AIR Spotlight

AIR spotlight summary: National Press freedom day Context: PM has given a speech at Vigyan Bhavan and announced government’s policy on media freedom. This announcement is much needed at a time when there is a perception about media sensation. But he came absolutely clear saying that Press freedom will be upheld at all cost and […]

AIR spotlight summary: Anti Profiteering Authority for GST   Context: Union Cabinet has approved creation of National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) under GST, to ensure benefits of reduction in indirect tax rates are passed on to consumers. The constitution of NAA will bolster the confidence of consumer as they reap the benefits of recent reduction in […]

AIR spotlight summary: Initiatives for Tribal Welfare Introduction: The 142nd birth anniversary of the great freedom fighter who belong to the Tribal community of Jharkhand – Bhagvan Birsa Munda was celebrated across several parts of India. He fought against the might of the British Empire and he has a place of pride in the Indian […]

AIR spotlight summary: PM visit to Manila and its significance   Introduction: PM will be attending 15th ASEAN summit and 12th East Asian Summit and PM will also call a bilateral meeting with US president. Will this visit an enhancement and boost to PM’s Act East policy? Very much so. From the very beginning PM […]

AIR spotlight summary: World Food India 2017   Context: Prime Minister inaugurated World Food India 2017 in New Delhi. This is the first time that India is hosting such an event for the Food processing sector. It’s a mega event where 200 companies from 30 countries are participating. Germany, Japan and Denmark are the partner […]

AIR spotlight summary: Setting up of special courts for the trial of politicians Context: SC is setting up a plan to exclusively try pending criminal cases against politicians and law makers by constituting special courts on the lines of Fast track courts. Significance: This is an important development given the fact that we are faced […]

  AIR spotlight summary on “Judicial Decisions on Pollution Crisis in Delhi”. Introduction Delhi is facing severe Air Pollution which is creating lot of health problems especially for children and elderly. There seems to be no quick solution. The Supreme Court has asked the Delhi government to come out with a common minimum programme to […]

    AIR spotlight summary on “India-UK Bilateral Relations”. Introduction The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May is on a three day visit to India. This is the first bilateral visit of Theresa May outside Europe since she became Prime Minister. That reflects the priority which Britain attaches with India. India’s approach is that the […]

    AIR spotlight summary on “First International Agro biodiversity Congress”. Introduction Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first International Agro biodiversity Congress where 900 delegates from 60 countries participated. The conference was organised by the Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources and Biodiversity International, a CGIAR Research Centre headquartered in Rome, Italy.  Significance of the conference […]

  AIR spotlight summary on “Campaign for Open Defecation Free Nation” Introduction Swachh Bharat Mission is a very ambitious programme which was launched by the Prime Minister on 2 Oct 2014 with the aim of making India open defecation free by 2019. It also had several components like construction of household and community toilets, door […]

    AIR spotlight summary on “Empowerment of Women and their contribution in Nation Building”. Introduction Right from the days of freedom struggle until today, Indian women have played an important role in all fields of life like in nation building, empowerment in various sectors and taking the country forward on the development index and […]

  AIR spotlight summary on “First Indian Ocean Rim Association Summit”. Introduction The first summit of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) was held in Jakarta, Indonesia. IORA, formerly known as Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) was started in 1997 in Mauritius. It has got 21 members. It is a very diverse group […]

  AIR spotlight summary on “World Wildlife Day”.   Introduction World Wildlife Day is celebrated on 3 March, the day of signature of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants. At the same time, the Day […]

  AIR spotlight summary on “Air Pollution – a serious health hazard”.   Introduction Air pollution is again hitting the headlines with 2 reports pointing to its catastrophic effects in India. The reports have pointed out that India’s poor air quality causes 1.1 million pre mature deaths every year. Delhi and Patna are among the […]

  AIR spotlight summary on “National Science Day”. Introduction February 28th is celebrated as National Science Day. The theme for this year is “Science and Technology for specially abled persons”. Most of the people are still unaware about Science Day and why is it celebrated. The World Science Day is observed on 10 November across […]

    AIR spotlight summary on “Kansas Killing and safety of Indian Americans”. Introduction Recently there was a shooting in Kansas City on two Indians. This was termed as a hate crime. The shooter shouted at the Indians “get out of my country” before opening the gun fire. Race has been an important component in […]

    AIR spotlight summary on “Task force to weed out shell companies”. Introduction The government announced a crackdown on shell companies, used largely for tax evasion and money laundering, after it found strong evidence of misuse of these firms over the last few months during demonetisation. The Centre announced the setting up of a task force, co-chaired by secretaries in the […]

    AIR spotlight summary on “Government to monitor progress on Ease of Doing Business”. Introduction A committee has been setup to oversee the oversight functions of the government to ensure that the government does not interfere much in the business and at the same time allowing the business to flourish in the economy. The […]

    AIR spotlight summary on “Reforms in funding to Political Parties”. Introduction The government has embarked on a new exercise to stop corruption in the political funding which a bane of Indian electoral system. Nearly 70% to 80% of the funds to the political parties are never reported and they are collected from unknown […]

    AIR spotlight summary on “General Anti Avoidance rule (GAAR) and its Advantages”. Introduction General Anti Avoidance rule (GAAR) is a set of rules or a framework which helps the revenue authorities decides whether a particular transaction has commercial substance or not. If it does not have commercial substance and is not a genuine […]