Kerala Demographic Challenge and the Way Forward

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#opinion Kerala is a state that is often considered one of the best places to live in India. It ranks high on multiple indices of the NITI Aayog and boasts impressive Human Development Indicators such as literacy rate, healthcare, education, and low corruption. This success is attributed to the contributions of visionary leaders, irrespective of political affiliation, as well as public participation in socio-politics, policymakers, subject experts, the erstwhile Travancore Kingdom, and many others. This collective effort has led to what is known as the Kerala Model of Development. The state is among the top ten in terms of both GDP and per capita income. Despite Kerala's significant progress in quality of life and human development parameters, there are other fronts where this success is lacking. Today, Kerala is in the news for negative reasons such as a financial crisis, decreased revenue, rising debt, high unemployment, brain drain, and other challenges. While some issues are ov
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News Capsule for the Week- July (21st-31st)

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Following are the top news for the week (11-20).  If you wish to follow and get notifications of future articles, you can signup using the email on the left sidebar. 

Kerala 

  • Onam Special Food Kits will start getting distributed from July 31st. First to get the same will be those who have AAY cards. For the rest of the cardholders, it will be from August 2nd. 
  • Kerala HSC or Class 12th Results published. The overall pass percentage is 87.67%. 
  • The state reports half the daily COVID-19 cases reported in India.
  • Kerala Traders Union decides to violate the COVID-19 SOPs in the state from August 9th since they are not permitted to open the shops on all days. 
  • Demand for the resignation of, Minister A K Shashindran intensified after he was found to have been involved in settling the case lodged by the woman. The woman later said that she will continue with the legal action while NCP has declined the call for his resignation. 
  • Infighting becomes public in the Indian National League (INL) which is an ally of the LDF. This happened that their party meeting in Kochi. Later this week, there has been a sign of icebreaking and unifying of the warring factions. 
  • Kuthiran tunnel in Thrissur District was opened for the public on the 31st. It is the first tunnel road in Kerala and has 1200 LED lamps and blowers for safety. At present only one direction of the tunnel road has been completed and opened. 
  • Supreme Court insists that Assembly Ruckus Case Investigation will continue against the Kerala Government's decision to withdraw the same. SC has come in strong by confirming that Immunity is not applicable for grave violations of law and Penal offences. 
  • Opposition demands the resignation of Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty for being the prime accused in the case. It also boycotted the Friday session for the same demand. 
India


  • CBSE Class 12th Results declared with a pass percentage of 99.37%
  • ICSE Class 10th and 12th Results released. 
  • Lok Sabha passed three bills without debate amidst the ruckus in the house by the opposition. 
  • The three bills include- Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the Inland Vessels Bill, 2021 
  • Parliament clears Juvenile Justice Amendment Act 2021, thus changing rules on adoption and criminal trials for juveniles.  
  • Karnataka CM Yeddyurappa resigns after two years of being in power. Basavaraj Bommai the son of former Janatha Party CM S. R. Bommai takes charge as the CM of Karnataka possibly for the next two years. No CM from BJP has ever been able to stay full term in the state. 
  • Amidst the Pegasus spyware case, a call for removing Shashi Tharoor from the IT Panel is looming among pro-government members. This is amidst a call for an IT Panel meeting to discuss ‘Citizens’ Data Security and Privacy' which was boycotted by 3 officials. 
  • The most recent ICMR survey shows that Kerala which reports half the cases in the country, has only 44% of the population with antibodies, while it is 85% in Madhya Pradesh. 
  • Kerala is able to detect one in six COVID cases, while UP detected one in 100 and Bihar the worst, ie. one in 134 as per the Government data. 
  • US Washington Magazine report claims Indian Photojournalist Danish Siddhique was executed after checking his identity. 
  • Border clashes between Assam and Mizoram police force were reported on 26th, with alleged firing from both sides which killed 5 Assamese Police and injuring 60 others. The incident happened in the Barak Valley Region. 
  • Following the incident, Mizoram Police filed FIR against the Assam CM Hemath Bishwas Sharma amidst Barak Valley MLAs supporting Assam CM in the same post-incident. 
  • US Secretary of State Antony Bliken arrived in India on 27th for a two-day visit. He met Foreign Minister S Jayashankar and discussed the Indo-Pacific partnership and Bilateral issues. He also met NSA Ajit Doval to discuss few Regional and Security issues. He proceeded to Kuwait City after the visit to New Delhi. 
  • BJP leader Babul Supriyo leaves politics and resigns as an MP. He has been the MP of Asansol two times. He is speculated to have left BJP after he was upset about removing him from the Cabinet and the defeat of BJP in West Bengal. 
World/International


  • French President Emmanuel Macron's phone was hacked by Pegasus software. He changed his phone soon after the expose. 
  • Flooding was reported in Belgium and Germany. Considered to be the worst flooding scenario in more than 100 years. 
  • Henan province in China saw a massive flood, that killed 99 people. Reports of few foreign journalists being harassed for their coverage has been out. 
  • China initiated a crackdown on IT and Gaming Tech-Giant Tencent and also on Online Cab service Didi. This comes after few months of the crackdown on Alibaba. 
  • The US reinstates the mask mandate considering the spread of Delta Variant. CDC calls the new wave, pandemic of the unvaccinated. It also made vaccination compulsory for all federal employees. 
  • Massive wildfires were reported in Southern Turkey that left homes and forests charred. Tourists in the region are evacuated on time. 
  • India set to assume the UNSC presidency for a month in August. 
  • Qin Gang will be the new ambassador of China to the US. He is a staunch anti-west diplomat. 
  • Pakistan Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi the Chengdu, China on July 25  to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.
  • Taliban delegation meets Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in Tianjin China on 28th. It called upon the Taliban not to give safe havens to Uighar rebels and in return, China promised full support to the Taliban. 
  • US Congress creates bipartisan January 6th Commission and its starts the hearing. 
Technology 


  • Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province is also known as the iPhone City. Flood has disrupted the production and sale of iPhones. Foxconn, the company that manufactures iPhones for Apple is struggling to meet the delivery and sales. 
  • Facebook says it will limit the targeting of ads to teenagers. 
  • By default teenagers' Instagram accounts will be set as private. 
  • The Government of India unveils 'Sandes' a local messenger app as an alternative to Whatsapp.  
  • One Plus Nord 2 smartphone is released in India. 
  • Zomato sees a massive surge in the stock market post its IPO last week. 
  • China's crackdown on big-tech causes the loss of hundreds of billions of USD and prospective future expansion to the countries. 
  • Telegram announces that its latest update will provide the feature to video call, 1000 people, at a single time accompanied by screen sharing with sound. 

Olympics


  • After a year of postponement and concerns of superspreaders in the host city, Tokyo 2020 Olympics was inaugurated on July 23rd. The games are scheduled to go on till 8th August. 
  • The city of Tokyo is under a strict lockdown, no athlete is allowed to move out of the village and the stadiums are going without fans. 
  • Olympics this time will host 33 Sporting events and games. 
  • Till now, the top three positions in the medal tally is held by China, Japan and the USA. There is a tight competition among the top three places with each and every medal becoming important. 
  • The host of the Olympics, Japan is seeing its best tally performance in the history of the Olympics. 
  • Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica becomes the fastest woman in the world. 
You can download the Olympics App for the updates and schedule or go to olympics.com 

Credits- PxFuel 
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Also, you can check out these books on Amazon. 





Hope this weekly news capsule has in a way be useful to you all. Depending on your requirements and feedback we can decide upon the frequency. 

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