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Netanyahu’s gamble

Israel’s ruling coalition’s decision to dissolve Parliament and hold an early election.
Avigdor Lieberman, the hawkish Defence Minister, quit and pulled his Yisrael Beiteinu party from the coalition in protest against Mr. Netanyahu’s truce with Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that runs the Gaza Strip.
That left Mr. Netanyahu with a majority of one seat in the 120-member _________?
So far, while all Jewish Israelis are required to serve in the military at age 18, religious students have traditionally got an exemption.

A proposed law to regulate the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men in the military drew flak from religious parties.
The new conscription Bill seeks increased participation of Orthodox Jews. It is required to be passed by January 15, a court-imposed deadline.
It is against this background that Mr. Netanyahu opted to force an election, which will be held on April 9. • The electoral system is based on proportional representation.
“GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS” Netanyahu government in areas such as security, economy, transportation, tourism and infrastructure

A law that defeats its purpose

Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2018
NALSA v. Union of India judgment: constitutional right to self-identify
The U.K.’s Gender Recognition Act 2004 was the first law in the world allowing people to change gender without surgery. Since then other countries, including Argentina, Ireland and Denmark, have passed laws that allow people to ‘self-declare’ their gender, rather than seek approval from a panel of medical experts.
Reservations for transgender and intersex persons in educational institutions and in public employment.
Begging criminalised

Strange deal

In March 2016, foreign investment up to 100% was allowed under the automatic route for e-com firms engaged in business-to-business transactions using the marketplace model — one where a firm sets up an enabling IT platform to facilitate trade between sellers and buyers.
However, FDI was not allowed where the e-com player owned the inventory of goods to be sold, or for business-to-consumer purposes, barring a few exceptions.
The fresh restrictions and the clarifications on certain operational aspects could reinforce investor complaints about India being unpredictable in terms of policies.
Now, the rules have been altered for players like Amazon or Flipkart (majority-owned by Walmart) that have made significant investments in India.
The policy, to kick in from February 1, 2019, could require a major overhaul in the business model and shareholding structures of such players.
For instance, earlier a single vendor or its group firms couldn’t account for over 25% of sales in a marketplace; now the rules bar sales by any entities where the e-com firm has an equity stake.
An e-commerce marketplace entity will not mandate any seller to offer a product exclusively on its platform under the new rules.
But this doesn’t explain what to do when a seller voluntarily opts to sell exclusively on one e-commerce portal over another.
India’s retail FDI policy remains muddled — with the debate now focussing on online vs offline trade as opposed to big vs small, or a single brand vs multi-brand retail FDI regime.
Globally, India has been taking on protectionism, and this month the Finance Minister said free trade is essential so consumers get the best deal everywhere.
The same consumer focus and non-protectionist tenets must be applied for internal trade.

Gandhi and the audacity of hope

- The mode of killing, the venue and the manner in which the journalist’s body was disposed of mark a new normal in the history of violence.
- The motive for this murder continues to be a subject of intelligent guessing.
- The country renowned for the loudest upholding of the human right to freedom of expression has preferred to guard its business interests over guarding this jaded moral edict.
- As for us, we as a nation are so occupied with dousing our own internal fires, we ignored the synchronicity of October 2 and the murder in Istanbul.
- Apparently, the world we now live in is so used to violence that the manner of killing and disposal of physical remains of a person do not seem all that relevant.

The book Hind Swaraj portrays the omnipresent culture of violence that propels the pursuit of material prosperity at the expense of human bonds and dignity.
Politics is one such channel where hatred and bigotry have now gained social sanction.

Important News

- Ready for J&K poll anytime, says Rajnath
- Assault on boys punishable by death
- Cabinet approves changes to POCSO Act to protect all children under 12
- Manned space mission to take off
- The Union Cabinet on Friday approved the ambitious Gaganyaan programme, which will send three Indian astronauts to space for up to seven days by 2022 at a cost of ₹10,000 crore.
- Cabinet nod for easing CRZ norms
- The Union Cabinet on Friday approved relaxation in various norms including the clearance of projects or activities falling in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ), allowing for greater use of coastal areas for tourism and industrial growth. “This will enable redevelopment of these areas to meet the emerging needs,” the government said –
- ₹4,500-cr. assistance for Bhutan
- India will support Bhutan’s development needs by providing ₹4,500 crore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Friday, while visiting Prime Minister of the Himalayan country Lotay Tshering indicated his government’s commitment to maintain warm ties with India.
- Centre gives nod to draft Bill on Indian medicine
- The Union Cabinet has approved the draft National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Bill, 2018. The NCIM will promote “availability of affordable healthcare services in all parts of the country”, the Centre said in a statement on Friday.
- Bill for panel on homoeo gets nod
- The Union Cabinet has approved the draft National Commission for Homoeopathy Bill, 2018, the government said on Friday.

“The draft Bill provides for the constitution of a National Commission with three autonomous boards entrusted with the conduct of education of Homoeopathy by Homoeopathy Education Board,” read the statement issued by the Centre. The Centre said the Bill aims to bring “reforms in the medical education of Homoeopathy”.
CPEC has no military feature, it is an economic project: Pak.