1. PM Narendra Modi Lists Reforms, Asserts India's the Place to Invest In
Making a strong pitch for business and investment in India, PM Narendra Modi said on Friday that his government had carried out as many as 7,000 reforms to facilitate ease of doing business just at the Union government level.
The sky was the limit for investment opportunities in India, Modi asserted.
Addressing the plenary session of St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Modi listed initiatives taken for FDI, saying international rating agencies had identified India as one of the top three destinations for FDI.
As he noted that diversity was India's strength, Modi said that Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be implemented from 1 July, and this would herald a uniform tax system across the country.
Minimum government, maximum governance and ‘red carpet instead of red tape’ have been the basis of governance reforms in India.PM Narendra Modi
(Source: The Times of India)
2. Ruby Rai 2.0? Bihar Board Class XII Arts Topper Arrested For Fraud
Last year, it was Arts topper Ruby Rai’s poor knowledge of subjects which exposed how Bihar’s education system was in a shambles. This year, it is Ganesh Kumar’s turn.
Kumar, who topped Class XII exams in Humanities stream, failed to show any academic prowess during a TV interview on Thursday. Acting promptly, the Bihar State Education Board (BSEB) cancelled his results “with immediate effect”. It is now alleged that he forged his date of birth, too. On Friday evening, the Bihar police registered a case and arrested Kumar.
Class XII topper Ganesh Kumar’s result has been cancelled with immediate effect. A case is also being registered against him and the school authorities.Anand Kishore, BSEB Chairman
Read the full story on The Quint.
3. Donald Trump Dumps Paris Climate Pact, Attacks India; Modi Vows to Protect Environment
President Donald Trump on Thursday pulled the US out of the historic Paris climate accord, saying it was bad for his country and unfairly advantaged India and China, striking a strident note not entirely unexpected given his past remarks on the issue.
It came at an awkward moment as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to make an official visit to the US later this month.
Though Trump left the door open for renegotiating the agreement or entering a “new transaction”, neither India nor China, both major players in the signing of the Paris accord, indicated they were inclined to go back to the negotiating table.
Paris or no Paris, it is our conviction to protect the environment. We have no right to snatch from our future generation their right to have a clean and beautiful earth.PM Narendra Modi
(Source: Hindustan Times)
4. On Way out, Ramachandra Guha Slams Superstar Culture, Inaction of SC Committee
Resigning from the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) of the cricket board, historian Ramachandra Guha criticised Indian cricket’s “superstar culture” and poured out his angst at the inability of the committee to crack down on the various conflicts of interest that plague the system.
In his resignation letter to CoA chairman Vinod Rai, Guha points to instances of preferential treatment extended to cricket legends Sunil Gavaskar and MS Dhoni.
In other cases, he doesn’t take names but lists what he believes are improprieties and drops enough hints on the identities involved: from Rahul Dravid’s conflict of interest in his roles as national coach and as an IPL mentor to Sourav Ganguly’s dual role as an association president and a commentator.
(Source: India Express)
5. Economy to Grow 7.5% in FY ’18: Panagariya
A day after India lost the tag of the world’s fastest growing economy to China, with GDP growth slipping to 6.1 per cent in the last quarter of 2016-17, NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya said he expects 7.5 per cent growth in the current financial year and possibly a return to the 8 per cent growth rate by the end of the present NDA government’s tenure.
Stressing that India is ‘pretty much out of the woods’ when it comes to the impact of demonetisation on the economy, Mr Panagariya said, “Re-monetisation has happened… We should see a good turnaround in the first quarter (of 2017-18).”
Our main objective of demonetisation was to curb black money and prices of real estate have fallen by about 20%-25%, which in turn may have impacted the construction activity.
(Source: The Hindu)
6. Don't Criticise EVMs Used in Recent Polls: Uttarakhand HC
Noting that a “systematic campaign (was) launched by political parties to tarnish the image” of the Election Commission of India (EC), which is a “constitutional body”, the Uttarakhand High Court on Friday dismissed a petition questioning the constitutionality of the poll panel’s “EVM challenge”. The court observed that the challenge must be left “to the wisdom of the Election Commission”.
In the larger public interest, restrain all recognised national political parties, recognised state political parties, other political parties, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and individuals from criticising the use of EVMs in the recently conducted elections…even by approaching the electronic media, press, radio, Facebook, Twitter… till decision of the election petitions.Justices Rajiv Sharma, Sharad Kumar Sharma
After the EC’s May 20 decision to hold the EVM challenge, Congress’s Uttarakhand unit vice-president Ramesh Pandey had filed a PIL in High Court on May 31, pleading that the challenge be quashed by the court.
(Source: Indian Express)
7. President Calls for Affordable Health Services for All in Villages
For villages to improve, the structure of the economy needs to improve, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday while laying the foundation stone of a secondary school and driving training institute at Dhaula in Haryana. The village is part of the 'Smart Gram' initiative launched by the President in July last year .
Stating that 68% of the people in India still lived in villages, Mukherjee said the country would develop only when the villages did.
Our villages not only have the capacity to develop but are also eager for development. If we keep moving ahead in this manner, the day is not far when our youth would not need to leave villages for cities in search of better avenues. It would also be possible to complete education of daughters in nearby villages.
(Source: The Times of India)
8. Murder of Girl Sparks off Outrage in Bihar; Special Police Team to Crack Case
Nudged by the public outcry on the social media and in Madhubani, Patna and New Delhi , the Bihar police headquarters, have formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the abduction and brutal killing last week of a 12-year old girl, Nancy Jha, in Andhramath (Laukahi) area of north Bihar’s Madhubani district.
The girl, a Class VI student, had gone missing on 25 May. Two days later, on 27 May, her body, disfigured beyond recognition and decomposed, was retrieved from the bed of Tilyuga river, about 1.5 km from her home in Mahadeva Math locality.
The post-mortem examination confirmed she had been strangled to death.
Two suspects have been arrest\ed in connection with the girl’s murder but some locals suspect the real culprits may not have been caught. Station house officer of Andhramath PS, Rajiv Kumar, was placed under suspension on the charge of negligence in duty, on the orders of Darbhanga range DIG, Vinod Kumar..
(Source: Hindustan Times)
9. India Has 31% of World's Poor Kids: Report
About 31per cent of the world’s “multidimensionally poor” children live in India, according to a new report by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), a poverty reduction project grounded in economist Amartya Sen’s ‘capability approach’.
“In terms of countries, fully 31% of the 689 million poor children live in India, followed by Nigeria (8%), Ethiopia (7%) and Pakistan (6%),” noted the survey, titled ‘Global Multidimensional Poverty Index [MPI], 2017’. OPHI is an economic research centre at the Oxford University, led by Professor Sabina Alkire, and the study is based on a survey conducted among 103 countries.
A “multidimensionally poor” child is one who lacks at least one-third of ten indicators, grouped into three dimensions of poverty: health, education and standard of living. The health dimension comprises indicators such as nutrition, child mortality, and education.
Under standard of living are indicators such as access to cooking fuel, improved sanitation, safe drinking water, electricity, flooring, and asset ownership.
(Source: The Hindu)
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