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NeoStencil – Live Online Classes - IAS/IES/GATE/SSC/PSC | +91 95990 75552 | [email protected]
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NeoStencil – Live Online Classes - IAS/IES/GATE/SSC/PSC | +91 95990 75552 | [email protected]
INDEX
1. National news 1.1 China deploys warships in Indian Ocean
1.2 NCERT will cut syllabus by half, says Javedkar
2. International News 2.1 U.S. tightens H-1B approval process IT firms worried
3. Polity and Governance 3.1 Mahanadi tribunal gets central nod
3.2 NITI Aayog preparing new list of sick PSUs
4. Economy 4.1 Blockchain Tech could help prevent frauds like at PNB
5. Science and Tech 5.1 Experts urge more funds to tackle tuberculosis crisis
5.2 Rustom-2 UAV takes to skies
6. India and World 6.1 India, China hold talks ahead of SCO
6.2 Vietnam and India to discuss South China Sea
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Current Affairs (21 to 28 February, 2018)
1. National News
1.1 China deploys warships in Indian Ocean
A Chinese naval contingent has been deployed in the East Indian Ocean for more than a week at
a time when the Maldives is undergoing a political crisis, a Chinese website has reported.
The website, sina.com.cn, has linked the deployment of the warships, including an amphibious
vessel that can transfer troops from sea to land, to the evolving situation in the Maldives.
China had earlier warned against external intervention in the Maldives after the country’s exiled
former President Mohamed Nasheed called for New Delhi’s intervention to release political
prisoners.
The detachment of the People’s Liberation Army-Navy comprises two 052D destroyers, a 054A
frigate, and a 071 dock landing ship. A supply ship is also part of the flotilla.
An Australian website, news.com.au, underscored that the entry of Chinese warships in the
Indian Ocean marks a significant shift in regional power. “They’re there to keep India away from
Beijing’s interests in the strife-torn Maldives Islands.”
The 7500 tonnes Type 052D guided missile destroyer (Luyang-III class) boards a crew of 280
members. Land attack cruise missiles, as well as other projectiles which can target submarines,
aircraft and hostile warships provide it credible firepower.
The Type 054A frigate (Jiangkai II) has a hard-to-pick stealthy design and good anti-ship and
counter-submarine capability.
The Type 071 amphibious transport ship is geared for beach landing troops. An array of
amphibious landing craft, assault vehicles and two back-up helicopters are used for sea-to-land
deployment of around 800 troops, equivalent of an army battalion.
“Overall, the Chinese Navy is sending out an amphibious convoy fleet with strong regional air
defence, anti-ship and anti-submarine capabilities and the ability to deliver rather large-scale
amphibious troops quickly,” Sina observed.
Not near Maldives
Meanwhile, Indian defence sources said no movement of Chinese ships was detected near the
Maldivian waters.
A couple of weeks back, a Chinese naval task force has entered the Indian Ocean from the Sunda
Strait for exercises in international waters closer to Australia and has since left via the Lombok
Strait, the source explained.
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1.2 NCERT will cut syllabus by half, says Javedkar
In a bid to provide relief to school students, the NCERT syllabus will be reduced by half from the
2019 academic session, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar has
said.
He said the school syllabus was more than that of BA and B.Com courses, and it needed to be
reduced by half so that students get time for other activities for their all-round development.
At the stage of development of cognitive skills, students need to be given full freedom. I have
asked NCERT to reduce the syllabus by half and it will be effective from the 2019 academic
session.
Exams will stay
Elaborating on the reforms in school education under consideration, the Minister said
examinations and detentions would be introduced. He said a Bill in this regard would be
considered in Parliament in the next part of the Budget session.
“Without examination, there is no competition and no target. There must be an element of
competition for better outcomes,” he said.
If a student fails in March, he would get another chance in May. If student flunks both times,
then only he/she would be detained, he added.
Mr. Javadekar also expressed concern over the poor quality of teachers, which he said was
resulting in poor learning outcomes. The basic task of teachers is to assess the strengths and
weaknesses of students and mentor them accordingly.
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2. International News
2.1 U.S. tightens H-1B approval process IT firms worried
The U.S announced fresh measures to tighten the scrutiny of H-1B visa petitions, mandating
fresh documentary requirements for workers at third-party worksites.
The move will impact Indian IT services providers that place employees with H-1B visas at
American companies that contract them, by imposing more paper work and processing hurdles.
The companies filing H-1B petitions for their employees will have to associate a particular
project to the individual visa, which could be approved only for the duration of the project.
Close scrutiny
The measures are intended to bring the client-vendor -employee relations in business models
based on bringing high skilled H-1B workers to America under closer scrutiny.
Industry insiders said the scrutiny of this model had been increasingly stringent in recent years,
and that the requirements included in announcement represent a further tightening of the
screws. Vendors that get contracts from American companies often subcontract the job to other
companies or hire H-1B employees brought by other companies, creating multilevel structures,
a practice that immigration authorities have been monitoring more closely and trying to curb.
Industry insiders said lower level jobs would be hit harder under the new regulations.
In order for a H-1B petition involving a third-party worksite to be approved, the petitioner must
show by a “preponderance of evidence that, among other things: the beneficiary will be
employed in a specialty occupation; the employer will maintain an employer-employee
relationship with the beneficiary for the duration of the requested validity period,” the U.S
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said in a statement.
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3. Polity and Governance
3.1 Mahanadi tribunal gets central nod
The Union Cabinet approved the setting up of a tribunal to settle a row between Odisha and
Chhattisgarh on sharing the waters of the Mahanadi river.
This is in keeping with a Supreme Court order last month directing the Centre to set up a
tribunal in response to a plea by the Odisha government to stop the Chhattisgarh government
from constructing several weirs on the river.
The tribunal is expected to determine water sharing among basin States on the basis of the
overall availability of water in the complete Mahanadi basin, the contribution of each State, the
present utilisation of water resource in each State and the potential for future development,
official sources said.
The order on constituting a new tribunal comes even as the government plans to introduce a
new bill that would have a single tribunal to replace all existing water tribunals.
‘Extremely inefficient’
The driving motive for such a tribunal was, according to senior official in the Water Ministry,
that tribunals had a decades-long history of being “extremely inefficient” at settling disputes
quickly and fairly. The bill, called the Inter-State River Disputes (Amendment) Bill, was
introduced in the Lok Sabha by former Water Resources Minister, Uma Bharti, last March but is
yet to be debated. “It is expected to be placed in Parliament after it reconvenes after the recess
of the Budget session,” an official said.
Were such a Bill to become law, it could affect the composition of the members of various
tribunals. Currently, all tribunals are staffed by members of the judiciary, nominated by the
Chief Justice.
The proposed Bill has provisions for members, even a chairperson, outside the judiciary. “It is
possible that a newly-constituted tribunal, such as for Mahanadi, will have to be re-formulated
were the new law to come into effect,” said another Water Ministry official.
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Chhattisgarh projects
Over the last year, Uma Bharti as well as the incumbent Minister Nitin Gadkari had asked the
governments of Chhattisgarh and Odisha to settle their differences over water sharing and avoid
the setting up of a tribunal, a long-standing demand of the Odisha government.
Odisha had moved the court in December, 2016, for an order asking Chhattisgarh to stop its
construction work in projects on the upstream of Mahanadi, saying it affected the river flow in
the State.
Delayed awards
According to the provisions of the Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956, the
tribunal is required to submit its report and decision within a period of three years, which can be
extended for a period not exceeding two years.
Only three out of eight tribunals have given awards accepted by the States. Tribunals for
Cauvery and Ravi Beas have been in existence for several decades.
Delays are on account of there being no time limit for adjudication by a tribunal, no upper age
limit for the Chairman or the Members, work stalling due to occurrence of vacancy and no time
limit for publishing the report of the tribunal.
3.2 NITI Aayog preparing new list of sick PSUs
NITI Aayog is working on a new list of sick and loss-making Public Sector Units (PSUs) that could
be privatised, said CEO Amitabh Kant.
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NITI Aayog has already given recommendations with regard to strategic disinvestment of 40
PSUs. Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) is working on it and
the process is in an advanced stage.
He added that the Aayog had already prepared and given four lists of such PSUs and was
“working on the fifth list.”
The government has set a target of ₹80,000 crore from disinvestment proceeds in 2018-19.
Stake sales
In the current fiscal, the government has earned more than ₹1 lakh crore from stake sales in
public sector firms, as against the Budget estimate of ₹72,500 crore in 2017-18 for the
disinvestment process.
Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh, who was also present at the conference,
pointed out that the Budget allocation for NITI Aayog had been increased by more than 20% to
₹339.65 crore in 2018-19 from ₹279.79 crore in 2017-18.
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4. Economy
4.1 Blockchain Tech could help prevent frauds like at PNB
The adoption of blockchain by India’s banks could help avert frauds such
as the one at Punjab National Bank as the disaggregated and transparent
nature of the technology, which updates information across all users
simultaneously, would have ensured that various officials would have
instantly been alerted to the creation of the letters of undertaking
(LoUs), according to bankers and blockchain specialists.
‘Immediate notification’
Blockchain, a distributed ledger technology originally developed as an accounting system for the
cryptocurrency Bitcoin, is being researched across the banking and financial services industries
for the potential benefits it may offer in an increasingly digitised business environment.
Central banks including the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Reserve Bank of India have been
examining the technology to understand the regulatory challenges it may pose.
Blockchain potentially has far-reaching implications for the financial sector, and this is
prompting more and more banks, insurers and other financial institutions to invest in research
into potential applications of this technology.
Market participants in other securities markets are exploring the usage of blockchain or
distributed database technology to provide various services such as clearing and settlement,
trading.
Indian securities market may also see such developments in the near future and, therefore,
there is a need to understand the benefits, risks and challenges such developments may pose.
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5. Science and Tech
5.1 Experts urge more funds to tackle tuberculosis crisis
Stating that tuberculosis (TB) has become a national crisis in India, the Health Ministry assured
the TB community that eliminating the disease by 2025 had the ‘highest level of commitment
from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office.’
Senior Health Ministry official Sunil Khaparde, who heads the TB programme voiced the
assurance at the opening day of the 5th Global Forum on TB Vaccines in New Delhi.
Nearly 4.2 lakh Indians die of TB every year. Out of the 10 million cases globally, India shoulders
the maximum burden with 2.8 million cases. According to Health Ministry data, only 63% of the
patients infected with the airborne disease are currently under treatment.
Further, 1,47,000 patients are resistant to first and second line TB medicines. At the current rate
of progress, global targets to eliminate TB by 2030 will be missed by a 150 years.
Against this backdrop, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, deputy director general of the World Health
Organisation (WHO) said that globally, governments need to invest more in TB research and
development to meet the global targets.
WHO representative to India Hendrick Bekedam added that TB vaccine was a global public
health good, which meant governments need to invest if they want to own it later.
5.2 Rustom-2 UAV takes to skies
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) carried out a test-flight of the
unmanned aerial vehicle Rustom-2.
“This flight assumes significance because of the fact that this is the
first flight in user configuration with a higher power engine. All
parameters were normal,” the DRDO said in a statement. The flight
was conducted at its Aeronautical Test Range in Chitradurga of
Karnataka.
Rustom-2 belongs to a family of UAVs under development, besides Rustom-1 and Rustom-H. It is
a medium-altitude long-endurance drone (MALE) and will fill a critical capability gap in the
inventory of the armed forces.
It can fly up to an altitude of 22,000 feet and has an endurance of over 20 hours. It is capable of
carrying payloads for electronic and signal intelligence missions.
Currently, the three services employ hundreds of Israeli drones and have projected a
requirement of hundreds of more UAVs, including armed variants, in the near future. The DRDO
is also developing other drones in different categories.
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6. India and World
6.1 India, China hold talks ahead of SCO
Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale has held across-the-board talks with top Chinese officials on
advancing ties between India and China, which have encountered several points of friction.
Mr. Gokhale’s visit is also seen as part of preparations for talks between Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at the June summit of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation (SCO) in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao.
The Foreign Secretary met Politburo member and State Councilor Yang Jiechi, China’s top
foreign policy official, as well as Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice-Foreign Minister Mr. Kong
Xuanyou.
Last year, Prime Minister Modi and President Xi met in Xiamen on the sidelines of the BRICS
summit in September to revive ties that had been hit by the Doklam border crisis. As a follow-up
to these talks, Mr. Yi and Mr. Yang visited New Delhi in December.
“During the consultations, the two sides reviewed recent developments in bilateral relations,
including high-level exchanges, and discussed the agenda for bilateral engagement in the
coming months,” an Indian Embassy press statement said.
India’s concerns regarding China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean have been rising, and
have peaked after the pro-China President of Maldives Abdulla Yameen declared a state of
Emergency on February 5 in the island nation.
Without making any specific reference to the Maldives, the statement said the “two sides also
exchanged views on regional and international issues of common interest”.
Building convergence
The statement noted the necessity of building on “convergences” between the two countries. It
stressed that Beijing and New Delhi should “address differences on the basis of mutual respect
and sensitivity to each other’s concerns, interests and aspirations”.
In the past, Indian officials have pointed to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which
passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as an infringement of India’s sovereignty.
China’s decision to come in the way of a UN ban on Masood Azhar, head of the Pakistan-based
terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM), and Beijing’s objections to India’s entry into the Nuclear
Suppliers Group emerged as additional points of abrasion in ties.
6.2 Vietnam and India to discuss South China Sea
Vietnam will take up South China Sea-related issues during the March 2-4 visit by President Tran
Dai Quang.
Speaking to the media here on Tuesday, the ambassador of Vietnam said that Hanoi wished to
fully utilise the comprehensive strategic partnership with India and was likely to sign a civil
nuclear agreement during the visit.
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“South China Sea issue will be discussed between leaders as the situation in the South China Sea
is complicated. Some positive developments have taken place but the ground reality remains
problematic,” said Ambassador Ton Sinh Thanh.
Beijing’s claims over most of the South China Sea is a major issue between the two countries,
and Hanoi has been one of the more vocal countries in the 10-member ASEAN grouping to find a
solution to China’s expansionist policy in the crucial water body. The ambassador however
assured that his country remained committed to maintaining cordial ties with Beijing.
The envoy clarified that Vietnam had not yet firmed up its position on the One Belt, One Road
initiative of China and said, “OBOR is a big project, we need to look into it whether it is good for
the country or not, will then take a position on this.”
The Presidential visit will begin with a stopover at Bodhgaya where President Tran will reach on
February 2. The delegation will reach New Delhi later same day and both sides will hold official
talks on February 3.