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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
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  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
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  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
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  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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Why India Refused To Join RCEP

By Sunil Garodia

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

Ignoring suggestions by several experts that a free trade zone and increased trade between Asean nations and Japan, South Korea and Australia will be beneficial for the Indian economy, Prime Minister Modi did not agree for India to be a member of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which could have been the largest trading block in the world, in Bangkok.

Modi told the gathering that "Our farmers, traders, professionals and industries have stakes in such decisions. Equally important are the workers and consumers, who make India a huge market and the third biggest economy in terms of purchasing power parity. When I measure the RCEP Agreement with respect to the interests of all Indians, I do not get a positive answer. Therefore, neither the Talisman of Gandhiji nor my own conscience permits me to join the RCEP".

India was chiefly concerned about cheap Chinese agricultural, industrial and dairy products flooding the country to the detriment of the Indian industry if a free trade agreement was signed. India has been very watchful and has been forcefully raising the issue of tariffs and access to markets vis-a-vis cheap Chinese goods of dubious quality.

Apart from the fear of Chinese goods flooding the markets, India was also piqued that its concern regarding moving of base year from 2014 to a year closer to the signing of the deal to reflect the latest duty structure was not addressed by the group. Equally important was the issue of transshipment of Chinese goods from other nations, issues of non-tariff barriers and commitments on the services sector. Then, there was no in-built safeguard to prevent import surge.

In the absence of these safeguards and commitments, Indian fears are valid. The Chinese are adept at identifying products that are needed in other countries and they set up huge factories to churn out these products at prices that no one can match, without any regard for quality. Further, given its landmass, China can flood the Indian market with agricultural and dairy products and worsen the farm distress in the country. The government has taken a wise decision by not joining RCEP since concerns raised by India were not addressed. The Agreement in its present form would have been harmful to all sectors in India.

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