Daily Current Affairs for TNPSC Group Exams, Upsc Exams, SSC, RRB, BANK & All Government Exams

1. G7 To Cap Russia’s Income from Oil Sales
    

• Front Page.
• IR.
   
• The final statement from the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Germany underlined their intent to impose “severe and immediate economic costs” on Russia. It left out key details on how the fossil fuel price caps would work in practice, setting up more discussion in the weeks ahead to “explore” measures to bar imports of Russian oil above a certain level.

2. The Essence of Time
    

• Page 8.
• Constitution, Polity.
   
• Judicial intervention should strengthen anti-defection law, not undermine it. When defection is seen as a serious menace by the Constitution, courts should not act in furtherance of it. The duty to protect those wrongly disqualified is important, but so is calling to account defectors whose motives are suspect.

3. Remembering the ‘Plan Man’ of India
    

• Page 8.
• Economics.
   
• June 29, is national ‘Statistics Day’, in ‘recognition of the contributions made by Prof. Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis’, the ‘Plan Man’ of India. Statistics, the subject, is also changing amid a wave of data science. One needs to adopt, for sure. Attempts such as transforming the Planning Commission to NITI Aayog or merging the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) with the Central Statistical Office (CSO) to form the National Statistical Office (NSO) may not be enough though.

4. A Problematic Provision 
    

• Page 9.
• Polity, Constitution, Judiciary.
   
• In States with bicameral legislatures, seats in the Legislative Council are filled following an indirect election in which members of the Legislative Assembly cast votes.     In the past, the Supreme Court has observed that the intent of the Section 62(5) of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951, is to maintain the integrity of elections by excluding ‘persons with criminal background’ from participating in them. Ideally, this objective can be achieved through a provision which disenfranchises persons who have been convicted of certain kinds of grave offences.

Daily Current Affairs 29 June 2022

5. China’s interventions in the Horn of Africa
    

• Page 10.
• Geography, IR.
   
• During his 17th trip to Africa, China’s Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi asserted China’s three main objectives in Africa: controlling the pandemic, implementing a Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) outcomes, and upholding common interests while fighting hegemonic politics.  Africa has been keen on interacting with China. Despite accusations of debt-trapping surrounding China’s projects in Africa, the governments have mostly been welcoming.

6. The G7 Plan to Counter the Belt and Road Initiative
    

• Page 10.
• Security.
   
• U.S. President Joe Biden along with his G7 allies unveiled the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), largely seen as a counter to China’s multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). All PGII projects will be driven by “four priority pillars that will define the second half of the 21st century”. Tackling the climate crisis and ensuring global energy security, bolstering digital information and ICT networks, promoting gender equality and equity, and lastly, to build and upgrade the global health infrastructure. A PGII project has been announced in India. On the other hand, India has stayed away from China’s BRI, being wary of Beijing’s aim to increase its influence in the Indian Ocean Region.

7. GST Reform Needs a New Grand Bargain
    

• Page 11.
• Govt Policies and Interventions, Economy, Growth and Development.
   
• The Centre and the States of India struck a grand bargain resulting in the launch of the GST era. The States gave up their right to collect sales tax and sundry taxes, and the Centre gave up excise and services tax. The consent of the States was secured by a promise of reimbursing any shortfall in tax revenues for a period of five years. However, as the economy battles a pandemic and recession, it seems that the States have been told that they are on their own to meet shortfall in revenues. The issue of GST compensation to the States is just the latest in the bumpy journey of the new tax design. It is clear that the design needs a radical overhaul.