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Dire strait

Russia captured 3 Ukrainian naval ships and over 20 crew members in the disputed Azov Sea.
Ukraine insists that the patrol of the Kerch Strait is authorised under a bilateral agreement with Moscow.
The latest incident coincides with the anniversary of the November 2013 Maidan Square protests in Ukraine demanding integration with Europe, which was the prelude to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014.
2014-15 Minsk peace accords
UN Security Council and NATO calling on Moscow and Kiev to de-escalate tensions.
European powers are divided.
Hawks in the U.S. administration make no secret of their preference for confrontation over dialogue.

National Food Security Act (NFSA) of 2013
Every pregnant woman is entitled to maternity benefits of ₹6,000.
She is already receiving similar benefits as a government employee or under other laws then she will not get it under NFSA.
Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY)
The PMMVY was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 31, 2016
Unfortunately, it violates the NFSA in several ways.
First, the benefits have been reduced from ₹6,000 to ₹5,000 per child.
Second, they are now restricted to the first living child.
Third, they are further restricted to women above the age of 18 years.
The scheme largely defeats the purpose it is supposed to serve: it excludes more than half of all pregnancies
because first-order births account for only 43% of all births in India.
Among those who were eligible, a little over half had applied for maternity benefits.
The application process is cumbersome and exclusionary
PMMVY provides little assistance to women who lose their baby
The scheme seems to be achieving very little for now, in Jharkhand at least.

‘all’s well that ends well’
Recently, we saw RBI Vs. Government
Recent agreement is by and large satisfactory.
Section 7 of the RBI Act, in a sense, sets out the relationship between the government and the RBI.
When Benegal Rama Rau resigned as RBI Governor in 1957 on an issue on which he differed from the government, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote to him: “You have laid stress on the autonomy of the Reserve Bank. Certainly it is autonomous, but is also subject to the Central Government’s directions… Monetary policies must necessarily depend upon the larger policies which a government pursues. It is in the ambit of those larger policies that the Reserve Bank can advise.” RBI GoI RBI Board
Setting up the Monetary Policy Committee is a giant step forward in terms of giving the RBI autonomy.
It is good that the government has desisted from using Section 7.
The debate arose because of the contentious issues between the government and the RBI being referred to the board.
The question that has been raised is whether the board as it is constituted today can discuss such issues and compel the Governor to act according to the majority view.
Section 2 and 3
Tradition that had evolved is that the board has largely functioned as an adviser.

Tuesday: Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance
Both gross and net NPAs have registered a decline for two consecutive quarters — June and September 2018.
Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana: ₹6.77 lakh crore
Mr. Patel’s spirited defence of the RBI’s autonomy
Centre and the RBI there is no alternative but to continue talking on this subject even while ensuring that it does not cast a shadow over their other respective roles and responsibilities.

There are four ancient Negrito tribal communities in the Andaman Islands (the Great Andamanese, Onge, Jarawa and Sentinelese) and two Mongoloid tribal communities in the Nicobar Islands (the Shompen and Nicobarese).
Except the Nicobarese, the populations of the other tribes have reduced drastically over the decades.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation (ANPATR), 1956
This Regulation protected the tribals from outside interference, specified the limits of reserved areas and said no land in a reserved area shall be allotted for agricultural purposes or sold or mortgaged to outsiders.
Andaman Trunk Road: this had led to the spread of diseases, sexual exploitation, and begging.
In August the government relaxed the restricted area permit (RAP) for 29 islands in the Andaman and Nicobar, including North Sentinel Island.

Kashmir the single issue, says Imran
Pakistan’s Army and political leadership are on “one page” to take dialogue with India forward, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday at the ground-breaking ceremony for the corridor. Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Bajwa was also present.
Speaking to an audience that included Union Ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Puri who travelled to Pakistan as envoys of the Indian government, Mr. Khan thanked them and Punjab Minister and Congress leader Navjot Sidhu in particular for his role in taking forward the Pakistani proposal for the corridor with New Delhi.
Suspect in Shujaat killing shot dead
Naveed Jatt, Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Pakistan-origin commander and a suspect in the assassination of Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhari, was killed along with his associate in central Kashmir’s Budgam on Wednesday.
Aviation Ministry wants airlines to drop web check-in fee
Death penalty freakishly imposed: Justice Kurian –

New data show economy never hit high-growth phase
India’s GDP growth never crossed over into a ‘high-growth’ phase of above 9% in the last decade or more, new back series data from 2004-05 released by the government on Wednesday show.