A serious mind can never be in the present. Only a

playful mind, only children, are in the present. So

be more childlike... play more. ~ Osho

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*What is illegal from the point of view of administrative law

may not necessarily be an offence from a criminal court’s

perspective.

*The Supreme Court declared in 2012 that the allocation of

2G spectrum by the Congress-led UPA government was

illegal and an arbitrary exercise of power.

*It went on to cancel all 122 telecom licences allotted to

companies in early 2008 during the tenure of A. Raja as

Communications Minister.

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*Trial court’s en masse acquittal: the claim that this was the biggest scam

in India’s history lies in tatters.

*FiFo: first-come, first-served system

*Vinod Rai (Former, Comptroller and Auditor General): Reported that not

auctioning spectrum resulted for a loss of D1.76 lakh crore

*Raja: not revising the entry fee and not auctioning spectrum ensured

cheaper telephony, increased tele-density and contributed to the sector’s

overall development.

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*2G saga: public perception and audit reports cannot be the sole basis for

criminal trials

*Investigating agencies must carefully sift the available material before

deciding to prosecute.

*The CBI’s image has taken a beating, with the court calling it out for its

waning enthusiasm in pursuing the case.

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*.

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A. Raja, Kanimozhi, all other accused acquitted in 2G case

CBI, ED to go on appeal against verdict

Not a badge of honour: Jaitley

‘Propaganda had no foundation’

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*.

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*From the time the British brought down hundreds of thousands of Tamils

from south India in the 19th century to Sri Lanka, successive generations

have been toiling in the country’s plantations.

*Even today, most of them live in colonial-era line rooms — closely packed

match-box like dwellings on the hills — and many still work in the estates

in difficult working conditions and with poor wages.

*Their story is better known as the global rise of the famed Ceylon Tea, a

product that fetches precious foreign revenue, about $1.2 billion in 2016.

*Citizenship or land for house came only after a persistent struggle.

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*Tamils are quick to appreciate India’s attention to their community.

*But many are fed up with baggage of uneasy histories.

*National Plan of Action for the social development of the plantation

community, spanning five years beginning 2016.

*Housing is only one of the many long-ignored demands of the workers,

who face historic neglect and exploitation. From education, to health to

fair wages, many of their concerns remain unaddressed.

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*.

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*‘good and simple tax’ with ‘one nation, one market, one tax’

*Problems faced by businesses: Returns, Refunds, GSTN issues etc

*Response of GST Council: trying its level best

*It is also important to note that problems of transition to a major tax

reform are unavoidable and most countries go through this.

*International Monetary Fund: structural adjustment programme

*Of over 165 countries which have adopted GST in one form or another,

only five have repealed it (Belize, Ghana, Grenada, Malta and Vietnam),

but have reintroduced the tax later.

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*It is also true that there is no “one-size fits all” GST and each country has to adopt the structure depending on political bargains and operational feasibility.

*It is important not to have too low thresholds. In fact, reasonably high thresholds will reduce the compliance burden to a large number of small businesses without much impact on revenue. The revenue loss will be minimal but ease of doing business will be high.

*Another desirable feature of a successful GST is to have fewer rates. Multiple rates create classification problems, are harder to administer and would require the general rate of tax to be higher.

*Most countries take at least two years to prepare for the introduction of reform to ensure a smooth transition.

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*Having four tax rates and three rates of cesses should have been avoided. As multiple rates create problems of classification, invertedduty structure and large-scale lobbying. It enormously complicates the technology platform to ensure input tax credit mechanism.

*International experience shows that including real estate may not be easy. The inclusion of petroleum products in the GST base will depend on mainly the revenue gains from the reform.

*Strong political commitment, to implementing the reform, thorough advance preparation, adequate investment in tax administration and taxpayer services, extensive public education programme, support from business community and good timing of reform are the important pre-requisites for successful implementation of the GST.

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*India ranks 114th out of 132 countries in stunting among

children aged less than five and 120th out of 130

countries in under-5 wasting, as per the Global Nutrition

Report, 2016.

*The burden of vitamin and mineral deficiencies (‘hidden

hunger’) is also considerable.

*This is because a vast majority of Indians eat cereal-

based food, mainly wheat and rice. There is an

insufficient intake of food such as milk, pulses, and fruits

and vegetables, which are rich sources of micronutrients.

*Women and children are the most vulnerable to micronutrient

deficiencies.

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*What is ironic is that over-nutrition is emerging as an emergency in

India.

*Dramatic changes in lifestyle and dietary patterns in recent decades

have contributed to an increasing prevalence of non-communicable

diseases.

*A steady decline in the food basket diversity, especially of traditional

grains such as bajra and millet, which have high nutritional value.

*The policies and programmes of various ministries should be converged

for better results.

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*.

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*Austria’s new coalition government is a sobering reminder of the

persistent danger of the populist upsurge across Europe.

*The deeply eurosceptic and anti-immigrant Freedom Party registered its

best performance in nearly two decades.

*When the Freedom Party under Jörg Haider went in for a power-sharing

arrangement with the conservatives around the turn of the century,

Austria was briefly ostracised by the European Union.

*Pro-european stance of an overtly anti-immigrant platform is an obvious

contradiction, as freedom of movement is one of the EU’s four founding

principles.

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India votes for talks on Jerusalem

*Reiterating its traditional policy on the Israel-Palestine dispute, India on Thursday voted for a negotiated settlement of the Jerusalem issue at the UN General Assembly with 127 other member countries.

*The dramatic vote came a day after a fortnight-long outreach by the Arab countries to India.

*Saudi and Palestinian envoys met diplomats from the Ministry of External Affairs ahead of the vote.

*India has maintained since December 7 that it follows an independent policy on the issue of Jerusalem which does not get influenced by “thirdparties”.

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*The UN resolution

received nine votes

against and 35

abstentions.

*The resolution which

expresses deep

“regret” received

India’s vote even as

Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu

is expected to visit

India in the new

year.

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India, Russia working closely on Afghanistan: Ambassador

*India’s membership of the Shanghai Cooperation

Organisation has increased Indo-Russian cooperation on

Afghanistan, said Russia’s new envoy to India Nikolay

Kudashev.

*“It is the vital task of the international community to

continue to support the Afghan government and,

particularly, the army and security forces in their fight

against terrorism. Enhancing air capabilities of the ADF

(Afghan Defence Forces) is one of the most important

imperatives in this regard,” Mr. Kudashev said

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India-China border talks today

*India and China will hold the 20th round of negotiations on the border issues on Friday.

*The meeting, which comes four months after the forces of the two sides confronted each other at the Doklam plateau, will be headed by special representatives from both sides, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi.

*Ms. Swaraj and Mr. Wang had both indicated that the two sides realise the need to continue normal dialogue, given the importance of overallrelationship.

Siang issue

*However, a new issue on the ground that may also feature is the issue of the pollution of the Siang river which has contaminated the flow of the mighty Brahmaputra in Assam.

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Australian drives car into pedestrians in Melbourne

*19 injured; police say they don’t suspect terrorism as motive

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Catalonia votes in election pivotal for independence bid

*Separatists and unionists are running neck-and-neck, according to

opinion polls

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‘Budget 2018-19 may focus on rural areas’

*India’s government will likely increase funding for the farm and rural sectors in the budget for the coming fiscal year, finance ministry officials said, to shore up political support in the countryside ahead of a raft of elections.

*Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government won an election in his home state of Gujarat this week, but only just as it faced discontent fuelled by falling farm incomes and a lack of jobs.

*Jaitley has signalled that his priority will be allocating more funds for rural and infrastructure sectors.

*An aide to Modi said, “Every attempt is being made to make it a populist budget.”

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Black money: India-Swiss data sharing from Jan. 1

*In a move aimed at combating black money stashed abroad, India signed

an agreement with Switzerland on Thursday that would allow automatic

sharing of tax-related information from January 1 next year, the CBDT

said.

*“With the completion of the parliamentary procedure in Switzerland and

signing of mutual agreement, India and Switzerland are set for automatic

exchange of information for the period beginning from January 1, 2018,”

the Central Board of Direct Taxes said.

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1. Which Mauryan Province had a foreign governor (Greek-Yavana)?

A. Southern

B. Eastern

C. Western

D. Saurashtra

2. Which musical instruments was not composite or Indo-Islamic in origin?

A. Sitar

B. Tabla

C. Sarangi

D. Shehnai

3. Which one of the following was not an extremist?

A. Bal Gangadhar Tilak

B. Madan Lal Dhingni

C. Udham Singh

D. Gopal Krishna Gokhale

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1. After the grant of Diwani in the year 1765, the first mountain tribe with which the British came into contact with is

A. Garos

B. Khasis

C. Kukis

D. Tipperahs

2. Which region is called doldrums?

A. Equatorial low pressure belt

B. Sub tropical high pressure belt

C. Between 10 degree - 23.5 degree (N and S)

D. Sub-polar low pressure belt

3. What % of the total population of the world resides in India?

A. 15

B. 17.5

C. 20

D. 22.5

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PrashantTMavani