyte Jimmy Morales was elected President of Guatemala in a landslide.
  • The 46-year-old conservative swept to victory on Sunday on a tide of voter outrage over a corruption scandal that felled his predecessor, Otto Perez.

 

PMO to identify, nurture Indian equivalent of Google or GE  –    (Economics)

  • The Prime Minister’s Office will take on the task of identifying and nurturing an idea with the potential to be an Indian enterprise equivalent of Google or GE.
  • The plan is part of the proposed overhaul of the innovation ecosystem in the country under the Atal Innovation Mission and follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Google CEO Sundar Pichai in the U.S. last month.
  • Earlier, in his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Modi had made a call for “Startup and Stand-Up India”.

 

NITI Aayog panel moots private funding for R&D  –    (Economics)

  •  NITI Aayog panel on innovation has recommended that the private sector should help fund research and development, including in research labs at universities and startups.
  • In contrast, Google’s origins can be traced to research projects that were funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and a large part of Apple’s success can be credited to the U.S. government’s small-business administration program that provides investment assistance to startups.
  • The Indian panel has also recommended improved tax benefits for investments equivalent to a percentage of corporate profits in research labs in universities and startups.