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Table of Contents

Polity & Governance ......................................................................................................... 1

1. Cabinet approves the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018 (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) ............................................................ 1

2. Cabinet approves Establishment of National Financial Reporting Authority (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) ..................................................................................................... 2

3. Assembly election results 2018 (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) ............................................ 3 4. Post NFRA formation, what is ICAI s role? (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) ..... 5 5. Issues of autonomy of Prasar Bharati (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) ................................. 7

6. Key questions in disagreement between SC 3-judge Benches (Relevant for GS prelims and GS mains Paper II) ......................................................................................................................... 8

7. CJI-led Bench to resolve conflict over judgments (Relevant for GS mains Paper II) ............. 11

8. Cabinet approves the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) ................................................................................................... 12

9. Cabinet approves the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Division of High Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) ....... 14

10. SC upholds passive euthanasia (Relevant for GS prelims & GS Mains Paper II) ................... 15

11. Prasar Bharati autonomous or not (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) ............... 17 12. Centre Constitutes Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains

Paper II) ........................................................................................................................................ 18

13. Executive Committee under POSHAN (PM s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment) Abhiyaan held its first meeting (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) ...................... 20

14. Supreme Court ruling options for foreign legal firms (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II and III) ........................................................................................................................... 21

15. Farmers march on Mumbai (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) .............................................. 22 16. Farmers fight for land rights in Maharashtra (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II)

....................................................................................................................................................... 23 17. National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper

II) ................................................................................................................................................... 25 18. Rs 222 cr. electoral bonds sold in first issue (Relevant for GS Prelims and GS mains Paper

II) ................................................................................................................................................... 26 19. SC/ST Act being used for blackmail, says Supreme Court (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS

Mains Paper II) ............................................................................................................................ 28 20. Will introduce Face ID on July 1 for Aadhaar authentication, UIDAI tells Supreme Court

(Relevant for GS Prelims, GS mains Paper II) ........................................................................... 29

21. Reinstatement of AAP MLAs (Relevant for GS prelims, GS Mains Paper II)........................... 30

22. In Goa, after the ban on mining (Relevant for GS prelims, GS mains paper II and III) ........ 32

23. Principle & procedure: on the court ruling on AAP MLAs (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) ....................................................................................................................................................... 34

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24. Honour killing guillotines individual liberty: Supreme Court (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) ................................................................................................................................................... 34

25. NITI Aayog releases Baseline Ranking of Aspirational Districts (Relevant for GS prelims, GS Mains Paper II) ....................................................................................................................... 35

26. Cabinet approves certain official amendments to the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill (Relevant for GS prelims, GS mains Paper II) ..................................................................... 36

27. Why is the euthanasia verdict tough to implement? (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains

Paper II) ........................................................................................................................................ 37

International Organizations and Relations ......................................................... 39 1. All you need to know about Syrian war (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS mains paper II) ........ 39 2. FATF puts Pakistan on grey list (relevant for GS prelims) ........................................................ 43 3. India, Vietnam lay stress on defence ties (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) .......................... 44 4. Why China wants to empower Xi Jinping more (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) ............... 45 5. Myanmar puts off border pact with India (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains paper II) .... 47 6. India to join EBRD (Relevant for GS prelims, GS Mains Paper II) ........................................... 48 7. Sri Lanka declares emergency as Buddhist mob ransacks Muslim properties in Kandy

(Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains paper II) ............................................................................... 49 8. Global Trade war (Relevant for GS prelims, GS Mains Paper II) .............................................. 50 9. CPTPP in place of TPP (Relevant for GS Prelims & GS Mains Paper II) ................................... 50 10. Why is Donald Trump s trade war dangerous? (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II)

.............................................................................................................................................................. 51 11. Unlimited tenure to China s President Xi (Relevant for GS prelims, GS Mains Paper II) ...... 53 12. Indo-French harmony: on President Macron's visit to India (Relevant for GS prelims, GS

Mains paper II) .................................................................................................................................. 54 13. Dangerous spiral: on India-Pak diplomatic row (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) .............. 55 14. Cambridge Analytica 'breach' (Relevant for GS prelims and GS Mains Paper II) ................. 56 15. All you need to know about Data Harvesting by Nix (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains

Paper II) .............................................................................................................................................. 58 16. Russia, a rogue nation? (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) ......................................................... 60 17. First summit of International Solar Alliance (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II)

....................................................................................................................................................... 61

18. Russian Election results (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II).................................. 62

19. Indians killed in Iraq: For four years, swinging between hope, despair (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) ............................................................................................................................ 63

Economics ......................................................................................................................... 67 1. Aircel files for bankruptcy (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) ............................ 67

2. Cabinet approves Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II and III) ................................................................................................................ 67

3. Andhra Pradesh s new capital position (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) ....... 69








4. E-way bill roll-out from April 1: Here is all you need to know (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains paper II and III) ..................................................................................................................... 70

5. National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) Analysis (Relevant for GS Prelims and GS Mains Paper III) ........................................................................................................................... 72

6. What was the 20:80 gold import scheme? (Relevant for GS Mains Paper III) ....................... 73 7. Implication of RBI s ban on LoUs (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) .................. 74 8. RBI ban on LoU (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains paper III) ................................................ 75 9. Is govt. turning a deaf ear to banks bureau? (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III)

.............................................................................................................................................................. 76 10. Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2018 passed by Parliament (Relevant for GS

prelims, GS Mains Paper III) ............................................................................................................ 77 11. Draft defence policy (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) .................................................. 78 12. SARAS Aajeevika Mela (Relevant for GS prelims, GS Mains Paper III) .................................... 79 13. India s Contribution to World s GDP (Relevant for GS prelims, GS Mains paper III) ............ 80 14. Falling investment in Indian bonds (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) ............. 80

15. Fed rate hike and implications for India (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains paper III) ..... 81

Environment ..................................................................................................................... 83 1. What s hobbling the global effort to save the tiger? (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains

Paper III) ............................................................................................................................................ 83 2. Why are forests of Tamil Nadu burning? (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) .... 85 3. Plastics in drinking water (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) ............................. 87

Science & Technology .................................................................................................... 89 1. Neutrino project in Bodi hills gets environmental clearance (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS

Mains Paper III) ................................................................................................................................. 89 2. What is cold fusion? (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) ........................................ 90 3. India joins Europe s Copernicus project (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) ...... 91 4. What is the lowdown on faulty plane engines? (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper

III) ........................................................................................................................................................ 92 5. Psychographics (Relevant for GS prelims and GS mains Paper III) ......................................... 93 6. Cricket s cheating crisis — Gaming the swing (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III)

.............................................................................................................................................................. 94 7. GSAT-6A launched (Relevant for GS prelims, GS mains Paper III) ........................................... 97

Social Issues ........................................................................................................ 100 1. In Ayodhya case, a question recalled: Is mosque central to prayer in Islam? (Relevant for

GS mains Paper I) ............................................................................................................................ 100 2. Karnataka Cabinet approves separate religion tag for Lingayats, seeks Centre s nod

(Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper I) .............................................................................. 102 3. Survey on Higher Education (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper I) ........................... 103








Miscellaneous ................................................................................................................ 104 1. Second India-Korea Business Summit Held Today (Relevant for GS prelims) .................... 104

2. Cabinet approves continuation of Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) beyond 12th Plan for three years from 2017-18 to 2019-20 (Relevant for GS Prelims) ....................................................................................................................................... 104

3. Inauguration 1st Mega Food Park in Maharashtra at Satara on 01.03.2018 (Relevant for GS Prelims) ....................................................................................................................................... 105

4. Karti Chidambaram held in INX Media bribery case (Relevant for GS Prelims) ................ 105

5. New malware Reaper and Saposhi threat (Relevant for GS Prelims) .................................. 105

6. All you need to know about SSC paper leak (Relevant for Overall understanding) ........... 107

7. Oscars (Relevant for GS Prelims) .................................................................................................. 108 8. New CMs in Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland (Read only for understanding) ............... 109

9. Vandalism on statues (Read only for understanding) .............................................................. 109 10. LIDAR data to identify potential solar power rooftops (Relevant for GS Prelims) ............. 110 11. Indian architect BV Doshi wins 'Nobel for architecture' (Relevant for GS prelims) .......... 111 12. Ambani worth tops $40 bn; Amazon s Bezos unseats Gates to head global list (Relevant for

GS Prelims) ....................................................................................................................................... 112 13. Government announces launch of SUVIDHA – Rs. 2.50, 100% Oxo-biodegradable Sanitary

Napkin – under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) (Relevant for GS Prelims) ................................................................................................................................. 113

14. Udyam Sakhi Portal Launched for Women Entrepreneurs (Relevant for GS Prelims) ....... 113 15. Key initiatives for Digital literacy and Education (Relevant for GS Prelims) ..................... 113

16. Evaluation of TDP members resignation from Council of Ministers (Read only for understanding) ................................................................................................................................ 114

17. Central Fraud Registry (Relevant for GS Prelims) .................................................................... 116 18. Multilateral air Exercise Samvedna (Relevant for GS Prelims) .............................................. 117 19. MILES-18: First ever multi-nation naval exercise at sea held in Andaman (Relevant for GS

Prelims) ............................................................................................................................................. 118 20. National Testing Agency to conduct entrance examinations for Higher Education

Institutions (Relevance for GS Prelims) ...................................................................................... 118 21. Nepal plane crash (Read only for understanding) .................................................................... 118 22. Aadhaar linkage deadline extended indefinitely (Relevant for GS prelims)......................... 119 23. Trump fires Rex Tillerson as secretary of state (Read only for understanding) .................. 120 24. Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) contribution (Relevant for GS Prelims) .............................. 121 25. India ranks 78th on WEF energy transition index (Relevant for GS prelims) ...................... 122 26. Atal Bhujal Yojana (Relevant for GS Prelims) ............................................................................ 123 27. Initiatives for digitalization of education (Relevant for GS prelims) .................................... 124 28. LaQshya program (Relevant for GS Prelims) ............................................................................. 125 29. Proposal for Nuclear Power Plants in States (Relevant for GS prelims) ............................... 125 30. Krishi Unnati Mela (Relevant for GS Prelims) ............................................................................ 126 31. Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (Relevant for GS prelims) ................................................................... 127 32. NITI Aayog to Release SATH-E Roadmaps (Relevant for GS Prelims) ................................... 127 33. Attack on former Russian spy in Britain (Read only for understanding) ............................. 127 34. Andhra triangle: on TDP exiting NDA (Read only for understanding) ................................. 128








35. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) (Relevant for GS prelims) ................... 129 36. ASI has identified 100 monuments as Adarsh Smarak for upgradation of existing tourist

facilities/amenities (Relevant for GS Prelims) ........................................................................... 130 37. NITI Aayog Released SATH-Education Roadmaps 2018-2020 (Relevant for GS Prelims) . 131 38. Turkey-led forces seize control of Afrin (Relevant for Prelims, just note down the names of

cities) ................................................................................................................................................. 132 39. Poet Kedarnath Singh dead (Relevant for GS Prelims) ............................................................ 132 40. National Cultural Audiovisual Archives (NCAA) becomes the World s First Trusted Digital

Repository (Relevant for GS Prelims) .......................................................................................... 132 41. Cabinet approves North-East Industrial Development Scheme (NEIDS) 2017 (Relevant for

GS Prelims) ....................................................................................................................................... 133 42. Cabinet approves closure of India Development Foundation of Overseas Indians (Relevant

for GS Prelims) ................................................................................................................................. 135 43. Airbus A320neo glitch (Relevant for GS prelims) ...................................................................... 135 44. 36 sites from India inscribed on World Heritage List (Relevant for GS Prelims) ................ 136 45. 31.20 crore accounts opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) with

aggregate deposit balances Rs. 75,572.09 crore as on 28.2.2018. (Relevant for GS Prelims) ............................................................................................................................................................ 137

46. First Indian Sign Language Dictionary of 3000 Words Launched (Relevant for GS prelims) ............................................................................................................................................. 137

47. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) (Relevant for GS Prelims) ................................................................................ 138

48. Crackdown on gold diggers begins in T.N. (Read only for understanding) ................................... 138

49. GSAT-6A about to be launched (Relevant for GS prelims) .............................................................. 139

50. Narendra Modi App asks for sweeping access: Camera, audio among 22 inputs (Read only

for understanding) .......................................................................................................................... 140 51. National Conference on Down Syndrome held (Relevant for GS prelims) .......................... 142 52. E-Tribes India (Relevant for GS Prelims) .................................................................................... 142 53. Location of coal mines and coal repositories (Relevant for GS Prelims) .............................. 143 54. Skill India joins hands with Ministry of Power to support household electrification scheme

Saubhagya (Relevant for GS Prelims)........................................................................................ 144 55. High Speed Rail Corridors (Relevant for GS Prelims) ............................................................... 145 56. Setting up of National Academic Depository (NAD) for Digitalization of School Records

(Relevant for GS Prelims) .............................................................................................................. 146 57. Cabinet approves continuation of the Credit Guarantee Fund for Education Loans Scheme

and continuation and modification of Central Sector Interest Subsidy Scheme (Relevant for GS Prelims) ................................................................................................................................. 147

58. Rajasthan s first mega food park in Ajmer (Relevant for GS Prelims) .................................. 148 59. Board exam paper leak (Read only for understanding) .......................................................... 148






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Polity and Governance 1. Cabinet approves the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018 (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) The Union Cabinet has approved the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018 for introduction in the Parliament. The objective of the bill is to address the issue of trafficking from the point of view of prevention, rescue and rehabilitation. The Bill broadly has the following features: 1. The bill includes all the aggravated forms of trafficking, which includes trafficking for the purpose of forced labour, begging, trafficking by administering chemical substance or hormones on a person for the purpose of early sexual maturity, trafficking of a woman or child for the purpose of marriage or under the pretext of marriage or after marriage etc. 2. Punishment for promoting or facilitating trafficking of person which includes producing, printing, issuing or distributing unissued, tampered or fake certificates, registration or stickers as proof of compliance with Government requirements; or commits fraud for procuring or facilitating the acquisition of clearances and necessary documents from Government agencies. 3. The confidentiality of victims/ witnesses and complainants by not disclosing their identity. Further the confidentiality of the victims is maintained by recording their statement through video conferencing (this also helps in trans-border and inter-State crimes). 4. Time bound trial and repatriation of the victims - within a period of one year from taking into cognizance. 5. Immediate protection of rescued victims and their rehabilitation. The Victims are entitled to interim relief immediately within 30 days to address their physical, mental trauma etc. and further appropriate relief within 60 days from the date of filing of charge sheet. 6. Rehabilitation of the victim which is not contingent upon criminal proceedings being initiated against the accused or the outcome thereof. 7. Rehabilitation Fund created for the first time. To be used for the physical, psychological and social well-being of the victim including education, skill development, health care/psychological support, legal aid, safe accommodation, etc. 8. Designated courts in each district for the speedy trial of the cases.






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9. The Bill creates dedicated institutional mechanisms at District, State and Central Level. These will be responsible for prevention, protection, investigation and rehabilitation work related to trafficking. National Investigation Agency (NIA) will perform the tasks of Anti-Trafficking Bureau at the national level present under the MHA. 10. Punishment ranges from rigorous minimum 10 years to life and fine not less than Rs. 1 lakh. 11. In order to break the organized nexus, both at the national and international level, the Bill provides for the attachment & forfeiture of property and also the proceeds for crime. 12. The Bill comprehensively addresses the transnational nature of the crime. The National Anti-Trafficking Bureau will perform the functions of international coordination with authorities in foreign countries and international organizations; international assistance in investigation; facilitate inter-State and trans-border transfer of evidence and materials, witnesses and others for expediting prosecution; facilitate inter-state and international video conferencing in judicial proceedings etc. Background: Trafficking in human beings is the third largest organized crime violating basic human rights. There is.no specific law so far to deal with this crime. Accordingly, the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018 has been prepared. The Bill addresses one of the most pervasive yet invisible crimes affecting the most vulnerable persons especially women and children. The new law will make India a leader among South Asian countries to combat trafficking. Trafficking is a global concern also affecting a number of South Asian nations. Amongst them, India is now a pioneer in formulating a comprehensive legislation. UNODC and SAARC nations are looking forward to India to take lead by enacting this law. The Bill has been prepared in consultation with line Ministries, Departments, State Governments, NGOs and domain experts. A large number of suggestions received by the Ministry of WCD in hundreds of petitions have been incorporated in the Bill. The Draft Bill discussed in regional consultations held in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Bombay with various stakeholders including over 60 NGOs. (Adapted from PIB)

2. Cabinet approves Establishment of National Financial Reporting Authority (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for establishment of National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) and creation of one post of Chairperson, three posts of full-time Members and one post of Secretary for NFRA.






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The decision aims at establishment of NFRA as an independent regulator for the auditing profession which is one of the key changes brought in by the Companies Act, 2013. The inclusion of the provision in the Act was on the specific recommendations of the Standing Committee on Finance (in its 21st report). Impact: The decision is expected to result in improved foreign/domestic investments, enhancement of economic growth, supporting the globalisation of business by meeting international practices, and assist in further development of audit profession. Jurisdiction: The jurisdiction of NFRA for investigation of Chartered Accountants and their firms under section 132 of the Act would extend to listed companies and large unlisted public companies, the thresholds for which shall be prescribed in the Rules. The Central Government can also refer such other entities for investigation where public interest would be involved. The inherent regulatory role of ICAI as provided for in the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 shall continue in respect of its members in general and specifically with respect to audits pertaining to private limited companies, and public unlisted companies below the threshold limit to be notified in the rules. The Quality Review Board (QRB) will also continue quality audit in respect of private limited companies, public unlisted companies below prescribed threshold and also with respect to audit of those companies that may be delegated to QRB by NFRA. Further, ICAI shall continue to play its advisory role with respect to accounting and auditing standards and policies by making its recommendations to NFRA. Background: The need for establishing NFRA has arisen on account of the need felt across various jurisdictions in the world, in the wake of accounting scams, to establish independent regulators, independent from those it regulates, for enforcement of auditing standards and ensuring the quality of audits to strengthen the independence of audit firms, quality of audits and, therefore, enhance investor and public confidence in financial disclosures of companies. (Adapted from PIB) 3. Assembly election results 2018 (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) The BJP has registered a historic triumph in Tripura, ending two-and-a-half decades of Left Front rule.






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In Meghalaya, the ruling Congress has suffered a setback, and a clutch of parties led by Conrad Sangma s NPP and including the BJP, have formed the government. Conrad Sangma is the next CM.

In Nagaland, the NDPP s Neiphiu Rio who, along with pre-poll ally BJP, has 32 MLAs in the 60-member House.






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Importance of the election verdict Beyond doubt, the substantive story is the emergence of the BJP as the ruling party in Tripura, where it did not have a single seat in the last Assembly. The BJP s performance in the three states, and in Tripura in particular, is significant for three reasons. First, in the effort to assert a pan-Indian identity, it was critical for the BJP to register its footprint in the Northeast. This was an important focus of its attention, and the elections provided visible evidence of its national presence . Second, the Northeast outreach was key to the larger all-India narrative that the BJP is attempting to shape — which explains the time the party leadership has invested in the region from the time of the 2014 Lok Sabha campaign. Third, Tripura is the BJP s first major success against the Left — a duel in which the BJP has pushed the Congress out of the race altogether. The BJP is now looking to usher in its golden period, as the party national president Amit Shah said, with victories in Odisha, West Bengal and Kerala. (Adapted from the Indian Express and Ndtv.com) 4. Post NFRA formation, what is ICAI s role? (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) What is the proposal?






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The Centre last week approved the proposal to set up the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA), intended to serve as an independent regulator for the auditing profession. The basis for the move Section 132 of the Companies Act, 2013 gives the Centre the power to set up such an authority. A Parliamentary Standing Committee had also recommended that the National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards proposed in the Companies Bill, 2009 be institutionalised. What does Section 132 say? It says the NFRA can do, among other things, the following: recommend to the Centre formulation of accounting and auditing standards and polices to be adopted by companies and auditors; monitor and enforce such standards and policies; and oversee quality of services of the professions associated with the compliance of these standards and policies. What are NFRA s powers? It can investigate into professional matters or misconduct of any member or a firm of chartered accountants; it can issue summons and examine on oath; it can also inspect any book, registers and documents of any professional/firms probed; it may impose penalties and even powers to debar a member of a firm. Who is on the NFRA? It will comprise a chairperson, three full-time members and a secretary. What is ICAI s role now? ICAI s role will continue in respect of its members, in general, and, specifically, with respect to audits pertaining to private limited companies and public unlisted companies below the threshold limit to be notified in the rules. ICAI will continue with its advisory role on accounting and auditing standards and policies by making its recommendations to NFRA. Why bring in NFRA now? The discovery of the multi-crore fraud allegedly committed at the Punjab National Bank appears to be a trigger. Add to it earlier shenanigans reported in the system — Satyam, Enron, Ketan Parikh et al. What does the setting up of the Authority imply? In a way, it indicates a certain lack of trust in ICAI to effectively address malpractices indulged in by recalcitrant members. How does the community view it? Chartered accountants are watch-dogs, and not blood-hounds, goes an argument. Things turn bad when entries are not recorded at all. In such instances, CAs can do very little, it is argued.






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(Adapted from the Hindu) 5. Issues of autonomy of Prasar Bharati (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) Chairman of Prasar Bharati says I&B Ministry officials behave as if the Prasar Bharati Act does not exist at The rift between the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) and public broadcaster Prasar Bharati is growing by the day. In this exclusive interview with The Hindu, former journalist and Prasar Bharati Chairman A. Surya Prakash talks about the present crisis. Excerpts: Of late, there is growing tension between the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Prasar Bharati. How do you respond to the crisis that s making headlines almost daily? This in itself should not be a cause for worry because in a vibrant democracy, a certain degree of tension between a department of the government and an autonomous institution is par for the course. In fact, it should be a matter of concern if everything is hunky dory! In the course of the engagement, there are agreements and disagreements. One need not be unduly worried about it so long as the relationship is marked by civility and mutual respect and all stakeholders are aware that they are bound by the mandate of Parliament as outlined in the Prasar Bharati Act. It is said that in a recent meeting of the Prasar Bharati Board, you accused the I&B Ministry and its bureaucracy of not adhering to the Act. Is that true? Yes. In my view, the bureaucrats in the Ministry have passed several orders which indicate that they have utter contempt for the Prasar Bharati Act. In fact, they behave as if the Act does not exist at all. For example, a few months ago, the Ministry issued an order stating that the Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR) of the CEO of Prasar Bharati would be written by the Secretary, I&B. This is absolutely and patently illegal. As per Section 6 (7) of the Act, the CEO is an employee of the corporation and not of the Ministry. The Act clearly mandates that the CEO is not to function under the control and supervision of the Ministry or its bureaucrats. Another directive that flies against the letter and spirit of the Act is the one issued on February 5, 2018 directing Prasar Bharati to terminate all contractual employees. Members of the Board have taken strong exception to this, too. What kind of an autonomous media corporation is Prasar Bharati if it cannot hire contractual and casual manpower who are paid out of its own funds? In fact, I regard such orders as gross contempt of the Act and of Parliament itself. I have never found another Act of Parliament being treated with such contempt by bureaucrats as the Prasar Bharati Act!






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There was a lot of speculation and uncertainty regarding your reappointment for a second term. What happened and has your reappointment got anything to do with the present crisis? I am not privy to what transpired behind the scenes regarding my reappointment. As per the Prasar Bharati Act, a committee headed by the Hon ble Vice President has the mandate to select the Chairman. How would you describe your relationship with this government? I am seen as a friend of this government for two reasons: (1) ideological affinity and (2) shared political experiences with seniors in this government and the party [the BJP]. I have always felt that pseudo-secularism is at the root of many of our problems and I see this government as having the vision to move away from it. What are the shared political experiences? Most of the top leaders of this party and government fought against the dreaded Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975-77. Leaders like Atal Behari Vajpayee, L.K.Advani, Nanaji Deshmukh, Arun Jaitley, Prakash Javadekar, Anant Kumar, Ravishankar Prasad, Ram Vilas Paswan were thrown in jail. Many RSS leaders from Balasaheb Deoras to Dattatreya Hosabale were also jailed. Leaders like Narendra Modi evaded arrest and played a key role in the underground movement, helping families of jailed leaders to cope with in their difficult situation. I was with The Indian Express in those days. We were all soldiers in what was called the second freedom struggle . Where does Prasar Bharati come into the picture in this? The dictatorial Emergency regime indulged in gross misuse of AIR (All India Radio) and DD (Doordarshan). Many media stalwarts like B.G.Verghese, Nikhil Chakraborty and M.V.Kamath therefore wanted an autonomous corporation. Eventually, Prasar Bharati was born in November 1997. It is the will of Parliament that Prasar Bharati be a genuinely autonomous corporation . Do you think this government stands committed to the letter and spirit of the Prasar Bharati Act? Of course, I have no doubt about it. I gave the historical background so that we understand the approach of key decision-makers to this issue. If you look at the circumstances in which I was re-appointed, I do not think the Hon ble Vice-President, the Prime Minister and others would have wanted me back if they did not respect the autonomous nature of this corporation. (Adapted from the Hindu) 6. Key questions in disagreement between SC 3-judge Benches (Relevant for GS prelims and GS mains Paper II) Why is there a difference in the size of the Benches of the Supreme Court? The difference in the size of the benches is to make optimal use of judicial time.






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At the time of the commencement of the Constitution in 1950, the Supreme Court was envisaged as having a Chief Justice and seven puisne judges, with Parliament having the power to increase this number. In the early years, all judges sat together, but as the work of the court increased and a backlog accumulated, Parliament increased the number of judges from eight in 1950 to 11 in 1956, 14 in 1960, 18 in 1978, 26 in 1986 and 31 in 2008 (the current strength). Judges started sitting in smaller Benches of two or three, coming together in larger Benches of five or more only in certain cases. This is different from the US, where all nine Supreme Court judges sit together. In the UK, Australia, Canada and South Africa, too, judges generally sit together, or in large Benches. Since most of these courts have seven to nine judges, even five- or seven-judge judgments reflect the opinion of the majority. What sort of cases are heard by the larger Benches? Under Article 145(3), any case involving a substantial question of law as to the interpretation of the Constitution must be decided by a Bench of at least five judges. Such a Bench is called a Constitution Bench. However, in several cases, constitutional issues have been decided by smaller Benches as well. In Selvi & Ors vs State Of Karnataka & Anr (May 5, 2010), for example, a three-judge Bench decided the constitutionality of narco-analysis. A matter can be referred to a larger Bench only by a judicial order. But a 13-judge Bench to reconsider the famous Kesavananda Bharati judgment was initially constituted without a judicial order of reference and had to be dissolved after two days of tense hearing. Who constitutes the Benches, and who sits on them? Even though the Chief Justice of India is the head of the judiciary, he is only the first among equals. The Constitution does not make him the Master of Rolls ; it is the Supreme Court Rules that vest in him the power to constitute Benches as part of his administrative responsibilities. Though all judges, including the CJI, are equal in their judicial powers, ideally, the vast experience of senior judges should be used in Constitution Benches. However, legally speaking, junior judges too, can be picked. Is the Supreme Court bound by its own decisions? In Bengal Immunity Co. Ltd vs State of Bihar & Ors (September 6, 1955), the Supreme Court affirmed the power to overrule its own decisions, but stressed that this power must be exercised sparingly and with caution. In Keshav Mills Ltd vs Commissioner Of Income-Tax, Bombay (January 30, 1953), the court said that barring considerations of a substantial and compelling nature, it would be reluctant to revise its earlier decisions. Are smaller Benches bound by judgments of larger Benches? This matter is fairly settled — a Bench of the Supreme Court must follow a decision delivered by a Bench of a larger or even equal strength. In case of inability to agree, the only option available is to refer the matter to the CJI, requesting that a larger Bench be constituted to resolve the conflict. Justice R C Lahoti laid down the basic principles in






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Central Board Of Dawoodi Bohra Community vs State Of Maharashtra & Anr (December 17, 2004): * The law laid down by a larger Bench of the SC is binding on any subsequent Bench of lesser or co-equal strength. * A Bench of lesser quorum cannot doubt the correctness of the view of the law taken by a Bench of larger quorum, and in case of doubt all that the Bench of lesser quorum can do is to request the CJI to place the matter before a Bench of larger quorum than the Bench whose decision has come up for consideration. * It will be open only to a Bench of co-equal strength to express an opinion doubting the correctness of the view taken by the earlier Bench of co-equal strength. That said, this is only a question of judicial propriety and the need for certainty in law — there is no provision in the Constitution to the effect that a smaller Bench of the Supreme Court is bound by judgments of larger Benches. Since the Supreme Court has 11-13 Benches, conflicting opinions are natural. What to speak of different judges — in an interesting case, the same five-judge Bench took one position on the definition of State in Sukhdev Singh vs Bhagat Ram (1975) by holding ONGC, LIC, and industrial and finance corporations as state , and a different position in another judgment on the same day in Sabhajit Tewary vs Union of India by refusing to hold CSIR as state . Meaning: Key legal terms Stare decisis: Latin; stare decisis et non quieta movere is to not disturb settled matters. Like other common law countries (where precedent is important), in India, too, there is a high degree of predictability in judicial decisions, as cases are decided based on past decisions in similar cases. Ratio decidendi: Latin; refers to the reason or rationale for a decision. It is that part of a judgment by which lower courts are bound. (For example, the Ayodhya title suit verdict, appeals against which are now before the Supreme Court, runs into 10,000 pages, but not all of it is ratio decidendi.) The ratio can be tested by the reversal test of Wambaugh or the material facts test of Goodhart. In the Wambaugh test, if reversing the proposition laid down by the judge reverses the finding, the proposition is deemed as the ratio, else it is not. In the Goodhart test, the ratio is based on the facts the judge treats as material; this test focuses more on what judges do than on what judges say. Obiter dictum: Latin, plural obiter dicta; refers to remarks made in passing. High Courts by and large agree that obiter dicta, too, come within the purview of Article 141 of the Constitution ( The law declared by the Supreme Court shall be binding on all courts within the territory of India. ), provided they aren t mere casual observations.






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In Union of India vs Firm Ram Gopal Hukum Chand and Ors on January 1, 1960, Justice S S Dhavan ruled that Article 141 has the effect, in addition to investing the decisions of the Supreme Court with a binding force, of creating a constitutional organ whose declaration of law pronounced ex cathedra shall be binding on all courts in the Republic . Ex cathedra: Latin; with the full authority of office . Not everything a judge says is ex cathedra — in Divisional Controller, KSRTC vs Mahadeva Shetty and Anr on July 31, 2003, the Supreme Court ruled, Precedents sub silentio and without argument are of no moment. Mere casual expression carries no weight at all. Nor every passing expression of a judge, however eminent, can be treated as an ex cathedra statement having the weight of authority. (Adapted from the Indian express) 7. CJI-led Bench to resolve conflict over judgments (Relevant for GS mains Paper II) CJI to resolve conflict Amid a conflict over judicial discipline within the Supreme Court in connection with certain land acquisition cases, a five-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra decided to resolve the conflict. Chief Justice Misra observed that the Constitution Bench would now test the correctness of both the 2014 verdict and the subsequent but contrary view taken by Justice Mishra s Bench on February 8. The Constitution Bench also said it would declare whether a Supreme Court Bench can pronounce a coordinate Bench s order per incuriam instead of referring the question to a larger Bench. Reason of conflict The controversy is centred on a February 8, 2018 judgment by a three-judge Bench, led by Justice Arun Mishra, in a land acquisition compensation case. This judgment, in a majority opinion, had declared a previous 2014 verdict of another three-judge Bench of then Chief Justice R.M. Lodha, Justices Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph on the same subject, as per incuriam — that is, delivered without care for the law or facts. Contradictory verdicts Thus, contradictory verdicts on an identical subject of law dealing with compensation payable for land acquired largely from farmers by two different but numerically same Supreme Court Benches became a source of confusion among litigants and lawyers.






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The reigning contradiction between the two judgments was brought to the attention of another three-judge Bench, this time composing of Justices Lokur, Kurian and Deepak Gupta, during the hearing of a land acquisition case on February 20. Judicial discipline Justice Kurian immediately voiced his concern in open court about fellow judges tinkering with judicial discipline and declaring each other s judgments per incuriam . What is per incuriam? The concept of per incuriam refers to decisions rendered in ignorance or forgetfulness of some inconsistent statutory provisions, or of some authority binding on the court concerned. In order words, decisions given in disregard of previous decisions of the court, or in ignorance of the terms of an applicable statute or a Rule having the force of law, would not be binding. (Adapted from the Hindu) 8. Cabinet approves the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) The Union Cabinet has approved the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2018 for introduction in the Parliament. It is a part of the efforts of the Government to encourage institutional arbitration for settlement of disputes and make India a centre of robust Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism. Benefits: The Amendments in the Act of 1996 will facilitate achieving the goal of improving institutional arbitration by establishing an independent body to lay down standards, make arbitration process more party friendly, cost effective and ensure timely disposal of arbitration cases. Salient features: i. To facilitate speedy appointment of arbitrators through designated arbitral institutions by the Supreme Court or the High Court, without having any requirement to approach the court in this regard. It is envisaged that parties may directly approach arbitral institutions designated by the Supreme Court for International Commercial arbitration and in other cases the concerned High Courts. ii. The amendment provides for creation of an independent body namely the Arbitration Council of India (ACI) which will grade arbitral institution and accredit arbitrators by laying down norms and take all such steps as may be necessary to promote and encourage arbitration, conciliation, mediation and other ADR Mechanism and for that purpose evolve policy and guidelines for the establishment., operation and maintenance of uniform professional standards in respect of all matters relating to arbitration and ADR mechanism.






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The Council shall also maintain an electronic depository of all arbitral awards, iii. The ACI shall be a body corporate. The Chairperson of ACI shall be a person who has been a Judge of the Supreme Court or Chief Justice or Judge of any High Court or any eminent person. Further, the other Members would include an eminent academician etc. besides other Government nominees, iv. It is proposed to amend sub section (1) of section 29A by excluding International Arbitration from the bounds of timeline and further to provide that the time limit for arbitral award in other arbitrations shall be within 12 months from the completion of the pleadings of the parties. v. A new section 42A is proposed to be inserted to provide that the arbitrator and the arbitral institutions shall keep confidentiality of all arbitral proceedings except award. Further, a new section 42B protects an Arbitrator from suit or other legal proceedings for any action or omission done in good faith in the course of arbitration proceedings. vi. A new section 87 is proposed to be inserted to clarify that unless parties agree otherwise the Amendment Act 2015 shall not apply to (a) Arbitral proceedings .which have commenced before the commencement of the Amendment Act of 2015 (b) Court proceedings arising out of or in relation to such arbitral proceedings irrespective of whether such court proceedings are commenced prior to or after the commencement of the Amendment Act of 2015 and shall apply only to Arbitral proceedings commenced on or after the commencement of the Amendment Act of 2015 and to court proceedings arising out of or in relation to such Arbitral proceedings. Background: The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, was amended by the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015 in order to make arbitration process user friendly, cost effective and ensure speedy disposal and neutrality of arbitrators. However, to give a boost to institutional, arbitration vis-a-vis ad hoc arbitration and to remove some practical difficulties in applicability of the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015, a High-Level Committee (HLC) under the Chairmanship of Justice B. H. Srikrishna, Retired Judge, Supreme Court of India, was constituted by the Central Government, The HLC was given the mandate • to examine the effectiveness of existing arbitration mechanism by studying the functioning and performance of Arbitral Institutions in India; • to devise a road map to promote institutionalized arbitration mechanisms in India; • to evolve an effective and efficient arbitration eco-system for commercial dispute resolution and submit a Report on suggested reforms in the statute.






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The HLC submitted its Report on 30th July 2017 and has recommended for amendments in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The proposed amendments are as per the recommendations of the High-Level Committee. (Adapted from Pib) 9. Cabinet approves the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Division of High Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2018 for introduction in the Parliament. The Bill seeks to achieve the following objectives: • The Bill brings down the specified value of a commercial dispute to Lakhs from the present one Crore: Therefore, commercial disputes of a reasonable value can be decided by commercial courts. This would bring down the time taken (presently 1445 days) in resolution of commercial disputes of lesser value and thus further improve India's ranking in the Ease of Doing Business. • The amendment provides for establishment of Commercial Courts at district Judge level for the territories over which respective High Courts have ordinary original civil jurisdiction i.e in the cities of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and State of Himachal Pradesh. The State Governments, in such territories may by notification specify such pecuniary value of commercial disputes to be adjudicated at the district level, which shall 'not be less than three lakhs rupees and not more than the pecuniary jurisdiction of the district court. In the jurisdiction of High Courts other than those exercising ordinary original jurisdiction a forum of Appeal in commercial dispute decided by commercial courts below the level of District judge is being provided, in the form of Commercial Appellate Courts to be at district judge level. • The introduction of the Pre-Institution Mediation process in cases where no urgent, interim relief is contemplated will provide an opportunity to the parties to resolve the commercial disputes outside the ambit of the courts through the authorities constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.will also help in reinforcing investor's confidence in the resolution of commercial disputes. • Insertion of new section of A which enables the Central Government to make rules and procedures for PIM. • To give prospective effect to the amendment so as not to disturb the authority of the judicial forum presently adjudicating the commercial disputes as per the extant provisions of the Act.






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Background: With the rapid economic development there has been considerable increase in commercial activities and consequent steep rise in number of commercial disputes at domestic and international level. Increase of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and overseas commercial transactions have further contributed to a significant increase of commercial disputes. With a view to address the issue faster resolution of matters relating to commercial disputes and to create a positive image particularly among the foreign investors about the independent and responsive Indian legal system, the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015 was enacted and commercial courts were established at District Levels in all jurisdictions, except in the territories over which the High Courts have original ordinary civil jurisdiction. These five High Courts i.e. the High Courts of Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, Madras and of Himachal Pradesh, exercise ordinary original civil jurisdiction in regard to territories of cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and the territory of the State of Himachal Pradesh respectively. In such territories of these High Courts as per proviso to sub-section (1) of section 3 there are no commercial courts at district level and instead Commercial Divisions have been constituted in each of these High Courts. The specified value of such commercial disputes to be adjudicated by the Commercial Courts or the Commercial Division of High Court, as the case may be is presently Rs. one Crore. Ease of Doing Business is an index of World Bank which inter alia refers to the dispute resolution environment in a country which facilitates the investors in deciding for setting up of and operation of a business. This index has been created by the World Bank Group and since 2002, it has been evaluating almost all the countries of the world. A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of the business. On 31st October, 2017, World Bank released its latest annual 'Ease of Doing Business' report for the year 2018 in which India has emerged out as one among top ten improvers and for the first time ever, India has jumped 30 positions and reached 100th ranked country in terms of 'Ease of Doing Business' amongst 190 countries. This manifests that India is fast adopting the best practices in regulatory framework for Ease of Doing Business at all fronts. (Adapted from pib) 10. SC upholds passive euthanasia (Relevant for GS prelims & GS Mains Paper II)






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SC upholds Passive Euthanasia The Supreme Court has upheld passive euthanasia and the right to give advance medical directives or Living Wills to smoothen the dying process as part of the fundamental right to live with dignity. What is Passive Euthanasia? Passive euthanasia is the act of withdrawing or withholding medical support to a dying patient who has no hope for revival or cure. Arguments by Supreme Court A five-judge Constitution Bench ruled that the fundamental right to life and dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution includes the right to die with dignity. Dignity is lost if a man is allowed or forced to undergo pain and suffering because of unwarranted medical support. The right of a dying man to die with dignity when life is ebbing out and in the case of a

terminally ill patient or a person in permanent vegetative state, where there is no hope of recovery, accelerating the process of death for reducing the period of suffering constitutes a right to live with dignity, Meaningful existence includes a person s right to self-determination and autonomy to decide his medical treatment, the court held. Justice Ashok Bhushan agreed that right to a dignified life includes a dignified procedure of death. Difference with Active Euthanasia The court distinguished passive euthanasia from suicide and active euthanasia. It called passive euthanasia as a mere acceleration of the inevitable conclusion. Active euthanasia, the court concluded, is unlawful. Suicide involves overt acts which






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culminates in an unnatural death. Active Euthanasia refers to injection of something poisonous or undergoing other procedure which takes away the life of the person. How it is different from Previous judgement? The core message is that all adults with the capacity to give consent have the right of self-determination and autonomy , and the right to refuse medical treatment is also encompassed in it. Passive euthanasia was recognised by a two-judge Bench in Aruna Shanbaug in 2011; now the Constitution Bench has expanded the jurisprudence on the subject by adding to it the principle of a living will , or an advance directive, a practice whereby a person, while in a competent state of mind, leaves written instructions on the sort of medical treatment that may or may not be administered in the event of her reaching a stage of terminal illness. How Article 142 is involved? The court has invoked its inherent power under Article 142 of the Constitution to grant legal status to advance directives, and its directives will hold good until Parliament enacts legislation on the matter. The government submitted that it was in the process of introducing a law to regulate passive euthanasia. Issue of Advance Directive Government is opposed the concept of advance directive on the ground that it is liable to be misused. The stringent conditions imposed by the court regarding advance directives are intended to serve as a set of robust safeguards and allay any apprehensions about misuse. The court is justified in concluding that advance directives will strengthen the will of the treating doctors by assuring them that they are acting lawfully in respecting the patient s wishes. An advance directive, after all, only reflects the patient s autonomy and does not amount to a recognition of a wish to die. (Adapted from The Hindu) 11. Prasar Bharati autonomous or not (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) What is it? The twin objectives of the Prasar Bharati (Broadcast Corporation of India) Act of 1990 are crystallised in Section 12 of the law. Section 12 (3)(a) mandates that Prasar Bharati ensure that broadcasting is conducted as a public service. Again, Section 12 (3)(b) reinforces that the purpose of establishing the corporation is to gather news, not propaganda. How did it come about? The Act came into existence after decades of post-independence struggle to free broadcasting from the stranglehold of the government. The legislative intent of the Act finds an echo in the Supreme Court s 1995 judgment in The Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting versus the Cricket Association of Bengal , which said the first facet of the broadcasting freedom is freedom from state or






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governmental control, in particular from the censorship by the government... Public broadcasting is not to be equated with state broadcasting. Both are distinct. The Prasar Bharati Corporation s main objective is to provide autonomy to Doordarshan

and Akashvani in order to educate and entertain the public. The Prasar Bharati Bill was passed in 1990. The Prasar Bharati Act was eventually implemented in 1997. Why does it matter? The need to protect the autonomous identity of Prasar Bharati Corporation was highlighted by its chairman. Mr. Prakash alleged that the 1990 Act was being treated with utter contempt. For example, he referred to a Ministry directive that the Secretary, I&B, would appraise the Prasar Bharati CEO. Another directive wants the Prasar Bharati to get rid of contractual employees. That Prasar Bharati is an autonomous corporation is evident in Section 4. The Chairman and the other Members — except the ex-officio members, the nominated member and the elected members — shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee. The government has no part in the appointment. The Act points out that the CEO would be under the control and supervision of the Board and not the Central government. What next? The Centre still holds the reins of Prasar Bharati as it has the power to make rules for the corporation, issue grants or allowances and control the salaries of employees. Section 22 gives the Centre powers to issue directions which it may think necessary in the interests of the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India or the security of the State or preservation of public order to not broadcast any matter of public importance . On the context of what true autonomy means for a broadcasting corporation, the Supreme Court has referred to a ruling by the German Constitutional Court, which said that freedom from State control requires the legislature to frame some basic rules to ensure that government is unable to exercise any influence over the selection, content or scheduling of programmes . (Adapted from The Hindu) 12. Centre Constitutes Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) The Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has issued a notification constituting the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal. The Tribunal will have its headquarters at Delhi and will have the following members nominated by the Chief Justice of India: 1. Mr Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, Judge, Supreme Court of India as Chairman






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2. Dr Justice Ravi Ranjan, Judge, Patna High Court as Member 3. Mrs Justice Indermeet Kaur Kochhar, Judge, Delhi High Court as Member The Tribunal has been constituted following orders of the Supreme Court dated 23rd January, 2018 in a suit filed by the Government of Odisha. The Government of Odisha had sought to refer the water dispute regarding the inter-state river Mahanadi and its river valley to a Tribunal for adjudication under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956. CONSTITUTIONAL MECHANISM TO RESOLVE INTERSTATE WATER DISPUTES (ARTICLE 262) Art. 262 of constitution provides for adjudication of interstate water disputes. It makes two provisions: 1.Parliament by law provide for mechanism to adjudicate interstate water disputes. 2.Parliament may also provide that neither Supreme Court nor any other court exercises jurisdiction over interstate water disputes. First provision has been incorporated so that Parliament by law can provide for effective mechanism for resolution of interstate water disputes. Such mechanism is expected to resolve the disputes within a limited time frame. Second provision bars interference of Judiciary because in case interstate water dispute are taken up by regular courts, it may take long time to be resolved. The regular courts are already overburdened. Thus, there is a need for dedicated mechanism to resolve the interstate water disputes. Under provision of Art. 262, Parliament has passed two laws: 1.River Boards Act, 1956: Provides for the establishment of river boards for the regulation and development of interstate rivers and river valleys. A river board is established by the Central Government on the request of concerned states to advice the states. 2.Interstate water disputes act, 1956: Empowers the Central Government to set up an ad-hoc tribunal for the adjudication of a dispute between two or more states in relation to the waters of an interstate river. The decision of the tribunal would be binding and final. Neither Supreme Court nor any other court has jurisdiction over water disputes referred to such tribunals. Created under Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956 As per provisions of the Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956, the Tribunal shall consist of a Chairman and two other Members nominated by the Chief Justice of India from amongst the Judges of the Supreme Court or High Court. Further, services of two Assessors who are water resources experts having experience in handling sensitive water-related issues will be provided to advise the Tribunal in its proceedings.






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As per provisions of the ISRWD Act, 1956 the Tribunal is required to submit its report and decision within a period of 3 years which can be extended to a further period not exceeding 2 years due to unavoidable reasons. It is expected that with adjudication of dispute by the Tribunal, the long-pending dispute between States of Odisha and Chhattisgarh on Mahanadi river will come to a final settlement. (Adapted from PIB) 13. Executive Committee under POSHAN (PM s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment) Abhiyaan held its first meeting (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) The Executive Committee which is the Apex body for all Nutrition related activities under the POSHAN Abhiyaan, held its first meeting to decide on the roadmap for the Mission. The Committee is headed by Sh. Rakesh Srivastava, Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development. The Committee, inter alia, has taken the following decisions: a. India Nutrition Report shall be released every year by the Government after a detailed survey. b. On the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti (14th April) this year, Gram Panchayats across the country will hold meetings to discuss on the Nutritional aspects and their implementation along with Health and Sanitation issues. All the Gram Panchayats will be advised to weigh the children and display the weights in the Anganwadi centres c. Instead of blindly adopting the Nutritional practices of other countries, best practices of states across the country which are successful in reducing Stunting, Anaemia and Malnutrition are to be studied and successful models to be adopted at National level. d. For special focus on the deprived sections of the Society, District Collectors will hold a detailed survey of the people who are outside the Anganwadi System. For the financial year 2017-18, 315 districts have been identified in the descending order of prevalence of stunting. Video conferencing with these districts for orientation is being held on 15th March 2018. A National Seminar is also being organised on 20th March 2018 for taking the Mission forward. Some of the key Nutrition strategies and interventions are supplementary nutrition, IYCF (Infant and Young Child Feeding) immunisation, food fortification, adolescent nutrition, dietary diversification and maternal health & nutrition among others. National Council on India s nutritional challenges under chairmanship of Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, has also been set up under the POSHAN Abhiyaan. The Council shall submit






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report to the Prime Minister every 6 months. Secretary WCD being the Member convenor of National council, would formally request vice-chairman NITI Aayog to convene meeting of National Council on India s nutritional challenges. (Adapted from Pib) 14. Supreme Court ruling options for foreign legal firms (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II and III) Order of Supreme Court The Supreme Court s ruling that the practice of law , as allowed and regulated in India, includes work on both the litigation side and on non-litigation services means that the Centre may not be able to throw open the legal services sector to overseas players. Both the present regime and the previous United Progressive Alliance government were considering a proposal to permit foreign law firms in the country to practise law in matters not involving litigation and on a reciprocal basis. Lawyers concerned Sections of the legal fraternity have been opposing the entry of foreign firms for nearly two decades. Their main objection was that Indian law firms would not be able to compete with foreign firms and that the latter had greater money power and may control the legal market. Also, they argued that people could practise law only if they were citizens possessing a law degree from a university in the country and enrolled in the Bar Councils. Non-litigation market Foreign law firms, backed by their respective governments, have been asking not for the right to practise in Indian courts, but only for access to the non-litigation market, which has seen an exponential increase after globalisation. In particular, international commercial arbitration has taken off in a big way. Backing for international commercial arbitration The government had backed plans to allow foreign firms to appear in international commercial arbitration proceedings to represent overseas clients. Barring them in the arbitration sector would scupper India s ambition to be a global arbitration hub, and only help Singapore, London or Paris take over these arbitration opportunities. View of SC The court has recognised only limited access to foreign players in arbitration.






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It should be limited to matters governed by an international commercial arbitration agreement. Even then, the code of conduct applicable to the legal profession in India has to be followed, it has said. The government was hoping the domestic legal services industry would drop its resistance if the opening up was restricted to non-litigation work. (Adapted from The Hindu) 15. Farmers march on Mumbai (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) Who led the farmers march from Nashik to Mumbai? The march, in which 30,000 farmers and tribals participated, was led by the All India Kisan Sabha, a peasants organisation affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The march to the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha began from Nashik on March 6 and ended on March 12 in Mumbai. The farmers walked a distance of 170 km. Why was the march conducted? Despite a bountiful monsoon in 2016-17, many farmers found it hard to sell their produce after prices crashed in the aftermath of demonetisation in late 2016. A failed monsoon this year significantly affected agricultural productivity and incomes of farmers in Maharashtra, who were reeling from debt. The government had in 2017, announced a farm loan waiver worth Rs. 30,000 crore to alleviate agrarian distress and deter farmer suicides; Maharashtra reported that 1,293 farmers (more than 40% of the total number of such suicides reported across all States) had ended their lives in 2015. The loan waiver scheme was not quite implemented properly; besides it did not benefit many of the small and marginal farmers who usually do not rely upon institutional credit. The farmers, many of them tribals who were also yet to benefit from promises made in the previous decade to protect their livelihoods, were demanding the implementation of assurances made. What were the demands of the farmers? The farmers are demanding the implementation of a complete waiver of farm loans, remunerative prices for crops, pensions for agricultural labour, recommendations by the M.S. Swamination Commission on minimum support price and the Forest Right Act, besides relief from economic losses sustained due to implementation of demonetisation in late 2016. Has the State government accepted these demands?






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Keeping in mind their distress conditions and the outpouring of support for the farmer-marchers, the State government accepted most of their major demands such as expanding the list of those eligible for the farm-loan waiver announced in 2017, increased pensions to agricultural workers from Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,000 per month and transfer of land titles under the Forest Rights Act. The alacrity with which the State government responded is possibly due to the fact that a failed monsoon has led to projections of a negative growth in the farm sector (contraction by 8.3% in agriculture and allied activities) in the State s Economic Survey this year. With Assembly elections not far away, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government is keen that rural distress does not lead to voter anger. (Adapted from The Hindu) 16. Farmers fight for land rights in Maharashtra (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II)

Over 30,000 farmers marched to Mumbai, from different parts of Maharashtra, for five days from March 7 to 12 to draw the State government s attention to their demands, that included transfer of forestland to tribals who had been tilling it for years. What happened? The protest began in Nashik on March 7 and was organised by the All-India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The Kisan Long March started with over 10,000 farmers. Over five days, more farmers from Nandurbar, Palghar and Thane joined in. By the time they reached Mumbai, the number swelled to 40,000, by some estimates. Why are farmers so distressed? Farmers in the State are distressed for a host of reasons, the key being rising debt. Barring 2016-17, Maharashtra has had negative agricultural growth since the current government






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took over in 2014. According to estimates, the State will register negative growth this year too. Maharashtra has seen high farmer suicides. Last year, it is estimated that over 2,000 farmers committed suicide for reasons such as debt and land acquisition. Farmers have been plagued by a variety of issues over the last couple of years. These include pest attacks, hailstorms, drought, falling market prices, land acquisition for infrastructure projects, poor irrigation facilities and lack of access to credit. Over 40 lakh cotton farmers were affected by a pink bollworm infestation last year, with around 50% of the State s crop being ruined by it. Hailstorms in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions in February destroyed crops on several hectares. This is not the first time farmers have protested in the State. Farmers staged a massive State-wide protest last June, where they refused to sell their produce in protest against the rising debt and deteriorating conditions. The State announced a farm loan waiver scheme. Didn t the loan waiver help? The Rs. 34,000 crore farm loan waiver declared last year came with several conditions. For instance, only one member per family was allowed a debt-waiver and a ceiling of Rs. 1.5 lakh was prescribed. Because of the conditions, a majority of farmers were unable to benefit from it and have continued to reel under debt. The key demands of this march were a complete farm loan waiver, the effective implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, implementation of the Swaminathan Committee s recommendations on the fixing of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops, compensation of Rs. 40,000 per acre to farmers hit by hailstorm and pink bollworm, and projects to link the Nar-par, Damanganga and Girnar rivers. A large section of the farmers that marched to Mumbai were Adivasis from Thane, Palghar, Nashik and Nandurbar. They were demanding that they be given rights to the land they have been tilling for generations as prescribed under the Forest Rights Act. The farmers were upset at the slow pace of approvals. In the cases where farmers had received land, they got only a fraction of what they had been tilling. What is the government s stand? The government conceded most of the demands such as reducing conditions for loan waiver, making loans taken between 2001 and 2009 eligible for waiver (the earlier cut-off was 2009), and sorting out appeals and claims under the Forest Rights Act within six months. A maximum of four hectares will be allotted in the cases where land transfer is less than the land being tilled. What are they planning? Many of the demands are not new, and the government had made assurances after farmers took to the streets earlier. This time, the farmers wanted an assurance in writing, which the government gave. However, it remains to be seen if the government implements the farmers recommendations, which include a complete loan waiver and increasing the MSP of milk and crops. A steering committee of 40 farmers organisation, of which the AIKS is a member, has called another round of protests across the State starting March 19. including a jail bharo on April 30.






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(Adapted from The HIndu) 17. National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) What is it? The Union Cabinet on March 1 approved the creation of a National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA), a big step forward in regulating the financial audit of large companies. The NFRA is to be an independent regulator overseeing the auditing profession, and its creation was first recommended by the Standing Committee on Finance in its 21st report. How did it come about? The Cabinet also approved the creation of the posts within the regulator — that of a chairman, three full-time members, and one secretary — though no decision has yet been taken on who will fill these posts. While many provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 came into force on April 1, 2014, the setting up of the NFRA, a key recommendation, was delayed. The decision appears to have been prompted by the latest bank scam to have hit the headlines — the Rs. 12,636 crore Punjab National Bank fraud that went undetected by auditors. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) had initially voiced its discontent with the idea of a regulator for the sector, saying the existing structure was adequate. The government has clarified that the roles of the new regulator and those of the ICAI will not overlap. Why does it matter? While announcing the decision to create the body, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the NFRA would cover all listed companies and large unlisted companies, the benchmark size for which would be set down in the rules. Smaller unlisted companies would continue to be audited by the ICAI, he said, adding that the Centre could also refer other entities for investigation where public interest would be involved. The government also said the Quality Review Board (QRB) would continue quality audits for private limited companies, and public unlisted companies below the prescribed threshold. The NFRA would also have the power to refer cases to the QRB as and when it decided to do so. The government said the ICAI would continue to play its advisory role with respect to accounting and auditing standards and policies by making its recommendations to the NFRA. What lies ahead? The government is quite clear that the need for such a body is all the more important after several financial accounting scams, the most recent of which was the Punjab National Bank scam. However, the idea for an NFRA came following the Satyam scam in 2009, following which the Standing Committee on Finance recommended the creation of an audit regulator.






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Most of the major economies of the world have independent audit regulators, and over the last decade or so, umbrella bodies have come up that have provided an element of cohesion to these regulators. The International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR) was set up in 2006, and now it has more than 52 independent audit regulators worldwide as members. While the ICAI has voiced its reservations about an independent regulator, several individual accountants have said such a regulator is a good idea. The audit profession had become very complacent in the idea that there would be no oversight, one accountant told The Hindu on condition of anonymity. This is not to say that there is always wrongdoing, but a lot of the bending of the rules that used to happen will now hopefully become more difficult. Apart from setting the rules and regulations governing the audit sector, the NFRA will have the power to debar erring auditors or audit firm for up to 10 years and impose significant fines on them. According to Section 132 of the Companies Act, 2013, the NFRA will have powers to impose a fine of less than Rs. 1 lakh, but the amount can extend up to five times of the fees received in case of individuals. The government has to set the rules that will stipulate the jurisdiction of the NFRA. Specifically, it has to set a limit on the size of an unlisted company that comes under the purview of the NFRA. (Adapted from The Hindu) 18. Rs 222 cr. electoral bonds sold in first issue (Relevant for GS Prelims and GS mains Paper II) India sold Rs 222 crore of bonds in the maiden issue of Electoral Bonds. The maiden issue opened for subscription for 10 days beginning March 1. Finance minister Arun Jaitley introduced 'electoral bonds' in Union Budget 2017-18 as a measure to cleanse the funding to political parties. Electoral bonds allow donors to pay political parties with banks as an intermediary. The minister said bonds under the scheme shall be available for purchase for a period of 10 days each in January, April, July, and October. An additional period of 30 days shall be specified by the central government in the year of general election. What are Electoral Bonds? These are interest-free bearer instruments (like Promissory Notes) that will be available for purchase from the State Bank of India within a designated window of 10 days in every quarter of the financial year. An additional period of a month will be notified in the year of elections to Lok Sabha. The life of the bond would be only 15 days. (It) can only be






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encashed in a predeclared account of a political party (which) will have to disclose the amount to the Election Commission. How will the Bonds help? The current system of cash donations from anonymous or pseudonymous sources is wholly non-transparent , and the donor, the donee, the quantum of donations and the

nature of expenditure are all undisclosed. The government says the system of Bonds will encourage political donations of clean money from individuals, companies, HUF, religious groups, charities, etc. After purchasing the bonds, these entities can hand them to political parties of their choice, which must redeem them within the prescribed time. The idea, the government has said, is to evolve a transparent system of political funding. So, is this system transparent? According to Union Minister Jaitley, some element of transparency would be introduced in as much as all donors declare in their accounts the amount of bonds that they have purchased, and all parties declare the quantum of bonds that they have received . What are the chances of harassment against donor? But the voting public will not know which individual, company, or organisation has funded which party, and to what extent. At the same time, the fact that the SBI — and by implication, the government — will know who is getting what from whom can open up the possibility of arm twisting or harassment of those seen to be supporting parties or ideologies that are opposed to the government. And this will be possible without the public knowing or being able to see the pattern of such harassment. Research paper on electoral bonds: may establish system of quid pro quo with donor In a 2012 paper, economists M V Rajeev Gowda and E Sridharan ( Reforming India s Party Financing and Election Expenditure Laws : Election Law Journal, Vol 11, No. 2) argued that corporates and businesspersons, while availing tax benefits, are wary of political donations because they can t remain anonymous — a concern that the idea of Bonds appears to address. However, critics argue that such a solution pushes back decades of work to ensure that the electoral process is not captured by just the rich or those who can draw funds —which might then lead to a quid pro quo, a tailoring of government policy to favour these donors. How has India addressed the issue of election funding so far? In 1968, corporate funding was banned. In 1974, the Supreme Court ruled that party spending for a candidate must be included in calculating the candidate s election spend (Kanwar Lal Gupta vs Amar Nath Chawla & Ors), but Parliament legislated against the order the following year. In 1979, political parties were exempted from income- and wealth tax, provided they filed annual returns including audited accounts, listed donations of Rs 10,000 and above, and disclosed the identities of such donors. An amendment to the Companies Act in 1985 restored corporate funding. Companies could donate up to 5% of their average net profit over the previous three years. More changes






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came based on Reports on election funding, such as the Dinesh Goswami Committee Report (1990), and the Indrajit Gupta Committee Report (1998), which recommended partial state funding of elections. In 1996, the Supreme Court ruled that political parties must file returns by February 20, as required by the I-T and Wealth Tax Acts. The court also interpreted Explanation 1 of Section 77(1) of The Representation of the People Act, so that election expenditure by a political party would not be included with that of a candidate for the purpose of determining compliance with the expenditure ceiling, if the party had submitted audited accounts of its spends and incomes. In 1998, the government provided partial state subsidy in the form of allocation of free time for national and state parties on state TV and radio. In 2003, the NDA government made individual and company donations fully tax-deductible. However, the cap on how much companies could contribute remained. The government now wants to remove this limit through the Electoral Bonds; individual cash contributions to parties have been capped at Rs 2,000. Has the Election Commission expressed a view on Electoral Bonds? Not officially. It has been reported that the Commission feels it might need a year to review and assess the scheme. (Adapted from The Times of India) 19. SC/ST Act being used for blackmail, says Supreme Court (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) View of Supreme Court The anti-atrocities law, which protects Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from casteist slurs and discrimination, has become an instrument to blackmail innocent citizens and public servants. Guidelines by Supreme Court Issuing a slew of guidelines to protect public servants and private employees from arbitrary arrests under the Atrocities Act, the court directed that public servants can only be arrested with the written permission of their appointing authority. In the case of private employees, the Senior Superintendent of Police concerned should allow it. Besides this precaution, a preliminary inquiry should be conducted before the FIR is registered to check whether the case falls within the parameters of the Atrocities Act and if it is frivolous or motivated. Rationale given by Supreme Court






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The court referred to how public administration has been threatened by the abuse of this Act. Public servants find it difficult to give adverse remarks against employees for fear that they may be charged under the Act. Instead of blurring caste lines, the Act has been misused to file false complaints to promote caste hatred, the apex court said. The current working of Atrocities Act may even perpetuate casteism if it is not brought in line and the court needs to intervene to check

the false implication of innocent citizens on caste lines. The Act cannot be converted into a charter for exploitation or oppression by any

unscrupulous person or by the police for extraneous reasons against other citizens. Any harassment of an innocent citizen, irrespective of caste or religion, is against the guarantee of the Constitution. This court must enforce such a guarantee. Law should not result in caste hatred, the Supreme Court held. Penal provisions under the act The 1989 Act penalises casteist insults and even denies anticipatory bail to the suspected offenders. The law is therefore used to rob a person of his personal liberty merely on the unilateral word of the complainant, the court said. Justice Goel wrote that anticipatory bail should be allowed if the accused is able to prima facie prove that the complaint against him is malafide. (Adapted from The Hindu) 20. Will introduce Face ID on July 1 for Aadhaar authentication, UIDAI tells Supreme Court (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS mains Paper II) UIDAI tells Supreme Court that it would benefit people with poor biometrics The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) informed the Supreme Court that it will introduce Face ID on July 1 to enable Aadhaar holders to authenticate their identity to access services, benefits and subsidies. The 'Face ID' would help people without biometrics or those with poor biometrics to avoid authentication failures and financial exclusion. The court has repeatedly been referring to how biometric authentication failures had deprived citizens of their rightful entitlements like pension and provident fund. It has highlighted that people with physical disabilities and the mentally challenged may face the danger of financial exclusion. Accessing benefits In a presentation to the Supreme Court, UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey showed photographs of persons afflicted with leprosy, senior citizens with poor biometrics and those with physical disabilities accessing benefits through Aadhaar.






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He said a complete exemption from biometric authentication was provided to persons afflicted with leprosy and those whose biometrics were non-existent due to disability or other reasons. Authentication modes Mr. Pandey drew the court s attention to Regulation 4 of the Aadhaar (Authentication) Regulations of 2016, which detailed the various modes of authentication. One was verifying demographic details of the Aadhaar holder like name, gender and date of birth. The Aadhaar number and demographic information of the Aadhaar number holder was matched with the demographic data in the CIDR (Central Identities Data Repository). Secondly, there was the One Time Pin (OTP) based authentication with limited time validity. The PIN was sent to the registered mobile number and/or e-mail address of the Aadhaar number holder. Then there was the multi-factor authentication, which was a combination of two or more of the modes — biometric or OTP or demographic — for authentication. The Regulation allows individuals the right to choose a suitable mode(s) of authentication for a particular service or business function to enhance security. However, for the avoidance of doubt, e-KYC authentication should only be carried out using OTP and/or biometric authentication. (Adapted from The Hindu) 21. Reinstatement of AAP MLAs (Relevant for GS prelims, GS Mains Paper II) Delhi HC set aside the Election Commission s (EC) decision to disqualify the 20 AAP MLAs in question in the office-of-profit case and directed the poll body to hear the matter afresh. Rationale by High Court Terming the Commission's recommendation vitiated , the Court said that there was violation of natural justice and no oral hearing was given to the MLAs before disqualifying them as legislators of the Delhi Assembly. In other words, the Election Commission has been asked to conduct a proper re-hearing to the MLAs but simultaneously the court has not absolved the MLAs from the charge of being beneficiary of office of profit. Background President Ram Nath Kovind accepted the recommendation of the Election Commission to disqualify the 20 MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the ruling party in the national capital, for holding offices of profit. Reason for disqualification






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The AAP MLAs were appointed as Parliamentary Secretaries and a petitioner in a complaint to the EC and the President in 2015 said that being a parliamentary secretary was holding an office of profit and this invited disqualification. Background The controversy started in 2015, when the AAP came to power with a whopping majority of 67 out of 70 seats and appointed 21 lawmakers as parliamentary secretaries. One out of these 21, Jarnail Singh, left his position to fight elections from Punjab. Though attempts were made to exclude the post of the parliamentary secretaries from the ambit of office of profit by the Arvind Kejriwal government, former President Pranab Mukherjee refused to approve the proposal. What are the relevant provisions of constitution? As per the Constitution, the Office of Profit prohibits MP and MLAs from accepting government positions. Office of Profit refers to executive office. What is the need of this provision? This provision has been provided to avoid conflict of interest between two duties, one as a Member of Parliament and other as a holder of executive office. This conflict of interest may arise because MP is expected to keep a check on council of ministers and if he is given executive office, then he will have to work under the influence of council of ministers. Thus, if an MP is given an office of profit, then he may not be able to keep effective check on council of ministers. What is Office of Profit ? An office of profit means a position that brings to the person holding it some financial gain, or advantage. Supreme Court has held that even if an office bearer holds an office without deriving any financial benefit, still it constitutes office of profit. In other words, Office of Profit refers to the executive office held under Union government, state government, or local body. Holders of office in autonomous bodies are not considered to be holding office of profit. The holder of the office of profit has worked under the respective government and, thus, may not be able to independently discharge functions without the influence of that government. Who are Parliamentary Secretary? They are appointed by Prime Minister or Chief minister from amongst members of the ruling party in the Parliament or State legislature respectively. They assist ministers in discharging their functions within the respective legislature. Parliamentary Secretaries enjoy similar privileges as those enjoyed by a minister such as emoluments, official residence, etc. 91st Amendment Act, 2003, and Strength of Council of Ministers This amendment introduced states that the strength of Union Council of Ministers, including the Prime Minister, shall not exceed 15% of total strength of Lok Sabha (545).






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Similarly, the strength of State council of ministers cannot exceed 15% of total strength of Legislative Assembly of a particular state. In case of Delhi, the strength of Council of ministers allowed is 10% of legislative assembly. Before 2003, there was no limitation on the size of Council of Ministers. This provision was incorporated in the constitution to prevent executive from creating unnecessary ministries and to prevent trading of members of Lok Sabha. Members of opposition political parties were asked to change their political party in lieu of a ministry. 91st Amendment Act and Parliamentary Secretaries As 91st amendment act restricted the strength of Council of Ministers, political parties especially in various states began adjusting the members of their political party into executive positions by giving them post of Parliamentary secretary. The question arose whether Parliamentary secretary should be counted in Council of Ministers or not. Conclusion Delhi MLAs were not allowed the post of parliamentary secretaries because this violated the limit on strength of council of ministers. As parliamentary secretary is an executive post, 20 MLAs were disqualified because they were holding office of Profit. (Adapted from The Hindu and Constitutional Provisions from PrepMate-Cengage Polity Book) 22. In Goa, after the ban on mining (Relevant for GS prelims, GS mains paper II and III) On March 15, all mining activity in Goa, involving iron ore extraction, came to a halt for the second time in nearly two years. This follows the Supreme Court s order on February 7, cancelling 88 iron ore mining leases in the State that were renewed by the government in 2014-2015 just before the Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act mandated the auction of leases. What will be the impact? Leaseholders are disappointed. All others dependent on mining, including miners and truckers, in seven taluks of the mining belt and those associated with the port town of Mormugao-Vasco are protesting, holding life to ransom. The State government, along with the Centre, is exploring the possibilities of creating some economic activity for those dependent on mining by approaching the court with pleas, for instance, to allow e-auctioning of ore dumps lying in lease areas. The ban was a big blow to the BJP-led government of Manohar Parrikar — who is being treated for a serious pancreatitis-related ailment in a U.S. hospital — as it was hoping that mining activity would start once again with vigour, ailing as it was since the total ban on the sector in October 2012 due to illegal mining. Why is production low?





https://prepmate.in/product/indian-polity/

https://prepmate.in/product/indian-polity/


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On October 5, 2012, the court banned mining and ore exports, which was partially lifted in April 2014. But poor international ore pricing and issues of environmental clearance have not allowed mining to reach the annual cap of 20 million tonnes, prescribed by the Supreme Court. At the end of the current fiscal, Goa extracted 10 million tonnes of ore, according to the State Directorate of Mines. In 2014-2015, the then BJP-led coalition government, under Mr. Parrikar and subsequently under Laxmikant Parsekar, had renewed for the second time the leases of these mining companies for 20 years with retrospective effect from 2007. The Supreme Court termed the renewal hasty and illegal on a petition filed by the Goa Foundation that challenged it. Why was it banned? It all began with the then Congress Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat, being indicted by a judicial commission for allowing illegal mining, resulting in amassing of wealth by certain individuals and companies at the cost of the environment. The Justice M.B. Shah Commission s report, tabled in Parliament by the United Progressive Alliance government, cited instances of abuse of power by Mr. Kamat, who held the Mines portfolio for 12 years from 2002 in three governments, two headed by the Congress and one by the BJP. The commission found total lack of coordination in different wings of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), which resulted in illegalities and consequential ecological damage. The commission estimated the loss to the State exchequer at ₹ , crore. How did it affect revenues? For two consecutive years, the Goa government, in its annual budgets, conceded that around 20% of its GDP had declined because of mining. This time Mr. Parrikar tried to downplay the impact of the temporary closure but conceded the adverse impact on those dependent on mining. Goa, with its low-grade ore, used to export around 20-25 million tonnes a year. However, post-2000, demand soared for steel ahead of the 2004 Olympics, and Goa s mining sector became a free-for-all activity. Apart from traditional miners, influential politicians, traders and others joined the race to make a fast buck and mining became unregulated. So much so that just ahead of the previous Supreme Court ban, the State exported a record 54 million tonnes of iron ore. What lies in store? The Goa Foundation filed a complaint with the Lokayukta on Friday, demanding a probe into the renewal of leases. In the absence of Mr. Parrikar, Union Minister for Shipping Nitin Gadkari, the BJP s Goa in-charge, last week admitted that auctioning of leases was the only option. But as that will take nearly a year, the government has approached three senior lawyers in Delhi seeking their opinion on the verdict. (Adapted from The Hindu)






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23. Principle & procedure: on the court ruling on AAP MLAs (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) Delhi High Court view contrary to EC view The Delhi High Court verdict setting aside the disqualification of 20 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs in Delhi is a searing indictment of the manner in which the Election Commission handled the complaint that they held offices of profit while serving as parliamentary secretaries. Embarrassment to EC For a body vested with the crucial power to determine whether lawmakers have incurred disqualification in certain circumstances and advise the President or the Governor suitably, this is an embarrassing moment. The court has not reviewed its decision on merits. Violation of natural justice Rather, it has ruled that the EC violated the principles of natural justice while adjudicating a lawyer s complaint against the legislators. It failed to offer an oral hearing on the merits of the complaint and chose to hide under the specious argument that notices had been issued to the MLAs to respond to documents that the EC had summoned from the Delhi government. After saying in its order of June 2017 that it would fix a date for the next hearing, the commission issued two notices seeking replies but fixed no date; instead, it proceeded to give its decision on January 19, 2018. Further, Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat, who had recused himself at an earlier point, rejoined the process without intimation to the legislators. And another vitiating factor was that Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, who had not heard the matter and assumed office only in September 2017, had signed the order. It is a basic feature of judicial or quasi-judicial processes that someone who does not hear a matter does not decide on it. (Adapted from the Hindu) 24. Honour killing guillotines individual liberty: Supreme Court (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) View of Supreme Court Honour killing guillotines individual liberty, freedom of choice and one's own perception of choice. 1. It has to be sublimely borne in mind that when two adults consensually choose each other as life partners, it is a manifestation of their choice which is recognized under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court said. 2. "Such a right has the sanction of the constitutional law and once that is recognised, the said right needs to be protected and it cannot succumb to the conception of class honour or group thinking," the Bench also said. The observations were made in an order which termed as illegal the interference by Khap Panchayats in marriages between two consenting adults.






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3. Effect on larger society The Bench further said that when the ability to choose is crushed in the name of class honour and the person's physical frame is treated with absolute indignity, a chilling effect dominates over the brains and bones of the society at large. 4. When two adults marry out of their volition, they choose their path, they consummate their relationship; they feel that it is their goal and they have the right to do so. And it can unequivocally be stated that they have the right and any infringement of the said right is a constitutional violation. (Adapted from One India) 25. NITI Aayog releases Baseline Ranking of Aspirational Districts (Relevant for GS prelims, GS Mains Paper II) The NITI Aayog launched the baseline ranking for the Aspirational Districts based on published data of 49 indicators (81 data points) across five developmental areas of Health and Nutrition, Education, Agriculture and Water Resources, Financial Inclusion and Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure. The ranking was released by Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog. The CEO also announced that the Champions of Change Dashboard for real-time data collection and monitoring will be open for public viewing from 1 April. The dashboard will facilitate District Collectors of all the aspirational districts to input the latest available data of their respective districts. Rationale behind ranking To create competition at the State, District and even the block level. Ranking will also give insights why do some districts lag on crucial indicators of human development while other districts in the same State excel. About Transformation of Aspirational Districts programme Launched by the Hon ble PM in January, the Transformation of Aspirational Districts programme aims to quickly and effectively transform some of the most underdeveloped districts of the country. The broad contours of the programme are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level Prabhari Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a Mass Movement or a Jan Andolan. With States as the main drivers, this program will focus on the strength of each district, identify low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement, measure progress, and rank districts. The Government is committed to raising the living standards of its citizens and ensuring inclusive growth for all – Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas.






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On April 1, 2018 districts will start entering data. Beginning May 2018, districts will be ranked based on progress made ( delta ranking ) on a real-time basis. The dashboard will be open to the public to monitor the progress of the Aspirational Districts. (Adapted from PIB) 26. Cabinet approves certain official amendments to the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill (Relevant for GS prelims, GS mains Paper II) The Union Cabinet has approved certain official amendments to the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill. Details: The Amendments include: • Final MBBS Examination to be held as a common exam across the country and would serve as an exit test called the National Exit Test (NEXT): Having considered the common demand by the students not to subject them to an additional licentiate exam for the purpose of getting license to practice, the Cabinet has approved that the final MBBS examination would be held as a common exam throughout the country and would serve as an exit test to be called the National Exit Test (NEXT). Thus, the students would not have to appear in a separate exam after MBBS to get license to practice. NEXT would also serve as the screening test for doctors with foreign medical qualifications in order to practice in India. • Provision of Bridge course for AYUSH practitioners to practice modern medicine removed: The provision dealing with bridge course for AYUSH practitioners to practice modern medicine to a limited extent has also been removed. It has been left to the State Governments to take necessary measures for addressing and promoting primary health care in rural areas. • Fee regulation for 50% seats in private medical institutions and deemed universities: The maximum limit of 40% seats for which fee would be regulated in private medical institutions and deemed universities has been increased to 50% seats. Further, it has been clarified that the fee would also include all other charges taken by the colleges. • Number of nominees from States and UTs in NMC increased from 3 to 6: Responding to the demands from States to increase their representation in the NMC, the nominees of States and UTs in the NMC have been increased from 3 to 6. The NMC will comprise of 25 members of which at least 21 will be doctors. • Monetary penalty for a medical college non-compliant with the norms replaced with provision for different penalty options






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Another major concern gathered during discussion with stakeholders was the wide range of monetary penalty, ranging from one half to ten times the annual fee recovered from a batch, to be imposed in a graded manner on a medical college non-compliant with the norms. The clause has been replaced with a provision which provides different options for warning, reasonable monetary penalty, reducing intake, stoppage of admission leading up to withdrawal of recognition. • Stringent punishment for unqualified medical practitioners or quacks: The government is concerned about the quality and safety of health care being made available to the citizens and the need to act strictly against unqualified practitioners or quacks. The punishment for any unauthorized practice of medicine has been made severe by including a provision for imprisonment of up to one year along with a fine extending up to Rs. 5 lakhs. (Adapted from PIB)

27. Why is the euthanasia verdict tough to implement? (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) What does the judgment say? In a judgment on March 9, the Supreme Court said people suffering from a terminal illness had a right to a dignified death, as part of the right to life enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution. The judgment restricts itself to the withdrawal or withholding of life-support, which it refers to as passive euthanasia. But this phrase is obsolete in medical circles. A 2018 document from the Indian Council of Medical Research says passive euthanasia is an inappropriate term because it suggests that the doctor is actively shortening the patient s life with lethal drugs. Why will it be hard to follow? Experts say the procedure laid down by the court for withdrawing life support is unduly complicated. The procedure is frankly half-baked and confused, says Roopkumar Gursahani, a neurologist at Mumbai s PD Hinduja Hospital and a member of the team that framed the 2006 draft Bill on medical treatment of terminally ill patients. The court s guidelines talk of an advance directive, a document in which a patient can specify conditions under which life-prolonging interventions should not be given. Such interventions could mean feeding tubes, ventilators, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or even antibiotics. The family of a terminally ill person can also refuse such treatment if an advance directive is not available. But the judgment makes the execution of advance directives too complicated for patients, says Dr. Gursahani. For example, the judgment requires the directive to be countersigned by a Judicial Magistrate of First Class, and copies to be given to the jurisdictional district court, the district judge and the local government. Dr. Gursahani worries that these authorities may drag their feet, leading to needless delays. You are asking them to take on






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an additional responsibility, which they are not going to be willing to do, he told The Hindu. Also, if a patient wants to execute the advance directive, two medical boards — one in the treating hospital and the other headed by the district medical officer — have to give the go-ahead. While safeguards are necessary to protect patients against vested interests, like illegal organ traders, a balance must be struck between the safety and usability of the law, says Dr. Gursahani. Instead of two medical boards, he suggests, it is enough if one team of medical consultants confirms the treating physician s decision to withdraw life support. The decision must be well-documented, however, so that an ethics committee can study it later to confirm that due process was followed. In principle, we accept the judgment, he adds. But the procedure they have suggested has to be fine-tuned by experts.

To avoid hiccups, Indian doctors will also need training to communicate end-of-life options better. Studies from the U.S. show that even patients who have made a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) request are sometimes given CPR because the emergency physician is not aware of the DNR. This happens in a lot of cases and is painful for the patient, says Ashish Goel, an associate professor at the University College of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Communication training is vital to avoid such misunderstandings. Who may opt for it? Few estimates exist today for the number of Indians who seek withdrawal of life-support. A 2009 study in a Delhi hospital found that over half of the ICU patients who died during a period of 19 months sought withdrawal or withholding of life support. Dr. Gursahani says that in large tertiary hospitals like Hinduja, doctors receive 2-3 requests each week. For such patients, the judgment brings welcome legal clarity on a course of action. But the worry is that unless patients are counselled by palliative-care experts about how their illness will progress, they may not prepare advance directives to reject futile medical interventions. Anwar Husain, director of Kerala s Institute of Palliative Medicine, says over 80% of palliative-care recipients die in homes or hospices, while those who do not receive palliative care end up in ICUs. As on today, India has poor palliative care systems. A 2015 Quality of Death Index by the Economist Intelligence Unit, which looked at palliative-care systems across 80 countries, rated India among the 15 worst. (Adapted from The Hindu)






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International Organizations and Relations 1. All you need to know about Syrian war (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS mains paper II) What began as a peaceful uprising against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad seven years ago became a full-scale civil war that has left more than 340,000 people dead, devastated the country and drawn in global powers. How did the war begin? Long before it started, many Syrians complained about high unemployment, widespread corruption, a lack of political freedom and state repression under President Bashar al-Assad, who succeeded his father, Hafez, in 2000. In March 2011, pro-democracy demonstrations inspired by the Arab Spring erupted in the southern city of Deraa. The government's use of deadly force to crush the dissent soon triggered nationwide protests demanding the president's resignation. As the unrest spread, the crackdown intensified. Opposition supporters took up arms, first to defend themselves and later to expel security forces from their areas. Mr Assad vowed to crush "foreign-backed terrorism" and restore state control. The violence rapidly escalated and the country descended into civil war as hundreds of rebel brigades were formed to battle government forces. Why has the war lasted so long? In essence, it has become more than just a battle between those for or against Mr Assad. A key factor has been the intervention of regional and world powers, including Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States. Their military, financial and political support for the government and opposition has contributed to the intensification and continuation of the fighting and turned Syria into a proxy battleground.






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External powers have also been accused of fostering sectarianism in what was a broadly secular state, pitching the country's Sunni majority against the president's Shia Alawite sect. Such divisions have encouraged both sides to commit atrocities that have not only caused loss of life but also torn apart communities, hardened positions and dimmed hopes for a political settlement. Jihadist groups have also seized on the divisions, and their rise has added a further dimension to the war. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an alliance formed by what was once the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, controls large parts of the north-west. Meanwhile, the Islamic State (IS) group seized control of large swathes of north-eastern Syria. It now controls only a few isolated pockets of territory after being driven from its urban strongholds by Russian-backed government forces, Turkish-backed rebel brigades, and a Kurdish militia alliance supported by the US.






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Thousands of Shia militiamen from Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen are fighting alongside the Syrian army, in order, they say, to protect Shia holy sites. Why are so many outside powers involved? Russia Russia, for whom President Assad's survival is critical to maintaining its interests in Syria, launched an air campaign in September 2015 with the aim of "stabilising" the government. Moscow stressed that it would target only "terrorists", but activists said its strikes repeatedly hit Western-backed rebel groups and civilian areas. The intervention has turned the tide of the war in Mr Assad's favour. Intense Russian air and missile strikes were decisive in the battle for rebel-held eastern Aleppo in late 2016, while Russian special forces and mercenaries helped break the long-running IS siege of Deir al-Zour in September 2017. Two months later, President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial withdrawal of Russian forces, but they have continued to conduct air strikes across the country. Iran Shia power Iran is believed to be spending billions of dollars a year to bolster the Alawite-dominated government, providing military advisers and subsidised weapons, as well as lines of credit and oil transfers. It is also widely reported to have deployed hundreds of combat troops in Syria. Mr Assad is Iran's closest Arab ally and Syria is the main transit point for Iranian weapons shipments to the Lebanese Shia Islamist movement Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support government forces. USA The US, which says President Assad is responsible for widespread atrocities, supports the opposition and once provided military assistance to "moderate" rebels. It has also conducted air strikes on IS in Syria since September 2014 but has only targeted pro-government forces on a few occasions. In April 2017, President Donald Trump ordered a missile strike on an air base which the US said was behind a deadly chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun. Washington's key ally on the ground has been an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Since 2015, its fighters have driven IS militants out of most of the territory they controlled in Syria. In January 2018, the US said it would maintain an open-ended military presence in SDF-controlled territory to ensure the enduring defeat of IS, counter Iranian influence, and help end the civil war. Turkey






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Turkey is another staunch supporter of the rebels. However, it has used them to contain the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) militia that dominates the SDF. Ankara accuses the YPG of being an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has fought for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for three decades. In August 2016, Turkish troops backed a rebel offensive to drive IS out of one of the last stretches of the Syrian side of the border not controlled by the Kurds, around Jarablus and al-Bab. In January 2018, another operation was launched to drive the YPG out of the north-western Kurdish enclave of Afrin. Saudi Arabia Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, which is also seeking to counter Iranian influence, has been a major provider of military and financial assistance to the rebels. What impact has the war had? The UN says at least 250,000 people have been killed. However, the organisation stopped updating its figures in August 2015. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported in December 2017 that it had documented the deaths of more than 346,600 people, including 103,000 civilians. But it noted that the figure did not include 56,900 people who were missing and presumed dead. In February 2016, a think-tank estimated that the conflict had caused 470,000 deaths, either directly or indirectly. Almost 5.6 million people - most of them women and children - have fled Syria, according to the UN. Neighbouring Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey have struggled to cope with one of the largest refugee exoduses in recent history. About 10% of Syrian refugees have sought safety in Europe, sowing political divisions as countries argue over sharing the burden. A further 6.1 million people are internally displaced inside Syria. The UN estimates it will need $3.5bn to help the 13.1 million people who will require some form of humanitarian assistance inside Syria in 2018. Almost 70% of population is living in extreme poverty. Six million face acute food insecurity amid shortages and inflated prices. In some areas, people are spending 15-20% of their income to secure access to drinking water. The warring parties have compounded the problems by refusing humanitarian agencies access to many of those in need. Some 2.98 million people live in besieged or hard-to-reach areas. What's being done to end the conflict? With neither side able to inflict a decisive defeat on the other, the international community long ago concluded that only a political solution could end the conflict. The UN Security






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Council has called for the implementation of the 2012 Geneva Communique, which envisages a transitional governing body with full executive powers "formed on the basis of mutual consent". UN-mediated peace talks, known as the Geneva II process, began in early 2014. Nine rounds have now taken place, the latest in January 2018. Delegations have been asked to discuss constitutional reform and holding free and fair elections. However, little progress has been made. President Assad has appeared increasingly unwilling to negotiate with the opposition, which despite suffering repeated reversals on the battlefield still insists that he must step down as part of any settlement. Western powers say Russia has also sought to undermine the talks and ensure the survival of its ally by setting up a parallel political process. In January, a "Congress of National Dialogue" was held in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. But representatives of most opposition political and armed groups refused to attend. The conference was the result of talks between Russia, Iran and Turkey held in Astana. The powers also agreed in May 2017 to establish four "de-escalation zones" covering major rebel-held areas. There was a reduction in the bloodshed initially, but in late 2017 the government began assaults on two of the zones. What is left of rebel territory? The government has regained control of Syria's biggest cities. But large parts of the country are still held by rebel groups. The largest opposition stronghold is the north-western province of Idlib. It is home to more than 2.65 million people, including 1.2 million who have fled or been evacuated from other former rebel-held areas. Despite being designated one of the de-escalation zones, Idlib itself is now the target of a major ground offensive by the government. It says it is targeting Hayat Tahrir al-Sham jihadists there. A government offensive is also under way in the Eastern Ghouta, the last major rebel enclave near Damascus and another de-escalation zone. Its 393,000 residents have been under siege since 2013. They have come under intense bombardment and are facing severe shortages food and medical supplies. Rebel factions also control territory in the northern province of Aleppo, central province of Homs, and in the southern provinces of Deraa and Quneitra. (Adapted from bbc.com)

2. FATF puts Pakistan on grey list (relevant for GS prelims)






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The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that monitors countries on action taken against terror-financing and money-laundering has decided to place Pakistan back on its watch list, or grey list , from June. Why the decision is justified? The decision is both appropriate and overdue, given Pakistan s blatant violation of its obligations to crack down on groups banned by the Security Council 1267 sanctions committee that monitors groups affiliated to the Taliban (which originally included al-Qaeda affiliated groups), such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Haqqani network. Their leaders like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar continue to hold public rallies and freely garner support and donations. In the process, both the LeT and JeM, which continue to praise and claim credit for terror attacks in India, have grown their bases in Pakistan. What is FATF? The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an intergovernmental body established in 1989. The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the international financial system. The FATF is therefore a policy-making body which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas. The FATF has developed a series of recommendations that are recognized as the international standard for combating of money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. They form the basis for a co-ordinated response to these threats to the integrity of the financial system and help ensure a level playing field. The FATF monitors the progress of its members in implementing necessary measures, reviews money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and counter-measures and promotes the adoption and implementation of appropriate measures globally. In collaboration with other international stakeholders, the FATF works to identify national-level vulnerabilities with the aim of protecting the international financial system from misuse. The FATF s decision-making body, the FATF Plenary, meets three times per year. Membership: Thirty-five nations including India and two regional organizations namely European Union and Gulf Cooperation Council are members of FATF. (Adapted from The Hindu and Background from PrepMate-Cengage International Organisations and Bilateral Relations book, Chapter 4, Page 88) 3. India, Vietnam lay stress on defence ties (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) Outcome of visit of Vietnamese President to India 1. India and Vietnam are committed to enhancing joint co-production in defence, including transfer of technology from India in their ongoing defence cooperation.





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2. The two sides also built on previous statements on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region, calling for free and open sea lanes. 3. Both Mr. Modi and Vietnamese President Mr. Quang spoke of the importance of joint exploration of oil and gas reserves off the coast of Vietnam in the South China Sea (SCS) by ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and PetroVietnam (PVN). Response of China In January this year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry reacted to the Vietnamese Ambassador s invitation to India for more joint exploration projects in areas it claims, by saying that they must not be used as an excuse to infringe upon China's legitimate rights and interests in the South China Sea and impair regional peace and stability . Credit line The two sides did not sign any agreements in the field of defence cooperation but are expected to continue to work on fulfilling India s $100 million Credit Line commitment to Vietnam, some of which has been used for procuring Offshore Patrol Vehicles (OPVs), while talks continue on Akash Surface to Air Missile systems (SR-SAMS) and Dhruv advanced light helicopters. Reason for stronger defence ties between India and Vietnam India is interested in strengthening defence of Vietnam because China is common threat to both India and Vietnam. Stronger Vietnam will prevent China from establishing its control over South China Sea. (Adapted from the Hindu) 4. Why China wants to empower Xi Jinping more (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) What did the party propose? The proposal by the Communist Party of China (CPC) on February 25 to lift the two-term limit on the tenure of the President and the Vice-President has evoked a high-voltage response, at home and abroad. Theoretically, it means China s top leader Xi Jinping can remain President for life. The implications of the attempt, likely to be formalised in the session of the National People s Congress (NPC), China s Parliament, on March 5 has resonated deeply in the Chinese collective psyche. Many see the move as the formal closure of the Deng Xiaoping era, which began in the aftermath of the death of Chinese patriarch Mao Zedong, and the beginning of a nonauthoritarian era of President Xi. Hoping to prevent another disaster, during which millions perished, especially in the Cultural Revolution, which Mao could steer with his unrivalled grip on political power, Deng introduced new constitutional rules. One of them was cementing a two-term limit on the presidency. This was done in the hope that a collective leadership, rather than an ultra-






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powerful individual — susceptible to the pursuit of a Mao-style personality cult — would steer China s post-reform destiny. Is it a matter of concern? Overseas, there has been an outpouring of concern ranging from ideology — China extinguishing hopes of an on-the-road-to-democracy western style political reform — to the geopolitical. Would China now amplify its hegemonic military assertion in the South China Sea, South Asia and possibly the Indian Ocean not far away? Why was this step taken? There appear to be at least three broad themes that may explain China s decision to empower Mr. Xi indefinitely. First, China s transition into one of the most powerful nations in the world is still very much a work-in-progress. Its shift from the workshop-of-the world to a manufacturer of advanced digitally enabled high-end products, leveraging Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Big Data is yet to reach adolescence. The overheated economy has to be de-leveraged to prevent a hard landing, even if it means a fairly sharp decline in the Gross Domestic Product rates. Besides, Mr. Xi s trademark Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to reinforce Beijing s geo-economics and arguably geopolitical heft, just out of the incubator, is encountering teething troubles. It would, therefore, take years — perhaps decades — for Mr. Xi to complete China s economic transition, including railing the BRI, which plans to industrialise Eurasia through massive investments in infrastructure and connectivity. Will he deliver? Mr. Xi s half-finished anti-corruption drive may also require continuity in leadership. A new anti-corruption National Supervisory Commission, which will be established at the session of the NPC, will hunt corrupt tigers and flies, not-only in the CPC but also in the vastly expanding private sector. The modernisation of the People s Liberation Army (PLA) is also at a critical stage. Mr. Xi s firm hand may be required for long to rid the PLA of corruption. Already the anti-corruption drive has led to the firing of over 100 Generals. That means Mr. Xi has to complete the task of re-anchoring the PLA, immune to the possible blow-back by an army of disgruntled individuals who no longer can board the gravy train, on account of the deep military reforms. There may be a personality factor that may have persuaded Mr. Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC and head of the Central Military Commission, to take the gamble of staying in power indefinitely. By all accounts, Mr. Xi is a risk-taker. During his first term, he skated on thin ice to confront powerful region-based factions in the CPC. His recent focus on eliminating poverty by 2020 appears to have gone down well among former migrant workers, many of whom are returning to the countryside, as the old economy declines. With these seemingly popular moves, Mr. Xi is likely to have built impressive domestic political capital, which he may now be ready to leverage by opting for an open-ended tenure in office.






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(Adapted from the Hindu) 5. Myanmar puts off border pact with India (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains paper II) Stand of Myanmar Myanmar has indefinitely deferred signing an agreement with India to streamline the free movement of people within 16 km along the border. Myanmar has been dragging its feet on the agreement. They have asked for more time and are reluctant due to domestic compulsions. View of India India is keen to sign the agreement but Myanmar — citing domestic compulsions — has asked more time before the agreement is sealed. On January 3, the Union Cabinet had approved the agreement between India and Myanmar on land border crossing to enhance economic interaction between people of the two countries. Border passes To give it shape, the Centre had asked four States — Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram — that share the unfenced border with Myanmar to distribute border pass to all the residents living within 16 km from the border. Present state on agreement The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been deferred twice in the past seven months. It was to be signed in September last year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Naypyidaw for a bilateral visit. India tried to again push the agreement in January when Myanmar s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi was in New Delhi with nine ASEAN leaders as chief guest for the Republic Day parade. Regulated movement An official said as per the proposal, there would have been no restrictions on the movement of people across the borders. The domiciles were to be allotted border passes and those going across for agriculture, work or to meet relatives should carry the pass at all times. The official said both the countries intend to put a system in place after India raised the issue of movement of extremists and smugglers freely across the border. India- Myanmar Border






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India and Myanmar share a 1,643 km unfenced border along Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Nagaland (215 km), Manipur (398 km) and Mizoram (510 km) and permit a free movement regime upto 16 km beyond the border. (Adapted from The Hindu) 6. India to join EBRD (Relevant for GS prelims, GS Mains Paper II) European Bank of Reconstruction and Development shareholders approve its entry as 69th member India has got the go-ahead to join the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), after shareholders of the London-based multilateral lender agreed to the country becoming its 69th member. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) was set up in 1991 immediately after the collapse of communism in the Eastern Europe. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool in order to promote private businesses and entrepreneurship. The initial focus of the bank was on the countries of the former Eastern Bloc. Presently, it supports development in more than 30 countries from central Europe to central Asia. The bank only lends in its countries of operations. The EBRD is owned (members) by 66 countries from five continents, as well as the European Union and the European Investment India will join as 69th member. Bank. United States is the largest shareholder. Its headquarters are in London. The European Investment Bank (EIB) is owned by EU member states and is used to support EU policy. EBRD and India India is about to become a member country of EBRD. The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved India s membership for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Necessary steps will be initiated by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance to acquire the shares of the EBRD. Potential benefits of membership 1. Membership of EBRD would enhance India s international stature and promote its economic interests. 2. New investment opportunities would be available to India. For example, it would also enhance the scope of cooperation between India and EBRD through co-financing opportunities.






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3. EBRD s core operations centre around private sector development. The membership would help India to access the technical assistance and sectoral knowledge of the bank related to the development of private sector. 4. The membership of EBRD would also benefit the Indian firms by providing them enhanced access of international markets in terms of business opportunities, consultancy assignments, etc. (Adapted from the Hindu) 7. Sri Lanka declares emergency as Buddhist mob ransacks Muslim properties in Kandy (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains paper II) What has happened in Sri Lanka? Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency for 10 days to rein in the spread of communal violence, a day after Buddhists and Muslims clashed in the Indian Ocean island s central district of Kandy. What was the immediate trigger? The announcement came after Buddhist mobs swept through the hill town of Kandy, burning at least 11 Muslim-owned shops and homes, after a Buddhist man was reportedly killed by a group of Muslims What is the core issue? Tension has been growing between the two communities in Sri Lanka over the past year, with some hardline Buddhist groups accusing Muslims of forcing people to convert to Islam and vandalising Buddhist archaeological sites. Some Buddhist nationalist have also protested against the presence in Sri Lanka of Muslim Rohingya asylum-seekers from mostly Buddhist Myanmar, where Buddhist nationalism has also been on the rise. About the social composition in Sri Lanka The Sinhalese are a mainly Buddhist ethnic group making up nearly three-quarters of Sri Lanka s 21 million people. Muslims are just 10 percent of its population. History of riots Last November riots in the south of the island left one man dead and homes and vehicles damaged. In June 2014 riots between Buddhists and Muslims left four dead and many injured. That violence was instigated by a Buddhist extremist group whose leaders are on trial accused of spurring religious conflict. (Adapted from Hindustan times)






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8. Global Trade war (Relevant for GS prelims, GS Mains Paper II) Why WTO has warned of the possibility of recession What is Donald Trump s trade policy? The United States announced last week that it will impose tariffs on the import of aluminium and steel. The tariff is essentially a tax on the manufacturers of foreign steel and aluminium who, unless they find other ways to cut down their costs, could possibly be outplayed by their American competitors. U.S. President Donald Trump justified the decision arguing that free trade is the reason why the U.S. suffers a huge trade deficit. He also believes that tariffs can help protect American businesses and jobs from the threat posed by foreign competition. Notably, Mr. Trump had won the election in 2016 by promising to put America First . Will it work? Most economists support free trade because it allows free competition without any of the protective barriers imposed by governments. Such competition is believed to give consumers access to cheaper and better products from across the world, thus improving their standard of living over time. Mr. Trump, however, hopes to protect American manufacturers who have failed to keep up with global competition through the means of restrictive tariffs. Naturally, this will affect consumers across the world, which includes ordinary Americans, who will no longer be able to enjoy the full benefits of free trade across borders. Further, the tariffs imposed by Mr. Trump may also fail to address America s trade deficit with the rest of the world as long as Americans prefer foreign goods while foreigners prefer American assets. Who will win a global trade war? Unfortunately, except for special interest groups who can influence the trade policy of their respective governments, there are likely to be no winners as a result of a global trade war. In fact, ordinary consumers of all countries are likely to lose as a result of any trade war between countries. The World Trade Organization this week warned that Mr. Trump s trade war could lead the world into another recession. A major global trade war in the 1930s had disastrous results as it deepened the Great Depression. Yet the European Union (EU) has vowed to hit back by imposing retaliatory tariffs on the import of American goods. Some argue that such knee-jerk reaction from the EU may only increase the burden on European businesses and their consumers. It might also spur further trade restrictions from the U.S., thus risking a full-fledged global trade war. (Adapted from The Hindu) 9. CPTPP in place of TPP (Relevant for GS Prelims & GS Mains Paper II)






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CPTPP signed 11 Asia-Pacific countries, including Japan, Australia and Canada, signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in Chile. The CPTPP is, in effect, the original Trans-Pacific Partnership struck during the Barack Obama presidency minus the U.S. Relevance of CPTPP The countries signing the agreement, which account for more than 13% of the world economy, have agreed to bring down tariffs on cross-border trade by as much as 98% after domestic ratification. Possible Future of CPTPP More countries are expected to sign the CPTPP in the future, and there is hope that a post-Trump U.S. may join the bloc. But even in the absence of the world s largest economy, countries that are currently part of the deal will only gain from any reduction in the costs imposed on trade. This will leave the world, which has largely been moving towards increasing free trade even as the U.S. has turned inwards, better off than without the deal. Criticism The CPTPP, as it looks to expand influence by adding other countries into its fold, will need to address other problems as well. 1. One of the points of criticism of the TPP, even in its original form as a 12-member agreement, was the alleged influence of special interests in dictating its broad framework. Mr. Trump, in fact, smartly capitalised on these sentiments to attack and then pull out of the agreement last year. 2. The TPP text, which has in large part been incorporated into the new deal, had also been flayed for mandating labour and other regulations that increase the bureaucratic burden on businesses. Many have cited the size of the agreement, which runs into several chapters and thousands of pages, to contend that the benefits from tariff reductions may be cancelled out by the massive increase in regulatory requirements. While there may be no hard and fast rule to gauge the net benefit of the agreement, addressing these concerns will only strengthen the chances of more countries joining it. Why the agreement is important at this juncture? Last but not least, amid palpable fears of a global trade war, the survival of a free trade agreement despite the sudden pullout of the U.S. offers some respite to the supporters of free trade. (Adapted from The Hindu) 10. Why is Donald Trump s trade war dangerous? (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) What is Trump's stand?






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The annual global trade of the U.S. is worth around $5 trillion, and the country ends with an annual deficit upwards of $500 billion. In the first year of Donald Trump s presidency, it was $556 billion. Mr. Trump believes this deficit is proof that all its trading partners are unfair to America. He also believes manufacturing decline in the U.S. has weakened the country and pauperised its working class. During the 2016 campaign, he promised to implement policies to reduce the deficit and revive manufacturing. This is the mainstay of Mr. Trump s America First policy. The announcement this week of a 25% duty on steel and 10% on aluminium is one definitive step in that scheme. Canada and Mexico are exempt for now, and the tariffs will be effective in two weeks. View of Donald Trump A strong steel and aluminium industry are vital to our national security, absolutely vital… Steel is steel. If you don t have steel, you don t have a country, he said, announcing the decision. The notion that the country s greatness comes only from its ability to make things was central to Mr. Trump s campaign. He invoked a rarely used national security clause in a law in support of his tariffs that fall foul of international trade treaties. The emphasis on domestic manufacturing and trade deficit overlooks the transformation of the U.S. economy in recent decades. The U.S., increasingly an exporter of services, has a surplus in the sector, though overall it runs a deficit. The U.S. exported more and more of services and imported more and more of goods. That equilibrium is under threat. Is a global trade war looming? With other countries planning retaliatory measures, the prospect of a global trade war looms large, but Mr. Trump believes it may be good for America. When a country [the U.S.] is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don t trade any more — we win big. It s easy! he posted on Twitter, a few days before the tariffs were announced. The European Commission may increase tariffs on American goods. What will be the impact? It is unclear whether the tariffs on steel and aluminium will have the desired effect on the American economy, but the direct association of these sectors with the working class adds immense symbolic value to the decision. China, with which the U.S. runs the biggest deficit, will only be marginally affected. A more intense trade war is going to be in intellectual property, and Mr. Trump has threatened to open that front soon. The U.S. is acting swiftly on Intellectual Property theft. We cannot allow this to happen as it has for many years! he wrote on Twitter on March 7. What about India? India found a mention in several remarks made by Mr. Trump on trade in recent weeks. He believes Indian tariffs are high and has threatened to impose reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods. The U.S. has been critical of India s intellectual property rights standards and this year s report may take a harsher position. Stakes are high for India in Mr. Trump s trade war.






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(Adapted from The Hindu) 11. Unlimited tenure to China s President Xi (Relevant for GS prelims, GS Mains Paper II)

President s doctrine becomes part of Constitution Chinese lawmakers endorsed changes in the Constitution, which would empower President Xi Jinping to weather headwinds that challenge China s new stage of transition. Out of a total of 2,964 members of the National People s Congress (NPC), who voted on constitutional amendments, only two opposed a proposal that removes the limit on the tenure of the President to two consecutive five-year terms. There were three abstentions to the revision floated by the Communist Party of China (CPC).






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What is the implication of change? With the changes in China s basic law, Mr. Xi can now serve as President indefinitely. He already wields real power as the CPC s General Secretary — a post that has no term limit. Mr. Xi also heads the powerful Central Military Commission — the apex body that marshals the People s Liberation Army (PLA). Xi s doctrine part of Chinese constitution Besides, lawmakers at the NPC, China s parliament, also included Mr. Xi s political doctrine — Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, as part of the amended Constitution. Prior to Mr. Xi, only the founding father of the People s Republic of China, Mao Zedong, and the late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping have their personal ideologies engraved in the Constitution. Foregone conclusion The constitutional change that entrenches Mr. Xi s power was a foregone conclusion. But going far beyond the mandatory two-thirds majority requirement, the near-unanimous vote conveys the impression of deep consensus in the establishment for backing President Xi. The 21 items in the Constitution that were revised include provisions for setting up a National Supervisory Commission — an anti-corruption super agency. (Adapted from The Hindu) 12. Indo-French harmony: on President Macron's visit to India (Relevant for GS prelims, GS Mains paper II) Highlight of President Macron visit 1. The Joint Vision Statement on the Indian Ocean Region is clearly aimed at countering China s growing presence in the region. 2. International Solar Alliance, recommitment to starting the Jaitapur nuclear power plant, and joint ventures on climate change cooperation prove cooperation among India and France to avert climate change. The French President Emmanuel Macron co-chaired with PM Modi first International Solar Alliance Summit. By bringing 61 countries into the ISA, India and France are proposing an alternative leadership model for the less developed world, challenging the geopolitical power structure configured around fossil-fuel energy resources. Notably, Mr. Modi and Mr. Macron declared they would ensure cheaper solar energy and increase avenues for financing, something that has created heat at the WTO. The daunting task ahead is made clear by Mr. Macron s assertion that $1 trillion is needed to reach the ISA goals by 2030: India and France have so far committed $1.4 billion and $1.3 billion, respectively.






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3. The reciprocal logistics support agreement, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi called a golden step in defence cooperation, is a signal to Russia and to the U.S.-led alliance that partnered in the Quadrilateral , that both New Delhi and Paris feel the need to diversify strategic postures beyond their current choices. Points of concern 1. There are other contradictions that New Delhi and Paris must contend with. For example, India s solar power tariffs stand at about Rs. 2.40 a unit and there is little scope to make the domestic industry profitable, as Mr. Modi wants, unless the cost of solar panels and other components are brought down drastically. At the same time, more thermal power, for which tariffs are higher but which is less fickle than solar or wind power, is being produced than the demand. 2. France s nuclear power story is a success, but negotiations between EDF and NPCIL for the Jaitapur plant, billed as the world s biggest, have made very slow progress. While the two countries have committed to start construction by end-2018, they have missed deadlines multiple times. 3. Bilateral cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region too is more symbolic than substantive today, and much will depend on how closely the Indian and French navies and intelligence work together in the future. The presumed joint message to Beijing may also be blurred by Mr. Macron s parallel commitment to help lead the Belt and Road Initiative with China. Conclusion As two pluralistic democracies with a firm belief in a multipolar world order and in the future of Eurasia, India and France have numerous strategic convergences. But common ambitions to cooperate on the world stage, as projected by Mr. Macron and Mr. Modi, must be grounded in some hard realities as well. (Adapted from The Hindu) 13. Dangerous spiral: on India-Pak diplomatic row (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) Regardless of the provocation or the sequence of events, there is an urgent need for India and Pakistan to address allegations of harassment of each other s diplomats and interference in High Commission work. While surveillance of diplomats by intelligence agencies in New Delhi and Islamabad is not new, matters have escalated in the past month, and the treatment of diplomatic officials by both sides has dropped to new lows. What were the recent events? The spark for this round of tit-for-tat actions appears to be an incident in February, when alleged ISI agents roughed up Pakistani construction workers headed for the Indian mission s new building site in Islamabad. While Pakistan s foreign office claimed they did not have security clearance to enter the diplomatic zone, India saw it as an attempt to stop the work, adding that power and water connections were tampered with. Then, the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi claimed that Indian security personnel warned






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repairmen and electricians against entering its premises. Both missions said personnel were being targeted on the road, with cars stopped and drivers intimidated. Other instances on both sides include obscene phone calls, stoppage of milk and newspaper delivery to diplomats, and even 3 a.m. doorbell rings. Coincide with confidence with humanitarian measures for prisoners The timing is clearly more than just coincidence, and the incidents mark a deliberate policy by India and Pakistan to give their intelligence agencies a carte blanche to target the other side. It is unfortunate that things have come to such a pass, weeks after the two countries agreed to humanitarian measures for prisoners, with Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif accepting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj s proposals on the issue. The allegations of harassment are more serious than just shadow-boxing and must be checked in order to avoid a further slippage in ties. Violation of international conventions They constitute technical violations of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) and the subsequent Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (1963), which clearly state that a diplomatic agent s person, premises and property are inviolable and must be respected and protected by the receiving state . Way forward The fear is that as a next step in this spiral, India and Pakistan may even take stronger measures, including sending back diplomats or scaling down their missions. India had declared Islamabad a non-family post in the wake of the terror attack on an army school in Peshawar; Pakistan may now follow suit by withdrawing its families from Delhi. At a time when bilateral dialogue has been stalled for years, and ceasefire violations are becoming the norm on the Line of Control, any escalation will impact the few lines of communication that remain. Cooler counsel must prevail. (Adapted from Hindu) 14. Cambridge Analytica 'breach' (Relevant for GS prelims and GS Mains Paper II) Cambridge Analytica is accused of data mining on behalf of political clients. What is Data Mining? Data mining is the process of sorting through large data sets to identify patterns and establish relationships to solve problems through data analysis. In other words, the practice of examining large pre-existing databases in order to generate new information. What is the row about? In 2014, Facebook invited users to find out their personality type via a quiz developed by Cambridge University researcher Dr Aleksandr Kogan called This is Your Digital Life.






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About 270,000 users' data was collected, but the app also collected some public data from users' friends. Facebook has since changed the amount of data developers can gather in this way, but a whistleblower, Christopher Wylie, says the data of about 50 million people was harvested for Cambridge Analytica before the rules on user consent were tightened up. Mr Wylie claims the data was sold to Cambridge Analytica - which has no connection with Cambridge University - which then used it to psychologically profile people and deliver pro-Trump material to them. The firm's chief executive, Alexander Nix - who was suspended on Tuesday - was secretly recorded in a Channel 4 investigation saying the London-based company ran Donald Trump's digital campaign during the 2016 US election.He even met Donald Trump 'many times.' "We did all the research, all the data, all the analytics, all the targeting, we ran all the digital campaign, the television campaign and our data informed all the strategy," he added. How has Cambridge Analytica responded? Cambridge Analytica denies any wrongdoing. Facebook says users' data was obtained legitimately but Cambridge Analytica failed to delete it when told to do so. For its part, Cambridge Analytica says it did delete the data when told to by Facebook. What investigations are under way? US senators have called on Mr Zuckerberg to testify before Congress about how his company will protect users, while consumer watchdog the US Federal Trade Commission has reportedly opened an investigation into Facebook. The head of the European Parliament also said it would investigate to see if the data was misused. What has Zuckerberg pledged to do? In a statement, Mr Zuckerberg said a "breach of trust" had occurred. In a later interview with CNN he said he was "really sorry and pledged to take action against "rogue apps". In his statement posted on Facebook, he promised to make it far harder for apps to "harvest" user information. To address current and past problems, Mr Zuckerberg said his company would: - investigate all Facebook apps that had access to large amounts of information before the platform was changed "to dramatically reduce data access" in 2014






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- conduct a "full forensic audit" of any app with suspicious activity - ban developers that had misused personally identifiable information, and "tell everyone affected by those apps" In future, he said Facebook would: - restrict developers' data access "even further" to prevent other kinds of abuse India angle Days after data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica (CA), a subsidiary of the U.K.-based SCL Group, was suspended by social media company Facebook for not deleting user data obtained from an app developer for the platform, the controversy reached Indian shores with both the BJP and the Congress trading charges of the other having used the firm s services. Union Law and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned the links between the firm and the Congress at a press conference. Ahead of 2019 polls Citing media reports, he said the Congress engaged the firm for its campaign for the 2019 general election. Congress s charge The Congress later accused the BJP and its ally Janata Dal (United) of having engaged the services of the firm Ovleno Business Intelligence (an Indian affiliate of SCL) for several State elections and the 2014 general election. Links with JD(U) MP Cambridge Analytica s linked website shows that in 2010 its services were used by the

BJP-JD(U). The firm s Indian partner Ovleno Business Intelligence is being run by the son of a BJP ally s MP [former JD(U) MP K.C. Tyagi s son, Amrish Tyagi]. OBI company s services were used by [Home Minister] Rajnath Singh in 2009. (Adapted from The Hindu and BBC News) 15. All you need to know about Data Harvesting by Nix (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II) When details of Donald Trump s 2005 hot mike Grab em by the pussy incident emerged during the 2016 presidential campaign, the crisis required a highly specific State-by-State response — something his campaign was able to do successfully with the help of the London-based Cambridge Analytica. While targeted communication was no panacea in the closely fought elections across the world, technology could play a huge difference, Alexander Nix, the company s CEO, boasted, as he spoke at the Online Marketing Rockstars gathering in Hamburg last year. How did he operate?






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He highlighted the hot mike as one instance in which his company had successfully deployed its highly targeted data gathering and analysis strategy in the Trump campaign. The sharp-suited, bespectacled, Eton-educated, polo-playing Mr. Nix could easily have been a modern day British incarnation of an advertising guru of hit TV show Mad Men. Except for the fact that, in his view, gone were the days when creativity mattered the most. Blanket advertising is dead, he declared, as he provided a glimpse of the company s

approach to targeted communication for both commercial and political process, while avoiding questions about the way highly specific data was gathered. People gave up information voluntarily, he insisted. Who funded it? A former banker, the 42-year-old Mr. Nix joined SCL Group in 2003 and set up Cambridge Analytica, an offshoot, in 2013, with funding from Republican donor Robert Mercer. Until recently, he didn t have much of a public profile, but he made a name as the company grew, involving itself in campaigns from Brazil to Nigeria, including the U.K. s Brexit referendum and the Trump campaign. His message — the traditional advertising world, if it didn t take on the lessons of personalised, predictive data analytics, was doomed to dwindle in obscurity — has overshadowed the industry. Why is he so controversial? Questions around the gathering and use of data, and what constitutes consent are nothing new. However, recent investigations by Britain s Observernewspaper pointed to issues of a different scale. The firm allegedly inappropriately gathered and kept the data of over 50 million Facebook users, via an app, and failed to delete the data, despite claiming it had. Cambridge Analytica has chosen to play hard ball, forcing the British authorities to apply for a warrant to access its premises. Undercover work by Britain s Channel 4 News revealed that the tactics extended well beyond the deployment of technology: undercover journalists posing as agents for a wealthy Sri Lankan captured Mr. Nix, nonchalantly, and with something of the air of a Bond villain, suggesting tactics such as honey traps using beautiful Ukrainian women. It sounds a dreadful thing to say, but these are things that don t necessarily need to be true as long as they re believed, he was captured on camera saying, unnervingly capturing public fears around social media and fake news. Mr. Nix has used the Trump success as a springboard for the firm s courting of business globally and was seen as one of the Trump campaign insiders. Where do things go from now? Mr. Nix has been suspended by the company, pending a full, independent investigation, and is likely to face subpoenas from authorities across the world. He has been recalled by a British parliamentary committee over inconsistencies in evidence he gave to an inquiry on fake news.






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Associations with Cambridge Analytica and Mr. Nix are swiftly becoming a tool of political point-scoring — as has been the case in India with the BJP and the Congress levelling accusations at each other. A phenomenon likely to be replicated globally. (Adapted from The Hindu) 16. Russia, a rogue nation? (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) Recent abrasions of relations between West and Russia Russia made headlines for all the wrong reasons this week, when a clutch of countries led by the U.S. expelled more than 100 of its diplomats and intelligence officers over suspicion that the Kremlin was behind a nerve agent attack on a Russian spy and defector to the U.K., Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia, in Salisbury on March 4. Besides the U.S., 14 member-states of the European Union, including Germany, France, Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands and Latvia, undertook coordinated expulsions, with Australia also joining them. Events of last week Last week the U.K. led the way when it expelled 23 Russian diplomats, but the week before that the U.S. had slapped Russia with sanctions against multiple individuals and entities for interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election through covert online propaganda, including fake news. Other issues Beyond these specific charges lie other alleged violations: in Afghanistan, President Donald Trump s senior-most ground commander has accused Russia of arming Taliban militants; on the North Korean crisis Mr. Trump mentioned in January that Russia was helping Pyongyang avoid UN sanctions; and the EU last year voted to extend into 2018 sanctions that prohibit its businesses from investing in Crimea. Evaluation Has Russia truly gone rogue, and is this its grand strategy to reclaim its superpower status? The answer is yes and no. To an extent the U.S. response, significant though it may appear on the surface, signals to Russia an inconsistent application of any principles of bilateral and multilateral engagement. Scarcely a week ago, Mr. Trump congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his re-election, apparently against the advice of senior White House officials, and this drew sharp criticism even from fellow Republicans. He apparently did not deem the nerve agent attack a subject deserving of mention on that phone call. Yet, shortly thereafter he replaced National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster with John Bolton, a long-standing Russia hawk. What would concern democracy-minded Americans is that the expulsion of Russian diplomats might serve as an easy distraction device in the






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ongoing investigation into whether Mr. Trump or his associates colluded with Russian entities to influence the 2016 presidential election. (Adapted from The Hindu) 17. First summit of International Solar Alliance (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II)

Where was first summit held? The founding ceremony of the International Solar Alliance was held in New Delhi on March 11,2018. It was followed by the first summit of the Alliance. Important events at First Summit The Founding Conference was co-chaired by Mr. Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron. 1. India announced one of the world s largest investment plans in solar energy at the Founding Conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). The $1.4 billion line of credit will cover 27 projects in 15 countries and boost the much-required financial power to the solar sector. . France was committed to providing an additional € million in loans and support by 2022 to emerging economies for solar energy projects.






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The conference was attended by 23 heads of states and governments from all over the world, including Mr. Modi and Mr. Macron. Six vice presidents and deputy prime ministers and 19 ministers, corporations and civil society representatives participated in the mega conference. What is this alliance? The International Solar Alliance (ISA) was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then French President Francois Hollande at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris on November 30, 2015. The idea was to form a coalition of solar resource-rich countries to collaborate on addressing the identified gaps in their energy requirements through a common approach. Towards this, the ISA has set a target of 1 TW of solar energy by 2030, which current French President Emmanuel Macron said would require $1 trillion to achieve. Who are the member countries? The ISA is open to 121 prospective member countries, most of them located between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn as this is the region worldwide with a surplus of bright sunlight for most of the year. So far, however, only 56 countries have signed the ISA Framework Agreement. These include Australia, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Chad, Chile, Comoros, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominican, Republic, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, Gambia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, India, Kiribati, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nauru, Niger, Nigeria, Peru, Rwanda, Sao Tome, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Tuvalu, UAE, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela and Yemen. What is India s role? Apart from being a founding-member, India plays a significant role in the alliance in terms of being a host as well as a major contributor to the achievement of the target. The ISA is the first international body that will have a secretariat in India. India, with a target to produce 100 GW of solar energy by 2022, would account for a tenth of ISA s goal. India will produce 175 GW electricity from renewable sources by 2022 and 100 GW will be from solar energy, Mr. Modi said, addressing the ISA. Distribution of 28 crore LED bulbs in three years has saved $2 billion and 4 GW of

electricity. India will also provide 500 training slots for ISA member-countries and start a solar tech mission to lead R&D. (Adapted from The Hindu) 18. Russian Election results (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II)






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Mr Putin got more than 76% of the vote.He is the President of Russia for the fourth time. In Russia, President holds the executive power and even appoints the Prime Minister of the country on the basis of his discretion.

Steffen Seibert, spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said she would send the Russian president a telegram "very soon". What happened in the election? The scale of victory - which had been widely predicted - appears to be a marked increase in Mr Putin's share of the vote from 2012, when he won 64%. Turnout, at more than 67%, also appears to be up. (Adapted from BBC News) 19. Indians killed in Iraq: For four years, swinging between hope, despair (Relevant for GS Mains Paper II) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in a statement in Parliament on Tuesday confirmed the deaths of 39 Indians abducted in Iraq in 2014.






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2014 Jun 11-16: Families hear from the men in Iraq, who say they are in the Islamic State s custody. The sister of one of the 39 men writes to Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj for help. Jun 18-19: The Ministry of External Affairs confirms that 40 Indians, a majority of them from Punjab, have been abducted in Mosul in northern Iraq. The families meet Sushma Swaraj, who assures them of every possible help. Around the same time, the lone survivor, Harjit Masih, gets in touch with Indian authorities from Erbil; tells them the others are dead. Jun 20: Two relatives claim MEA Secretary (East) Anil Wadhwa has assured them that the men are safe, and the government is trying to bring them back. 39 Indians kidnapped in Iraq were killed but Harjit Massih was lying: Sushma Swaraj tells Parliament Jul 23: Swaraj meets worried family members for the third time after they sit on dharna at Jantar Mantar. She tells them that India is pinning hopes on an Eid gift from IS at the end of Ramadan (July 28). Aug 19: Families meet Swaraj for the fourth time; claim she told them the men were safe and (were) being kept in a factory that manufactures garments in Mosul , and would be released after a certain IS commander arrives. 2015 Mar 31: Then Congress Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha Amarinder Singh seeks urgent action to save four of the 39 hostages who he says, have been traced alive in Iraq . May 15: Harjit Masih surfaces in Chandigarh; at a press conference organised by Aam Aadmi Party, claims the IS had killed 39 men, and that he had been kept in Noida by the authorities after he escaped and returned to India. Over the following months, Swaraj tells the families Masih is lying, and that she has information from intelligence agencies of two foreign governments that the men are alive. Do you believe him, or do you believe me? she asks. 2016 Mar 30: Masih is arrested for having acted with a Dubai-based agent to send the 39 men to work in Iraq. Aug 9: Congress Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa announces he will move a privilege motion against Swaraj for misleading the nation and the families of the 39 missing persons.






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Oct: The families are told again that the government is confident the men are alive. Officials say in the absence of proof of death , the men cannot be declared dead. 2017 Jun 8: Swaraj, according to the families, says sources have told the government that a group of Indians were in a church in Mosul. Jul 10: Minister of State for External Affairs General V K Singh (retd) leaves for Iraq to get information about the missing men. Jul 16: Swaraj, according to the families, says the men may be in Badush jail in Iraq. Jul 24: Iraqi Foreign Minister Dr Ibrahim Al-Eshaiker Al-Jafari tells reporters in Delhi that his government does not know whether the men are alive or dead. Jul 26: Swaraj tells House, I don t have evidence to say they are alive, but I don t have proof to say they are dead. So, we are continuing with the search operation. Oct: MEA collects DNA from the families. Dec: India has sent DNA samples to Iraq, Swaraj tells Lok Sabha. Missions that were successful Nurses in Iraq July 2014 Place: Tikrit, Iraq A group of 46 nurses was released from ISIS captivity after the Indian government managed to strike a deal through a set of intermediaries, who had access to the captors. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj reportedly made at least 18 phone calls to her counterparts and other players in the region to make personal requests on behalf of the government. Father Alexis Prem Kumar March 2015 Place: Sohadat, Afghanistan The priest was abducted on June 4, 2014, from Sohadat village, 25 km from Herat. He was working with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), an educational charity, as its Afghanistan Director and had been in the country for over three years. The matter was brought to the






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notice of then Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani by NSA Ajit Doval, when the latter visited the country on October 22, 2014. Operation RaAhat April 2015 Place: Yemen The crisis in Yemen following the 2015 military intervention by Saudi Arabia left thousands homeless and stranded. More than 5,400 people including over 900 foreign nationals were rescued by the Indian Armed Forces under the guidance of former Army Chief General (retd) V K Singh. A group of 11 Indians was also evacuated by a Pakistan navy ship along with 148 Pakistanis. Judith D Souza July 2016 Place: Kabul, Afghanistan The Indian aid worker was abducted in Kabul by suspected militants and was in captivity for 45 days. She returned home on July 24, 2016. Her family had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in June that year seeking their intervention for her release. Father Tom Uzhunnalil September 2017 Place: Aden, Yemen Uzhunnalil was abducted by ISIS forces following an attack on an old-age home run by Mother Teresa s Missionaries of Charity in the southern Yemeni city of Aden. He was rescued after 17 months of captivity on September 12, 2017. The priest was reportedly freed following the intervention of Oman s foreign ministry. (Adapted from The Indian Express)






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Economics 1. Aircel files for bankruptcy (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) Billionaire T. Ananda Krishnan-led Aircel Limited, along with Aircel Cellular Limited and Dishnet Wireless Limited, has filed for bankruptcy under Section 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 after the company s failed attempt in 2017 to merge itself with Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications. Reason for bankruptcy It has been facing troubled times in a highly financially stressed industry, owing to intense competition following the disruptive entry of a new player, legal and regulatory challenges, high level of unsustainable debt and increased losses. Attempt at loan restructuring As per Reserve Bank of India guidelines, the company invoked a Strategic Debt Restructuring (SDR) scheme in January 2018, but no agreement could be reached with the lenders with respect to restructuring of its debt and funding. (Adapted from the Hindu) 2. Cabinet approves Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper II and III) The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Finance to introduce the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 in Parliament. The Bill would help in laying down measures to deter economic offenders from evading the process of Indian law by remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts. The cases where the total value involved in such offences is Rs.100 crore or more, will come under the purview of this Bill. Impact: The Bill is expected to re-establish the rule of law with respect to the fugitive economic offenders as they would be forced to return to India to face trial for scheduled offences. This would also help the banks and other financial institutions to achieve higher recovery from financial defaults committed by such fugitive economic offenders, improving the financial health of such institutions. It is expected that the special forum to be created for expeditious confiscation of the proceeds of crime, in India or abroad, would coerce the fugitive to return to India to submit to the jurisdiction of Courts in India to face the law in respect of scheduled offences. Salient features of the Bill:






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i. Application before the Special Court for a declaration that an individual is a fugitive economic offender; ii. Attachment of the property of a fugitive economic offender; iii. Issue of a notice by the Special Court to the individual alleged to be a fugitive economic offender; iv. Confiscation of the property of an individual declared as a fugitive economic offender resulting from the proceeds of crime; v. Confiscation of other property belonging to such offender in India and abroad, including benami property; vi. Disentitlement of the fugitive economic offender from defending any civil claim; and vii. An Administrator will be appointed to manage and dispose of the confiscated property under the Act. If at any point of time in the course of the proceeding prior to the declaration, however, the alleged Fugitive Economic Offender returns to India and submits to the appropriate jurisdictional Court, proceedings under the proposed Act would cease by law. All necessary constitutional safeguards in terms of providing hearing to the person through counsel, allowing him time to file a reply, serving notice of summons to him, whether in India or abroad and appeal to the High Court have been provided for. Further, provision has been made for appointment of an Administrator to manage and dispose of the property in compliance with the provisions of law. Implementation strategy and targets: In order to address the lacunae in the present laws and lay down measures to deter economic offenders from evading the process of Indian law by remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts, the Bill is being proposed. The Bill makes provisions for a Court ('Special Court' under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002) to declare a person as a Fugitive Economic Offender. A Fugitive Economic Offender is a person against whom an arrest warrant has been issued in respect of a scheduled offence and who has left India so as to avoid criminal prosecution, or being abroad, refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution. A scheduled offence refers to a list of economic offences contained in the Schedule to this Bill. Further, in order to ensure that Courts are not over-burdened with such cases, only those cases where the total value involved in such offences is 100 crore rupees or more, is within the purview of this Bill. (Adapted from PIB)






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3. Andhra Pradesh s new capital position (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) Work is going on at a brisk pace to complete the roads leading to Andhra Pradesh s new capital, Amaravati, but the designs for the various buildings, including the Secretariat, are still being finalised. About 33,000 acres of lush agricultural land on the banks of the Krishna, about 12 km to the northwest of Vijayawada, has been earmarked for Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu s dream project, estimated to cost ₹ lakh crore. The foundation was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 22, 2015. Why is it taking so long? The government is spending about Rs. 31,615 crore for infrastructure work, setting the stage for the start of construction of permanent facilities in a few months. Work on government offices is yet to take off as the designs by Foster+Partners and architect Hafeez Contractor are not yet in place. The capital is coming up on 217 sq km. Apart from arterial and sub-arterial roads that are being built, the other significant projects that have so far been completed are two universities — SRM and Vellore Institute of Technology.

The government had laid stress on the designs of the Raj Bhavan, the Legislature Complex, the High Court and the Secretariat, which it sent many times for revision, and it is currently under process by Foster+Partners and other consulting firms.






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The perspective plan of the capital region, which encompasses 26 mandals in Guntur district and 30 in Krishna districts, has been readied. This includes the blueprints for transportation, tourism and townships. What are the hurdles? Preparation of a slew of detailed project reports (DPRs), various procedures involved in mobilising funds from the Central government and other lending agencies, including the World Bank, and awarding projects through international competitive bidding took time. The capital city s master planning and engineering design took up to two years. Then there is the sheer scale of the project, like the construction of 4,900-odd residential units, nearly 200 bungalows and a maze of roads including those as ambitious as the expressway intended to link the faraway Anantapur to Amaravati. The government faced legal wrangles in the form of public interest litigation petitions against the construction of Amaravati at the chosen location and in the selection of the master developer. What about funding? The State government has received ₹ , crore from the Central government and is likely to get more funds. The World Bank had come forward to lend $1 billion for road infrastructure in the capital region, and 10 priority roads are poised for completion at the end of this year. When will it be ready? The construction of the iconic government buildings is likely to begin in a few months, and the laying of the first floor of residential quarters for government employees later this month. Tenders have been just called for building another bridge across river Krishna from Ibrahimpatnam in Krishna district to Amaravati. Already 10,000 plots given to the farmers under the land pooling scheme, which began on January 1, 2015, have been registered and 200-300 are getting registered every day. The Chief Minister has instructed officials to ground the core capital soon, having finished much of the planning and tied up funds. Nevertheless, considering the magnitude of the task, it is going to take at least two years, if not more, to transform the entire capital region into a world-class city. The State government is now functioning from the Interim Government Complex built at Velagapudi nearby. Situated nearby are the temporary Assembly and Council halls under a single roof. (Adapted from the Hindu) 4. E-way bill roll-out from April 1: Here is all you need to know (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains paper II and III)






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What is e-way bill? Under the e-way bill system, goods worth more than Rs. 50,000 have to be pre-registered online before they can be moved from one state to another. An e-way bill is an electric-way bill for the movement of goods which can be generated on the GSTN (common portal). After the implementation of this bill, any movement of goods of more than Rs 50,000 in value cannot be made by a registered person without an e-way bill. It will be allowed to be generated or cancelled through SMS. When an e-way is generated, a unique e-way bill number (EBN) is allocated and is available to the supplier, recipient, and the transporter. What is the status of its implementation? In a GST Council meeting, the decision to implement the e-way bill mechanism throughout the country by April 1,2018 was taken. When is an e-way bill generated? The e-way bill is generated when there is a movement of goods: 1.In relation to the supply. 2.For reasons other than a supply (say a return). 3.Due to inward supply from an unregistered person. In this case, a supply can either be: 1.Sale – sale of goods and payment made 2.Transfer – branch transfers for instance 3.Barter/Exchange – where the payment is by goods instead of in money Who generates an e-way bill? It has to be generated to or from a registered person if the movement of goods is more than Rs. 50,000 in value. A registered person or transporter can choose to generate and carry e-way bill even of the value of goods is less than Rs 50,000. Unregistered persons or their transporters may also choose to generate an e-way bill. This means that an e-way bill can be generated by both registered and unregistered persons. However, where a supply is made by an unregistered person to a registered person, the receiver will have to ensure all the compliances are met as if they were the supplier. Are there concerns from industry? Trade and industry have raised concerns about the system being a possible route for the re-emergence of supply chain bottlenecks, and discretionary power to tax officials. The industry views the e-way bill as a system that will check tax evasion to some extent, but






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may not be able to stop it completely. Also, it adds another layer of compliances for GST payers and, in case of technical glitches, may result in supply chain bottlenecks. (News Adapted from Financial Express) 5. National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) Analysis (Relevant for GS Prelims and GS Mains Paper III) In his Budget speech of February 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced a National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) to provide insurance cover to an estimated 50 crore individuals from nearly 10 crore poor and vulnerable families. The announcement of the so-called world s largest health protection plan was followed by questions over whether the healthcare system had the capacity to handle a scheme of such proportions, and whether the NHPS wouldn t end up being an unbearable burden on the exchequer. Moral hazard In health insurance parlance, moral hazard is the tendency of insured people to buy or be sold additional healthcare interventions irrespective of their actual needs, leading to expenses that do not necessarily add to their well-being, but which bleed the insurer. Experts have been cautioning authorities about potential moral hazard challenges. Typical moral hazard procedures include Caesarean sections, hysterectomies, and procedures for inserting orthopaedic implants. The 2015-16 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) noted a disproportionately high number of C-sections for childbirth in the private sector, especially in the cities. Nationally, 40.9% of births in the private sector and 11.9% in the government sector happen by C-section. According to the World Health Organisation, the ideal rate for C-sections should be between 10% and 15%. Eligibility criteria Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan recently informed states that eligibility for NHPS will be determined based on data from the socio-economic caste census (SECC). The number of poor and vulnerable beneficiary families eligible for the scheme is proposed to be based on deprivation and occupational criteria as per SECC data. The scheme will be open to all States/UTs. The proposed target population is (a) families that belong to any of the 7 deprivation criteria (b) automatically included families as per SECC database for rural areas and (c) defined occupational criteria for urban areas, Sudan wrote. But several states argued that depending on the SECC would limit the reach of the scheme. Maharashtra, for example, currently provides a Rs 2 lakh annual health cover to about one crore people; this would fall to 60 lakh people if the state were to follow SECC data. Covered procedures






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Deciding what procedures would be included in the NHPS list is one of the most crucial decisions. During initial meetings with general insurers, NITI Aayog had calculated the annual premium per family to be Rs 1,082. However, insurers have pegged the actuarial premium at Rs 2,500, citing the sustainability of the scheme. If the government agrees to the premium amount put forth by the insurers, the cost will more than double from the present estimate of Rs 10,000 crore. In Tamil Nadu, 686 procedures are covered under the Chief Minister s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme, including most complicated cardiac procedures, hernia, tracheotomy and oesophagectomy. The scheme covers 1.57 crore families with an annual income of less than Rs 72,000. The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has been asked to prepare a list of procedures/diseases to be covered under NHPS. Once finalised, the list will be circulated to states who opt for the scheme, with a provision to make marginal changes in the package rates. Packages are important because the coverage amount is limited, and no ceiling has been proposed on family size. In addition, a balance will have to be struck between all the common conditions based on India s unique disease burden and procedures that are value for money. For example, whether organ transplant will be covered is a tricky question, as the money paid as premium is meagre and only a few government hospitals have the capability of carrying out such procedures. Audit mechanism Since Parliament enacted the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act in 2010, the Union government has planned to implement a regulatory framework for private hospitals based on the standard treatment guidelines laid down in the law. Third-party audit of procedures/prescriptions is now back on the table for the Health Ministry. Like Kerala, the Ministry is looking at the option of pre-authorisation for non-emergency procedures. The audit, sources say, could be a mandatory requirement for reimbursement of expenses to private hospitals. (Adapted from The Indian Express) 6. What was the 20:80 gold import scheme? (Relevant for GS Mains Paper III) The Centre on Monday announced its intention to probe the circumstances behind the extension of the 20:80 gold import scheme, previously restricted to banks and PSUs, to private parties in the final days of the previous government s term in 2014. What prompted the scheme?






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In response to a stressed current account deficit in 2012-13 due to a surge in gold imports, the government at the time introduced an import scheme in 2013, which mandated that 20% of all gold imports would have to be exported. The scheme was designed to restrict the import of gold, conserve foreign exchange by

imposing export obligations, and ensure that the premium from purchase and sale of gold resided in the hands of public agencies, according to the Commerce Ministry. Who could import gold under the scheme? At the time of its implementation, the 20:80 scheme was open only to banks and to public sector companies such as the Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation and the State Trading Corporation of India. In May 2014, the RBI in consultation with the government widened the scheme to also allow Premium Trading Houses (PTH) and Star Trading Houses (STH), both private sector entities, to import gold. How did the scheme fare? According to the Commerce Ministry, a review of the scheme found that since liberalisation in May 2014, gold imports had increased substantially, averaging about 140-150 tonnes a month. Within this, the government found that gold imported by STHs and PTHs increased 320% following the May 2014 decision compared with the earlier period. The share of these entities in the total gold imported into the country also increased from 20% before May to 60% after, according to the government. The government on November 28, 2014 scrapped the 20:80 scheme and removed all restrictions on gold imports. What was the impact of the abolition? The Centre, citing the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, said that the average monthly import of gold fell to 71.5 million tonnes in the months following the abolition of the 20:80 scheme [December 2014 to March 2015] from the monthly average of 92.16 million tonnes in the period following the widening of the policy [June 2014 to November 2014]. Gold imports averaged 33.6 million tonnes per month before STHs and PTHs were allowed to import under the 20:80 scheme [from August 2013 to May 2014], according to the government. (Adapted from The Hindu) 7. Implication of RBI s ban on LoUs (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) The Reserve Bank of India s decision to ban Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) will raise costs for importers and will hurt export competitiveness, says SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar, in an exclusive interview. Edited excerpts:






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What will be the impact of RBI s ban on Letters of Undertaking (LoU)? The cost of imports will go up. What was happening was importers, through the route of LoU, they were availing dollar funding which was cheaper than rupee funding. So now, the importer will have an option of either opening a letter of credit, but for that they will need suppliers agreement — the supplier should be willing to extend the credit. Or otherwise, they have to fund it through rupee borrowing. So, that will increase the cost. And if they are exporting, then it will impact your export competitiveness also. He said the cost for trade will go up as LoU was a simple method to avail international trade finance. LoUs are the cheapest source of funding as it is prices 20-30 bps above the LIBOR, typically three or six month. The total cost is around 2.3% which is much lower than any rupee loan product which are over 9%. Since LoU route is no longer, importers have to take bank guarantees or letter of credit which are expensive. PNB had said it will pay the bonafide dues to the banks. When are you expecting payments from PNB? We have given our claim and all the supporting documents. Hopefully some repayment will happen this month. What has been the response from the banking regulator for improving checks and balances after the PNB scam? RBI has asked all the banks to integrate SWIFT with the core banking solution. All banks are now linking SWIFT with CBS. RBI has given a circular to do it by April 30. What are the steps SBI has taken? Risk management in the bank is a continuous process and not a one-day process. Period review, see to it that checks and balances are working, you have to on a continuous basis. (Adapted from The Hindu) 8. RBI ban on LoU (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains paper III) RBI ban A month after the Rs. 12,800-crore letters of undertaking (LoUs) fraud at Punjab National Bank came to light, the Reserve Bank of India has decided to ban such instruments as well as letters of comfort issued by bankers to businesses for international transactions. Extent of import finance It is estimated that overall, bank finance for imports into India is around $140 billion, of which over 60% is funded through such buyers credit. Naturally, industry is unhappy with






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the RBI decision as this would raise the cost for importers, who will now need to rely on more expensive instruments such as bank guarantees and letters of credit. The move will also impact the competitiveness of exporters who import raw materials for their products. Impact of ban RBI omnibus ban of LoUs will impact the $85 billion buyers credit market that was mostly conducted in accordance with the law of the land. If an individual or some failed systems of a bank were indeed to blame, why should bona fide transactions suffer? Perhaps the RBI could have tightened the norms for LoUs and introduced safeguards based on the latest learnings. It is still not too late to do that. (Adapted from The Hindu) 9. Is govt. turning a deaf ear to banks bureau? (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) Is the government ignoring the suggestions of the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) on reforms in public sector banks? The answer is yes if one were to go by the Compendium of Recommendations put up on its website, where it said the bureau was merely functioning as an appointment board . Though the bureau, headed by Vinod Rai, had sought a meeting with finance minister Arun Jaitley to chalk out the action plan for reforms in PSBs in July 2017, the minister had not given it time yet, it said. Background Having begun functioning from April 1, 2016, BBB was seen as step towards governance reforms in public sector banks as recommended by the P.J. Nayak Committee. No executive role

BBB had also sought the government s mandate to rework the Articles of Association of IDBI Bank Ltd. so that it mirrored, to the extent possible, the Articles of Association of other such institutions which were earlier in the public sector. These mandates were suggested to further reinforce and institutionalise the zero-interference policy of the government, it said. It clarified that the board did not seek an executive role, however. It was to discuss these matters it had sought a meeting with the Finance Minister. The board was still awaiting a meeting, the letter said. The letter also indicated that reforms could be undertaken without the Centre cutting stake below 51%, contrary to recommendations by the Nayak committee. The present term of BBB members will end on March 31. It is not clear whether the Centre will reconstitute the board or extend their term.






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Banks Board Bureau The BBB is a body of eminent professionals and consists of only one government official. It is a six-member body with at least three former bankers, two professionals and secretary, department of financial services representing government. Vinod Rai, the veteran CAG, has been appointed as head of the BBB. It will replace the existing system of Appointments Board in which appointments for top-level jobs at public-sector banks are made by an appointments committee led by the RBI Governor. The BBB has been set up to insulate public-sector banks from interference by the government. Functions The BBB will hold investment in public-sector banks on behalf of the government. 1. The BBB will recommend the appointment of senior-most officials in public-sector banks. 2. The BBB will advise banks on the ways of raising fund. 3. It will also guide banks on mergers and consolidations. 4. It will also guide banks on mergers and consolidations. (Adapted from The Hindu and Background from PrepMate-Cengage Economics Book, Page 237 ) 10. Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2018 passed by Parliament (Relevant for GS prelims, GS Mains Paper III) Objective of amendment The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2018 has been passed by parliament. The bill ensures harmony amongst employees in the private sector and Public-Sector Undertakings/Autonomous Organizations under Government who are not covered under CCS (Pension) Rules. These employees will be entitled to receive higher amount of gratuity at par with their counterparts in Government sector. Whom does the act apply? The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 applies to establishments employing 10 or more persons. The main purpose for enacting this Act is to provide social security to workman after retirement, whether retirement is a result of superannuation, or physical disablement or impairment of vital part of the body. Therefore, the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 is an important social security legislation to wage earning population in industries, factories and establishments. What is the recent amendment? The present upper ceiling on gratuity amount under the Act is Rs. 10 Lakh.





https://prepmate.in/product/economics-civil-services/



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The provisions for Central Government employees under Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 with regard to gratuity are also similar. Before implementation of 7th Central Pay Commission, the ceiling under CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 was Rs. 10 Lakh. However, with implementation of 7th Central Pay Commission, in case of Government servants, the ceiling has been raised to Rs. 20 Lakhs. Therefore, considering the inflation and wage increase even in case of employees engaged in private sector, this Government decided that the entitlement of gratuity should also be revised in respect of employees who are covered under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. Accordingly, the Government initiated the process for amendment to Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 to increase the maximum limit of gratuity to such amount as may be notified by the Central Government from time to time. In addition, the Bill also envisages to amend the provisions relating to calculation of continuous service for the purpose of gratuity in case of female employees who are on maternity leave from 'twelve weeks' to such period as may be notified by the Central Government from time to time. After enactment of the Act, the power to notify the ceiling of the amount of gratuity under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 shall stand delegated to the Central Government so that the limit can be revised from time to time keeping in view the increase in wage and inflation and future pay commissions. (Adapted from PIB) 11. Draft defence policy (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) Aims of defence policy The policy says the vision is to make India among the top five countries of the world in the aerospace and defence industries, with the active participation of the public and private

sectors, fulfilling the objective of self-reliance as well as the demand of other friendly

countries.

30 lakh jobs 1. Turnover Rs .1.7 lakh crore in defence goods and services 2. Attract Investment of Rs. 70,000 crore in defence sector

3. Exports of Rs. 35,000 crore in defence goods and services by 2025

4. Global leader in cyberspace and AI (Artificial Intelligence) technologies. Provisions






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1. Further liberalization of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), by permitting up to 74% FDI under the automatic route. At present, up to 49% FDI is allowed through the

automatic route, though no significant investment has come into the sector. 2. Make in India The policy aims to create an environment that encourages a dynamic, robust and

competitive defence industry as an important part of the Make in India initiative . (Adapted from the Hindu)

12. SARAS Aajeevika Mela (Relevant for GS prelims, GS Mains Paper III) Union Minister of Rural Development is implementing the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission which aims at making the rural women confident, aware and self-dependent. The SARAS Aajeevika Mela is an attempt to provide direct marketing platform to the rural women producers so that they get proper prices for their products by eliminating middle men. DAY-NRLM Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is one of the flagship programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India to alleviate rural poverty. The programme aims at mobilizing all rural poor women into self-managed community institutions (Self Help Groups, Village Organisations, Cluster Level Federations, Producer Groups/Companies), in a phased manner. The Mission also aims at promoting financial inclusion of the community institutions and provide support for strengthening and diversification of livelihoods resources of the women member households. Since its launch in 2011, the Mission has expanded to 4456 Blocks of 584 Districts, across 29 States and 5 Union Territories. Mahila Kisan Sahshaktikaran Pariyojana Under a sub-scheme called Mahila Kisan Sahshaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP), the Mission has been supporting about 33 lakh women farmers to enhance farm productivity and diversify their livelihood asset base. In addition, the Mission is promoting individual and collective enterprises of SHG women both under farm and non-farm sector. The Ministry is also implementing sub-schemes under DAY-NRLM to support skill training and placement support under Deen Dayal Upadhyay -Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) and Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) scheme and for enterprise support under Start Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) and Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana.






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About SARAS SHG members are producing various kinds of agricultural and non-agricultural/handicraft products but face problems in marketing their produce. In order to promote marketing of the products of these SHG women, Ministry of Rural Development has been supporting organisation of exhibitions under the brand name of SARAS where Self Help Groups from different states participate to exhibit and sell their products. At present, two SARAS Fairs in State are sponsored by the Ministry in each state during a financial year by way of providing assistance upto Rs 40.00 lakh per fair in Metropolitan cities (Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad) and upto Rs 35.00 lakhs per fair in non-Metropolitan cities. (Adapted from PIB) 13. India s Contribution to World s GDP (Relevant for GS prelims, GS Mains paper III) As per the information available from World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), the contribution of India to world s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), measured as share of GDP of India in world GDP (at current prices in US$ terms) is consistently increasing since 2014 as shown in the table below. As per the available data, this share in 2017 is the highest. India's share in world GDP at current prices in US$ terms (per cent)

2014 2015 2016 2017

Share of India in world GDP 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.1

(Adapted from PIB) 14. Falling investment in Indian bonds (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) Withdrawal of investment from bonds More people are losing their love for Indian bonds. Foreign investors have been net sellers of over $1 billion in Indian debt this month, almost cancelling out inflows since the beginning of the year. The deserting of the Indian market by foreign investors comes at a time when the Centre is looking at tapping the bond market aggressively to finance its election-year spending. Rise in yield The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond has risen by almost 1 percent since late-July amid lacklustre investor demand. The rise in yields is due to a variety of reasons that have pushed both foreign and domestic investors to re-price Indian sovereign bonds.






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1. For one, the government is expected to step up borrowing ahead of elections; in fact, the fiscal deficit targets for the current as well as the coming fiscal year were revised upwards in the Budget. This has fuelled market fears about a rise in inflation. 2. Further, the public-sector banks, typically the biggest lenders to the government, have turned wary of lending. As the losses on their bond portfolios mount, they have turned net sellers of sovereign bonds in 2018. 3. Another tailwind affecting bonds is the prospect of higher interest rates in the West, which has made Indian bonds look a lot less lucrative in the eyes of foreign investors. 4. The weakening rupee, probably a reflection of higher domestic inflation and fund outflows in search of yields, has added to selling pressure. Reduction in borrowing by government Given these pressing concerns, it is no surprise that Indian sovereign bonds have witnessed a relief rally since news broke that the Centre will trim its market borrowing during the first half of the coming fiscal year. The yield on the 10-year Indian sovereign bond has dropped by that day. The Centre s borrowing target for April-September was cut to Rs. 2.88 lakh crore, which is about 48% of the total budgeted borrowing for the year, in contrast to Rs. 3.72 lakh crore in the first half of this year. Interestingly, first-half borrowing was more than 60% of the annual borrowing target in each of the last two years. Way forward The bond rout should thus serve as a timely warning as it looks to ramp up spending ahead of elections. Lastly, with the vacuum created by the state-run banks, it may be time for the Reserve Bank of India to re-examine the rule limiting the role of foreign investors in the bond market. (Adapted from The Hindu) 15. Fed rate hike and implications for India (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains paper II) US raises interest rates The U.S. Federal Reserve continues to slowly raise its benchmark short-term interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.50-1.75%, the highest in a decade. While this is only the sixth rate increase since the financial crisis of 2008 — which pushed central banks to cut interest rates to historic lows.






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WFed is expected to raise rates two more times in 2018. And with the American economy projected to grow at a fairly healthy clip amid quickening inflation, the increases in the Fed s discount rate are expected to gather pace over the next two years. What is the global trend? Now, as the Fed and other global central banks move towards normalising monetary policy, the impact on the wider credit markets is slowly beginning to show. This is particularly so in the case of the interbank lending market, which is directly influenced by central banks to affect interest rates across the board. Impact on international benchmark rate The London Interbank Offered Rate, which is the rate at which international banks lend to each other and serves as a benchmark for lending rates, has risen for more than 30 consecutive sessions and is at its highest since the financial crisis. Its effect has spilled over into other markets, including the corporate debt market. What could be possible implications? Rising rates amid improving global economic growth could adversely affect the capacity of private firms to service their debt. It is, after all, no secret that private corporations attracted by ultra-low interest rates had heavily loaded up on debt over the last decade. Some companies borrowed heavily from across the borders, thus making them prone to exchange rate risks as well. Any widespread default on debt today would be reminiscent of the 2004-2006 period when the Fed s raising of rates to tackle inflation led to a mass default on U.S. mortgage debt. The wider sell-off of assets, under way since February, can also be linked to rising interest rates which adversely affect asset prices. India, which could be hit by fund outflows as overseas investors look homeward to benefit from the rising rates, would need to take precautionary steps. (Adapted from The Hindu)






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Environment 1. What s hobbling the global effort to save the tiger? (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) In November 2010, the first Tiger Summit in St Petersburg, Russia, endorsed a Global Tiger Recovery Programme aimed at reversing the rapid decline of tigers, and doubling their numbers by 2022. India was one of the 13 tiger range countries that participated in the gathering, at which leaders committed to drawing up action plans to strengthen reserves, crack down on poachers and provide financial assistance to maintain a thriving tiger population . A continuing crisis A rapid survey across 112 tiger conservation areas in 11 range countries has now shown that at least a third of these areas are at severe risk of losing their tigers due to poor management. Three of the 13 countries, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia have lost all their tigers. The survey was carried out by Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA | TS) support group members, experts, and government officials, covering approximately 70% of the global wild tiger population across over 20,000 km of the tiger range . Only 12.5% of surveyed sites met the full CA | TS criteria — a conservation tool to set minimum standards for effective management of target species and to encourage assessment of these standards in relevant conservation/protected areas . Just over half (52.5%) reported fairly strong management, although improvements were needed. A majority of the rest had relatively weak management. In 87% of sites, tiger monitoring was being implemented. All sites surveyed in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Nepal, and Russia had management plans, while several in Southeast Asia did not. The results were published this week in a report, Safe Havens for Wild Tigers. At the time of the St Petersburg Summit, the World Bank s The Global Tiger Initiative had estimated wild tiger populations at 1,200-1,650 in India, 450-700 in Indonesia, 400 in Bangladesh, 350 each in Nepal and Russia, 300-500 in Malaysia, 250-500 in Thailand, about 100 in Myanmar, 70-80 in Bhutan, 40-50 in China, 50 in Laos, 10-50 in Cambodia, and fewer than 30 in Vietnam. Tigers roamed at least 25 countries at the beginning of the 20th century; their numbers had since declined by 97%, the Summit estimated. S P Yadav, a former Deputy Inspector General of the Union Environment Ministry s National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), who was head of the Indian delegation at the Summit, told The Indian Express: This study shows the reality of the progress made under the St Petersburg Declaration. Though tiger numbers have increased from 3,500 in 2010 to approximately 3,850 in 2016, we cannot rejoice or slow down our efforts.






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Why the survey? The year-long CA | TS survey began in early 2017 in tiger reserves, national parks, nature reserves and wildlife sanctuaries which have tigers . Critical tiger conservation areas in all extant tiger range countries representing all tiger landscapes were surveyed, and 180

sites with the largest population of tigers, and one site in Cambodia which is critical for recovery of wild tigers, were approached by the Global Tiger Forum.






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The objective of the survey was to provide a baseline of information against which to measure progress in the future. The results show whether or not governments are investing sufficient funds into tiger conservation. The information will assist the CA | TS partnership (a wide range of governments and funding bodies) in setting priorities for the most effective conservation investment, capacity building and training, says the survey report. Training and resources Three-quarters of the surveyed sites had insufficient staff and lacked adequate management infrastructure, a crippling blow to efforts to stop poaching, manage community relations, and ensure safe havens for tigers and other wildlife. Only 16 of 112 sites had intelligence-driven anti-poaching processes in place. What happens now The results are a wake-up call for all tiger range governments and stakeholders, Yadav said. The results will be presented in the stocktaking conference on tiger conservation in

Indonesia in 2018, and a roadmap will be prepared towards achieving the global goal set in St Petersburg, he said. (Adapted from the Indian express) 2. Why are forests of Tamil Nadu burning? (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) What caused the fire? While forest fires are as old as the forests themselves, there is a fair degree of human involvement in causing a forest to rage on through day and night. It is not yet clear what exactly caused the forest fire at Kurangani on the Western Ghats at Theni in Tamil Nadu. Forest fires may be caused by different factors like natural causes, including lightning, but 99% of the fires in the forests are man-made. It could have been any of the following: Attempts to encroach upon forest lands, renewal of pastures or regain agricultural land at the expense of forests, fire caused by poachers and timber smugglers to destroy evidence of illegal activities or merely fire by miscreants or burning of waste in illegal dumps. It could have been the act of the locals, those living on the edges of the forest, who set fire in order that there may be growth of fresh grass for their cattle, or to shift cultivation patterns on the hills, and also, as a means to hoodwink forest officials. It could have also easily been any of these: A smouldering fire, not stamped out properly, leftover by travellers, campers and picnickers, and a spark that has escaped from a deliberate one on agricultural lands or from controlled burning elsewhere. Why was it an emergency?






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But irrespective of the cause, every fire is an emergency, even a minor one. While fires rage in forests every summer and are controlled from spreading too far by forest officials running a fire line and shearing the land of any vegetation for a significant area, the Kurangani fire turned into a disaster as 36 trekkers were stuck on the mountains. A 24-member group of trekkers, organised by Chennai Trekking Club, and a 12-member team from Erode and Tirupur districts, were caught unawares by the fire on their way back from Kozhukkumalai to Kurangani. With their regular trekking route cut off by the fire, many panicked and lost their direction. The long grass, dried by the heat of an early summer, enabled the fire to spread quickly, experts later explained. While a number of trekkers were injured in falls, as many as 16 persons lost their lives. Many others are still in hospital, being treated for burn injuries, having been rescued by a bunch of daring people, including Central and State government personnel, and locals. Were rules flouted? With the State government appointing an IAS officer to go into the question of the forest fire, the relatives of the victims are hopeful of some clarity in the explaination of the circumstances that led to the tragedy. A number of questions have emerged since the fire, and for some of them, answers are, as yet, elusive: Did the trekkers get permission for the climb up the mountain? If they did, how was it sanctioned? Were forest authorities aware of the forest fire? Were there alerts from other agencies and did they reach officials on time? Were rescue operations delayed? These and many more certainly bother the relatives and friends of those who lost their lives at Kurangani. What needs to be done? Better monitoring of reserve forest areas and keeping a close watch on fire-prone spots have been recommended, but the feasibility of doing so with the current staff strength, given the difficult terrain, has also been raised. The moot point is that while calamities may occur, on the part of the State, the minimisation of loss of life has to be prioritised. Forests fires have the tendency to change wildlife habitats. As the forests are not static, they evolve and respond to disturbances, and fire changes the proportion, arrangement and characteristic of habitats across the landscape. In the immediate aftermath of fire, there can be a temporary loss of food and shelter, causing displacement of territorial birds and mammals, upsetting the ecological balance. Eventually, with the first showers, the forests will regenerate. But for families of 16 persons, their lives have changed forever. (Adapted from The Hindu)






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3. Plastics in drinking water (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) Presence of Plastics in environment Plastics are now widely present in the environment, as visible waste along coastlines, in lakes and rivers, and even in the soil. The recent finding that microplastic particles are found even in safe bottled water indicates the magnitude of the crisis. There is little doubt that the global production of plastics, at over 300 million tonnes a year according to the UN Environment Programme, has overwhelmed the capacity of governments to handle what is thrown away as waste. What are microplastics? Microplastics are particles of less than 5 mm that enter the environment either as primary industrial products, such as those used in scrubbers and cosmetics, or via urban waste water and broken-down elements of articles discarded by consumers. Washing of clothes releases synthetic microfibres into water bodies and the sea. Health impact of microplastics The health impact of the presence of polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate and other chemicals in drinking water, food and even inhaled air may not yet be clear, but indisputably these are contaminants. Research evidence from complementary fields indicates that accumulation of these chemicals can induce or aggravate immune responses in the body. More studies, as a globally coordinated effort, are necessary to assess the impact on health. It is heartening that the WHO has come forward to commission a review of the health impact of plastics in water. Plastic waste in oceans Last December in Nairobi, UN member-countries resolved to produce a binding agreement in 18 months to deal with the release of plastics into the marine environment. The problem is staggering: eight million tonnes of waste, including bottles and packaging, make their way into the sea each year. There is now even the Great Pacific Garbage Patch of plastic debris. Plastic waste in India India has a major problem dealing with plastics, particularly single-use shopping bags that reach dumping sites, rivers and wetlands along with other waste. The most efficient way to deal with the pollution is to control the production and distribution of plastics. Banning single-use bags and making consumers pay a significant amount for the more durable ones is a feasible solution. Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, Enforcing the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, which require segregation of waste from April 8 this year, will retrieve materials and greatly reduce the burden on the






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environment. Waste separation can be achieved in partnership with the community, and presents a major employment opportunity. European Union Plan The goal, however, has to be long term. As the European Union s vision 2030 document on creating a circular plastic economy explains, the answer lies in changing the very nature of plastics, from cheap and disposable to durable, reusable and fully recyclable. There is consensus that this is the way forward. Now that the presence of plastics in drinking water, including the bottled variety, has been documented, governments should realise it cannot be business as usual. (Adapted from The Hindu)






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Science and Technology 1. Neutrino project in Bodi hills gets environmental clearance (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) Panel clears proposal as special case but says nod from TNPCB, Wildlife Board must The India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) project has got a fresh lease of life with the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) taking it up as a special case and granting it environmental clearance to set up the lab in Bodi West hills. Two conditions While granting EC, the committee stipulated specific conditions, of which two are key for the project to take off. One is the consent to establish and operate to be obtained from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB). In the past, INO project proponents had complained that the TNPCB had been sitting on the file for years without taking any action when Jayalalithaa was Chief Minister (2011-16). Also, the INO team has to obtain the necessary forest and National Board for Wild Life clearances as per law. The Mathikettan Shola National Park in Idukki district, Kerala, is situated within five km from the project site. Considering the national importance of the proposal, the MoEF decided to take the proposal at the Central level as a special case — a category 8(a) project — and granted environmental clearance with 17 conditions. NEUTRINOS Neutrinos are tiny particles, almost massless, that travel at near light speeds and carry no charge. Born from violent astrophysical events such as exploding stars and gamma-ray bursts, neutrinos are abundant in the universe, and can move as easily through matter as we move through air. They are notoriously difficult to track down. If you hold your hand towards the sunlight for one second, about a billion neutrinos from the sun will pass through it; this is because they are the by-products of nuclear fusion in the sun. These little wisps hold the blueprint of nature, which the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) Project aims to study to understand some of the unsolved mysteries of the universe. The Proposed Project The proposed INO Project primarily aimed to study atmospheric neutrinos in a 1,300 m deep cavern in the Bodi West Hills in Theni district, Tamil Nadu. If completed, the INO would house the largest magnet in the world, four times more massive than the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, CERN s Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector s magnet.






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The Setback The clearance for setting the INO project has been suspended because the site of the project is only 4.9 km away from the Mathikettaan Shola National Park. Any project within 10 km range from protected areas such as national park is required to attain clearance from the National Board for Wildlife. So far, National Board for Wildlife has not given clearance to the project. (Adapted from the Hindu)

2. What is cold fusion? (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III)

Nuclear energy without radiation Cold fusion — or its successor technologies such as Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (LENR) — remains a dead-end and a false hope for many scientists across the world. India, however, is taking tentative steps towards restarting research into it, some 25 years after it was shut down at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) following global criticism heaped on the idea.






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At least three research groups have taken up the theme. An effort in IIT-Kanpur is focusing on transmutation of elements at lower temperatures. Another at IIT-Bombay, funded by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), has constructed an apparatus that has produced energy spikes, but researchers are trying to verify that these were not an outcome of quirks in the apparatus that were not accounted for. BARC in fray? Yet another group at the Center for Energy Research of the Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samasthana (S-Vyasa) in Bengaluru says the Department of Science and Technology has approved funding for their research through its High Risk High Reward programme. What is Cold fusion? Cold fusion seeks to produce nuclear energy without harmful radiation, complex equipment and the application of very high temperatures and pressures. But it has no conclusive theory explaining it and flies in the face of a well-established physics law that goes against easy fusion of nuclei. S-Vyasa researchers have been working on triggering fusion in hydrogen on the surface of nickel, which has hydrogen-soaking properties. The ingredients are heated to temperatures above 1,200° C. Why it has not been possible so far? There is no guarantee that every time a cold fusion or LENR experiment is done, energy will be produced, say critics. Cold fusion advocates, however, say much progress has been made in achieving repeatability. Research is underway in the U.S., Japan, China, Russia, Italy, France and Ukraine too. (Adapted from The HIndu) 3. India joins Europe s Copernicus project (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) India has joined Europe s mega global arrangement of sharing data from Earth observation satellites, called Copernicus. What is the agreement? Data from a band of Indian remote sensing satellites will be available to the European Copernicus programme while designated Indian institutional users will in return get to access free data from Europe s six Sentinel satellites and those of other space agencies that are part of the programme, at their cost. Under this arrangement, the European Commission intends to provide India with free, full and open access to the data from the Copernicus Sentinel family of satellites using high bandwidth connections.






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Reciprocally the Department of Space will provide the Copernicus programme and its participating states with a free, full and open access to the data from ISRO s land, ocean and atmospheric series of civilian satellites (Oceansat-2, Megha-Tropiques, Scatsat-1, SARAL, INSAT-3D, INSAT-3DR) with the exception of commercial high-resolution satellites data. The arrangement includes technical assistance for setting up high bandwidth connections with ISRO sites, mirror servers, data storage and archival facilities. What is Copernicus Project? The multi-billion-euro Copernicus is Europe's system for monitoring the Earth using satellite data. It is coordinated and managed by the European Commission. Benefits of join Copernicus The space-based information will be used for forecasting disasters, providing emergency response and rescue of people during disasters; to glean land, ocean data; and for issues of security, agriculture, climate change and atmosphere, according to a statement issued by the European Commission here. The free and open data policy is said to have a wide range of applications that can attract users in Europe and outside. The Copernicus emergency response mapping system was activated on at least two Indian occasions — during the 2014 floods in Andhra Pradesh in October 2014 and after the 2013 storm in Odisha. (Adapted from The Hindu) 4. What is the lowdown on faulty plane engines? (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) What is it? On March 12, India s aviation safety regulator, Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), grounded 11 planes — eight IndiGo and three GoAir aircraft. All of these Airbus aircraft are A320s fitted with a faulty engine made by Pratt and Whitney (P&W), an American manufacturer. This led to massive flight cancellations by the two airlines — IndiGo had to cancel 488 flights while GoAir scrapped 138, hitting travel plans of nearly 1 lakh passengers. How did it come about? In 2014, P&W developed an engine called the PW1100G. A geared turbofan engine, it promised to be 16% more fuel efficient than the old ones and 75% less noisy on the ground, making it a good bet for airlines. But there were problems with the engine. The Doha-based carrier, Qatar Airways, which was one of the launch customers, refused to take delivery of A320neos since December 2015 over performance issues with the aircraft s engines. By 2017, it decided to swap its order for up to 80 Airbus A320neos for the larger, longer-range A321 version.






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In India too, several issues cropped up. These included longer start-up times as well as premature wear and tear of two components of the engine, forcing IndiGo and GoAir to fly these planes at lower altitudes to ensure the engines did not get strained. Some planes were also grounded because of reliability issues, leading to the cancellation of 84 flights in a single day on August 18, 2017. While the problem was fixed, fresh trouble emerged last month, forcing the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to issue an emergency order that no plane with both engines affected be operated. The DGCA on March 12 grounded 11 A320neo aircraft fitted with the faulty engine and operated by IndiGo and GoAir following three occurrences of in-flight engine shut-down being reported in a fortnight. Why does it matter? The grounding of these aircraft on account of in-flight engine shutdown raised a question about the safety of aircraft operations, leading to two separate public interest litigation petitions being filed in the Bombay and Delhi High Courts. Both petitions have been admitted, and the DGCA has been asked whether the A320neo planes are airworthy. On March 12, the DGCA issued a statement that in a communication, P&W had not given any firm commitment as to when the issues of the engines would be resolved but informed that all engines would be replaced by early June. The petitions also question the discovery of metal chips in the neo engine of a plane which was grounded in New Delhi on March 18. Metal chips, according to the petitioners, are found only when an engine starts disintegrating. What lies ahead? The DGCA is in touch with the stakeholders and will review the situation as and when EASA and P&W address the issue. Till then, the aircraft will remain grounded. Airline sources said P&W would deliver two engines this week and the remaining in the next 40 days. But with 626 flights out of the system, summer is the time when travel agents have predicted a rise in airfare. The DGCA s latest data show that airlines are flying with 90% load factor for the past six months. Now that some capacity is out of the system (due to the grounding), all flights are going full. So when additional demand would be generated in the peak season, fares are expected to rise. (Adapted from The Hindu) 5. Psychographics (Relevant for GS prelims and GS mains Paper III) What is Psychographics? Psychographics refers to psychological profiling of target groups that helps to understand them better so corporates can make better sales pitches for their products, and

governments can tailor their schemes and customize political campaigns. Example






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Psychographics analyses lifestyle, said Dr Shanthi Venkatesh, Associate Professor, Loyola

Institute of Business Administration. It is a routine market research tool, she said — For

example, there may be people who have the same earning capacity, but who may differ in

their decision-making. One person who earns Rs 1 lakh a month could, for example, be

more inclined to save most of it, while another could spend it all on latest accessories.

A knowledge of these choices that people make — how conservative they may be to new

ideas, and how they organize themselves — will likely offer clues on how people think. When combined with demographic surveys, which look at a person s place in society, it

generates data to create powerful campaigns that are more likely to succeed, experts say. What is the role of technology? There is a huge cache of data waiting to be mined in quick time, leading to improved

customization. Online targeting tools can help here — a Google search will throw up

results that will include those specific keywords in that search, and Facebook s algorithm

will look at your recent activities and throw up ads that you may find interesting. Why there is so much noise around Facebook? At the periphery of the global noise around Facebook lies a study that was published in the

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2013. It showed that if you had

enough data, just based on the Likes , you could predict sensitive personal attributes,

including political views, fairly accurately.

This study had the explicit consent of 58,000 volunteers. Cambridge Analytica, on the

other hand, is accused of profiling 50 million users, not just of those who downloaded the

particular app, but of their friends as well, to create highly targeted ad campaigns. (Adapted from Indian express)

6. Cricket s cheating crisis — Gaming the swing (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper III) At the heart of the scandal that has already cost one of the world s all-time greats his captaincy and now threatens to end his career, lies an attempt to illegally change the condition of the cricket ball using a foreign object at Cape Town on Saturday. After cameras picked up Australia s Cameron Bancroft with a small yellow object in his hand and rubbing the rough side of the ball as opposed to the shiny side, captain Steven Smith pleaded guilty to ball-tampering. We saw this game as such as an important game. We ve seen the ball reversing through this series, and this ball didn t seem like it was going to go, Smith told a press conference.





http://indianexpress.com/about/google/


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Why do fielding sides try to keep one side of the ball shiny, the other rough? In the first 10-15 overs, bowlers generally focus on conventional swing, when the ball moves towards the dull, or non-shiny, side. For inswing, the seam needs to point to leg slip; for outswing, towards first slip. To move the ball in the air, a subtle change of grip is needed. But the seam of the machine-stitched Kookaburra balls, the kind being used in the ongoing South Africa-Australia series, merges with the leather sooner than the hand-stitched Dukes and SGs, both of which have more pronounced seams. This results in the ball going flat, and bowlers find it difficult to move it in the air. That is why bowlers are desperate to extract reverse swing as early as possible. For this, the ball has to be rough on the one side and shiny on the other. Designated ball tenderers in the team ensure this. What is reverse swing? It s the term used for unconventional swing — when the (old) ball moves in the direction of the shiny side. Due to friction, air passes over the shiny side quicker than it does on the rough side, creating a drag effect that ensures the ball moves in the direction of the shine. This is also dependent on keeping the shiny side heavier, which is done by constantly applying sweat on the shiny side while leaving the rough side completely dry.






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Do roughed-up balls automatically start reversing? No — because if they did, there d be greats like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis in every team in every era. To begin with, the ball has to be delivered at over 85 mph (137 kph), so the batsman has no time to adjust to the late movement. To generate that late movement, the action must be slightly whippier or slingier like Waqar Younis s. Bowling into the wind assists movement towards the shiny side; a ball going downwind encounters no resistance, and its swing is curtailed. What are the ways to keep one side of the ball shiny and the other side rough? The only legal way available is to polish the ball using plain saliva or sweat — and ensuring that the other side does not get any moisture at all. Designated ball-shiners are in charge of making or keeping the ball. The roughness of the other side must be natural — the

result of wear and tear in the normal course of the game. What foreign objects have been used to illegally roughen the ball? Cricketers have used tiny blades hidden in the protective tape worn on fingers, zippers of trousers, bottlecaps, sandpaper, and shoe spikes — or simply rubbed the ball against any rough surface available. Bancroft introduced to cricket yellow tape with great adhesive qualities. Fingernails have been used widely — it is often the team strategy to toss the ball around among four or five fielders before the bowler gets it back, each of whom gets in at least one scratch on the rough side with their fingernails. There are also rogue throws from the boundary, ensuring the ball lands on the pitch square, which is the hardest part of the cricket field. Bowlers also accidentally lay their spikes on the ball; two days before the Bancroft incident, Australian quick Pat Cummins s foot was found to be resting — by mistake , he said — for a few extra seconds on the ball.

And are there illegal ways to keep the ball shiny as well? Players have long used mints that produce a pasty mix with saliva, the thickness of which makes the shiny side of the ball heavier and assists greater reverse swing. This slurp-up tampering technique is believed to have been discovered in England and was picked up by players the world over. Indian domestic cricketers identified the hard candy Alpenliebe as the ideal sweets to suck on, followed by Poppins. In 2008, the former England opener Marcus Trescothick admitted to having used Murray Mints when he was his team s ball-shiner during the 2005 Ashes series, when England regained the urn after nearly two decades. Most recently in 2016, South Africa captain Faf du Plessis was fined for ball tampering after being caught sucking on mints. Other commonly used illegal ball-shiners include hair gel, sun tan lotion, lip balm, jellybeans or Vaseline. Former South African spinner Pat Symcox allegedly managed to both rough up and shine the ball by sticking it inside his shirt and rubbing it in his armpit. But how have players been getting away with these acts for so many years? As with most things, there is a technique to scuffing up the ball, and the really smart cricketers are able to use their fingernails without letting the umpires catch on. The scratches, for example, might leave concentric circles on the rough side, which resemble






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natural wear and tear. Things used to be somewhat easier before umpires started to insist on holding the ball during drinks breaks, and cameras at the ground became increasingly all-seeing. Another common ploy was to get the most innocent-looking player to work on the ball — the jury is out on whether Bancroft fits that description. With ball-tampering of this kind being fairly common, what probably stands out in the Cape Town affair is the brazenness of Australian action — trying to scuff up the ball as nearly 30 cameras zoomed on to every move they made on the field, and the manner in which Bancroft stuck the yellow tape inside his trousers. The ICC has always been a step behind the practitioners of illegal techniques — which is the reason it has failed to snuff it out for good. The ball-tampering law, Law 41.3.2.1 of the ICC Men s Test Match Playing Conditions, is rather general, allowing a fielder to polish the ball on his clothing provided that no artificial substance is used and that such polishing wastes no time . In the circumstances, it is often broadcasters who end up playing the unofficial police where ball tampering attempts are involved. (Adapted from the Indian Express) 7. GSAT-6A launched (Relevant for GS prelims, GS mains Paper III)

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully placed a communication satellite GSAT-6A in a geosynchronous transfer orbit. It was carried on board the GSLV F-08 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. What is GSAT-6A? The GSAT-6A is a communication satellite that incorporates the high-thrust Vikas engine. It will complement the GSAT-6, which is already in orbit. The GSAT-6A s antenna has a






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diameter of six metres — it can be unfurled and opened like an umbrella once it reaches its prescribed orbit. The GSAT-6A built by ISRO is intended to provide mobile communication services through multi beam coverage. The satellite is equipped with S- and C-band transponders. The satellite will be placed at a height of 36,000 km in a geostationary orbit, and the antenna will be unfurled in the coming days. About the launch The launch was the 12th satellite launched on board the GSLV rocket and the fifth consecutive success for a GSLV equipped with an indigenously developed Cryogenic Upper Stage engine. The GSLV F08, a fully operational version of ISRO s GSLV Mk II rocket series, launched the GSAT 6A communication satellite into its orbit. Planned moon mission The GSLV — specifically the GSLV F10 — is the designated rocket to fly India s second mission to the Moon, the Chandrayaan 2, weighing around 3,290 kg, at the end of the year. Controversy around GSAT 6A The GSAT 6A was originally intended to be launched for the private firm Devas Multimedia to provide communication services in India, but the deal was scrapped by the UPA government in 2011 after it came under scrutiny for irregularities. Under the deal, ISRO was to build and launch the GSAT 6 and 6A at a cost of Rs 766 crore. The GSAT 6, weighing 2,117 kg and very similar to the GSAT 6A, was ultimately launched on the GSLV D6 in August 2015. Stages of GSLV The indigenous cryogenic stage on the GSLV is the third stage and uses liquid hydrogen as fuel and liquid oxygen as oxidiser. The first stage is solid fuel and the second stage is liquid fuel based. About Cryogenic stage Cryogenic stage is a highly efficient rocket stage that provides more thrust for every kg of propellant it burns compared to solid and earth-storable liquid propellant stages. The impulse achievable with cryo fluids is 450 seconds compared with 300 seconds for other fuels. According to space scientists, cryogenic engines provide unprecedented thrust to GSLV rockets in their final stages while keeping fuel loads relatively low. Nearly 50% of the power for GSLV rockets as they push into space comes from the cryogenic stage. India Cryogenic story






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India had first ventured on the path of obtaining cryogenic technology in 1992 with a two-pronged strategy of purchasing cryogenic engines from Russia and acquiring the technology from the US. But following the 1998 nuclear tests and the sanctions that followed, the US denied India cryogenic technology. ISRO used seven cryogenic engines sold by Russia for the early phase of its GSLV programme that began in 2001, while parallely developing an indigenous technology. GSLV launches with Russian engines, including early operational flights, had mixed results, with only two flights going perfectly to plan. The first GSLV flight with an indigenous cryogenic upper stage failed on April 15, 2010. In the absence of heavy-lift rocket technology, India has been relying on France for launching its communication satellites. India is among six nations — along with the US, Russia, France, Japan and China — to possess cryogenic engine technology, a key frontier in rocket science. While ISRO has brought the GSLV Mk II to an operational phase, it is still in the process of developing a fully operational GSLV Mk III rocket, which can carry satellites weighing more than four tonnes to space. The GSLV Mk III D1 flight delivered a 3,136 kg GSAT-19 satellite — the heaviest launched from Indian soil — to a geosynchronous transfer orbit in June 2017. The cryogenic upper stage in the GSLV Mk III rocket, called the C25 engine, is an improvement on C20 cryogenic engines used in the GSLV Mk II rockets which entered the operational phase after over 25 years of development, in September 2016, following the successful flight of the GSLV F05 with a 2,211 kg INSAT-3DR weather satellite. A GSLV Mk III D2 rocket is scheduled to fly a GSAT 29 communication satellite to space in its second mission which is scheduled for the first half of 2018 by ISRO. (Adapted from the Indian Express and The Hindu)






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Social Issues 1. In Ayodhya case, a question recalled: Is mosque central to prayer in Islam? (Relevant for GS mains Paper I) A Supreme Court Bench hearing the Ayodhya title suit last week said it would first examine whether a judgment passed by the court back in 1994 needed to be referred to a larger Bench for reconsideration. The order in Dr M Ismail Faruqui Etc. vs Union Of India And Others (October 24, 1994), passed a little less than two years after the Babri Masjid was demolished, said that a mosque was not an essential part of the practice of the religion of Islam and hence, its acquisition (by the state) is not prohibited by the provisions in the Constitution of India . What was the question before the court then? The petition The petition challenged the constitutional validity of the Acquisition of Certain Area at Ayodhya Act, 1993, under which 67.703 acres of land in and around the Babri Masjid, which had been demolished on December 6, 1992 by kar sevaks, was acquired by the Centre. It also questioned the maintainability of the Special Reference made by then President Shankar Dayal Sharma on January 7, 1993, to the Supreme Court under Article 143(1) of the Constitution, asking whether a Hindu temple or any Hindu religious structure existed prior to the construction of the Ram Janma Bhumi-Babri Masjid (including the premises of the inner and outer courtyards of such structure) in the area on which the structure stood? The hearing The matter was heard by a five-judge Constitution Bench. A larger question raised at the hearing was that the state cannot acquire any mosque, irrespective of its significance to the practice of Islam… because of the special status of a mosque in Mahomedan Law . The acquisition of a mosque violates rights under Articles 25 and 26, it was argued. Majority decision A majority upheld the acquisition, saying any step taken to arrest escalation of communal tension… can, by no stretch of argumentation, be termed non-secular… or against the concept of secularism — a creed of the Indian people embedded in the ethos. The judges noted that the right to practise, profess and propagate religion guaranteed under Article … does not necessarily include the right to acquire or own or possess property. Similarly, this right does not extend to the right of worship at any and every place of worship so that any hindrance to worship at a particular place per se may infringe the religious freedom guaranteed under Articles and … The protection under Articles






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and … is to religious practice which forms an essential and integral part of the religion. A practice may be a religious practice but not an essential and integral part of practice of that religion. They said that under the Mahomedan Law applicable in India, title to a mosque can be lost by adverse possession (and) if that is the position in law, there can be no reason to hold that a mosque has a unique or special status, higher than that of the places of worship of other religions in secular India to make it immune from acquisition by exercise of the sovereign or prerogative power of the State. A mosque, the judges said, is not an essential part of the practice of the religion of Islam and namaz (prayer) by Muslims can be offered anywhere, even in open. Accordingly, its acquisition is not prohibited by the provisions in the Constitution of India . The majority upheld the 1993 Act, but struck down as unconstitutional and invalid its Section 4(3), which said that judicial proceedings in all matters relating to property vested in the central government shall abate on the date of the commencement of the Act. This, the court said, was an extinction of the judicial remedy for resolution of the dispute amounting to negation of rule of law . On the Reference The three judges did not answer the Reference. The majority verdict said that in view of the court upholding the Act and striking down Section 4(3), the suits and legal proceedings between the parties stood revived, and had to be adjudicated. The Reference, therefore, becomes superfluous and unnecessary , the court said. We, accordingly, very respectfully

decline to answer the Reference and return the same. The majority decision also called for a settlement of the dispute through negotiations. This is a matter suited essentially to resolution by negotiations which does not end in a winner and a loser while adjudication leads to that end, it is in the national interest that there is no loser at the end of the process adopted for resolution of the dispute so that the final outcome does not leave behind any rancour in anyone. This can be achieved by a negotiated solution. Unless a solution is found which leaves everyone happy, that cannot be the beginning for continued harmony between we the people of India . Minority view Justices Bharucha and Ahmadi found that the Act and the Reference… favour one religious community and disfavour another ; therefore the purpose of the Reference is… opposed to secularism and is unconstitutional . Also, the judges said, the Reference does not serve a constitutional purpose. The minority judgment struck down the 1993 Act as being unconstitutional , and returned the Presidential Reference without answering. When… adherents of the religion of the majority of Indian citizens make a claim upon and assail the place of worship of another






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religion and, by dint of numbers, create conditions that are conducive to public disorder, it is the constitutional obligation of the State to protect that place of worship and to preserve public order… It is impermissible under the provisions of the Constitution for the State to acquire that place of worship to preserve public order. To condone the acquisition of a place of worship in such circumstances is to efface the principle of secularism from the Constitution, the minority judgment said. (Adapted from Indian Express)

2. Karnataka Cabinet approves separate religion tag for Lingayats, seeks Centre s nod (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper I) Decision of the State government The state government has accepted the recommendation of a committee formed to study the issue. The ball is now in the Centre's court. Finally, to be decided by Centre In a key political development ahead of the 2018 state assembly polls in Karnataka, the Congress-led state government sought the Central government's nod for giving Lingayats a separate religion status. Putting the ball in the Centre s court, the Karnataka Cabinet on Monday decided to go ahead with the recommendations made by the Justice Nagamohan Das committee. Nagamohan Das committee The state government-appointed Nagamohan Das committee, which was formed in December 2017 to decide on the matter, had suggested that Lingayats be identified as a separate religion. It concluded that there is enough evidence to differentiate Lingayat religion from Hindu religion and also added that Veerashaivas - another sect looking to get religious minority status, too can be part of the larger umbrella of Lingayat religion . Political significance of the decision Lingayats are traditionally considered to be a major components of the BJP s vote bank across the state, especially in north Karnataka bordering Maharashtra. Political analysts and the opposition had accused the Congress of playing up the issue for electoral gains. However, the Karnataka cabinet is a divided house on the issue. Monday s decision was taken after a March 8 meeting discussing the issue was deferred following a heated disagreement between Lingayat and Veerashaiva ministers in the cabinet. Who are Lingayats? Lingayats, a distinct Shaivate religious tradition, are followers of the 12th century poet-philosopher-social reformer Basaveshwara who rebelled against established Hindu tradition by defying the caste system and vedic rituals.






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In their bid for a separate religion status, the Lingayats wanted to dissociate themselves from Veerashaaivas, also a Shaivate religious tradition, whose followers adhere to the vedas. The movement for a separate religion tag, which was started as far back as 1942, was resurrected in 2017 by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah s promise to look into the demand for a separate religion status for Lingayats and Veerashaivas. (Adapted from The News Minute) 3. Survey on Higher Education (Relevant for GS Prelims, GS Mains Paper I) To portray the status of higher education in the country, Ministry of Human Resource Development has started an annual web-based All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE). The first survey was conducted in the year 2011 for the survey year 2010-11. Since then the survey is continuously being conducted annually by the Ministry through web based portal www.aishe-gov.in. The survey covers all the Institutions in the country engaged in imparting of higher education. Data is being collected on several parameters such as teachers, student enrolment, number of programmes, examination results, and infrastructure. Indicators of educational development such as Institution Density, Gross Enrolment Ratio, Pupil Teacher Ratio, Gender Parity Index etc. are calculated from the data collected through AISHE. The results of important parameters of the survey such as Institution Density, Gross Enrolment Ratio, Pupil-Teacher Ratio, Gender Parity Index for the last three years of the survey is given as under:

Important Results of the Survey 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17

Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) 24.3 24.5 25.2

No. of Colleges per lakh population 27 28 28

Gender Parity Index 0.92 0.92 0.94

Pupil Teacher Ratio 21 21 22

(Adapted from pib)






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Miscellaneous 1. Second India-Korea Business Summit Held Today (Relevant for GS prelims) Second India-Korea Business Summit organized by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Invest India, was held today in New Delhi. Aim of the summit is to strengthen the economic relationship, boost trade relations and increase investments between India and Republic of Korea. Highlights of the summit The summit began with a roundtable of Korean CEOs which was chaired by Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi. The roundtable gave the Korean companies an opportunity to discuss their investment plans and resolve any pending issues being faced by the Korean companies in their India operations. The roundtable included delegates from both Governments and 25 CEOs from leading Korean companies with an estimated revenue of USD 575 billion. (Adapted from PIB)

2. Cabinet approves continuation of Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) beyond 12th Plan for three years from 2017-18 to 2019-20 (Relevant for GS Prelims) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the continuation of Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) beyond 12th Plan for three years from 2017-18 to 2019-20 with a total outlay of Rs. 5,500 crores. Scheme will create sustainable estimated employment opportunities for 15 lakh persons in three financial years. Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is the nodal implementation agency at the national level. At the State/district level, State offices of KVIC, Khadi and Village Industries Boards (KVIBs) and District Industry Centres (DIC) are the implementing agencies. Applications are invited and processed on-line on PMEGP-e-portal. Background: PMEGP is a major credit-linked subsidy programme being implemented by the Ministry of MSME since 2008-09 The Scheme is aimed at generating self-employment opportunities through establishment of micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector by helping traditional artisans and unemployed youth in rural as well as urban areas. A total of 4.55 lakh micro enterprises have been assisted with a margin money subsidy of Rs 9564.02 crore providing employment to an estimated 37.98 lakh persons from inception till 31.01.2018. (Adapted from PIB)






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3. Inauguration 1st Mega Food Park in Maharashtra at Satara on 01.03.2018 (Relevant for GS Prelims) The first Mega Food Park in the state of Maharashtra at Village Degaon, District Satara has been inaugurated by Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Minister of Food Processing Industries. This is the 10th Mega Food Park being operationalized in the country. What are Mega food parks? Mega Food Parks create modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from farm to market with strong forward and backward linkages through a cluster-based approach. Common facilities and enabling infrastructure is created at Central Processing Centre and facilities for primary processing and storage is created near the farm in the form of Primary Processing Centers (PPCs) and Collection Centers (CCs). Under the Scheme, Government of India provides financial assistance upto Rs. 50.00 Crore per Mega Food Park project. (Adapted from PIB)

4. Karti Chidambaram held in INX Media bribery case (Relevant for GS Prelims) CBI accuses former FM s son of taking $1 million to scuttle probe against company In a dramatic move, the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Karti Chidambaram on allegations that he had demanded and accepted $1 million for scuttling a possible probe against INX Media for violation of FIPB conditions in 2007. Indrani s statement In a recent statement to the CBI, agency sources said, INX Media former director Indrani Mukerjea — who is facing prosecution along with husband Peter Mukerjea for the murder of her daughter Sheena Bora — claimed that Mr. Karti demanded and accepted the amount. The deal was struck at Delhi s Hyatt, the agency said. What is the allegation against Karti? It is alleged that Karti exercised his influence over the FIPB unit officials to help INX Media wriggle out of a probe proposed by the Department of Revenue into an alleged unapproved 26% down-streaming of foreign investments in INX News, received from three Mauritius-based companies in 2007. INX Media had got FIPB approval for Rs.4.62-crore influx but received Rs.305 crore by selling its shares at a premium of Rs.800 per unit. For down-streaming of funds, the company re-applied as advised by the FIPB and got a separate approval later, allegedly by concealing that it had already been made. (Adapted from the Hindu) 5. New malware Reaper and Saposhi threat (Relevant for GS Prelims)






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Saposhi can take over electronic devices and use them for DDoS attack Cybersecurity agencies have detected a new malware called Saposhi, which is capable of taking over electronic devices and turning them into bots , which can be then used for any purpose, including a Distributed Denial Of Service attack which, with enough firepower, can cripple entire industries. Details about Saposhi Saposhi can take over over millions of devices at the rate of 10,000 devices per day. In October last year, the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), a central government body that deals with cyber-attacks, had issued an alert about Saposhi and Reaper, capable of not only hacking devices like WiFi routers and security cameras, but also able to hide its own presence in the bot — a device taken over by a malware. How a malware works: A malware is released into cyberspace, with specific instructions programmed into it. The instructions direct the malware to take over as many devices connected to the internet as possible. Depending on its programming, the malware turns internet-connected devices into bots and starts building a botnet. Malwares like Reaper and Saposhi are capable of identifying weaknesses in devices and exploiting them to turn the devices into bots.






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Once a large enough botnet is created, simultaneous pings are sent to a single server, causing a server failure, which is called a Distributed Denial of Service attack. Depending on the size of the botnet, malwares can execute multiple DDOS attacks at the same time, or over a period of time. (Adapted from the Hindu) 6. All you need to know about SSC paper leak (Relevant for Overall understanding) What is the so-called SSC scam ? Students from various parts of the country have been protesting against the alleged leak of questions of the Combined Graduate Level (CGL) exams conducted by SSC. According to the students, on February 21, two hours before the quantitative paper exam was to be held, the answer keys with questions were uploaded onto a Facebook page called SSCtube. SSCtube is an online study centre, and it is not clear who runs it. The admin of the page claimed the answer keys had appeared in the account inbox. Almost half an hour after the exam started at 10.30 am, it was stopped and rescheduled for 12.15 pm, apparently due to a technical glitch. But students claim that after they left the examination centres, they discovered the questions and answers released on SSCtube matched. After the exam restarted, some 20-40 questions were allegedly found answered at certain centres in Bhopal, Patna and Kanpur. This time, the exam was rescheduled for March 9. But once the February 21 incident went viral on Facebook and WhatsApp, aspirants from across the country started to assemble at the CGO complex in Delhi. What kind of exams does the SSC conduct? The body was constituted in 1975 as Subordinate Services Selection Board under the Department of Personnel and Training of the central government, and re-designated as Staff Selection Commission in 1977. It recommends candidates for recruitment to various Class III (now called Group C) posts in Ministries/Departments of the central government and in subordinate offices. It also conducts recruitment exams for Group B posts in the payscale of Rs 9,300 to 34,800 with a grade pay of Rs 42,000. The exam in question was the Tier-II Combined Graduate Level (CGL) exam to fill 8,000 Group B positions this year. Successful candidates would qualify for, among other posts, Income-Tax and Excise inspectors. 14 lakh aspirants had taken the Tier-I exam, of which 1.89 lakh had advanced to Tier-II. The CGL exams test students on quantitative aptitude, general awareness and English. After






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Tier-II, there is a Tier-III exam. This is a descriptive paper, which replaced interviews in 2016. The SSC also conducts the Combined Higher Secondary Level (CHSL) exam for the posts of Lower Division Clerks, Central Police Organisation exams for recruitments in the Delhi Police, CISF, and BSF, and exams for recruitment of Multi-Tasking Staff (MTS) for posts of peon. All these exams are held once a year. What does the SSC say about the alleged leak? SSC Chairman Ashim Khurana rejected allegations that the questions had been leaked. But if there was no leak, why did SSC cancel the February 21 exam? According to the Commission, on February 21, the service provider agency had uploaded a dummy instead of the actual mathematics paper. Because of the inconvenience that students faced due to the dummy paper being uploaded first, and then being replaced with main paper, the examination of mathematics of February 21 has been cancelled. Who is leading the ongoing protests? While the students gathered spontaneously, they have since found support from political parties and student organisations. The All India Students Association (AISA) has been backing the protesters from the beginning, and the NSUI and ABVP, students wings of the Congress and BJP, too, have extended solidarity. The Union Home Ministry has accepted the demand of the students for CBI probe. (Adapted from the Indian express) 7. Oscars (Relevant for GS Prelims) The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, are a set of 24 awards for artistic and technical merit in the American film industry, given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), to recognize excellence in cinematic achievements as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the "Academy Award of Merit", which has become commonly known by its nickname "Oscar". The awards were first presented in 1929. Other equivalent awards The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony. Its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music – are modeled after the Academy Awards. 90th Academy awards






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The 90th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2017, was held on March 4, 2018. (Adapted from the Hindu) 8. New CMs in Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland (Read only for understanding) CM in Meghalaya The Bharatiya Janata Party s reign in alliance with regional parties in three north-eastern States began with Conrad Kongkal Sangma, 40, being sworn in as Meghalaya Chief Minister. CM in Tripura State BJP president Biplab Kumar Deb, 48, being named Chief Minister of the party s first government in Tripura. CM in Nagaland Nagaland Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang resigned to pave the way for veteran Neiphiu Rio to take charge of an alliance government of the BJP and the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP). (Adapted from the Hindu) 9. Vandalism on statues (Read only for understanding)

Home Ministry tells States to curb such incidents The Home Ministry issued two strongly worded advisories to State governments to prevent such incidents from occurring. In an official statement Prime Minister Modi was said to have strongly condemned such incidents of vandalism and assured stern action would be taken against those found guilty.






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What has happened? Following the BJP s victory in the Assembly polls in Tripura, a statue of late Soviet leader V.I. Lenin in Belonia town in the State had been vandalised. Following this, a statue of Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was defaced in West Bengal. What added fuel to the fire was a Facebook post (now deleted and denied) from the account of BJP s national secretary H. Raja that statues of Dravidian ideologue Periyar in Tamil Nadu be defaced too. The government and the BJP strongly condemned the incidents at the highest level as the issue appeared to be gaining traction across the country. Defaced in T.N A statue of Periyar in Vellore in Tamil Nadu was found vandalised, following which the BJP s office in Coimbatore was attacked with a petrol bomb early on Wednesday morning. (Adapted from the Hindu) 10. LIDAR data to identify potential solar power rooftops (Relevant for GS Prelims) Use of LIDAR in Bengaluru Bengaluru s aerial mission to produce a three-dimensional map of rooftop solar power potential using Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data can give this key source of power a big boost. Similar mapping exercises have been carried out in several countries over the past few years to assess how much of a city s power needs can be met through rooftop solar installations. What was the objective of survey? A survey helps determine usable rooftops, separating them from green spaces, and analyses the quality of the solar resource. With steady urbanisation, solar maps of this kind will help electricity utilities come up with good business cases and investment vehicles and give residents an opportunity to become partners in the effort. An initiative to rapidly scale up rooftop solar installations is needed if the target of creating 40 GW of capacity connected to the grid by 2022 is to be realised. But this will need to be scaled up massively to achieve the national target. State of rooftop solar Rooftop solar represents only about 11% of the country s 19,516 MW total installed capacity at the start of 2018. The Centre should come up with incentives, given the enormous investment potential waiting to be tapped and the real estate that can be rented. The southern States and Rajasthan together host the bulk of national solar infrastructure on a large scale. (Adapted from The Hindu)






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11. Indian architect BV Doshi wins 'Nobel for architecture' (Relevant for GS prelims)

Balkrishna Doshi, the legendary Indian architect who designs not just buildings but institutions, is being honored with the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the Nobel equivalent for the field. The Pune-born Doshi, who is 90, is the first Indian to receive the honor, the highest in the profession. Balkrishna Doshi has always created an architecture that is serious, never flashy or a follower of trends. About Pritzker Architecture Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture." Founded in 1979 by Jay A. Pritzker and his wife Cindy, the award is funded by the Pritzker family and sponsored by the Hyatt Foundation. It is considered to be one of the world's premier architecture prizes, and is often referred to as the Nobel Prize of architecture. The prize is said to be awarded "irrespective of nationality, race, creed, or ideology." The recipients receive US$100,000, a citation certificate, and since 1987, a bronze medallion. (Adapted from The Times of India)






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12. Ambani worth tops $40 bn; Amazon s Bezos unseats Gates to head global list (Relevant for GS Prelims) E-commerce giant s founder becomes first centi-billionaire with $112 bn fortune. Mukesh Ambani s net worth has soared to $40.1 billion, making him the richest Indian for the 11th year in a row, while Amazon founder Jeff Bezos toppled Bill Gates as the world s wealthiest person, says Forbes. According to Forbes 2018 World s Billionaires list, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani s wealth surged a whopping 72.8% to $40.1 billion (Rs. 2,60,622 crore) — highest among the 119 Indian billionaires on the list. Mr. Ambani was ranked 19th globally, up from 33rd position in 2017. Mukesh Ambani chairs and runs $51 billion [revenue] oil and gas giant Reliance

Industries, among India s most valuable companies, Forbes said. Biggest one-year gain

Mr. Bezos, referred to as the Centi-billionaire , topped the list with a net worth of $112 billion, becoming the only person to appear in the Forbes list with a 12-figure fortune. The Amazon founder moved ahead of Bill Gates, who is now the second richest person globally with a fortune of $90 billion. India adds 18 billionaires According to Forbes, India is home to 119 billionaires, 18 more than last year. This year s list consists of 2,043 of the richest people in the world. The combined net worth of this elite group is a whopping $9.1 trillion, up 18% since last year. Their average net worth is a record $4.1 billion. Azim Premji is the second richest Indian and was ranked 58th on the overall list with a net worth of $18.8 billion, followed by Lakshmi Mittal (62nd position, net worth of $18.5 billion), Shiv Nadar (98th, $14.6 billion) and Dilip Shanghvi (115th, $12.8 billion). The 10 richest Indians include Kumar Birla, ranked 127th overall with a fortune of $11.8 billion, Uday Kotak (143, $10.7 billion), Radhakishan Damani (151, $10 billion), Gautam Adani (154, $9.7 billion) and Cyrus Poonawalla (170, $9.1 billion). Acharya Balkrishna, the co-founder of FMCG company Patanjali Ayurved, was ranked 274th on the list with a net worth of $6.3 billion. Meanwhile, Anil Ambani, was ranked 887th on the list with a net worth of $2.7 billion.






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Donald Trump, who became the first billionaire president in U.S. history, was ranked 766th on the list, down from 544, with a fortune of $3.1 billion. Mr. Trump s fortune fell $400 million since March 2017. There were 259 newcomers, including the first ever cryptocurrency billionaires. Forbes noted that the gap between the really rich and the merely rich continues to widen, as fortunes soar to new heights so much so that the 20 richest people on the planet are worth a staggering $1.2 trillion, a sum roughly equivalent to the annual economic output of Mexico. (Adapted from The Hindu) 13. Government announces launch of SUVIDHA – Rs. 2.50, 100% Oxo-biodegradable Sanitary Napkin – under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) (Relevant for GS Prelims) Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Ananthkumar announced the launch of Suvidha , the 100% Oxo-biodegradable Sanitary Napkin, under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP), here today. The affordable sanitary napkin will be available for Rs. 2.50 per padat over 3200 Janaushadhi Kendras across India and would ensure Swachhta, Swasthya and Suvidha for the underprivileged Women of India. (Adapted from pib) 14. Udyam Sakhi Portal Launched for Women Entrepreneurs (Relevant for GS Prelims) On the occasion of International Women s Day today, March 8,the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises(MSME) launched a portal for women entrepreneurs of India: www.udyamsakhi.org. How will the portal help? The portal is a network for nurturing entrepreneurship and creating business models for low cost products and services in order to empower women and make them self-reliant and self-sufficient. The portal provides assistance through its platform for entrepreneurship learning tools, incubation facility, training programs for fund raising, providing mentors, one-on-one investor meet, provide market survey facility and technical assistance. (Adapted from pib) 15. Key initiatives for Digital literacy and Education (Relevant for GS Prelims)






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Ministry of Human Resource Development has some major key initiatives to promote Digital Education, which are as follow: 1. SWAYAM: SWAYAM will provide one integrated platform and portal for online courses, using information and communication technology (ICT) and covering all higher education subjects and skill sector courses. As on date, more than 28 Lakhs learners have been enrolled in 1000+ MOOCs courses that have been run through SWAYAM. 2. SWAYAM Prabha: SWAYAM Prabha is an initiative to provide 32 high quality educational channels through DTH (Direct to Home) across the length and breadth of the country on 24X7 basis. 3. National Digital Library (NDL): The National Digital Library of India (NDL India) project is to develop a framework of virtual repository of learning resources with a single-window search facility. As on date about 1.5 Crore e-books and documents are available on NDL contributed by 160 Content contributors and 30 lakh users from 9 thousand educational institutions were registered on NDL 4. e-Shodh Sindhu: The main objective of the e-Shodh Sindu: Consortia for Higher Education E-Resources is to provide access to quality electronic resources including full-text, bibliographic and factual databases to academic institutions at a lower rate of subscription. 5. The Free and Open Source Software for Education (FOSSEE): FOSSEE project has been promoting use of open source software in educational institutions. 6. Virtual Lab: The project aims to provide remote-access to virtual laboratories in various disciplines of science and engineering for students at all levels from under-graduate to research. Foreign Universities are welcome to offer their courses on SWAYAM Platform and the examinations shall be done through SWAYAM following SWAYAM Guidelines. This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Dr. Satya Pal Singh today in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha question. (Adapted from pib) 16. Evaluation of TDP members resignation from Council of Ministers (Read only for understanding) Ever since it became clear that the Centre was unable to grant Andhra Pradesh special category status, the Telugu Desam Party was under pressure to break off ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party and make a public show of its protest.






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Reason for TDP Stand With the main opposition in the State, the YSR Congress Party, taking a belligerent stance on the issue, the TDP could not afford to give the impression that it continued to be a part of the government at the Centre without being able to wrest benefits for A.P. But even as he withdrew his ministers from the Central government, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu stopped short of leading his party out of the National Democratic Alliance headed by the BJP. The exit, when it happens, will be after another display of disaffection with the Centre s attitude towards A.P. Clearly, the TDP is keen to demonstrate that it did everything possible in the interest of this fledgling State before walking out of the NDA. Why Andhra Pradesh, Centre can t agree on special category status Hours after the Centre ruled out special status for Andhra Pradesh, the TDP pulled out its ministers from the NDA government, with its chief Chandrababu Naidu saying he has only been asking for what has been provided for in the AP Reorganisation Act. Did the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, have provisions for special category status to Andhra Pradesh? No. The Act, under which the state of Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated in 2014, doesn t mention special category , but mentions that the Centre would help Andhra Pradesh bridge any resource gap. Under the Revenue Distribution section, the Act states that the Central Government may, having regard to the resources available to the successor State of Andhra Pradesh, make appropriate grants and also ensure that adequate benefits and incentives in the form of special development package are given to the backward areas of that State… Apart from the legislation, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had in the Rajya Sabha assured that Andhra Pradesh would be granted special category status. During the discussion on the AP Reorganisation Bill, Singh had on February 20, 2014, said, Special Category Status will be extended to the successor state of Andhra Pradesh for a period of five years . But the BJP, which came to power at the Centre in 2014, has been saying that the 14th Finance Commission doesn t provide for such treatment to Andhra Pradesh What did the 14th Finance Commission recommend? In its report submitted in December 2014, the YV Reddy-headed Fourteenth Finance Commission — a body that defines financial relations between the Centre and individual state governments — redefined the financial relationship between the Centre and the states for the five-year period ending 2019-20. The Commission did away with the special category status for states, except for the Northeastern and three hill states. Instead, it suggested that the resource gap of each state be filled through tax devolution , urging the Centre to increase its share of tax revenues to the states from 32% to 42%. If






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devolution alone could not cover the revenue gap for certain states, the Commission said, the Centre could provide a revenue deficit grant to these states. The Commission stated that Andhra Pradesh would end up as a revenue deficit state and recommended that the Centre provide a revenue deficit grant for the period of the 14th Finance Commission. If the special category status provision had survived and had been granted to AP, the state would have received funding for Centrally sponsored schemes (CSC) in the 90:10 ratio — with 90% of the funds coming from the Centre as against 60% for normal category states. Stand of Centre The Centre has stated that it is willing to provide the monetary equivalent of a special category state to AP but would not be able to grant it special status as this is restricted, by the 14th Finance Commission, to the three hill states and those in the Northeast. As an additional measure, the Centre has agreed to fund all externally aided projects in Andhra Pradesh in the 90:10 ratio. Stand of TDP While accepting that the Centre has provided funds for various projects including for the construction of capital city Amaravati and the Polavaram Project under the special assistance measure, the TDP says that its bid to get special status is an emotional and sentimental issue in the state. It claims that when the Congress promised special category status, the BJP, then in Opposition, had supported it. The state was divided on the assurance that it would be granted special category status, but the BJP is now reneging on it. The assurances and assistance under special packages don t mean much to AP now. Telugu sentiments and emotions have been hurt and only special category status can assuage them, said TDP MP Y S Chowdary, after resigning as Union Minister of State for Science and Technology. (Adapted from the Indian Express and The Hindu) 17. Central Fraud Registry (Relevant for GS Prelims) What is Central Fraud Registry? Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has put in place a Central Fraud Registry. It has informed that 13,083, 16,468 and 13,653 cases of ATM/Debit Card and Internet Banking frauds, where the amount involved is Rs. 1 lakh and above, were reported by commercial banks during financial years 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 respectively. As per RBI s instructions, banks are required to report cases of fraud to law enforcement agencies. No centralised information is maintained regarding the outcome of investigations by law enforcement agencies.






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Cyber Security Framework to banks and Cyber Security Instructions to issuers of pre-paid instruments For security of e-transactions, RBI has issued Cyber Security Framework to banks and Cyber Security Instructions to issuers of pre-paid instruments ( wallets ). Further, CERT-In issues alerts and advisories to financial institutions regarding latest cyber-threats/vulnerabilities and counter measures. RBI reviews cyber security developments and threats on an ongoing basis and takes necessary measures to strengthen cyber-resilience of banks. No liability of Customers To protect customers, RBI has issued instructions providing for zero liability of a customer where an unauthorised electronic transaction occurs due to contributory fraud or negligence or deficiency on the part of the bank, irrespective of whether or not the transaction is reported by the customer, and where a third-party breach occurs and the deficiency lies neither with the bank nor with the customer but elsewhere in the system, and the customer notifies the bank within three working days of receiving communication from the bank regarding the transaction Further, under RBI s Banking Ombudsman Scheme, customers can lodge a complaint with the Banking Ombudsman against banks, for non-adherence to RBI s instructions regarding mobile/electronic banking services. (Adapted from PIB) 18. Multilateral air Exercise Samvedna (Relevant for GS Prelims) A Multilateral Air Force exercise, Ex Samvedna , is being spearheaded by Indian Air Force from 12-17 Mar 18. Samvedna means Empathy and will ensure better understanding and sharing of response procedures between a number of friendly neighbouring nations. What is so special about the exercise? It is the first composite Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Air exercise in the South Asian region and would be focused on practicing Air Force centric This exercise would help in putting in place a basic framework for conduct of Joint Air HADR operations, which will be further refined during subsequent exercises. This exercise is expected to lead to more coordinated and efficient HADR Air operations in the entire South Asian region when the need arises. Who all are participating? HADR solutions in a Multi-national cooperative Disaster Management environment. Air Forces of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, UAE and Myanmar have already committed resources and personnel for the exercise. Few other Air Forces from the region are also expected to join in. (Adapted from PIB)






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19. MILES-18: First ever multi-nation naval exercise at sea held in Andaman (Relevant for GS Prelims) The MILES-18, first-ever multi-nation naval exercise at sea was held at the Andaman sea. The three days exercise was conducted as part of 10th edition of MILAN 2018. Milan 2018, a multi-national mega event was organised by Andaman Nicobar naval command with theme Friendship Across the Seas to expand regional cooperation and combat unlawful activities in critical sea lanes in critical sea lanes. MILES-18 11 naval ships of 8 countries (Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand) and nine Indian ships had participated in MILES-18. It was aimed to enhance inter-operability between participating countries. Background Milan exercise was held in 1995 for the first time. Its aim was to have effective forum to discuss common concerns in Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and forge deeper cooperation among friendly navies. The exercise is being hosted biennially by Indian Navy under the aegis of Andaman and Nicobar Command. (Adapted from GK Today) 20. National Testing Agency to conduct entrance examinations for Higher Education Institutions (Relevance for GS Prelims) The Union Cabinet in November,2017 approved creation of the National Testing Agency (NTA) as an autonomous and self-sustained premier testing organization to conduct entrance examinations for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the country. Which exams will NTA conduct? The NTA would initially conduct those entrance examinations which are currently being conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The examinations will be conducted in online mode twice a year in order to give adequate opportunity to candidates to bring out their best. Where will NTA centres would be located? In order to serve the requirements of the rural students, NTA would locate the centres at sub-district/district level and as far as possible would provide hands-on training to the students. (Adapted from PIB) 21. Nepal plane crash (Read only for understanding) US-Bangla Airline flight with 71 people crashed while landing at Tribhuvan aiport






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A US-Bangla Airlines aircraft crashed and burst into flames while landing at Nepal s Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) here, killing more than 50 people, a top Nepalese official said. The plane, en route to Kathmandu from Dhaka, with 67 passengers and four crew members caught fire after it careened off the runway during landing and crashed onto a football ground. The aircraft was permitted to land from the Southern side of the runway over Koteshwor but it landed from the Northern side. The exact reason behind the unusual landing are not known. (Adapted from The Hindu) 22. Aadhaar linkage deadline extended indefinitely (Relevant for GS prelims) Deadline for subsidies, benefits under Section 7 of Aadhaar Act will stay as March 31, 2018. The Supreme Court has indefinitely extended the deadline for linking Aadhaar with mobile phones, tatkal passports and for opening bank accounts from March 31, 2018 till the Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra pronounces its final verdict on the validity of the Aadhaar scheme. Rationale behind Supreme Court judgement Chief Justice Misra remarked that it had enough of such piecemeal notifications and legislations issued by the government to link one service or the other. He said it was time the court stepped in and stopped passing interim orders extending the deadline. There should be a sense of certainty that citizens would not be harmed, or their services would not be curtailed even as the very Aadhaar scheme is under the apex court s microscope. Previous order of the Supreme Court On December 15, 2017, the Bench extended the Aadhaar linking deadline from December 31, 2017 to March 31, 2018. Identical to 2017 interim order The March 13 order is more or less identical to the interim order passed on December 15, 2017 except for the fact that March 31, 2018 continues to be the deadline for linking Aadhaar to subsidies, benefits and services prescribed under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act of 2016. Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act says that the Centre and State governments can insist on Aadhaar for the purpose of establishing identity of an individual as a condition for receipt of a subsidy, benefit or service for which the expenditure is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India .






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To undergo authentication to access services under Section 7, an individual has to either produce his Aadhaar card or Aadhaar enrolment application. Why Section 7 benefits are to be linked with Aadhar? Lawyers for the petitioners hint that the court may have excluded Section 7 benefits from the extension because it is statutorily protected by the Aadhaar Act itself, whereas the other linking s like PAN, mobile phones, etc., are based on other statutes or even executive notifications. How Aadhar infringes privacy of the person? Justice Chandrachud pointed out the fact that a nine-judge Constitution Bench on August 24, 2017, recognised and upheld privacy as a fundamental right and intertwined it with basic human dignity and right to life. This verdict has made it all the more important that the question of whether Aadhaar is constitutional or not be resolved by the five-judge Bench at the earliest, Justice Chandrachud observed. The petitioners challenging Aadhaar argue that the scheme, which requires the parting of biometric and personal details, is a coercive step and a stark violation of the ordinary citizen's fundamental right to privacy. The danger to privacy, they argued, is all the more significant because India does not have a data protection regime to prevent or punish personal data leakage. (Adapted from The Hindu) 23. Trump fires Rex Tillerson as secretary of state (Read only for understanding) US President Donald Trump has fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson via Twitter, naming CIA Director Mike Pompeo as his replacement. Mr Tillerson's spokesman said he only learned he was out of a job when he saw the president's tweet thanking him for his service as top US diplomat. The former ExxonMobil chief had a series of public rifts with the White House since he was appointed last year. Who is Secretary of State in US? Secretary of state is equivalent to External Affairs Minister in India. Secretary of defense is equivalent to Defense Minister in India. Secretary of Treasury is equivalent to Finance minister in India. Governor of a state is equivalent to Chief minister of a state in India. What was Trump's reason? Mr Trump said his differences with Mr Tillerson came down to personal "chemistry". "We got along actually quite well, but we disagreed on things," said the president. "When you look at the Iran deal, I think it's terrible. I guess he thought it was OK.






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"I wanted to either break it or do something and he felt a little bit differently, so we were not really thinking the same. "With Mike, Mike Pompeo, we have a very similar thought process. I think it's going to go very well. Mr Tillerson is the latest in a long list of senior officials who have either resigned or been fired since Mr Trump took office. (Adapted from BBC) 24. Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) contribution (Relevant for GS Prelims) Stephen Hawking enrolled at the University of Cambridge in 1962 to study cosmology. He wanted to work with the astronomer Fred Hoyle who, along with two of his colleagues, had floated the steady state theory of the universe a few years earlier. The theory proposed that even though it had been experimentally observed that heavenly bodies were moving away from each other, the universe had always remained more or less in the same condition — it neither had a beginning, nor would it ever have an end. Hawking, however, could not get Hoyle as his PhD guide, and instead worked with Dennis Sciama. In his PhD thesis titled Properties of Expanding Universes , Hawking showed that there were problems with the steady state theory which had been further developed by Hoyle and Jayant Narlikar. Big Bang Theory Hawking developed his ideas further, and working on Einstein s general theory of relativity, showed, in a landmark 1970 mathematical work with another celebrated British mathematical physicist Roger Penrose, that the universe did, in fact, have a beginning — in what is now famously known as the Big Bang — and could possibly have an end as well. The Big Bang is now the most widely accepted theory of the origin of the universe. Contradiction between Quantum theory and General relativity Another landmark scientific achievement came four years later, when Hawking revealed something fundamentally new about Black Holes, those unimaginably dense structures which remain one of the most puzzling areas in the outer universe. In doing so, he showed, for the first time, that the two pillars of modern physics — quantum theory and Einstein s general relativity — could be inconsistent with each other, a possibility that could call for a major revision of physics as we know it. When Stephen Hawking Visited Delhi in 2001 Quantum theory describes the behaviour of very small particles, those smaller than an atom, like protons or electrons, or the even smaller ones like quarks. General relativity, on the other hand, describes how gravity works around massive objects like planets, stars and Black Holes. Both theories have so far passed every experimental test. In 2015, yet another prediction of general relativity was experimentally verified, when gravitational waves were






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detected for the first time, exactly 100 years after these were proposed by Einstein. Scientists believe that quantum theory and general relativity can be unified into a single theory that can explain all phenomena, big or small. This unified theory remains elusive still, but these have also not been found to be contradicting each other. Black holes emit thermal radiation Until Hawking came up with what has since been called the Information Paradox. Until then, Black Holes were believed to be so dense and massive, that once sucked into it, nothing could ever come out. Hawking, while trying to apply quantum mechanical rules to activities happening near a Black Hole — in a way, trying to bring quantum theory in sync with general relativity — showed that rotating Black Holes would in fact emit thermal radiation. Emission is similar to something escaping from Black Holes. This was entirely new, and a fundamental discovery. He also showed that because of the emission of this thermal radiation, the black hole would lose energy and eventually disappear or evaporate . What was even more radical was his suggestion a few years later, in 1981, that along with the evaporation of the Black Hole, all information that was once contained in the Black Hole would also disappear. No signal would remain that would give any indication of anything that existed in the Black Hole. Professor Stephen Hawking's greatest wish Now, quantum theory strongly disapproves of this kind of vanishing act by any matter or radiation. If something disintegrates into nothingness, it must reveal itself in some form of energy somewhere else. The Information Paradox, or Hawking Paradox, as it is also called, became highly studied and debated, and there were several attempts, including by Hawking himself, to resolve it — with limited success. Some scientists believe that if it could be shown that the thermal radiation emitted from the black hole was more than just thermal, it could be possible to examine whether the lost information was actually going out with this radiation, therefore opening up the possibility of resolving the paradox. A complete resolution of the paradox, to the satisfaction of everyone, has still not been found — and the search for a single unified theory of the universe, too, remains elusive. Contribution towards understanding of Black holes Apart from these, Hawking contributed immensely to the knowledge of Black Holes. Much of what is today known about these mysterious areas in the outer universe, where established laws of physics seem to become increasingly uncertain, are due to his scientific work. He was the world s foremost authority on Black Holes. Much of this work is theoretical, and without experimental evidence as of now — which possibly explains why Hawking never received the Nobel Prize. (Adapted from The Indian Express) 25. India ranks 78th on WEF energy transition index (Relevant for GS prelims)






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India has been ranked at 78th, lower than its emerging market peers like Brazil and China, among 114 countries on the World Economic Forum s (WEF) energy transition index that was topped by Sweden. The report titled Fostering Effective Energy Transition, ranks countries on how well they are able to balance energy security and access with environmental sustainability and affordability. According to the report India has taken bold measures to improve energy access, energy efficiency, and to improve the deployment of renewable sources of energy. However, energy transition in the country will require large investments, and an enabling environment and robust regulatory frameworks to support the transition . India is at the crossroads in its energy transition journey. Ranking 78th on the Energy Transition Index, the report said. Comparison with other countries Among its emerging market peers Brazil stood at the 38th place, Russia at 70th and China at 76th place. The overall list was topped by Sweden, followed by Norway at the 2nd position and Switzerland at the 3rd rank. Other countries on the top 10 include Finland (4th), Denmark (5th), the Netherlands (6th), the UK (7th), Austria (8th), France (9th) and Iceland (10th). On India, the report said, energy needs in the country are primarily met by fossil fuels with implications for environmental sustainability and increasing energy import costs. (Adapted from Live Mint) 26. Atal Bhujal Yojana (Relevant for GS Prelims) The Government has proposed Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY) aimed at sustainable ground water management with community participation in select over-exploited and ground water stressed areas in seven States (Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh). ABHY is designed as a Central Sector Scheme with a total outlay of Rs. 6,000 Crore and is proposed to be implemented with World Bank assistance. What is the administrative structure of the scheme? Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) is regulating ground water development in 23 States/UTs. For enforcement of the regulatory measures in these areas, concerned Deputy Commissioners/ District Magistrates have been directed under Section 5 of The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to take necessary action in case of violations of directives of CGWA. No data regarding illegal mineral water/soft drink bottling plants functioning in the country is available with the Ministry of Water Resources, RD & GR. Need for the scheme As per the assessment of dynamic ground water resources of country (As on 31st March 2013) carried out jointly by CGWB and State Ground Water Departments, out of the total






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6584 numbers of assessment units (Block/ Taluks/ Mandals/ watershed/ Firkka), 1034 units have been categorized as Over-exploited . Charges for ground water use CGWA has prepared draft guidelines which stipulates existing & new industries, infrastructure & mining projects etc. to obtain No Objection Certificate (NOC) . In the draft guidelines framed by CGWA, it is proposed to levy a water conservation fee for issuance of No Objection Certificate (NOC) for ground water abstraction. The rates of water conservation fee have been proposed based on the quantum of ground water abstracted, category of ground water assessment unit and use of ground water. Details of rates proposed are given in the table below. Water Conservation Fee will be utilized by the respective State Governments for implementation of ground water recharge/ water conservation measures. Primary responsibility of State governments Water being a State subject, steps for augmentation, conservation and efficient management of water resources to ensure sustainability and availability are primarily undertaken by the respective State Governments. (Adapted from PIB) 27. Initiatives for digitalization of education (Relevant for GS prelims) The Government has taken various initiatives for digitalization of education. Some of these are- (i) E-Pathshala, a web portal has been designed to disseminate e-resources including e-books developed by NCERT, SCERT/SIEs, State Boards. (ii) Shagun portal has been designed to showcase the innovative and successful models implemented by all States and UTs in diverse circumstances. (iii) The National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER) is an initiative to bring together all digital and digitisable resources across all stages of school education and teacher education. (iv) SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active learning for Young Aspiring Minds), a Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform has been launched to offer various online courses for school education and higher education. (v) SWAYAM PRABHA DTH-TV programme for utilization of satellite communication technologies for transmission of educational e-contents through 32 National Channels has been launched. (Adapted from PIB)






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28. LaQshya program (Relevant for GS Prelims) Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has recently announced the launch of program LaQshya , aimed at improving quality of care in labour room and maternity Operation Theatre (OT). Where is the program being implemented? The LaQshya program is being implemented at all Medical College Hospitals, District Hospitals and First Referral Unit (FRU), and Community Health Center (CHCs) and will benefit every pregnant woman and new-born delivering in public health institutions. What will be the benefit of the program? LaQshya will reduce maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality, improve quality of care during delivery and immediate post-partum period. What is the ultimate objective? India has come a long way in improving maternal survival as Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) has reduced from 301 maternal deaths in 2001-03 to 167 in year 2011-13, an impressive decline of 45% in a decade. India is further committed to ensuring safe motherhood to every pregnant woman in the country. (Adapted from PIB) 29. Proposal for Nuclear Power Plants in States (Relevant for GS prelims) The Government has accorded administrative approval and financial sanction for construction of twelve (12) nuclear power reactors in the country. The details of these projects are given below:

State Location Project Capacity(MW)

Madhya Pradesh Chutka Chutka-1&2 2 X 700

Karnataka Kaiga Kaiga-5&6 2 X 700

Rajasthan Mahi Banswara Mahi Banswara-

1&2

2 X 700

Haryana Gorakhpur GHAVP– 3 & 4 2 X 700

Rajasthan Mahi Banswara Mahi Banswara- 3&4 2 X 700

Light Water Reactor (LWR) to be set up in cooperation with Russian Federation






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Tamil Nadu Kudankulam KKNPP– 5&6 2 X 1000

In addition, the Government has accorded In principle approval of the following sites for setting up nuclear power plants in future.

State Site Capacity(MW)

Madhya Pradesh Bhimpur 4 X 700

Maharashtra Jaitapur 6 x 1650

Andhra Pradesh Kovvada 6 x 1208

Gujarat Chhaya Mithi Virdi 6 x 1000*

West Bengal Haripur 6 x 1000*

Role of NPCIL The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is a Public-Sector Enterprise of the Department of Atomic Energy and fully owned by the Government of India. The mandate of NPCIL is implementation of the first stage of the indigenous three-stage nuclear power programme comprising of natural uranium fuelled Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) and Light Water Reactors (LWRs) set up with foreign technical cooperation. NPCIL activities include all aspects of commercial nuclear power reactors encompassing Design, Construction, Commissioning, Operation & Maintenance, Renovation & Modernisation, Research & Development, Upgrades, Life Management and Waste Management. (Adapted from PIB) 30. Krishi Unnati Mela (Relevant for GS Prelims) Krishi Unnati Mela is a three-day event launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 March 2016 in Pusa campus of Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Delhi. The event was launched to provide information on new farm schemes and technologies that will help farmers double their incomes within the next few years. About 2018 Krishi Unnati Mela During the event Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also unveil a portal on organic farming and lay the foundation stone of 25 Krishi Vigyan Kendras. A theme pavilion on doubling of farmers income, organic farming, cooperatives, farm inputs, will be there to further assist






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farmers with the latest developments in the farming techniques. He gave away the Krishi Karman Awards and the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Krishi Protsahan Puraskar. (Adapted from PIB) 31. Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (Relevant for GS prelims) The scheme Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) is under implementation in the country. The details of scheme and salient features are given below: The Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) has been set up under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, as a Society. The RAN was set up to provide financial assistance to patients, living below poverty line and who are suffering from major life-threatening diseases, to receive medical treatment at any of the super speciality Hospitals/Institutes or other Government hospitals. The financial assistance to such patients is released in the form of one-time grant , which is released to the Medical Superintendent of the Hospital in which the treatment has been/is being received. Under RAN Revolving Funds have been set up in 13 Central Government Hospitals/Institutions located all over India for providing financial assistance for treatment up to Rs. 2 lakh. In addition, financial assistance is provided for individual cases referred by Government hospitals/institutions, which do not have a Revolving Fund and for cases referred by 13 Government hospitals/institutions with Revolving Funds for assistance exceeding Rs. 2 lakh. (Adapted from PIB) 32. NITI Aayog to Release SATH-E Roadmaps (Relevant for GS Prelims) NITI Aayog will release comprehensive roadmaps and detailed timelines for its initiative Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital in Education (SATH-E) project. These roadmaps, which operate between 2018 to 2020, lay out detailed interventions which will taken by the three participating States- Jharkand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha – aiming to become Role Model States in school education. These roadmaps present the first-of-its-kind, customized, action-oriented programmes, outlining interventions at the individual, district and State level. The roadmaps were jointly prepared by NITI Aayog, the three States and the knowledge partners of the SATH Initiatives, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Piramal Foundation for Education Leadership (PFEL). (Adapted from PIB) 33. Attack on former Russian spy in Britain (Read only for understanding)






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The attack on Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy who had defected to the U.K., and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury flouted all international norms. How were they killed? The military grade nerve agent used in the attack, the first of its kind in Europe since World War II, has been identified as being from the Novichok class of chemical agents developed by Russia during the Cold War. Why Russia is under suspicion? The modus operandi of the attack was similar to the polonium poisoning of another former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko, in London in 2006, an attack that is likely to have been approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin according to a U.K. inquiry. It is therefore entirely reasonable that Britain asked Russia to clarify if it was behind the attack or had somehow lost control over the nerve agent, two possible explanations for the Salisbury incident. Reaction by Britain Having failed to get a quick reply from Russia, British Prime Minister Theresa May instituted a slew of measures in response to the attack, including expelling 23 Russian diplomats (Russia has promised to retaliate), and freezing its government assets considered potentially harmful to Britons. Support of Super powers In addition to its relationship with Russia, the attack has tested Britain s ties with the U.S. and its NATO and European Union allies as the country leaves the EU. After some initial hesitation and qualified support, the U.S. administration got behind Britain at the UN Security Council; France and Germany have also supported the British position that Russia was behind the attack. (Adapted from The Hindu) 34. Andhra triangle: on TDP exiting NDA (Read only for understanding) TDP leaving National Democratic Alliance coalition at Centre There are two major regional political parties in Andhra Pradesh: Telugu Desam Party and YSR Congress Party. The decision of the Telugu Desam Party to leave the National Democratic Alliance at Centre is more about its competition with the YSR Congress Party and less about its conflict with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The desertion of the NDA happened alongside the announcement of a no-confidence motion against the NDA government. Reason behind TDP actions The TDP wants to demonstrate that it is prepared to do more than the YSRCP in taking on the BJP, and winning concessions for Andhra Pradesh from the Centre. In all this, there is no danger to the NDA government. The BJP has the numbers to survive a no-confidence






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vote even without any help from the other disgruntled allies such as the Shiv Sena. But the attempt of the TDP is to show itself as the aggrieved party, as being more aggressive than the YSRCP, rather than bring down the BJP-led government. Electorally, the BJP has been a good fit for the TDP so far. The vote banks added up very well against the Congress, which was the TDP s main rival until 2014. Assembly elections due next year With an Assembly election looming next year, neither the TDP nor the YSRCP can afford to be seen as an ally of the BJP. No matter what the Centre does in terms of special packages for the State, both regional parties will jockey in demanding more rather than settle for what is given. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu must be calculating that any loss in votes because of the exit from the NDA will be more than compensated for by the political dividends from taking a tougher stance against the Centre. Indeed, the assertion that the Centre is diverting tax revenues collected from the southern States for the development of the northern States is part of the competitive regional politics that the TDP is playing with the YSRCP. The BJP looks like the biggest loser in the competitive regional politics of the TDP and the YSRCP. (Adapted from The Hindu) 35. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) (Relevant for GS prelims) There are two key parameters that the government and private sector analysts use to gauge the level of activity in the manufacturing sector — the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI). While a lot has been written about the IIP, less has been said about the PMI. What is manufacturing PMI? There are two main points of difference between the PMI and the IIP. The first is that the PMI is a private sector survey while the IIP is gauged by the government. The second difference is in what is being measured. While the IIP is a measure of output, PMI, as the name suggests, measures activity at the purchasing or input stage. Together the two indices provide a composite and reasonably comprehensive information about the formal manufacturing sector. As with the IIP, the PMI suffers from the lacuna of not measuring informal sector activity. Another factor to be kept in mind is that both the PMI and the IIP are based on surveys and hence, represent only a sample of the entire formal manufacturing sector. In addition, as with all surveys, the two are also susceptible to sampling errors, errors in assigning weights to various indicators and errors that creep in due to inaccurate responses. How is the PMI survey conducted?






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The Nikkei India Manufacturing PMI is based on data compiled from monthly survey responses by purchasing managers in more than 400 manufacturing companies. The manufacturing sector is divided into eight broad categories — basic metals, chemicals and plastics, electrical and optical, food and drink, mechanical engineering, textiles and clothing, timber and paper and transport. The survey responses are meant to reflect month-to-month changes based on the data collected mid-month. For each of the indicators, the report shows the percentage reporting each response, the difference between the number of higher or better responses and lower or worse responses and something called a diffusion' index. Diffusion indexes have the properties of leading indicators and are convenient summary measures showing the prevailing direction of change, Nikkei said in its report. The Nikkei India Manufacturing PMI is composite index based on five individual indices with their own weightages — new orders (weightage 0.3), output (0.25), employment (0.2), suppliers delivery times (0.15), stock of items purchased (0.1) and the delivery times index inverted so that it moves in a comparable direction. Once the overall number for the month is computed, the score is arrived at. A score above 50 denotes expansion while one below 50 signifies contraction. What has the PMI been saying for India? The Manufacturing PMI for India has been gradually declining from December when it was 54.7, the highest it has been in more than a year. Since then, it has declined to 52.4 in January and to 52.1 in February. Growth in the manufacturing component of the IIP accelerated in January compared with the level in the previous month. Overall, the last three months have witnessed manufacturing growing at a rate faster than what has been recorded in about two years. One important advantage the PMI has over the IIP is how quickly the data for any reporting period comes out. The manufacturing PMI report for any given month comes out either on the last day of that month or on the first day of the next month. So, for example, the next data release will be for March 2018 and will come out either on March 31 or April 1. The IIP, however, comes out after considerable delay. The data for a given month comes out almost one and a half months later. The next release will be for February 2018 and will come out on April 12. (Adapted from The Hindu) 36. ASI has identified 100 monuments as Adarsh Smarak for upgradation of existing tourist facilities/amenities (Relevant for GS Prelims) What are Adarsh Smarak?






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The scheme requires the following criteria fulfilment at monuments under Adarsh Smarak scheme. 1. To make monument visitor friendly. 2. To upgrade/provide wash rooms, drinking water, signages, cafeteria and wi-fi facility 3. To provide Interpretation and audio-video centre 4. To streamline waste water and garbage disposal and rain water harvesting system 5. To make monument accessible to differently abled 6. To implement Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Adapted from PIB) 37. NITI Aayog Released SATH-Education Roadmaps 2018-2020 (Relevant for GS Prelims) The roadmaps for the Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital in Education (SATH-E) Project of NITI Aayog, being undertaken in partnership with three participating States of Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, were released by Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog. About SATH-E In May 2017, the NITI Aayog wrote to all States offering assistance for improving their health and education sectors. 16 States responded favorably. Following presentations and consultations with MHRD, the three States of Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha were selected for the programme. The Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital-Education (SATH-E) was thus, born. The SATH-E initiative in based on formal agreements with the States and will be funded through a cost-sharing mechanism between NITI Aayog and the participating states. The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Piramal Foundation for Education Leadership (PFEL) were chosen as knowledge partners for the project facilitating review, data collection and implementation. What does SATH-E seeks to achieve? SATH-E has been envisaged as a programme which aims to transform elementary and secondary school education across these three states. SATH-E roadmap refers to a time-bound, goal-driven exercise that will reach its logical culmination by the end of the academic year 2020. Further, the foundations of other long-term interventions, as is found necessary by each state, would be laid during this period. Limiting interventions to only those where there is complete state buy-in for sustainability, the whole process would be done in consultation with the states and MHRD. This will be facilitated by the National Steering Group (NSG), chaired by the CEO of NITI Aayog and including the Chief Secretaries of the States, which will continuously monitor progress, introduce course-corrections and offer a platform for addressing issues in implementation.






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Thus, SATH-E aims to create role model States for education and mainstream islands of excellence across the country to facilitate qualitative and quantitative transformation of learning outcomes. Marrying technology with need-based, data-driven assessment and a giving it what it takes approach - be it innovation, incubation, external third-party funding

and Public- Private- Philanthropic Partnership (PPPP) experimentation – SATH-E puts the States in the driver s seat to transform education at scale. (Adapted from PIB) 38. Turkey-led forces seize control of Afrin (Relevant for Prelims, just note down the names of cities) Kurdish fighters apparently fled the city without a fight Turkey s flag was flying in Syria s Afrin after Turkish troops and Ankara-backed rebels chased out Kurdish militia forces to seize control of the city. The advance came as Syria s civil war entered its eighth year this week with heavy fighting on two fronts — around Afrin and in the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus. (Adapted from The Hindu) 39. Poet Kedarnath Singh dead (Relevant for GS Prelims) Veteran hindi poet Kedarnath Singh was awarded with Jnanpith Award in 2013. He was known for his literary works including "Abhi Bilkul Abhi", "Jameen Pak Rahi Hai"and "Akaal mein Saaras". About Jnanpith Award The Jnanpith Award is an Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their "outstanding contribution towards literature". Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian writers writing in Indian languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India and English, with no posthumous conferral. Bharatiya Jnanpith a literary and research organization, based in New Delhi, India, was founded on February 18, 1944 by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of the Sahu Jain family and his wife Rama Jain to undertake systematic research and publication of Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali and Apabhramsha texts and covering subjects like religion, philosophy, logic, ethics, grammar, astrology, poetics (Adapted from PIB) 40. National Cultural Audiovisual Archives (NCAA) becomes the World s First Trusted Digital Repository (Relevant for GS Prelims) National Cultural Audiovisual Archives (NCAA) project of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, implemented by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA)






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has been certified as the world s first Trusted Digital Repository as per ISO 16363:2012 standard, granted by Primary Trustworthy Digital Repository Authorisation Body Ltd. (PTAB), United Kingdom. Leveraging this historic achievement, the plan for the next phase is to integrate about three lakh hours of audiovisuals materials, a corpus estimated based on a scoping survey conducted in 25 cities across the country, on this platform over the next five years. National Cultural Audio-visual Archives (NCAA) The primary objective of the NCAA is to identify and preserve the cultural heritage of India available in audio-visual form through a process of digitization and making it accessible to the people. By March 2018, a corpus of 30,000 hours of unpublished, non-commercial audio & video recordings will be made online at http://ncaa.gov.in/repository, out of which approximately 15,000 hours are already hosted online along with contextual metadata, representing the cultural diversity of India in the broadest sense. Over 23,000 hours of unpublished audiovisual recordings have already been digitized. NCAA pilot digital repository was developed in collaboration with the Centre of Excellence for Digital Preservation by C-DAC, Pune. NCAA digital repository is established with and powered by DIGITĀLAYA (लय ) which is developed by C-DAC Pune in compliance with Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model ISO 14721:2012. Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts has been set up by the Government of India, as a premier research institute dedicated to holistic understanding and expression of Indian arts in their inter and multi-disciplinary nature. One of the principal aims of the centre is to serve as a major national resource centre for the arts. The IGNCA has been designated by the Government of India as the nodal agency for a data bank on art, humanities and cultural heritage. The Centre has also been identified by UNESCO as nodal agency for the development of regional databases for South and South East Asian countries on art, cultural heritage and life-styles through the application of state-of-the-art technologies for standardization, exchange and dissemination of data. (Adapted from PIB) 41. Cabinet approves North-East Industrial Development Scheme (NEIDS) 2017 (Relevant for GS Prelims) The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the North East Industrial Development Scheme (NEIDS), 2017 with financial outlay of Rs.3000 crores up to March 2020. Government will provide necessary allocations for remaining period of scheme after assessment before March 2020. NEIDS is a combination of the incentives covered under the earlier two schemes with a much larger outlay. Details:






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In order to promote employment in the North East States, Government is incentivizing primarily the MSME Sector through this scheme. Under the Scheme, the following incentives shall be provided to new industrial units set up in the North Eastern States including Sikkim:

Central Capital Investment Incentive for Access to Credit

(CCIIAC)

30% of the investment in Plant & Machinery with an upper

limit of Rs.5 Crore on the incentive amount per unit.

Central Interest Incentive

(Cll)

3% on working capital credit advanced by eligible Banks/ Financial institutions for first 5 years from the date of

commencement of commercial production by the unit.

Central Comprehensive

Insurance Incentive (CCII)

Reimbursement of 100% insurance premium on insurance

of building and Plant & Machinery for 5 years from the date of commencement of commercial production by the

unit.

Goods and Service Tax (GST) Reimbursement

Reimbursement up to the extent of Central Govt. share of

CGST and IGST for 5 Years from the date of commencement

of commercial production by the unit.

Income-Tax (IT) Reimbursement

Reimbursement of Centre's share of income tax for first 5 years including the year of commencement of commercial

production by the unit.

Transport Incentive (TI) 20% of the cost of transportation including the

subsidy currently provided by Railways/ Railway PSU

for movement of finished goods by rail. 20% of cost of transportation for finished goods,

for movement through InlandWaterways Authority

of India. 33% of cost of transportation of air freight on

perishable goods (as defined by IATA) from the airport

nearest to place of production toany airport within the

country.






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Employment Incentive (EI) The Government shall pay 3.67% of the employer s

contribution to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) in

addition to Government bearing 8.33% Employee Pension

Scheme (EPS) contribution of the employer in the Pradhan

MantriRojgarProtsahanYojana (PMRPY).

The overall cap for benefits under all components of incentives will be of Rs. 200 crores per unit. (Adapted from PIB) 42. Cabinet approves closure of India Development Foundation of Overseas Indians (Relevant for GS Prelims) The Union Cabinet has given its approval for closure of India Development Foundation of Overseas Indians (IDF-OI) to enhance synergies in channelizing Diaspora's contributions to Government of India's flagship programmes such as National Mission for clean Ganga and Swachh Bharat Mission. Background: a. IDF-OI was set up by Government of India with the approval of Cabinet in 2008 as an autonomous not-for-profit Trust, to facilitate Overseas Indian philanthropy into social and development projects in India. b. As the Foundation received only Rs. 36.80 Lakhs between December 2008 and March 2015 as donation from overseas Indian community, a comprehensive review of IDF-OI was undertaken in 2015. Promotion of Government of India's Flagship programmes - National Mission for Clean Ganga and Swachh Bharat Mission; and Social and Development projects identified by State Governments - was added to the mandate of IDF-OI. c. Although, between April 2015 and March 2018, the Trust received Rs.10.16 crore, most of the contribution received were for either projects related to National Mission for Clean Ganga or Swachh Bharat Mission, which are separately administered by their respective Administrative Agencies. In order to enhance synergies, improve efficiencies and avoid duplication of work, it was decided by the 9thMeeting of Board of Trustees of the IDF-OI that the Trust would be closed down by March 31, 2018. (Adapted from PIB) 43. Airbus A320neo glitch (Relevant for GS prelims)






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Why have 626 domestic flights been cancelled this month? On March 12, India s air safety regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), grounded 11 Airbus A320neo aircraft — eight from IndiGo and three from GoAir. All these aircraft were fitted with a faulty engine manufactured by Pratt and Whitney (P&W). This has triggered a large number of cancellations by the two airlines — Indigo has cancelled 488 flights while GoAir has cancelled 138. What is the problem with these engines? In the case of the A320neo, Pratt & Whitney, an American engine-maker, developed a new engine, the PW1100G, based on a new technology called a Geared Turbofan Engine. The newer engines promised to be 16% more fuel efficient and 75% less noisy on the ground, compared to the old ones. However, this new technology appears to have teething troubles. Initially, the problems included longer start-up times as well as premature wear and tear of two components of the engine, especially noticeable in India s tropical conditions. For instance, last year, GoAir and IndiGo had to fly these planes at lower altitudes of 30,000 ft as against the more economical 36,000 ft to ensure the engines did not get strained. Some planes also had to be grounded due to reliability issues, leading to the cancellation of 84 flights on August 18, 2017. While the problem was fixed, fresh trouble emerged last month. On February 11, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an emergency order, mandating that no plane with both engines affected be operated. Planes with one affected engine were deemed unfit for extended-range flying. In India, the DGCA cracked the whip on March 12, grounding 11 Indigo and GoAir A320neo aircraft fitted with the faulty engine, following three incidents of in-flight shutdown being reported within a fortnight. What is the outlook for A320neos in India? The A320neo, when launched in 2014, was fast adopted by Indian carriers and Air India, Vistara, IndiGo and GoAir all have them in their fleet. Air India and Vistara continue to operate their aircraft without issues as they have a different engine manufactured by another vendor CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aviation and Safran Aircraft Engines of France. For now, their rival P&W is carrying out a root cause analysis for these travails, while trying to rectify the problem by supplying a spare engine for the 11 affected planes. Within India, there is at least a 70% chance you will be on an Airbus plane. (Adapted from The Hindu) 44. 36 sites from India inscribed on World Heritage List (Relevant for GS Prelims) 36 Sites from India are inscribed on the World Heritage List which include 28 Cultural, 7 Natural and 1 Mixed category site.






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During the last three years, the Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara (Nalanda University) at Nalanda (Bihar); The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, Chandigarh and Historic City of Ahmedabad under cultural category and Khangchendzonga National Park, Sikkim under mixed category are added to the World Heritage List. Moreover, the Vishnu Temple, Wynad (Kerala) is added to the protection list of ASI. (Adapted from PIB) 45. 31.20 crore accounts opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) with aggregate deposit balances Rs. 75,572.09 crore as on 28.2.2018. (Relevant for GS Prelims) As informed by banks, as on 28.2.2018, 31.20 crore accounts have been opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) with aggregate deposit balances Rs. 75,572.09 crore. Of these, 25.18 crore (81%) Jan-Dhan accounts are operative. Jan Dhan Yojana The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is India s National Mission for Financial Inclusion to ensure access to financial services, namely, banking, savings and deposit accounts, remittance, credit, insurance, etc. The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 August 2014. The scheme provides for the following: 1. Account holders are provided bank accounts with no minimum balance. 2. RuPay debit cards are issued. 3. Accidental insurance cover of Rs.1 lakh is ensured. 4. After six months of opening of a bank account, holders are eligible for Rs.5000 overdraft from the bank. (Adapted from PIB and Background from PrepMate-Cengage Economics Book, Chapter 7, Page 114) 46. First Indian Sign Language Dictionary of 3000 Words Launched (Relevant for GS prelims) First Indian Sign Language Dictionary of 3000 words was launched. The dictionary has

been developed by Indian Sign Language Research & Training Centre (ISLR&TC) under Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), M/o Social Justice & Empowerment. The English and Hindi terms for the dictionary will also help deaf children to learn English. The ISL dictionary consists of words of five categories: 1. Everyday Terms - This category includes terms that are used in everyday communication. The videos contain the sign and the corresponding English term.








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2. Legal Terms – This category includes videos for 237 legal terms help explain complicated legal terminology like Affidavit , Acquittal , etc. That are used in various legal situations. 3. Academic Terms - To help deaf children understand complex academic concepts, the academic dictionary contains explanations for terms like Nervous System , Rotation and Revolution , etc. The words are from various subjects like Physics, Geography, Biology,

Maths, etc. This category contains 229 videos for 212 terms. 4. Medical Terms – This category includes 200 sign videos for 200 medical terms will help the deaf community to better understand medical terminology used in hospitals and in medical situations. 5. Technical Terms - This category has 206 videos of sign and explanations in ISL for 204 technical terms that are used in vocational training or in computer courses. (Adapted from PIB) 47. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) (Relevant for GS Prelims) Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) were launched on 9th May, 2015. The cover period under these Schemes is 1st June of each year to 31st May of subsequent year. These Schemes are offered/administered through both Public and Private Sector Insurance companies, in tie-up with scheduled commercial banks, Regional Rural Banks and Cooperative Banks. PMJJBY PMJJBY offers a renewable one-year term life cover of Rupees Two Lakh to all subscribing bank account holders in the age group of 18 to 50 years, covering death due to any reason, for a premium of Rs.330/- per annum per subscriber, to be auto debited from subscriber s bank account. PMSBY PMSBY offers a renewable one-year accidental death cum disability cover to all subscribing bank account holders in the age group of 18 to 70 years for a premium of Rs.12/- per annum per subscriber to be auto debited from subscriber s bank account. The scheme provides a cover of Rs. Two Lakh for accidental death or total permanent disability and Rs One Lakh in case of permanent partial disability. (Adapted from PIB)

48. Crackdown on gold diggers begins in T.N. (Read only for understanding)






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Police and Forest Department identify flour mills used to crush excavated ore

The Nilgiris district police have begun to crack down on illegal gold mining in the Devala-

Pandalur region. According to police, around 500 families depend directly on the illegal

gold mines in the region to earn a living. Most of them are subsistence miners, earning just enough to make ends meet, said an

officer, An exploitative system The police said that they found a pervasive and exploitative system, with private jewellery

store owners paying subsistence workers a daily wage to venture into the mines. Once

they had collected the excavated ore from the miners, jewellers used eight flour mills to

powder the ore. Police also held talks with the miners in the past about the dangers of venturing into the

mine shafts, and of the dangers of using explosives to excavate the ore. Among the miners, a small group of entrepreneurial pit bosses own the mines and provide

food, equipment and financial help to the workers. In return, they get a cut from the

miners when they uncover deposits. The district administration had been informed by the police as well as the Forest Department on the need to find alternative employment for the miners before gold mines

are shut down. Police and the Forest Department have taken the first steps to shut down

the mines. The miners have been told that youngsters venturing into the pits will be

stopped and legal action initiated against them. (Adapted from the Hindu)

49. GSAT-6A about to be launched (Relevant for GS prelims)

GSAT-6A, the second predominantly S-band communications satellite, is set to be launched

from Sriharikota. It will complement GSAT-6, which has been orbiting since August 2015

at 83 degrees East longitude.

About GSAT-6A






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The 2,000-kg-class 6A, costing about Rs. 270 crore, is a great deal more than a routine

communications satellite. It is designated for the use of the Armed Forces . Why it is better than previous satellite?

A special feature of the GSAT-6A is its 6-metre-wide umbrella-like antenna, which will be

unfurled in once it is in space. The antenna is thrice as broad as the antennas generally

used in ISRO satellites. It will enable mobile communication from anywhere via hand-held

ground terminals. Regular communication satellites with smaller antenna require much

larger ground stations, said a former director of ISRO. (Adapted from the Hindu)

50. Narendra Modi App asks for sweeping access: Camera, audio among 22 inputs

(Read only for understanding)

The BJP s online showcase for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the NaMo App, which is under the spotlight in the wake of the debate over data privacy in social media, asks users to provide access to as many as 22 personal features on their devices, including location,

photographs and contacts, microphone and camera. Comparative data requirements of other apps A comparative analysis by The Indian Express shows that this is more than what the official app of the Prime Minister s Office, PMO India App, asks users to volunteer — access to 14

data points. The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology s citizen-engagement

app, MyGov app, asks for permission to access nine data points.

Amazon India s app needs 17 permissions on various counts from users. PayTM s app

demands access to 26 data points, and Delhi Police s app asks for access to 25 tracks but

they provide a wider range of services. The NaMo app updates users about achievements of the BJP government, and provides

access to the audio of Prime Minister s Mann Ki Baat . Chances of sharing data with third party On Saturday, the user of Twitter handle @fs0c131y, described on the account as a French security expert and who identified himself to The Indian Express as Robert Baptiste, said

the app may be providing personal user data to a third party without the users consent. He identified the company as US-based Clever Tap.





http://www.thehindu.com/tag/1355-1354-1349/armed-forces/?utm=bodytag


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A day after these claims, the privacy policy at narendramodi.in — the website associated

with the NaMo app — was updated to state that certain user information may be shared with third party services to offer a better user experience , most contextual content and

updates . The information shared with third parties included, it says, name, email, mobile phone

number, device information, location and network carrier.

The policy earlier stated: Your personal information and contact details shall remain

confidential and shall not be used for any purpose other than our communication with you. The information shall not be provided to third parties in any manner whatsoever without

your consent.

Who is the developer? Described on PlayStore as the Official App of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the NaMo App

mentions Bharatiya Janata Party, 11 Ashoka Road, New Delhi-110001 , which used to be

BJP headquarters till early last month, as the address of the developer. Promotion through official channels

The NaMo App is promoted through official government channels. Exam Warriors, Modi s






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recently launched book aimed at the students preparing for the annual school exams,

encourages readers to download the NaMo app. The book was launched by External

Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash

Javadekar in English, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Hindi. Access given on app According to NaMo App s description, it brings to you the latest information, instant

updates & helps you contribute towards various tasks. It provides a unique opportunity to

receive messages and emails directly from the Prime Minister.

Under details, the app specifies that no permission is compulsory on the NM app and has

the facility that the user can disable the access for these permissions in settings. However,

when it is downloaded, most of the permissions are given by default. It also mentions that

the app can be accessed without registering with an email address or phone. View of Supreme Court According to the Supreme Court s ruling on privacy in August 2017, informed consent is

important for data protection and data privacy. The fact that permissions for the NaMo app

are not compulsory can only be found if one goes through the Read More section of the app

users are not informed of it when downloading the app. (Adapted from Indian Express) 51. National Conference on Down Syndrome held (Relevant for GS prelims) A National Conference on Down Syndrome was organised by the National Trust under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment here today. What is Down Syndrome? Down Syndrome is a chromosomal condition associated with intellectual and learning disabilities. Delayed development and behavioural problems are often reported in children with it. For seeking commitments of various stakeholders and increasing their awareness about Down Syndrome, National Trust organised this National Conference on Down Syndrome. (Adapted from PIB) 52. E-Tribes India (Relevant for GS Prelims) The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India, (TRIFED), under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, is going Digital as per the vision document of the Ministry of






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Tribal Affairs, Government of India. The e-Tribes India would be launched tomorrow by the Union Tribal Affairs Minister, Shri Jual Oram. What is e-Tribes India? TRIFED has developed its own e-commerce (electronic commerce) website i.e., tribesindia.com for sale of all its products and to tap m-commerce (mobile commerce) too. An Android App is also in place as well on Google store (Tribes India) which can be downloaded on any Android enabled smart phone and sale can happen from this mobile app through android smart phone. Going Digital will lead to expansion of tribal commerce and the availability of tribal products over large area, reaping greater benefits for tribal artisans. Retail Trade of tribal products would expand all over the country and the world. What is TRIFED? The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED), a multi-State Cooperative Society under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, is promoting and marketing tribal products, tribal art and crafts within the country and abroad by providing marketing support to tribal products through its network of 31 retail outlets TRIBES INDIA , 37 consignment outlets of various State Emporia and 16 franchisee outlets. It also organizes exhibitions like National Tribal Craft Expo called Aadi Mahotsav etc. in which it promotes and markets tribal products. It also facilitates the participation of tribal artisans to enable them to interact directly with art lovers to assess the market needs. In the last three years, it has begun providing e-commerce platforms to the tribal artisans to sell their products. (Adapted from PIB) 53. Location of coal mines and coal repositories (Relevant for GS Prelims) State-wise number of working coal mines across the country, State/UT-wise is given below: (Just see table for reference but don t learn it)

Sl. No. State Number of working coal mines

1 West Bengal 75

2 Jharkhand 140

3 MP 70

4 UP 4






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5 Chhattisgarh 57

6 Maharashtra 60

7 Odisha 29

8 Assam 4

9 Telangana 47

10 Jammu & Kashmir 4

11 Meghalaya 3

Total 493

New coal resources are continuously explored mainly through regional exploration. The State-wise details of Regional exploration done in coal sector during 2016-17 is given below. The extraction from these blocks will start after completing detailed exploration and obtaining required clearances which will take about 70 months. (Learn this table)

State Coalfield

West Bengal Raniganj

MP Singrauli

MP Sohagpur

Chattisgarh Bishrampur

Nagaland Melak-Tsurang Valley

(Adapted from pib) 54. Skill India joins hands with Ministry of Power to support household electrification scheme Saubhagya (Relevant for GS Prelims) Aiming to empower and uplift the rural youth and development, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship partnered today with the Ministry of Power to ensure access to electricity for every household in the country through an ambitious scheme, Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojna (SAUBHAGYA). The scheme aims to achieve






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universal household electrification in all parts of the country at a cost of Rs 16,320 crore, including Gross Budgetary Support of Rs 12,320 crore from the government. Rationale behind the merger In order to successfully deliver a project of this magnitude, huge volume of skilled workforce would be required across different job roles to enable completion of various components of the work. To support the successful execution of the scheme, the vocational training program has been launched in Six States namely Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. A total estimated number of participants to be trained between the two job roles of Lineman Distribution (Multiskilled) and Techical Helper is 47000 in these six focus states and more than 55000 across the country. The scheme is undertaken as a special project under the government s Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). Training at District level As the scheme is to be implemented across the country with 200 districts as major focus area, the skilling initiatives are proposed to be delivered in a decentralized mode at district level. The training infrastructures available with ITI s at district level as well as the infrastructures available with the State Power Distribution Utilities will be utilized for skill training of the candidates ensuring successful implementation of the scheme. Major component of Saubhagya is wages Saubhagya is a scheme with estimated expenditure of 16000 crore our of which 25% is estimated cost against wages and margin for human resource being deployed for the project. This is a big employment opportunity for skilled workforce and we will work jointly with Ministry of Power across the nation to ensure that we avail this opportunity for our youth and help them better their livelihood. The measure of success is to map the accomplishments that we achieve on ground. We need more than 5000 lakh man hours today to ensure successful completion of our projects and around 35000 trained manpower for Saubhagya alone. Our targets for skilling workforce will be set in accordance with our local requirements . (Adapted from pib) 55. High Speed Rail Corridors (Relevant for GS Prelims) At present, Mumbai-Ahmedabad Rail corridor is the only sanctioned High Speed Rail Project in the country and implemented with technical and financial assistance of Government of Japan. The estimated cost of the Project is Rs. 1,08,000 crore. Government of Japan has agreed to provide a soft loan of 81% of total project cost with 0.1% rate of interest per annum. The time period for repayment of loan is 50 years with 15 years grace period.






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Six corridors on Diamond Quadrilateral connecting metropolitan cities and growth centres of the country (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai & Kolkata) have been identified for feasibility study for high speed rail connectivity viz : (i) Delhi-Mumbai, (ii) Mumbai-Chennai, (iii) Chennai-Kolkata, (iv) Kolkata-Delhi and both diagonals i.e. (v) Delhi-Chennai and (vi) Mumbai-Kolkata routes. (Adapted from pib) 56. Setting up of National Academic Depository (NAD) for Digitalization of School Records (Relevant for GS Prelims) What is NAD? Government has setup National Academic Depository (NAD) which is a 24x7 online store house of academic awards digitally lodged by various academic institutions/school boards/eligibility assessment bodies. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has been designated as authorized body to operationalise NAD. What will it cover? The academic awards to be lodged on NAD cover degrees, diplomas, certificates, mark-sheets including awards issued for skill development. The framework of NAD includes various Central Universities, Central Higher Educational Institutions, State Universities, deemed to be universities, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), State School Education Boards etc. located in various States/Union Territories including the State of Maharashtra. What does NAD comprise of? NAD comprises of two interoperable digital depositories viz., NSDL Database Management Limited (NDML) and CDSL Ventures Limited (CVL). What is the benefit of NAD? Maintenance of academic awards in a digital depository not only enables online access, retrieval and verification of these awards, but also helps eliminating fraudulent practices such as forging of certificates and mark-sheets etc. NAD at school level CBSE has introduced Parinam Manjusha which acts as: - • Academic Repository • Facilitates Online Verification and • Students can get digital documents such as Mark Sheet, Pass Certificates and Migration Certificates of CBSE examination through Digi Locker. (Adapted from pib)






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57. Cabinet approves continuation of the Credit Guarantee Fund for Education Loans Scheme and continuation and modification of Central Sector Interest Subsidy Scheme (Relevant for GS Prelims) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for continuation of Credit Guarantee Fund for Education Loans Scheme and continuation and modification of Central Sector Interest Subsidy Scheme with a financial outlay of Rs. 6,600 crore for period from 2017-18 to 2019-20. This will provide education loans to 10 lakh students during this period. Modifications in the present proposal: i. In order to allow more students to access the benefit, (and also considering that the average loan size has been only Rs. 4 lakhs), the ceiling on the loan amount has been refixed at Rs. 7.5 lakhs. ii. The moratorium period would be course period + 1 year. iii. To promote quality education, the scheme would cover loans for pursuing professional/technical courses from NAAC/NBA accredited Institutions/programmes or Institutions of National Importance or Central Funded Technical Institutions (CFTIs). This condition would however, be applicable with prospective effect, and would not apply to the current loans. iv. A dashboard would be put in place for better monitoring of the scheme. Coverage: As against the scheme which ran since 2009, in which average educational loans per year were only 2.78 lakhs, under the revised scheme, the number of loans per year are expected to be at least 3.3 lakhs, showing a 20% increase over the previous scheme. The above restructuring of the scheme is in accordance with the policy of the Government to make good quality education affordable to all. Background: Central Sector Interest Subsidy (CSIS) Scheme was launched on 1st April, 2009. Under the Scheme, full interest subsidy is provided for the education loan taken from Scheduled Banks under the Model Education Loan Scheme of Indian Banks' Association, covering a period of course duration + 1 year. This is made available for all the professional/technical courses in India and students with annual gross parental income up to Rs. 4.5 lakhs were eligible. The loans are disbursed without any collateral security and third-party guarantee. An amount of Rs. 9,408.52 crore has been disbursed towards interest subsidy and 25.10 lakh students have benefitted till date. Credit Guarantee Fund for Education Loans (CGFEL) Scheme provides guarantee for the education loan under the Model Education Loan Scheme of Indian Banks' Association, disbursed by the banks without seeking any collateral security and third-party guarantee, for a maximum loan amount of Rs. 7.5 Lakhs.






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A third-party evaluation of the scheme has been made by IIM Bangalore, which suggested that the scheme should be rationalised to serve more students from economically weaker sections. (Adapted from PIB) 58. Rajasthan s first mega food park in Ajmer (Relevant for GS Prelims) The first mega food park in Rajasthan has been opened at Roopangarh Village in Ajmer. The Food Park is being set up at a cost of Rs 113.57 crore and will benefit around 25,000 farmers in Ajmer as well as neighbouring districts. Mega Food Parks The Mega Food Parks Scheme is a scheme of the Ministry of Food Processing, Government of India. Its purpose is to increase processing of perishables from 6% to 20%. The idea behind the promotion of mega food parks is that small- and medium-scale individual food-processing units cannot afford to invest in capital-intensive support services such as food testing, irradiation, grading, waxing, etc. In food parks, common support services are arranged for food-processing units. Thus, these services become affordable to them. Further, financial assistance is provided by the government to establish common facilities. Highlights of the scheme The government provides grants up to Rs.50 crore for each food park to a consortium of companies. Around 30–35 food-processing units are expected to be established in each mega food park with a collective investment of at least Rs.250 crore. A turnover of Rs.400–500 crore and employment generation of at least 30,000 from each mega food park is expected. Status A sanction of 42 food parks has been planned. According to the government, as of October 2016, eight mega food parks have become operational and all 42 would be operational in the next 2 years. (Adapted from PIB) 59. Board exam paper leak (Read only for understanding) The Central Board of Secondary Education faces a serious erosion of credibility with the leak of its annual examination question papers on Economics for Class 12 and Mathematics for Class 10.






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Failure of Ministry of Human Resource Development Clearly, the Ministry of Human Resource Development failed to assign top priority to secrecy and integrity of the process, considering that its standard operating procedure was easily breached, and the questions were circulated on instant messaging platforms. Yet, the problem is not new. State board question papers have been leaked in the past. Reply in Lok Sabha by previous HRD minister When the HRD Ministry was asked in the Lok Sabha three years ago what it intended to do to secure the CBSE Class 12 and 10 examinations, Smriti Irani, who was the Minister then, asserted the inviolability of the process, since the question papers were sealed and stored in secret places and released to authorised officials with a window of only a few hours. In addition, the board has dedicated secrecy officers for each region. Need for reforms But the protocol has failed, and HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar should conduct a thorough inquiry to get at the truth and initiate remedial steps without delay. One of the options is to institute a National Testing Agency, although it was originally supposed to take charge of entrance examinations in the first phase. State school boards also need help to reform systems. (Adapted from the Hindu)





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