Lecture

1- Quote
2- Editorials
3- Vocabulary
4- Subjective Q
5- Current Affair Q
6- News Analysis
7- Capital & Currency
8- Prelims Focus Facts
9- Revision(Base Knowledge)
10- Maps Practice-(Q- )

Delhi Edition of The Hindu

 Vietnam government spent 3.8% of its GDP on health compared
to India’s 1.4%,
 5.7% on education compared to India’s 3.8%.
 78% of the population has access to basic sanitation compared to 44%
 46% are covered by safety net programmes compared to 11%
 12% of the population is below the poverty 60% in India.
 Infant mortality rate inVietnam is 17 per 1,000 live births
(India’s is 35).
 A female life expectancy of 85 years (India’s is 70 years);
 A maternal mortality ratio of 54 (India’s is 174);
 Parliament occupied by women (27% compared to India’s 12%);
 Domestic violence in the last year (9% compared to India’s 24%);

Curbing the khaps

 Crimes committed in the name- Caste,clan or family
 Social prejudices, feudal structures and patriarchal attitu
des are behind what are referred to as ‘honour killings’
 In the latest judgment,a three-judge Bench headed by
Chief Justice Dipak Misra has located the problem
as one that violates liberty and dignity of individuals,
 Requires preventive, remedial and punitive measures
 High Courts of Punjab and Haryana and Madras
have laid down guidelines to the police on creating speci
al cells and 24-hour helplines to provide assistance
and protection to young couples.
 Empowered the police to prohibit such gatherings
 Supreme Court guidelines are welcome
but we need a strong law on ‘honour’ crimes
 Curb killings in the name of honour.

Sending the wrong signal

Govt must file a review petition of Supreme Court order in SC/ST Act case
180 million Dalits.
A crime is committed against a Dalit every 15 minutes.
Six Dalit women are raped every day.
Over the last 10 years (2007-2017), there has been a 66% growth in crime
against Dalits.
Figures represent only a tip of the iceberg since most Dalits do not register cases
for fear of retaliation by higher castes
 National Crime Records Bureau on which Supreme Court based its recent judgment
that sought to protect public servants and private citizens from arbitrary arrests
under the Scheduled Castes and ScheduledTribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989,
In any case, as for the case in hand, Section 22 of the SC/ST Act already
protects public servants from prosecution if they acted in ‘good faith’.
But now even a First Information Report is not to be registered without
preliminary inquiry.
Moreover, even after the registration of FIR, the accused cannot be arrested
without written approval of the appointing authority.
No FIR can be registered against anybody without permission of the senior
superintendent of police.
Judgment will have a chilling effect on the already underreported crimes
against Dalits.
The government must go for a review

On the electric highway

Charging infrastructure for vehicles must be scaled up
There is no target for a shift to electric vehicles
by year 2030, the Ministry of Heavy Industries
and Public Enterprises clarified on March 8.
Incentivising purchase of electric vehicles through
the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid
&) ElectricVehicles in India (FAME) programme,
sinceApril 1, 2015,
Mahindra and Mahindra, Mahindra Reva Electric,
Maruti Suzuki, Toyota Kirloskar andTata Motors
are participating in the demand incentive scheme.

A 2017 report issued jointly by NITI Aayog and the Rocky Mountain Institute in the U.S.
projects that, for an oil price benchmark of $52 a barrel, shared, electric, and connected
mobility options would help the country save $60 billion (₹3•9 lakh crore) in 2030,
besides eliminating cumulative emissions of 1 gigatonne of carbon dioxide.
Major challenge in scaling up electric mobility is availability of charging infrastructure
across the country

A solar gear shift

Indian government is switching gears on solar energy.
Renewable energy as a champion sector under the Make in India 2.0 programme.
India currently meets almost 90% of its annual requirement of solar panels through
imports (mainly China), impeding the growth of a nascent(नवजात) domestic solar
manufacturing sector
 Increasingly focussed on domestic manufacturing, both in the form of capital subsidies
and considerations of trade regulation.
Do they comply with the global trade regime? And will they keep our renewable
energy (RE) ambitions on track?
These questions warrant examination through four lenses.
First, implementing trade remedies that have anti-competition implications has
become commonplace, with clean energy becoming its newest victim
Two large solar energy markets, India and the United States, imposition of safeguards
duty on solar panels.
Trade remedies are attractive because they
• Create tangible short term benefits such as job creation,
• Reduction in trade deficit, and
• Higher local tax collection.
Such a move would also result in higher tariffs and make solar power less attractive
Second, – Ensuring compliance (अनुपालन)
It is vital that India remains compliant with the global trade regime
Other countries opposed as it discriminated against foreign solar cell suppliers.
A draft policy (2017) aimed at promoting domestic solar manufacturing evoke similar opposition at the WTO.
Third, India’s solar sector is currently caught in inter – ministerial cross-fire.
The severity of the issue is evident in the power given to both the Ministry of Finance (MoF)
and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) to implement trade remedies
safeguard duties and anti-dumping duties
Further, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has been grappling with
issues posed by the MoF regarding the re-classification of solar panels as electrical
motors (the current classification is photosensitive semiconductor devices),
 imposing additional duties and cesses on importers
Coordinate moves among the MoF, the MoCI, Ministry of Power, and the Central and
State Electricity Regulatory Commissions.
Fourth, developers and manufacturers need to voice their needs clearly and respond
to policy implications- Case for unified voice.