Hello Everyone.

Here re some News Crisps from this week.

International Relations

• $1.5 Billion ADB Loan to fund COVID response (International Relation)- (Play)

(Loan provided by ADB to India)

• Global Terrorism Index 2019 - slammed by NITI Aayog (International Relations) - (Play)

(Important highlight of 2019 Report on Global Terrorism Index)

• USCIRF downgrades India in 2020 List (International Relations) - (Play)

(India placed under Country of Particular Concern - CPC, US can impose sanctions)

• Study on China dams bring Brahmaputra into focus (International Relation) - (Play)

(India and China and control over rivers)

• By any calculus, India qualifies for UNSC permanent seat (International Relation)- (Play) (Security Council Seat for India)
• Afghan peace and India's elbow room (International Relations) - (play)

(India Afghanistan Relations)

• China, US, spar over Taiwan (International Relations) - (play)

(China’s claim on Taiwan as its province, Location of Taiwan, Water Bodies)

• BRICS against COVID-19 (International Organization) (New Development Bank & BRICS) - (play)
• Resuscitating Multilateralism with India's help - Lead Article (International Relations) - (play)

(Multilateral System, Global Supply Chain, Globalisation)

Indian Economy

• Trends in tax receipts (ECONOMY) - (play)

(Trends in government revenues)

• Food nutrition and livelihood security : COVID impact (Economy)- (play)

(Social impact of lockdown)

• Index of eight core industries (Economy) - (play)

(Measuring industrial growth)

• States scrape the barrel as revenue dry up (Indian Economy) - (play)

(Drying up of state taxes and revenue)

• COVID­19 and India’s fiscal conundrum (Indian Economy) - (play)

(Resource Mobilisation)

• New Economic Model (Economy) - (play)

(Problems in the present economic model)

• Steps to Boost Economic Growth : Abhijit Banerjee (Economy)- (play)

(Measures to deal with Economic crisis caused by COVID-19 Pandemic)

• A war like state and a bond to the rescue – Article (Economy) (play)

(About Consol Bond, Issued in war like situation)

Polity & Governance

• Anti-graft laws cover Deemed Universities: SC (Polity & Governance) - (play)

(Officials of Deemed universities are Public Servant under Prevention of Corruption Act)

• Privacy concerns during a pandemic – Article - (Polity & Governance) - (play)

(No legal sanction on use of different technology to fight COVID-19)

• Governor’s Rule in BTAD may impact Assam alliance govt (Polity & Governance) - (play)

(Autonomous District Council)

• EC vague on RTI asking if J&K is in Electoral College (Polity & Governance) - (play)

(Presidential Election)

• Should govt. intervene in platform-publisher relationships? (Polity & Governance)) - (play)

• Minorities panel chief charged with sedition (Polity & Governance) - (play)

(National Minority Commission, Sedition, Freedom of Speech, Case Laws)

• MPLADS, its suspension, and why it must go (Polity & Governance) - (play)

(Issues arising out of implementation of schemes )

• Off course (Editorial) (Polity & Governance)) - (play)

(Inter-State River Water Dispute)

• Rent control amidst pandemic - Article (Polity & Governance) - (play)

(Model Tenancy Act, 2019, Housing for All by 2022)

Environment, Ecology & Biodiversity – Geography

• Tripura groups oppose settlement of Brus (Human Geography) (Bru Tribe) - (play)
• Scramble for funds as Centre tightens purse strings (Ref-1) - (play)
• India’s disease surveillance system needs a reboot (Ref-2) - (play)

Science & Technology

• BCG Vaccine for COVID-19 Prevention (Science & technology) - (play)
• Can antibody test help tackle COVID-19? - FAQ (Science & Technology (play)

(RT-PCR Test - Antigen -direct test, Rapid Testing Kits - Antibodies)

• Drug Approved for use in Emergency - Remdesivir – (Science & Technology) - (play)

(Remdesivir - Antiviral drug - used to treat Ebola & Middle East Respiratory Syndrome)

• Pigs die of suspected Hog Cholera in Meghalaya (Science & Technology) - (play)

(Hog Cholera - Classical swine Fever - & African Swine Fever, Disease caused by virus)

History & Culture

• All-Indian Home Rule League – (History & Culture) – (play)

(Important aspects of Home Rule League)

• Documenting the last honey hunting group of Arunachal (History & Culture) - (play)

(About Sherdukpen Tribe, Chi Lupo – Honey Hunter, Best Documentary Film)

Social Issues

• A greater impact on women (Social Issues) - (play)

(COVID and Women)

• Status of casual labors
• Classification of workers - NSO (Social Justice) - (play)
• (Steps to improve the status of workers in India )

HSEE 2020 POSTPONED

Dear Aspirants,

In the wake of Covid-19, HSEE 2020 is postponed from the proposed date. The new date will be informed later. - Official Announcement.

More time to for you to ace the exam. You can convert this free time to prepare more and be well prepared than you were. We will also be posting materials soon. Gear up.

Welcome to HSEE-2020!

Writer’s Note: Before going through this introduction, please go through this post

Always wanted to confuse those relatives and friends by telling them you study the Humanities in IIT, eh? You've always wanted to study the Humanities and the Social Sciences, but never knew where to begin, eh?  Then, welcome, aspiring freshie, to your path to achieve this, to study an MA in IIT-Madras’s Humanities and Social Sciences Department, to a world of endless late night chats about the dialectic method, of studying the Liberal Arts in a Tech School and all its positives and negatives. The only thing standing between you and this 🎶whole new world🎶, is the Humanities and Social Sciences Entrance Exam, or HSEE! 

As you may have already understood, this exam comprises of two parts: a multiple choice section of 144 marks, testing your comprehension and conceptual mastery in Mathematics, English, and the Humanities and the Social Sciences sui generis, as well as an essay, assessed in our year out of 30 marks, testing your understanding of language and the core concepts of subject areas such as Economics, History, and Political Sciences in the context of what’s going on around you in the world. If you were intimidated, scared, and were going to close this page, to go back to binge watching, then please do wait.

We all were scared before writing this exam, severely underestimating ourselves, thinking we’d be unable to even secure a rank, let alone a seat in IIT. We all were surprised beyond anything when we had realized that we had indeed made it into IIT Madras. Yet, please, please, don’t give up, or lose heart when looking at the syllabus and all its breadth in content. A mountain peak may seem like a destination too far off to even attempt, but individual steps aren’t. Plus, we, your potential seniors, the coolest and smartest peeps y’all will ever get to know (hehe) are here with this blog just to help you, so do not lose heart! Through our series of posts by our contributors, we’d be vivisecting this exam, format and content, just for you, dear HSEE candidates, so that you may get under the exam’s skin to better understand it and finally, crack it. Some of our correspondents would even be talking about the humans of our Department Computer Facility, or DCF, where we relax and trade fundaes like no one’s business. We’d be sharing with all of you the perks of being an IIT-ian, from 2am Maggi at Ramu, to unlimited WiFi anywhere you go, to running into some of the nation’s leading experts in political philosophy and computational linguistics over a coffee-and-samosa break in Usha. So, dear, potential freshies, strap in, ‘cause y’all are gonna learn a ton about getting into the place where you're gonna have the best times of your lives :)