India, UAE sign major trade pact
FrontPage GS 3
India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed a bilateral “comprehensive” trade pact on Friday.
Announcing the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), the biggest trade pact of the last seven years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed investment from the Gulf country into Jammu and Kashmir and said the initiative would open new routes for regional trade and connectivity and advance “collective interests” of India, Israel, the UAE and the U.S.
Former MD of NSE under CBI radar in server case.
Page 3, Delhi Edition
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday examined former National Stock Exchange (NSE) Managing Director Chitra Ramkrishna in a case registered in May 2018 for alleged abuse of server architecture of the Exchange to provide access to a private company to the data before any other broker.
The CBI case is against stock broker OPG Securities, its owner Sanjay Gupta and others, including unknown officials of the Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the NSE. As alleged, using an algorithmic trading software package named “Chanakya”, the company got market feeds from the NSE server ahead of others
SC for mediation among States to settle Krishna water dispute.
The Supreme Court on Friday asked if the States of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka could amicably settle their quarrel over the allocation of the Krishna river water.
Page 5, GS 2
India needs a refugee and asylum law
The editorial Page 6
On refugee issues, it ought to be among the most admired nations and not one that has much to be ashamed of as now.
Article by Shashi Tharoor
Revisit the terms of use for this scholastic ABC
The editorial Page 6
The UGC’s ‘Academic Bank of Credits’ scheme could induce more chaos than positive disruption in higher education.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has recommended a revamp of the higher education scene in India to make education more student-centric and multi-disciplinary. A new initiative stemming from this desire is an ‘Academic Bank of Credits’ (ABC) in higher education idea, which was notified recently by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for implementation. Theoretically, this idea can usher in positive disruption in the jaded higher education sector in the country. But, in reality, this disruption is more likely to usher in chaos.
Russia welcomes India’s stand on eastern Ukraine situation.
Gs 3, Page 8
The Russian Embassy here on Friday welcomed “India’s balanced, principled and independent approach” in response to India’s statement at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) welcoming the implementation of the Minsk agreements which, it said, provided a basis for a “negotiated and peaceful settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine.” Any steps that ‘‘increase tension may best be avoided by all sides”, it stated.
I&B Ministry warns officials on data security.
The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has prohibited the sharing of top secret or secret documents by its officials over Internet. They have also been told not to use digital assistant devices such as Amazon’s Echo, Apple’s Home Pod and Google Home in the office and turn off digital assistants, including Alexa and Siri, in their smartphones or watches
The officials are required to deposit their smart phones outside the meeting room during discussions on classified issues, said the order that has been issued in view of the finding that a large number of government officials use private messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram for communication of classified information
New gecko from NE gets Army tag
A lizard new to science is wearing the Indian Army’s tag.
A team of herpetologists have recorded a new species of bent-toed gecko from a wooded part of the Umroi Military Station in Meghalaya. Its scientific name is Crytodactylus exercitus and English name is Indian Army’s bent-toed gecko. Exercitus in Latin means army.