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Smothering the housing rights of the urban poor(The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2:National 
Prelims level: slum dwellers 
Mains level: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability

Context:

• In a short order with devastating consequences, the Supreme Court of India on August 31 ordered the removal of about 48,000 slum dwellings situated along the railway tracks in Delhi.
• A three-judge Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra, in one of his last orders before his retirement, directed State authorities to remove the jhuggi jhopri clusters in the railway safety zone within a period of three months.
• Most shockingly, the order stated that “no Court shall grant any stay with respect to removal of the encroachments” and in case any such interim order is granted “that shall not be effective”.
• Relying on an affidavit filed by the Railways, the Court observed that there is a “predominant presence” of slums in close vicinity of the 140 km-long railway line in Delhi.
• It noted that the National Green Tribunal had constituted a special task force for the removal of encroachments from railway property.
• “There seems to be some political intervention against removal of such encroachments”.
• The Court ordered that these “encroachments” should be removed within three months and “no interference, political or otherwise, should be there.”

Long haul ahead(The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3:Economy 
Prelims level: Index of Industrial Production
Mains level: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment

Context:

• Factory output continued to contract in July, albeitmarginally slower than in June, reflecting the depressed economic conditions as the pandemic rages on.
• Quick estimates for the IIP show output across the three sectoral components of the index — mining, manufacturing and electricity — all shrank, dragging the overall index to a 10.4% year-on-year contraction.

The second chair (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2:Polity 
Prelims level: Speakers of parliament 
Mains level: Parliament and State Legislatures – structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers and privileges and issues arising out of these

Context:

• More than a year after the 17th Lok Sabha was constituted, the constitutionally mandated post of Deputy Speaker is lying vacant.

A New Equilibrium(Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3:Defense and Security 
Prelims level: 5-point action plan
Mains level: Security challenges and their management in border areas

Context:

• The events on the night of August 29-30 once again highlighted the gravity of the situation in the ongoing standoff between the Indian Army and Chinese PLA in Ladakh.
• It is to the credit of the Indian Army that the troops were alert and displayed resilience in pre-empting the designs of the PLA on the critical southern bank of Pangong Tso.
• There is growing frustration at China’s intransigence vis-a-vis the confrontation that started in April.
• There has been no positive outcome on ground, despite diplomatic overtures, innumerable military interactions and three apex-level marathon discussions between the corps commanders.
• Talks between at the highest diplomatic levels have not given tangible results.
• Instead of withdrawing, there is a massive build-up of Chinese forces in the areas of intrusion.

1. Which of the following is correct regarding India's renewable energy targets.

1. India plans to make 175 Gigawatts by 2022
2. Of the target capacity, 100 GW would be from solar power.
3. 60 GW from biomass

A. 1,2
B. 2,3
C. 1,3
D. All

2.
1. Jayalalithaa had launched several public welfare schemes doling out numerous freebies under the 'Brand Amma'. 
2. Jayalalithaa steered the AIADMK since 1989 when the party, which had split into two following MGR's death in December 1991.

Which of the following statements is/are true-?

a) Only 1
b) Only 2
c) Both 1 & 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2

3.
1. Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar was recommended as the 44th Chief Justice of India.
2. Justice Khehar will be the first Chief Justice from the Sikh community .

Which of the following statements is/are true?

a) Only 1
b) Only 2
c) Both 1 & 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2

4.
1. Kofi Annan, expressed concern about the alleged human rights violations in Myanmar.
2. The Rohingyas have faced persecution in mainly Buddhist Myanmar for generations.

Which of the following statements is/are true-?

a) Only 1
b) Only 2
c) Both 1 & 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2

5.
1. The Centre has proposed amending law to empower States to pay wages by cheque or credit into bank accounts. 
2. For that Union Labour ministry has proposed changes in the Section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act of 1936.

Which of the following statements is/are true-?

a) Only 1
b) Only 2
c) Both 1 & 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2      
 

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ANS: 1(c), 2(a), 3(a), 4(c), 5(c)

On U.S. revoking visa to Chinese students (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: International Relations 
Prelims level: H-1B Visa 
Mains level: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora

Context:

• The Trump administration has revoked visas for more than 1,000 Chinese citizens, mainly students and researchers, deemed to be risks to national security owing to their alleged connections to Chinese military establishments and concern over industrial espionage. 

Glimmer of hope(The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Defense and Security 
Prelims level: Five-point consensus
Mains level: Security challenges and their management in border areas

Context:

• The “five-point consensus” reached by the Foreign Ministers of India and China in Moscow on Thursday provides a glimmer of hope of a diplomatic solution, while thousands of troops from both countries remain deployed along the border. 
• It is, however, only a glimmer. 

EPFO needs to get it right(Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3: Economy 
Prelims level: EPFO 
Mains level: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment

Context:

• The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has been under attack for its decision to give subscribers an 8.15% return on their FY20 investment right now and, another 0.35% in December once it is able to raise money from the sale of the investments in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) way back in 2016. 

RSCI (Resilient Supply Chain Initiative): Trouble for RCEP?(Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: International 
Prelims level: Resilient Supply Chain Initiative

Democracy in question(Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Polity 
Prelims level: Zero hour 
Mains level: Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries

Context:

• Citizens of many countries have expressed dissatisfaction with the manner in which their governments have dealt with the pandemic. 

Monsoon twist (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3: Economy 
Prelims level: Kharif crops 
Mains level: Major crops cropping patterns in various parts of the country

Context:

• The southwest monsoon rainfall has been 6.6 per cent surplus so far, farmers have sown 6.3 per cent more area under kharif crops compared to last year, and retail fertiliser sales during April-August were up 33.6 per cent over the same period of 2019. 
• With the desert locusts, too, not wreaking havoc as was initially feared, a bumper kharif harvest seems in the offing — on top of the excellent rabi crop that helped the farm sector grow by 3.4 per cent during April-June amid the overall economy shrinking 22.8 per cent. 
• The monsoon has been good at an aggregate level and also spatially well-distributed, with only three out of the country’s 36 meteorological subdivisions registering deficient rains. The problem, though, has been with the temporal distribution.

Normalising mental well-being (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Governance 
Prelims level: Not much 
Mains level: Government policies and interventions for development in Health sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context: 

• Prime-time discussions on television talking about suicide should have signalled a change for the better, in the sense that mental health was coming out of the closet.
• It should have been a huge leap to help de-stigmatise living with depression, understanding the bipolar condition or planning support centres where people can reach out, when they needed counselling.

Re-scripting India’s Toy Story(The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Economy 
Prelims level: Vocal for local toys
Mains level: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth,development and employment.

Context: 

• In his recent radio address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called upon the country to become a global toy hub. 
• He stressed the need for India to increase its share in the world toy market and asked its citizens to become ‘vocal for local toys.’

Virus alters consumption (Mint)

Mains Paper 3: Economy 
Prelims level: Not much 
Mains level: Effects of COVID 19 on human consumption 

Context: 

• One of the most significant shifts that the world has been seeing over time has been the rise of the active consumer. 
• Our mental model of the consumer in the past has been someone who is an object of a brand’s efforts, an inert agent who needs to be moved into action. 
• The motivations that drive consumption—beauty, health, food, travel, achievement—are all based on mental models that have been defined externally, by social norms. 
• The consumer’s role was to respond to the actions of brands while pursuing desires that were defined for them by a large societal ecosystem. 

We the Migrants (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: International 
Prelims level: Labour migration 
Mains level: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora

Context: 

• Labour migration is a central phenomenon in South Asia.
• Large number of citizens of various countries in the region (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan) are continuously on the move, essentially in search of a living.
• While a good chunk of these job seekers move within their countries, some of them travel across borders.

The facilitator (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Health 
Prelims level: Oxford- AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine
Mains level: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health

Context:

• On Sunday, India overtook Brazil as the country with the second-largest number of COVID-19 cases.
• For six weeks now, the country has been reporting a record number of cases almost every day.
• Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh account for more than 45 per cent of this caseload.
• At a meeting, last week, the country’s worst-affected hotspots — the Centre was alerted to some of the reasons for the failure to check the pandemic.

Rethinking the defence doctrine (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: International Relations 
Prelims level: Line of Actual Control 
Mains level: National security draft dossier 

Context: 

• Over four months ago, the Chinese army entered territory that India has long considered its own, and never left.
• In effect, the multiple incursions have changed the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and India has lost territory, at least for the time being.
• How could this happen?
• In part, it was a failure of the warning-intelligence system.
• Either Indian intelligence services did not collect sufficient data of Chinese intentions and early moves, or they did not interpretit correctly.
• Or their policy and military customers failed to take the warning seriously.
• Wherever the fault lay, the system apparently failed.

A necessary pause: On the COVID-19 vaccine race(The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Health 
Prelims level: AZD1222
Mains level: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health

Context: 

• The global clamourfor a COVID-19 vaccine has whipped upunrealistic expectations that one is just around the corner.

Digital disconnect: On online learning and digital divide(The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Governance 
Prelims level: Online learning systems 
Mains level: E-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential

Context: 

• The full report of the NSO’s survey of ‘Household Social Consumption on Education in India’, for July 2017-June 2018, highlights the poor state of computer and Internet access in several States.

Amending to destroy (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: International Relations 
Prelims level: 13th Constitutional Amendment of Sri Lanka
Mains level: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora

Context: 

• It is not surprising that the Rajapaksa government in Sri Lanka is bringing in the 20th Amendment Bill, which seeks to make the office of the executive president even more powerful than in the original 1978 constitution.
• The amendment is likely to go through because Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has a two-thirds majority in Parliament.