daily-current-affairs-07-09-2023

India’s Act East Policy focusses on the extended neighbourhood in the Asia-Pacific region. The policy which was originally conceived as an economic initiative, has gained political, strategic and cultural dimensions including establishment of institutional mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation.

2. GS 3 (INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS): WORLD ORGANISATIONS: THE UN: India has told the UN Security Council that blocking evidence-based proposals to blacklist globally sanctioned terrorists without providing justifications is uncalled-for and “smacks of doublespeak”. This was a thinly veiled reference to China and Pakistan.

“The working methods of the UNSC Sanctions Committees continue to dent the credibility of the UN Security Council,”

3. GS 2 (INDIAN POLITY): THE CONSTITUTION: FR TO RELIGION: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remarks on Sanatana Dharma required a “proper response” based on “facts of the issue” within the contemporary situation.

Mr. Udhayanidhi had, while addressing a conference of Progressive Writers in Chennai on Saturday, said that Sanatana Dharma was like dengue and malaria which needed to be eradicated. “Such things should not be opposed, but destroyed,”, he said.

4. GS 3 (INDIAN ECONOMY): EXTERNAL TRADE: Two days before U.S. President Joe Biden arrives in New Delhi for a bilateral meeting and the G-20 Summit, India has dropped the retaliatory customs tariffs it had imposed on imports of some American goods such as almonds and lentils, effective September 6.

India raised import duties on 28 products from the U.S. in June 2019, after the latter had increased its customs duties on certain steel and aluminium products.

5. GS 2 (WORLD AFFAIRS): The European Union is targeting Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Facebook owner Meta and TikTok parent ByteDance under new digital rules aimed at reining in the market power of online companies.

‘Online gatekeepers’

The six companies were classified as online “gatekeepers” that must face the highest level of scrutiny under the 27-nation bloc’s Digital Markets Act.

The act amounts to a list of do’s and don’ts that seeks to prevent tech giants from cornering digital markets.

6. GS 2 (GOVERNANCE): The 2023 Digital News Report by the Reuters Institute published recently indicates a shift among online news consumers in India, who are increasingly turning to search engines and mobile news aggregators as their main source of news, thus moving away from websites of traditional outlets.