The Hindu Editorial Analysis : 2nd august 2026

The Hindu Editorial Analysis

We understand the significance of reading The Hindu newspaper for enhancing reading skills, improving comprehension of passages, staying informed about current events, enhancing essay writing, and more, especially for banking aspirants who need to focus on editorials for vocabulary building. This article will explore today’s editorial points, along with practice questions and key vocabulary.

Eight People Killed as Kerala Receives Extremely Heavy Rain

• Eight people lost their lives in rain-related incidents across Kerala after very heavy rain hit the State from Friday night to Saturday. The rain caused landslides, flash floods, and large-scale damage, especially in hilly areas.
• Barely a month ago, another tragedy had taken place in Wayanad, where a debris slide caused by extreme rainfall killed eight people at a tunnel construction site.
• As of 9 p.m. on Saturday, the death toll had reached eight, including three children.
• Four of these deaths happened because of landslides.
• Six fishermen, including four from Thiruvananthapuram and two from Kollam, went missing in the Arabian Sea.
• Two people from Kannur also went missing after they fell into a river.
• Search operations to find the missing people were still going on.
• The Kerala government opened 65 relief camps to provide shelter to affected people.
• A total of 1,465 people were staying in these relief camps.
• According to the Chief Minister’s Office, 17 houses were completely destroyed.
• Another 127 houses were partially damaged.
• The State government said that more relief camps would be opened if needed.
• The sudden increase in rainfall surprised weather agencies, local people, and disaster management officials.
• Heavy rain also caused major landslides in Idukki and Kottayam districts.
• A red alert remained in force in nine districts on Saturday.
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) also issued an orange alert for 12 districts on Sunday, warning that more heavy rain was expected.
• A rain gauge maintained by the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) recorded 361 mm of rainfall at Vadasserikkara in Pathanamthitta by 8.30 a.m. on Saturday.
• The Anakkampoyil area in Kozhikode received 340 mm of rain during the previous 35 hours.
• Meppadi in Wayanad recorded 177 mm of rainfall.
• The shutters of several dams were opened on Saturday.
• Because of this, water levels in rivers increased, especially in Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts.
• Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan held an emergency review meeting.
• He instructed the Ministers looking after the affected districts to stay there and oversee relief and rescue work.
• The Chief Minister announced that financial help would be given to the families of those who died.
• He also said that people who lost their homes, farms, or means of earning a living would receive financial assistance.
• He assured that all injured people would get proper medical treatment.
• Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) Member Secretary Sekhar Lukose Kuriakose said the situation was under control.
• He said that people living in dangerous areas were being shifted to safer places.
• Satheesan appealed to the public to follow all official safety advisories.
• He also assured everyone that the government was fully prepared to deal with any emergency.
• Kerala had been receiving moderate to heavy rainfall for the previous two days.
• However, the rain became much heavier on Friday night.
• This heavy rainfall caused flash floods in parts of Kottayam, Idukki, Pathanamthitta, and northern Kerala.
• The situation became very serious in Ranni, Pathanamthitta.
• Residential areas and parts of the town were flooded after the Pamba River overflowed.
• Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), fire and rescue services, police, and local residents carried out rescue operations together.
• They successfully rescued two people alive from the debris in Idukki.
• The rain reduced in many of the worst-affected areas by Saturday evening.
• This helped rescue teams carry out their work more easily.
• Boats were brought from other districts to support the rescue operations.
• Officials continued to closely monitor water levels in the major dams.
• People living in hilly areas were advised to stay alert because more rain was still possible.
• The Travancore Devaswom Board requested devotees planning to visit the Sabarimala hill shrine on August 2 and 3 for Niraputhari to reconsider their journey.
• The appeal was made because of heavy rain, flooding in the Pampa River, and the risk of landslides.
• The famous tourist destination Ponmudi in Thiruvananthapuram was closed after a landslide near the 12th hairpin bend pushed debris down to the ninth bend.
• The Idukki district administration also suspended all tourist activities until the weather and overall situation improve.

Commercial LPG Cylinder Price Cut by ₹200; Aviation Turbine Fuel Price Increased by ₹5

• Oil marketing companies (OMCs) on Saturday reduced the price of commercial Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) by about ₹200 per cylinder.
• This is the second time that commercial LPG prices have been reduced since the West Asia crisis, during which the price had gone up by about ₹1,345 per cylinder in four separate increases.
• At the same time, the price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), also called jet fuel, was increased by ₹5 per litre, taking the new price to ₹115 per litre for domestic airlines.
• The price of domestic LPG cylinders has not been changed.
• However, the price of 5-kg Free Trade LPG (FTL) cylinders, which are mainly used by migrant workers, was reduced by ₹46 per cylinder.
• In Delhi, the price of a non-domestic LPG cylinder has been reduced by ₹192, and the new price is ₹2,738 per cylinder.
• The price of a 5-kg FTL cylinder in Delhi has been reduced from ₹808.50 to ₹762.
• In Mumbai, the price of a commercial LPG cylinder has been reduced by ₹194, and the new price is ₹2,691.50.
• In Chennai, the price of a commercial LPG cylinder has been reduced by ₹200, and the new price is ₹2,906.
• Among all the major metro cities, Kolkata recorded the biggest price cut of ₹209 per cylinder, bringing the new price down to ₹2,872.50.
• Sagar Daryani, President of the National Restaurant Association of India, welcomed the price cut and said that it has brought some relief to the restaurant industry.
• He said that this reduction will especially help small and independent restaurants, which are still running on very small profit margins.
• He also said that the lower LPG price will help restaurants control their expenses better, focus on growing their business, and continue giving better value to customers.
• Prashant Vashisht, Senior Vice-President at the rating agency ICRA, said that oil companies are still facing under-recoveries on LPG.
• He said that getting LPG from different countries instead of depending on only one region has helped reduce some of the pressure on supplies.
• Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Vashisht said that before the war, India used to get a large share of its LPG supply from the Gulf region.
• He said that after the war, India found other countries from where LPG could be imported.
• He further said that although under-recoveries still continue, the pressure on LPG supplies is not as high as it was when the crisis had just started.
• Suraj Mehta, Chief Strategy Officer at Hindusthan National Glass & Industries, also spoke about how this price cut will help the glass manufacturing industry.
• He said that for glass factories, where furnaces run all day and night, a regular and reliable LPG supply is just as important as saving around ₹200 on every cylinder.
• He added that with the festive season coming closer and the demand for packaging from the alcoholic beverage (alcobev), pharmaceutical, and FMCG industries increasing, this price cut has come at the right time.
• After this latest reduction, the price of the 19-kg commercial LPG cylinder, which is used by commercial and industrial consumers, has fallen by about ₹380 per cylinder across two price cuts.
• Earlier, on July 1, the price of the 19-kg commercial LPG cylinder had already been reduced by about ₹183 per refill.
• The price of 5-kg Free Trade LPG (FTL) cylinders has also come down by about ₹60 per cylinder in total after these two price reductions.
• The latest increase of ₹5 per litre in ATF prices has come exactly one month after the fuel price was reduced by the same ₹5 per litre on July 1.

GST Collection Rises 15.4% to More Than ₹2.11 Lakh Crore in July Due to Higher Sales and Imports

• Gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection increased by 15.4% and crossed ₹2.11 lakh crore in July because the government received more tax from sales inside the country and imports from other countries. This shows that people are continuing to spend money and domestic demand remains strong.
• Gross GST collection was ₹1.83 lakh crore in July last year, while it increased to more than ₹2.11 lakh crore in July this year.
• GST collected from business and sales within India increased by 10.1% and crossed ₹1.44 lakh crore.
• GST revenue collected from imports increased by 29%, reaching ₹66,511 crore.
• According to M.S. Mani, Partner at Deloitte India, the rise in GST collection shows that the Indian economy is continuing to stay strong even though there are challenges in the global economy.
• He also said that GST collections from domestic spending have been increasing steadily every month. This shows that people in India are continuing to spend money regularly, and domestic demand is now less affected by seasonal changes or problems in the global economy.
• Gross Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) collection during July stood at ₹39,835 crore.
• Gross State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) collection during the month stood at ₹47,881 crore.
• Gross Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) collection during July crossed ₹1.23 lakh crore.
• Total GST refunds increased by 13.1% to ₹29,968 crore during July.
• After deducting refunds, the government’s net GST collection stood at more than ₹1.81 lakh crore.
• According to Abhishek Jain, Indirect Tax Head and Partner at KPMG, a large part of the increase in July GST collection came from imports.
• He said it is important to find out whether this increase came from importing finished goods or raw materials. It is also necessary to know how much of the rise happened because the rupee became weaker, and how much was due to a higher quantity of imports.
• Manoj Mishra, Partner and Tax Controversy Management Leader at Grant Thornton Bharat, said that strong GST growth in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Haryana, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh shows that economic activity is growing well across India’s major manufacturing, services and consumer markets.
• According to the GST data released on Saturday, gross GST collection during the April–July period increased by 10.1% to about ₹8.43 lakh crore.
• During the same April–July period, net GST collection increased by 9.2% to ₹7.21 lakh crore.

Important Questions

1. What problems were caused by the heavy rain in Kerala?
2. What steps did the Kerala government and rescue teams take to help the affected people?
3. Why did oil companies reduce the price of commercial LPG cylinders?
4. How will the lower commercial LPG price help restaurants and industries?
5. Why did GST collection increase in July?
6. How did higher imports help increase GST collection?

Important Vocabulary

1. Debris – Broken pieces of rock, soil, or buildings.
2. Overflowed – Went above the normal water level.
3. Advisories – Official safety instructions.
4. Suspended – Stopped for some time.
5. Under-recoveries – Losses because the selling price is lower than the cost.
6. Margins – The money left as profit.
7. Imported – Brought from another country.
8. Festive – Related to festivals.
9. Deducting – Taking away from the total.
10. Steadily – Slowly and regularly.
11. Seasonal – Happening during a particular season or time of the year.
12. Controversy – A public disagreement or dispute.

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