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News Highlights provides you with the best compilation of the Daily News Highlights taking place across the globe: National, International, Sports, Science and Technology, Banking, Economy, Agreement, Appointments, Ranks, and Report and General Studies
1.
The Union government is aiming at finalising and notifying the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, currently in a draft state, by the middle of the year, Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology has said. "The consultations so far have been extensive, and people are by and large okay with the provisions," Mr. Vaishnaw said in an exclusive interview with The Hindu on Wednesday. "I don't see too many amendments coming in the final notification beyond some tweaks."
2.
The National Statistics Office (NSO) has confirmed emerging fears about the economy's evidently sluggish trajectory through this year in its first Gross Domestic Pro- duct (GDP) estimates for 2024-25. While the election-focused first quarter hit public capital spending, the second quarter (Q2) was marred by weak demand and still underwhelming public capex, dragging GDP growth to a seven-quarter low of 5.4%. The Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which were projecting that India would log a fourth year of 7%-plus growth, had pared their hopes to 'about 6.5%' and 6.6%, respective- ly. This was predicated on a bump-up of about 7% in the second half of the year to offset the first half's 6% rise. The NSO, slightly less sanguine, expects GDP to grow at a four-year low pace of 6.4%, from 8.2% in 2023-24, with just agriculture seen rising significantly faster than last year. Manufacturing and mining growth may virtually halve, and though services sectors seem relatively better off, there is some concern of momentum loss. Purchasing Managers' Indices averaged lower than Q2 through Q3, for both manufacturing and services. The NSO expects private consumption to rebound 7.3% this year from just 4% last year. But Q3 trends do not indicate a significant lift-off in urban demand. So, this could be a tad optimistic despite inflation easing slightly since October.
3.
On December 25, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Ken-Betwa River Link Project, which aims to solve the water scarcity in the Bundelkhand region that covers parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The project also includes the construction of a dam located within the Panna Tiger Reserve, raising concerns about its submergence. Upon completion, this project will link the supposed water surplus Ken River with the Betwa in drought-stricken Bundelkhand - an area that had 58% forest cover in 1938.
4.
Nearly two decades after the passage of the N Right to Information Act, it is quite apparent that governments, at least sections of it, are uncomfortable with the idea of transparency and empowerment associated with it. Amendments to dilute its efficacy and attempts to defeat it by delaying or denying information have been quite common for years. Another way to scuttle the law is to cripple the functioning of information commissions at the central and State levels. The issue has surfaced again, with the Supreme Court of India questioning the large number of vacancies in the central and some State Information Commissions. These commissions hear ap- peals from members of the public who have been denied access to information or have failed to elicit a response from designated information officers in various departments and institutions. A Di- vision Bench has taken note of the fact that there are eight vacancies in the posts of Information Commissioners in the Central Information Com- mission (CIC), while 23,000 appeals are pending before it. In fact, some State-level Information Commissions are almost defunct for want of members to hear the public. Any court is bound to ask, as the Court has now done, how an institution can be of any use if it does not have persons to perform the required duties under the law.
5.
In 2023, there was a report discussing the right to food in the context of Jharkhand. Similarly, a few days ago, there was another report that was in the context of Odisha. These reports highlighted something alarming - that a substantial number of households have been removed from the rolls of the Public Distribution System (PDS). This disturbing situation is not limited to Jharkhand and Odisha. Bihar, another State in the east-central region, has its own PDS tragedy.
6.
In 2022, when China established its first political training school in Tanzania, the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School, its motivation was unambiguous. With an estimated cost of $40 million, the school was a tool for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to shape the future political leaders of Africa following the Chinese principles of governance. Therefore, it is no surprise that the 120 official members of the school's first cohort were from countries with long-standing historical ties to China. These countries continue to be ruled by the liberation parties that came into power through their pre-independence struggles. The countries include South Africa, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania. In fact, these six countries, along with Botswana, are also part of the Former Liberation Movements of Southern Africa, an informal coalition meant to help one another address governance challenges and stay in power.
7.
Over the last decade, States have been relying more and more on transfers and grants from the Centre. In the last decade (FY16 to FY25), 23-30% of the total revenue of States was collected from the Centre as transfers. However, in the 2000s and the first half of 2010, the share was 20-24%. Also, close to 65-70% of the non-tax re- venue of States was collected from the Centre as grants in the last de- cade compared to the 2000s and the first half of the 2010s when the share was lower at 55-65%.
8.
On January 5, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister announced a $1-million prize for experts or organisations in the event of their success in deciphering the scripts of the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC). He made the announcement at the inauguration of an international conference to mark the centenary of the IVC discovery, which was disclosed through an article published in September 1924 by the then Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) John Marshall. That the Chief Minister of a southern State in the country had made such an announcement was due to the possible Dravidian connection with the IVC. Notwithstanding the political dimension of the Dravidian concept, historians, archaeologists and linguistic scholars have been debating over the Dravidian hypothesis ever since the publication of Marshall's article.
9.
V . Narayanan, rocket and spacecraft pro- pulsion expert, will take over as the Chairman of the Indian Space Re- search Organisation (ISRO) on January 14, with the retirement of the current chief of the space agency, S. Somanath. India's space sector is in a reform mode, and the space agency has lined up major projects such as the Gaganyaan human spaceflight, the Chan- drayaan-4 mission and the development of the country's own space station.
10.
India has handed over de- fence equipment and stores to the Maldives on the request of the Maldivian government, the De- fence Ministry said on Wednesday as New Delhi also reaffirmed its readiness to support Male in capability enhancement for defence preparedness as per its national priorities.
11.
In the past, global IT firms saw India as a way to save costs, but they are now seeing the country as a leading source of talent and demand, Un- ion Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw says. He speaks on the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules and Al regulation. Excerpts:
12.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar's retirement in February brought back into focus before the Supreme Court on Wednesday the need to fast- track a decision on the legality of a new law dealing with the appointment of Election Commissioners which gives the Union government a dominant role.
13.
India is progressing within a democratic framework, balancing on the twin pillars of technology and tradition, said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar at the Youth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. "We are today well on the way to address long- standing challenges to build a modern, inclusive and progressive society. Our quest is unique be- cause the largest nation in the world is developing in that manner in a democratic framework. The mantra of that journey is to advance, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi says, on the two legs of technology and tradition," Mr. Jaishankar remarked.
14.
The World Health Organization is in contact with Chinese health officials and has not received any reports of unusual out- break patterns, its latest disease outbreak report on Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) said.
15.
There is no single silver bullet such as an interest rate cut that can address the economy's slowdown, and the upcoming Union Budget must revive India's slowing consumption im- pulses through multiple measures, including a cut in income taxes and fuel duties, and provide a re- forms roadmap to bring growth back to the 7% level, India's apex industry body's head said.
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