Monthly Archives: May 2023

FOODGRAINS, OILSEED HARVESTS SET TO BREAK RECORDS

According to the Agricultural Ministry, India will achieve foodgrain production of 3305.34 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) in the current agricultural year According to the third advance estimates of production of major crops, government is estimating record production of rice, wheat, maize, soybean, rapeseed and mustard, and sugarcane. The total foodgrain production is likely to …

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SEDITION AND ITS ROOTS

On March 30, the Lahore High Court annulled the offence of ‘sedition’ in the Pakistan Penal code. Embarrassingly, around the same time in India, the police registered a series of complaints in Delhi and in Ahmedabad The detainees were not accused of ‘sedition,’ but were booked for criminal conspiracy to …

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INDUS WATERS TREATY

The Union government on Friday instructed officials in Jammu & Kashmir to scale up efforts for “better utilisation of the country’s rights under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT)” over the three rivers flowing through the Union Territory. Deputy National Security Adviser Sari Vikram Misri chaired the second meeting of the …

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FORTIFIED RICE

The Union Food Ministry on Friday countered the Opposition Congress’s allegation that the distribution of fortified rice through fair price shops is being done despite multiple warnings by experts and institutions such as NITI Aayog and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). A spokesperson of the Ministry …

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‘SEBI TO EASE PASSIVE FUND RULES SOON’

SEBI will soon introduce a new light-touch regulatory framework for passively managed mutual funds like exchange traded funds (ETFs) and index funds, which have seen a sharp uptick in assets under management (AUM) in recent years, a member said. “We are going to introduce new mutual fund regulations which we …

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RBI BECOMES A NET SELLER OF US DOLLARS IN FY23

After remianing a net purchaser of US dollar for three consecutive years, RBI became the net seller of US dollar in FY2023. RBI sold $25.52 billion on a net basis in the spot foreign exchange market in FY 2023. The rupee came under heavy pressure due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and interest rate hikes by the …

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LONELY IN A CROWD

Manasvi Khandelwal talks about the loneliness that has stayed with her for a few months now, ever since she moved to Atlanta, the United States, after her wedding. “My husband and I are in a very happy relationship,” she says. “But there is some sense of grief because we are …

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JUDGES RECUSAL

Last week former Supreme Court judge Justice M.R. Shah refused to recuse himself from hearing a plea by former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Sanjiv Bhatt to submit additional evidence to back his Gujarat High Court appeal against his conviction in a 1990 custodial death case. Bhatt contended that there was a …

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ALL-IN-ONE POLICY PLAN INSURANCE IN INDIA

IRDA is devising an affordable product covering health, life, property, accident risks to give citizens protection, expedite claim settlements by linking death registries onto one industry platform If India’s insurance regulator’s plans fructify, households across the country could soon be able to get an affordable single policy that covers health, life, …

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‘KEEZHADI TEXTILES’

From among the excavations of the Keezhadi archaeological site, situated 13 km from Madurai, ivory chess pieces, ivory dice and terracotta hopscotch stones were found Speaking on “Keezhadi: Sangam Age Site Excavations” at an event organised by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Chennai Chapter, at …

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ORDINANCE- ITS CONSTITUTIONALITY AND SCRUTINY

On May 19, 2023, the President of India exercised legislative power under Article 123 of the Constitution, during the period Parliament was in recess, to promulgate “The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023” (Ordinance). The ordinance negates a Constitution Bench judgment of the Supreme Court of …

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‘SENGOL’ IN THE NEW PARLIAMENT BUILDING

A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed a press conference in Delhi explaining the importance of the sceptre (sengol) to be installed in the new Parliament building, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed presspersons in Chennai on Thursday, explaining how it is a matter of pride for Tamil …

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SUSTAINABLE AGRI COMMODITY VALUE CHAINS

India has a long history of producing agricultural commodities, and has been a hub for the global spices, tea, and coffee trade for several centuries. Its scale and diversity have gone from strength to strength over the last three decades, such that the share of high-value agricultural commodities in the …

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COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND AI

The recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc. versus Goldsmith et al. has added more unpredictability to the process of being exempted from copyright infringement liabilities. The judgment is set to have implications for how we regulate a powerful form of artificial …

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GOVERNMENT’S POWER ON ORDINANCES

The central government promulgated an Ordinance that undid the unanimous verdict of a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court. The Central government promulgated an Ordinance extending the powers of the Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) over services in the administration of the national capital. These powers essentially involve the power to transfer and appoint …

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