Good Morning, Swarajya readers.



Here’s what you need to know:



Terrorists neutralised in Gujarat. Acting on an unprecedented alert from Pakistan NSA, India has “neutralised” 3 of the 10 terroristssuspected to have crossed the border to carry out an attack in Gujarat during Maha Shivratri. The target of the terrorists was the Somnath temple in Saurashtra on the west coast of Gujarat.



Exports slide continues for both India and China. India’s merchandise exports shrank for the 15th month in a row in February amid tepid global demand and a volatile global currency market. Exports contracted by 5.66% and imports by 5.03%, leaving a trade deficit of $6.5 billion. China’s exports in the same month also fell 25.4% and Imports tumbled 13.8%.



Big solar power push. India plans to include energy storage as a requirement when a solar project is tendered this month. This will throw open a significant new market to battery makers such as Tesla Motors Inc., Samsung SDI Co. and Panasonic Corp. The state-owned Solar Energy Corp will ask bidders to include a storage component in 100 MW of the 750 MW of solar capacity tendered in Andhra Pradesh. The intention is to reduce fluctuations in electricity supply in order to make possible the transfer of clean energy between states.



Other Notables



No work - No post. BJP MPs who are members of Standing Committees of Parliament and have below 50% attendance in meetings of these committees may be replaced. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu told the members that it was necessary for those appointed to key Standing Committees to be regular in their work. The party has decided to replace Vinod Khanna, Kirti Azad and four others from the Estimates Committee, S.S. Ahluwalia, Dushyant Singh and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank from the Public Accounts Committee and Varun Gandhi, apart from two others, from the Committee on Public Undertakings. In all, 12 replacements are believed to be in place.



Democracy returns in Myanmar. Myanmar’s parliament elected Htin Kyaw as the country’s new president. Longtime opposition party leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s confidant, Kyaw is seen as a proxy and all the decision-making powers will reside with Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi, has been an inspirational face of the pro-democracy movement and has endured decades of house arrest and harassment by military rulers without ever giving up on her non-violent methods.



Op-eds you shouldn’t miss



Correcting the road-rail skew: We must make a national goal of reversing the road-to-rail ratio to at least 50:50, if not 30:70, in the next 10 years.



New regime in Energy exploration: Government brings in a revenue-sharing formula, puts in place a single licence and policy framework.



Heading Backwards: The cotton revolution is in danger of being reversed by government control over GM seed pricing.



Swarajya Special



Another Honour Killing In Tamil Nadu. How We Can Stop Such Tragedies From Happening In Future. Hindutva-ites are better equipped to understand Jaathis as occupational groups as well as their cultural heritage. Inter-community marriages should be welcomed by Hindu activists and they should devise rituals to eulogize such events that bring communities together.



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