TURNING AROUND

Ziona Chana, has the largest family in the world ,who lives with his 39 wives, 94 children, 14 daughters-in-law, and 33 grand children at Baktwang village, Mizoram. He is the head of the huge family and  ‘blessed’ to have his 39 wives. The family members together live in a 100-room, four-storey house built amongst the bewitching hills of Baktwang village at Mizoram, a state in India. The mansion of Ziona is considered to be the biggest concrete structure in the hilly village of Baktawng in Mizoram.

What  is  STEM? STEM is  a  growing  movement  in education,  not  just  in  the  United States  but  around  the  world. STEM-based  learning  programs  are intended  to  increase  students'  interest in  pursuing  higher  education  and careers  in  those  fields.STEM  education  typically  uses  a  newer model  of  blended  learning  that combines traditional classroom teaching  with  online  learning  and hands-on  learning  activities. This  model  of  blended  learning  aims  to give students  the  opportunity  to experience  different  ways  of  learning and  problem-solving.

The ninth India-US Defence Technologies and Trade Initiative (DTTI) group meeting is scheduled to happen in New Delhi. A statement issued by the US Department of Defence said that the value of bilateral defence trade between the two countries is estimated to reach USD 18 billion later this year. In August 2018, the US granted to India the designation of Strategic Trade Authority Tier 1 or STA-1, providing India with greater supply-chain efficiency by allowing US companies to export a greater range of dual-use and high-technology items to India under streamlined processes. What is DTTI? Essentially, DTTI is an initiative to provide “increased US senior level oversight and engagement to get beyond these obstacles.It simply describe the bureacratic mechanism to avoid obstacle over defence technological business and industrial relationship” What are its aims? While DTTI is not a treaty or law, it is a flexible mechanism to make sure that senior leaders from both countries are engaged

What is the issue? The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade negotiations had been held recently that India may accept the free data flow clauses with some public policy exceptions. What is the RCEP? It is a trade deal that is currently under negotiation among 16 countries.These countries include 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and 6 countries with which the ASEAN bloc has free trade agreements (FTA).The ASEAN countries have FTAs with India, Australia, China, South Korea, Japan and New Zealand.Negotiations on the details of the RCEP have been on since 2013.All the participants aim to finalise and sign the deal by November 2019. Why data is important? In a digital economy, data is the central resource.Data is being considered as a nation’s new wealth.A nation’s rank in the emerging new global geo-economic and geo-political hierarchies will be decided by how it employs data fruitfully, and its value captured.The global di

1. Caste is determined by birth – a child is “born into” the caste of its parents. Caste is never a matter of choice. One can never change one’s caste, leave it, or choose not to join it, although there are instances where a person may be expelled from their caste. 2. Membership in a caste involves strict rules about marriage. Caste groups are “endogamous”, i.e. marriage is restricted to members of the group. 3. Caste membership also involves rules about food and food-sharing. What kinds of food may or may not be eaten is prescribed and who one may share food with is also specified. 4. Caste involves a system consisting of many castes arranged in a hierarchy of rank and status. In theory, every person has a caste, and every caste has a specified place in the hierarchy of all castes. While the hierarchical position of many castes, particularly in the middle ranks, may vary from region to region, there is always a hierarchy. 5. Castes involve sub-divisions within themselves, i.e., caste

The term ‘economic drain’ refers to a portion of national product of India which was not available for consumption of its peoples, but was being drained away to Britain. •The drain theory was put forward by Dadabhai Naoroji in his book Poverty and Un British Rule in India. • The major components of this drain were salaries and pensions of civil and military officials, interests on loans taken by the Indian Government from abroad, profits on foreign investment in India, stores purchased in Britain for civil and military departments, payments to be made for shipping, banking and insurance services which stunted the growth of Indian enterprise in these services. • The drain of wealth checked and retarded capital formation in India while the same portion of wealth accelerated the growth of British economy. • The surplus from British economy re-entered India as finance capital, further draining India of its wealth.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Monday awarded Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer the prestigious Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.

As always the push must start with the primary sector. So there is a great need to accept the role of agriculture in invigorating crucial economic segments. The sector is a potential enabler and employer for more than 50% of the population; it also has the potential to revive “animal spirits” by ensuring farm viability: increasing the ratio of farm to non-farm income to 70:30 by 2022-23 from the present 60:40. According to the agriculture census 2015-16, the real income of farmers doubled in almost 20 years from 1993-94 to 2015-16. As the target to double farmers’ income by 2022 is nearing, there must be fast-lane options and swift actions to ensure curated reforms on land, market, price, and ameliorate supply side constraints. As reiterated in the past, the Agricultural Developmental Council (ADC) in line with the GST Council is a dire need to make agricultural reforms more expressive and representative. For better income distribution, there is also a need to revisit regional crop pl