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Role Of CAG, Creation And Economic, CEPA With South Korea - Today Current Affairs Topics

Upgrading The CEPA With South Korea Why in news? India has decided to upgrade its existing trade pact with South Korea. The domestic industry has flagged concerns over the agreement. What is CEPA? Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement - CEPA, was a trade deal signed between India & South Korea in 2009 . The CEPA has increased bilateral trade volumes by over 50%. Many Korean companies have penetrated deep into the Indian consumer goods market and have directly benefitted from CEPA. Recently in a review meeting, both countries have decided to upgrade the CEPA at the earliest – possibly by 2018. This has angering domestic exporters, who claim the pact has disproportionately helped Korean exporters. What are the concerns about CEPA? Trade Deficit –  India’s trade defict with South Korea is continuously worsening with time. While India imported $12.58 billion worth of goods from South Korea in 2016-17, its exports totalled only $4.24 billion. Misuse -  T
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Generalist Vs Specialist, Social Business - Today Current Affairs Topics

Listing Of NHAI Why in news? Union ministry of Road transport is planning for initial public offering or IPO of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). What is an IPO? An initial public offering, or IPO, is the very first sale of stock issued by a company to the public. Until a company’s stock is offered for sale to the public, the public is unable to invest in it. Prior to an IPO the NHAI has shareholders made up primarily of early investors i.e. government itself or its authorised firms. By now any individual or institutional investor who wasn’t involved in the early days of the NHAI’s capital, can buy the shares. What is the need for such proposal? Roadways ministry has long argued that there is “no shortage” of money but due to changing economic trends, it came up with the plan of IPO. Due to bad debts and NPAs the government is not so confident in investing on infrastructure projects. Banks are taking too long to approve the financial closure of highway p

India’s Afghanistan Strategy & Aadhaar – Mobile Linkage - Today Current Affairs Topics

Aadhaar – Mobile Linkage Why in news? The Supreme Court recently declared that privacy is a fundamental right. But most telecom operators continue to pressure their users for mandatory Aadhar linkage - thereby violating individual privacy. What is the linking process? Re-verification requires a user to visit a telecom service centre and undergo a biometric (fingerprint) authentication. The fingerprints are then matched with the Aadhaar database to establish authenticity. The messages and calls for Aadhaar linking have only increased in frequency with time. Some operators have even issues threats of disconnection if linkage doesn’t happen with a specified time. What are the legal issues? The Framework -  The Centre is the custodian of the airwaves. It issues licences to private companies for providing mobile voice and data services. Telecom operators are governed by regulations by the Department of Telecommunications (DOT). This includes clauses for subscriber

NEET, Further Rate Cut. Private Hospitals - Today Current Affairs Topics

Addressing The Concerns With NEET What is the issue? National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is distressing rural students with medical aspirations, the test needs a reform.  What is the basis of NEET? NEET is based on a core curriculum approach, whereby the syllabi of all the school boards have been taken into consideration. It has been prepared by the CBSE, Council of Boards of School Education,National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and adopted by the Medical Council of India. What are the issues with Indian education system? India doesn’t have a common core curriculum, there are 50 different boards. There are wide variations with regard to curriculum design, curriculum transaction and curriculum evaluation among these boards. No significant efforts had been taken so far to bring some sort of uniformity in these curriculums. Only few state boards have prepared their content in tune with the curriculum of national boards, particularly