News behind The News – 23 August, 2021

POLITY

• PM Modi’s Independence Day Speech: Challenges Ahead

• Perils of a Caste Census

• Nagaland: All-Party Govt to be set up

DEFENCE

• Pathbreaking Supreme Court Ruling on Women

• Army Initiates Indigenous upgrade of Infantry Combat Vehicles

• Fifth Defence Startup Challenge Launched

• India May Collaborate with Malaysia in Aircraft MRO Sector

• Israeli Firm Signs MOU with India's Alpha Design for Radar Market

• Contract with GE Aviation for Supply of Engines for Tejas

• Advanced Chaff Technology Developed

• Comment: Taliban’s return Signals a New Chapter in Afghanistan

NEIGHBOURS

• Taliban in Kabul: Medievalism in the Heart of Asia

• Afghanistan: Tough Choices for India 

• Afghanistan: The Crucial Pakistan Factor

• Taliban 2 will be different, wiser

• Afghanistan: China will wait and Watch

• Afghanistan, Its Sectarian Divisions, and International Stakeholders

• Will Taliban 2.0 Signal a Radical Policy Change?

• India - Nepal:  New Government Maintaining Equidistance from India and China?

• Ties Soured by the China Factor, Sri Lanka’s New Policy Document Reaches out to India

INTERNATIONAL

• Pakistan-based Terror Groups Operate with Impunity: Jaishankar at UNSC

• India at the UNSC on Global Maritime Security

• Quad offers Little Security for India

• BRICS Industry Ministers

ECONOMY

A SERIOUS UNEMPLOYMENT CRISIS

STATE OF THE ECONOMY

• Course of economy altered by slow retreat of 2nd Covid-19 wave: RBI

• Real GDP growth in first quarter seen at 14.2-23.3%

• Low prospects of India becoming a $5 trillion economy by FY25

• Rural India consumption better than urban centres

POLICY INITIATIVES

• Road tax cut on new vehicles

INDUSTRY

• Industry’s good performance in Q1

TRADE

• RoDTEP guidelines for boosting exports

MONEY AND BANKNG

• RBI’s Financial Inclusion Index

• India ranks second in crypto adoption globally