Editorials

1. Key agenda is to revive growth: The national income numbers continue to be

controversial. No serious policy decision can be taken with ambiguous numbers. Every
year RBI publishes a forecast of corporate investment. There has been a steady decline
from 2014-15 in the same. Pure manufacturing has a small share. All this points to
urgent need to accelerate investment. In 2019-20, capital exp. Of the CG to GDP ratio
are expected to be 1.6%. This ratio has not shown much change. The bulk of public invt.
Comes from PS enterprises, including the railways. What is needed is to interact with all
PSU and prepare a prog. Of public invt. For 2019-20. Secondly, there has to be sector or
industry-wise discussions between the govt. and industrialists to understand the
bottlenecks that each industry faces in making invt. And take actions to remove them.
Banks are under stress and the ratio of NPA has risen. In the absence of term lending
financial institutions, banks provide both working capital and long term loans. That is
why resolving the issue of NPA is critically imp. For larger flow of Long term funds. Next
issue: Inability of economy to generate adequate employment, presence of heavy
underemployment in the country. The answer to the prob. Of jobs is only growth. It is
faster growth and faster invt. Which will generate employment. Next: Slowdown in rural
demand, which can affect the offtake of consumer goods. Agrarian distress, which is the
cause of slowdown in demand, needs to be tackled on a priority. Improve marketing
arrangements in agriculture area. Next: Govt. should move in the direction of removing
some of the subsidies and schemes which are similar in nature to minimum income,
consolidate them, add to them what is fiscally feasible and provide the funds directly to
the poor. The bigger problem is define the poor and more particularly 'identify' them.
Conclusion: Besides economic factors, non-eco. Factors are critically imp. To revive what
are often described as 'animal spirits'. Invt. Today is based on expectations of future
earnings. Thus it is an act of faith in the future. For this to happen, there must be social
and political tranquility.
2. Collective efforts inclusive growth new mantra of govt.-----Sabka Saath, sabka vishwas.
3. PM Theresa May has announced, in the wake of her inability to deliver an acceptable
formula for Brexit, that she would step down. This aggrement had foll. Aspects: UK
leaving the EU's single market and customs union, termination of residency and work
rights of EU citizens in the U.K. and a two year transition period to consolidate new
bilateral modalities.

NEWS

4. Cauvery management authority in line with SC directive ordered Karnataka to release

water from the Biligundlu reservoir to Mettur dam in TN.
5. Read about LG powers of Delhi and Puducherry.
6. New geographical epoch: Anthropocene epoch. End of Holocene epoch which began
11,700 years ago. Read about them. Also read about International commission on
Stratigraphy and International Geological congress. Anthropocene, the term coined by
Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer denote the present geological time
interval in which human activity has profoundly altered many conditions and processes
on Earth. Please see this news from hindu or any other source in detail.
7. Cloud seeding.
8. IAF post Balakot strike has identified shortage of AWACS aircraft to provide round-the-
clock surveillance as a major deficiency. Issue of Resource optimization. LCA-MK2.Netra
system?? Read.
9. Read about BIS, CDSCO.
10. EC issues: Make electoral rolls error free, Issue of uniqueness and portability of Electoral
Photo ID Card, Standardization of addresses and rationalization of polling stations,
simultaneous elections, scheduling of polls, deployment of armed forces, mapping of
vulnerable pockets and law and order concerns, VVPAT and EVMs issue, MCC, Election
expenditure monitoring, fixing accountability of political parties, encourage higher voter
turnout and awareness, social media and paid news issue.
11. SL, Japan and India signed a agreement to jointly develop the East Container terminal at
the Colombo port. SL ports authority retains 100% ownership of the East Container
Terminal
12. (ECT). It is located 3 km away from the china-backed international financial city, known
popularly as Port city.
13. China rejects U.S. call for dialogue with Dalai Lama.
14. WHO International list of Diseases. Mistakenly they included Burnout in its list recently.
15. Country's annual coffee harvest is done between Dec. and Feb. This season Fresh
blossoms were delayed and the qualifications of berry/cherry formation were also
affected due to uneven April showers. This would lead to decline of coffee crop.
Country's coffee heartland: Chikmagalur. Karnataka accounts for over 80% of toal coffee
production in india.
16. Regulatory Sandbox: By SEBi. Live, testing env. Where new products, processes, services
and business models could be deployed on a ltd. Set of eligible customers for a specified
period of time, with certain relaxations.
17. Adoption of A.I. is expected to double the rate of industrial innovation, and may lead to
an over two-times jump in employee productivity in india by 2021, says a study by
Microsoft.It will help in Customer engagement, Margins, and Competitiveness. Another
study says that By 2021, A.I. will more than double the rate of innovation in
organizations, and employee productivity. However, only one-third of the org. in india
 say they have embarked on their A.I. journeys. It says that most business leaders and
employees in india believe this disruptive tech. will help them to do their exisiting jobs
better. However some also feel that tech. will replace workers besides creating new
jobs.
18. Shut down jobs come under a separate specialization and those who have prior exp.
Handling such assignments are preferred.