Table of Contents
Fuel fractions
Both the Centre and States must bite the bullet to cut taxes on petrol and diesel
Frozen for 19 days in the run up to the Karnataka elections
Cut the prices – One Pasia/liter
Kerala government- ₹1•cut
Government raised central excise duties- ₹11.77 and ₹13•.47
States impose ad valorem duties- value added tax (VAT) high as 39.27% (in Maharashtra) and average about 26%.
Double taxation and further price amplification
Crude prices spike inflation
High taxes on fuel need to be cut when prices rise again — has been ignored so far
Fire without smoke- World No Tobacco Day (May 31)
World Health Organisation highlight smokeless no tobacco is the bigger scourge in the country.
India is on track to curb cigarette use, but chew able tobacco is a health emergency
Problem of chewing tobacco in country not addressed, say experts
66% of the world‟s smokeless-tobacco users arein India, a sizeable chunk of this number wouldbe Indian teenagers.
Gutkha and other chewable tobacco items
WHO report notes that as cigarette usage has fallen in high-income countries, the tobacco industry has targeted younger users to make up for the revenue shortfall.
India must focus to the smokeless tobacco
About a small Mauritian island
Why is India abandoning its commitment to secure the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace?
300 people- Agaléga – Their home is turned slowly into an Indian naval base.
Mauritius knows that there is far more to be gained from India than from the people
of Agaléga.
Mauritius is one of the main routes for foreign direct investment (FDI) into India.
It earns Mauritius a considerable fortune
Signed an agreement that allows India to “develop infrastructure” on the islands.
The phrase is a euphemism for the building of military bases, which India is doing
not only on Agaléga but also on Assumption Island (Seychelles).
Indian Ocean to be declared as a “zone of peace”
“zone of peace” idea takes us back to the 1970 Non Aligned Movement (NAM)
summit in Lusaka, Zambia
U.S. built a major naval base that quickly became essential in the Vietnam war
For the U.S., the “zone of peace” was a “very dangerous idea”.
Continue
France, still a colonial power, did everything to stop this idea; La Réunion, south-west of
Mauritius, became the centre of French naval military operations in the Indian Ocean
after Djibouti won its independence from France in 1977.
UN General Assembly voted a resolution in 1971 on the Declaration of the Indian Ocean
as a Zone of Peace.
In 2014, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval evoked the idea of the zone of peace
A Chinese submarine had docked in Colombo, which raised the hackles of India
China and India are bit players in the Indian Ocean
The main naval facilities here are held by the U.S
In Lusaka, the NAM resolution said this base constituted “a direct threat to the independence,
sovereignty, territorial integrity and peaceful.
Post-democracy?
Populism and plutocracy(धनिक तन्त्र) may dilute the independent functioning of
institutions in a democracy.
Plutocracy(धनिक तन्त्र) a state or society governed by the wealthy.
Experience of recent years suggests that basic trust in Indian democratic institutions is
somewhat eroding. Examples to support this view include the,
Supreme Court coming under scrutiny,
Lack of transparency in the funding of political parties,
Debates around EVM tampering
Existence of a multiparty, parliamentary system, regular elections, freedom of the press, and
an independent judiciary, doubts are raised with respect to the fairness of elections,
alliances of the media, insufficient separation of the judiciary from the executive, populism, and plutocracy.
Major characteristic of a populist regime is that it is influenced by a strong, popular mass lead
er who appeals to the linguistic, religious, regional, or community sentiments of a populace.
Any strategy to prevent such institutional erosion must aim to collectively reinforce faith in
principles and practice of democracy, constitutionalism and social justice.
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Page-1- 2 jawans killed as Pak. Forces resume firing in Jammu
People desert houses as shelling along International Border injures 10 civilians
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Page-1- Curfew relaxed in Shillong; Sangma appeals for calm
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
More boys dropping out of madrasahs in Bengal
However, number of girls in these schools is up
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Agni-5 successfully test-fired
Long-range ballistic missile Agni-5 was successfully testfired off the Odisha coast on
Sunday, proving its reliability.
This is the sixth successful test of the missile
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Odisha beach is Asia‟s first to get „Blue Flag‟ tag
12 more beaches in the country to be developed into plastic-free zones with international
amenities.
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Relief for N. Korea only after it takes clear, irreversible steps‟
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Assad to visit North Korea, meet Kim
Last Day- Q’s- Answers.
◆ Nipah Virus Fact
It is spread by Fruit Bats.
In 1998, 1st case was reported in Nipah village of Malaysia.
No vaccination is available for the virus till now.
◆ BANGLADESH
Indian States touches Bangladesh are Meghalaya , Tripura , West Bengal, Assam and Mizoram.
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