NEWS to be read from “The Hindu”

Centre’s measures help to cool off onion price

• Onion prices in Delhi have dropped below the ₹60 a kg mark in the retail market for the first time in two weeks
•  According to data from the National Horticultural Board, retail prices for the vegetable in the capital dropped to ₹55 a kg over the weekend. This is the first dip since September, when it rose to ₹65 a kg.

Caused by floods

• The spike came as a result of floods in several producer States, causing supply disruptions.
• Central government agencies injected cheaper onions into the market from a 50,000-tonne buffer stock and encouraged States to do so.

‘RERA Act applicable to plots sold under industrial project’

• The Tamil Nadu Real Estate Appellate Tribunal (TNREAT) has upheld a ruling by the Tamil Nadu Real Estate Regulatory Authority (TNRERA) that projects such as SEZ and estates involving sale of industrial plots to investors come under the purview of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Act.

A Bill that undercuts key constitutional values

• Home Minister Amit Shah said, “I Want to assure Hindu, Sikh, Jain Buddhist and Christian refugees, you will not be forced to leave India by the Centre.”
• Shah made it clear that the new government would re­introduce Citizenship Amendment Bill, and pass, the Bill in the next parliamentary session, or soon thereafter.

Best friends for now

• Frequent meetings between neighbours are hallmarks of a strong friendship, and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s four day India visit, the first full bilateral meeting since both countries went to polls, marks a new chapter between New Delhi and Dhaka.

A road to economic revival runs through agriculture

• One of the world’s fastest growing economies, India, is now facing sluggish growth, with the Reserve Bank of India sharply cutting GDP growth forecast to 6.1% for 2019­20, which is lowest in last six years; there has been a sharp decline in the performance of key sectors.
• Real agricultural and allied gross value added (GVA) grew by 2.9% during 2011­12 to 2017­18, while in the National Agricultural Policy (2000), it should have been around 4%, to attain an overall economic growth of 8%

Criticism is not sedition

• Sedition laws were enacted in 17th century England, when lawmakers believed that only good opinions of the government should survive, as bad opinions were detrimental to the government and monarchy. This sentiment (and law) was borrowed and inserted into the IPC in 1870.
• The law was first used to prosecute Bal Gangadhar Tilak in 1897.

Gold loses sheen

• At the end of September 2019, Comex gold closed 3.7% lower at $1,472.9 an ounce while Comex silver fell 6.5% to settle at $17 an ounce.
• In the domestic market, the price of gold futures at the MCX declined by 4.7% in September to close at ₹37,323 per 10­grams. MCX silver futures, too, was weak and closed 5.6% lower to ₹44,126 per kilogram.