DAILY NEWS DIARY For Prelims & Mains€¦ · 30/04/2020 · For Prelims & Mains e 2. ... DnD aims...

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DAILY NEWS DIARY (DnD)

30.04.2020

For Prelims & Mains

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Dear Student,

Warm Greetings.

DnD aims to provide every day news analysis in

sync with the UPSC pattern.

It is targeted at UPSC – Prelims & Mains.

Daily articles are provided in the form of

Question and Answers

To have a bank of mains questions.

And interesting to read.

Providing precise information that can

be carried straight to the exam, rather

than over dumping.

Enjoy reading.

THE HINDU - TH

INDIAN EXPRESS - IE

BUSINESS LINE - BL

ECONOMIC TIMES - ET

TIMES OF INDIA - TOI

Essay Paper

Editorial

Q – All about Afghan’s peace discussions and India’s role to be played?

INTRO = Earlier in April, the United Nations Secretariat held a meeting of what it calls the “6+2+1” group on regional efforts to support peace in Afghanistan, a group that includes six neighbouring countries: China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; global players the United States and Russia, and Afghanistan itself. Though sidelined from regional discussions on Afghanistan, India must still pursue the ample chances in seeking peace and make elbow room space for itself.

India’s Role –

Aids in Good Will Dents in Good Will

The building blocks of that goodwill are India’s assistance in infrastructure projects, health care, education, trade and food security, and also in the liberal access to Afghans to study, train and work in India.

The government must also consider the damage done to the vast reservoir of goodwill India enjoys in Afghanistan because of recent events in the country, especially the controversy over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

While many of these are problems of perception, New Delhi must move swiftly to regain the upper hand in the narrative in Afghanistan. India’s assistance of more than $3 billion in projects, trade of about $1 billion, a $20 billion projected development expenditure of an alternate route through Chabahar, as well as three major projects: the Afghan Parliament, the Zaranj-Delaram Highway, and the Afghanistan-India Friendship Dam (Salma dam), along with hundreds of small development projects (of schools, hospitals and water projects) have cemented that position in Afghan hearts nationwide, regardless of Pakistan’s attempts to undermine that position, particularly in the South.

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Way Forward -

As a result, it would be a mistake, at this point, to tie all India’s support in only to Kabul or the Ghani government; the government must strive to endure that its aid and assistance is broad-based, particularly during the novel coronavirus pandemic to centres outside the capital, even if some lie in areas held by the Taliban.

Handling Pakistan - New Delhi should use the United Nations call for a pause in conflicts during the novel coronavirus pandemic, to ensure a hold on hostilities with Pakistan. This will be even more difficult than it sounds, given the abyss that bilateral relations have fallen into in the past year over Kashmir and the rise in firepower exchanged at the Line of Control.

Handling U.S - If there is one lesson that the U.S.-Taliban talks have imparted, it is that both have found it necessary to come to the table for talks on Afghanistan’s future.

Finally for India, given its abiding interest in Afghanistan’s success and

traditional warmth for its people, making that leap should be a bit

easier. Above all, the government must consider the appointment of a

special envoy, as it has been done in the past, to deal with its efforts in

Afghanistan, which need both diplomatic agility and a firmness of

purpose at a watershed moment in that country’s history.

GS 1

Geography

Q – ‘Study on the dams built on China’s Mekong river brings

Brahmaputra into focus’ Discuss?

BACKGROUND = The study released this month said six dams built since

the commissioning of the Nuozhadu dam in 2012 had altered natural

flow of the river. The Mekong flows from China to Myanmar, Laos,

Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. While China’s south western Yunnan

province had above-average rainfall from May to October 2019, there

was “severe lack of water in the lower Mekong. This new study

highlighted the impact of China’s dams on the Mekong river and has

raised fresh questions on whether dams being built on other

rivers that originate in China, such as the Brahmaputra, may

similarly impact countries downstream.

China states the study as – ‘Groundless’

China has maintained that the dams it is building on the river,

known as the Lancang there, are “run of the river” dams that only

store water for power generation. The Foreign Ministry said the

study was “groundless”. Yunnan had also suffered from drought,

while the Lancang only accounted for 13.5% of the Mekong’s flows.

India says –

India, for the most part, doesn’t have a quantity problem but a

management one, because the Chinese are only storing water for

power generation. Moreover, the Brahmaputra is not entirely

dependent on upstream flows and an estimated 35% of its basin is

in India. We really need to worry more about activity in China

affecting quality, ecological balance, and flood management.

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India does not have a water-sharing agreement with China, but

both sides share hydrological data. “We have got China to

cooperate with us for warnings on how floods are moving down the

Yarlung Tsangpo and into the Brahmaputra, so that we can warn

our population living in low-lying areas and move them safely to

higher ground. Besides, India will continue to raise the issue of river

waters in the Brahmaputra with China, as that appears to be the

only methodology to ensure what happened on Mekong does not

happen on Brahmaputra.

Flaws in the study are –

1) The study was not conclusive on the question of how China’s dams

had affected quantity of flows.

2) “To state that the basin had less water because of activities in China

alone is misleading, mainly because that only considers the water

flowing into the lower basin at one station in Thailand.”

3) Adding that the study did not consider other dams and water-use

along the course of the river. The lower basin isn’t entirely

dependent on flows from China, but also receives water from

tributaries in all four countries, which the study did not account for.

For Prelims –

The study was published by the Sustainable Infrastructure

Partnership in Bangkok and the Lower Mekong Initiative, which is

a U.S. partnership with all the downstream countries besides

Myanmar, which is funded by the U.S. government.

GS 2

International Relations

Q – What does India’s ‘Priority Watch List’ categorization in the

United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) – Annual Special 301

Report mean?

BACKGROUND = India continues to be on the ‘Priority Watch List’ of

the United States Trade Representative (USTR) for lack of adequate

intellectual property (IP) rights protection and enforcement.

Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia,

Ukraine and Venezuela are also on the Priority Watch List. While

India made “meaningful progress” to enhance IP protection and

enforcement in some areas over the past year, it did not resolve

recent and long-standing challenges, and created new ones.

Such as –

1) These long-standing concerns were about innovators being able to

receive, maintain and enforce patents particularly in the

pharmaceutical sector; concerns over copyright laws not

incentivising the creation and commercialisation of content; and an

outdated trade secrets framework.

2) India also further restricted the transparency of information

provided on state-issued pharmaceutical manufacturing licenses,

continues to apply restrictive patentability criteria to reject

pharmaceutical patents, and still has not established an effective

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system for protecting against the unfair commercial use, as well as

the unauthorized disclosure, of undisclosed test or other data

generated to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceuticals and

certain agricultural chemical products.

3) The report also mentioned high customs duties on medical devices

and Information and Communications Technology.

“Though Online IP enforcement in India has improved, progress is

undercut by factors including weak enforcement by courts and the

police, lack of familiarity with investigative techniques and no

centralised IP enforcement agency.”

Snippets

GS 3

Economic Development

U.S economy’s sharpest fall since 2009.

The U.S. economy shrank at a 4.8% annual rate last quarter as the

COVID-19 pandemic shut down much of the country and began

triggering a recession that will end the longest expansion on record.

The gross domestic product (GDP), the total output of goods and

services, posted a quarterly drop for the first time in six years.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that GDP will plunge

this quarter at a 40% annual rate.

How about this today!?

Assertion - The Kerala Cabinet has cleared a draft Ordinance

empowering the government for deferring six days’ salary of

employees and teachers for five months. To which the High Court

had put a stay order - stating it as legally untenable.

Reason – The High Court had said that there was no sanction of law

for the order to deduct the salary and it amounts to deprivation of

property of the employees and teachers who were affected by it

and the government had to issue the Ordinance under

extraordinary circumstances.

a. Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.

b. Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.

c. A is true but R is false.

d. A is false but R is true.

Hey from Yesterday….

Consider Sri the following statements –

A. 4.5 million of South Asia’s children had missed out on

routine immunisations, with it prone to facing double

health crisis.

B. Bangladesh and Nepal have halted their polio drives.

C. while Pakistan and Afghanistan have suspended their

measles and rubella campaigns.

Which of the above statements are correct, with respect

to UNICEF’s statement that - “sporadic” outbreaks of

preventable diseases taking place during Covid-19 may

reverse hard-won gains?

a. A alone b. B, C

c. All of the above d. None of the above

Answer: a

NOTE: Bangladesh and Nepal have halted their measles and rubella

campaigns while Pakistan and Afghanistan have suspended their

polio drives since the COVID-19 pandemic.

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DAILY NEWS DIARY For Prelims & Mains€¦ · 30/04/2020 · For Prelims & Mains e 2. ... DnD aims...

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