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Table of Contents

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

1. PM announces Cabinet nod for Ram temple in Ayodhya .............................................................................. 1

2. Sedition law — what courts said ........................................................................................................... 2

3. Long wait and many twists in the story of Rajiv Gandhi case convict Perarivalan ................... 4

4. Why it’s a good idea to have police commissioners in the bigger cities ....................................... 7

5. Supreme Court upholds amendments made to nullify own judgment diluting provisions of

SC/ST Act .................................................................................................................................................... 9

6. States not bound to make reservation in promotions, says Supreme Court ............................. 10

7. Delhi election results ............................................................................................................................. 11

8. For AAP 2.0, what is the challenge ahead? ....................................................................................... 12

9. Six years on, Lokpal is a non-starter .................................................................................................. 16

10. Supreme Court orders parties to publish criminal history of Lok Sabha, Assembly

candidates ................................................................................................................................................ 18

11. Why have LPG prices seen a sharp rise? ........................................................................................... 20

12. When can a judge opt out of a case? .................................................................................................. 23

13. How to treat a child witness ................................................................................................................. 24

14. What Supreme Court said on women in Army ................................................................................. 26

15. The Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill is a much-needed complement to

Surrogacy Bill .......................................................................................................................................... 29

16. Research funding in India ..................................................................................................................... 30

17. Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat is working on a timeline for the rollout of joint

commands of the Army, Navy and Air Force. What are the existing commands in India, and

how will jointness help? ....................................................................................................................... 31

18. Govt to establish Central Consumer Protection Authority; what is it? ...................................... 33

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19. In the ongoing Delhi violence, what action can the state government take in a UT where

police are under the Centre? Under what circumstances can Delhi call for central forces? And if called, what is the state’s role? ............................................................................................... 35

International Organizations and Relations ......... 37

1. National Consultation on the review of Beijing +25 ................................................................. 37

2. Brexit here, what changes and what doesn’t .................................................................................... 38

3. What Brexit means for the EU and its partners ............................................................................... 40

4. In Islamic State recruit Shamima Begum, a test case for West .................................................... 42

5. 1.36 crore Indians living abroad, one-fourth of them in UAE ....................................................... 43

6. Pakistan jails Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed for terror financing ....................................... 44

7. Why US has shut out top Sri Lanka general — and where India stands .................................... 46

8. Sub group of terror financing watchdog FATF recommends continuation of Pakistan in ‘Grey List’ .................................................................................................................................................. 47

9. On Afghan presidential poll result ...................................................................................................... 48

10. Why trade with the US matters to India ............................................................................................ 48

11. Pakistan retained on grey list of FATF ............................................................................................... 52

12. Is the endgame near in Syria’s civil war? ......................................................................................... 53

13. The Trump visit as India-U.S. trade booster? .................................................................................. 55

14. Dual citizenship for Sri Lankan refugees? ........................................................................................ 59

15. US-India bilateral trade and investment ........................................................................................... 60

16. Outcomes of recent Trump visit to India........................................................................................... 61

17. What is the Blue Dot network? ........................................................................................................... 63

18. $3-billion defence deal- India to buy 30 armed choppers from US ............................................. 65

19. Chances of peace in Sudan .................................................................................................................... 66

Economics ......................................................................... 67








1. Why Budget proposal on tax on Indians working abroad triggered confusion .................... 67

2. Criteria adopted by 15th Finance Commission resulting in reduction of States share in Centre’s revenues from 42% to 41% ................................................................................................. 69

3. Why govt has lifted a duty that polyester makers paid on a chemical ....................................... 72

4. The rising defence pension bill ............................................................................................................ 74

5. Cooperative banks to come under Reserve Bank regulation ........................................................ 76

6. Christina Koch’s longest spaceflight ................................................................................................... 77

7. What is Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill? ....................................................................................... 79

8. How LIC stake sale will affect policyholders .................................................................................... 80

9. Why industrial production has contracted, what it means for the economy ............................ 81

10. Why Maharashtra sugar mills are paying cane fair price in parts ............................................... 83

11. USTR takes India off developing country list ................................................................................... 85

12. What does ‘developed’ tag mean for India? ..................................................................................... 87

13. Vodafone caught between 'the devil and the deep sea' ................................................................. 89

14. Strong FPI inflows, fall in global oil prices push forex reserves to record $473 billion ......... 89

15. India again leapfrogs U.K and France to become world’s 5th largest economy ....................... 90

16. Why is RBI aligning accounting year with fiscal year? .................................................................. 92

17. Foodgrain production set to touch a record high ............................................................................ 93

18. How crop insurance changes ............................................................................................................... 94

Environment ...................................................................... 97

1. Whether India should import Cheetahs or not ........................................................................ 97

2. Why wetlands matter to world and India ........................................................................................ 99

3. Lessons from a melting Antarctic glacier ........................................................................................ 101

4. India moves to include elephant, bustard in global conservation list ...................................... 102

5. A warm January 2020: the records in India, world ....................................................................... 103

6. Population of over 100 species of Indian birds on decline, claims first-of-its-kind report 105\








7. International protection for Great Indian Bustard, Bengal Florican and Asian Elephant .... 106

8. How India proposals at UN event can help elephants, migratory birds ................................... 107

Science & Technology ................................................. 110

1. Why coronavirus could hit Indian pharma industry ............................................................. 110

2. What we know of 2019 Novel coronavirus .................................................................................... 112

3. Draft notification on RO systems ...................................................................................................... 114

4. Why 98.6°F is no longer ‘normal’ for the body .............................................................................. 115

5. When can people transmit the novel coronavirus? ..................................................................... 117

6. Why does the Environment Ministry want to regulate RO-based water filtration systems?

.................................................................................................................................................................. 122

7. Why cancer gene map matters .......................................................................................................... 124

8. Mapping the ‘Indian’ genome ............................................................................................................. 126

9. Select Committee of Parliament recommendations on Surrogacy Bill ..................................... 129

10. What is Yaravirus? ............................................................................................................................... 130

11. COVID-19— How WHO names a new disease ............................................................................... 131

12. Medical device new rules .................................................................................................................... 132

13. Why do activists fear that Facebook’s encryption plans will reduce child safety online? .. 135

14. Eyes on the Sun, how ISRO is preparing for its next giant leap in space .................................. 135

15. Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill proposes national registry of clinics ... 138

16. What InSight has told us about Mars so far .................................................................................... 139

17. Coronavirus in 47 countries, but is it a pandemic yet? ............................................................... 141

18. Biofuel from microorganisms ............................................................................................................ 142

Culture ............................................................................. 143

1. Why govt wants to locate Dara Shikoh tomb, and why it’s not easy .................................... 143








Miscellaneous ................................................................. 144

1. Shaheen Bagh protest ......................................................................................................................... 145

2. India becomes second largest steel producer of Crude Steel ..................................................... 145

3. Narayana Murthy’s son-in-law Rishi Sunak named new Finance Minister of U.K. ............... 146

4. Why this study by Indian scientists in Antarctic matters ............................................................ 147

5. Department of Telecommunications announces ‘5G Hackathon’ .............................................. 148

6. ASKDISHA ............................................................................................................................................... 149

7. First Khelo India University Games in Bhubaneswar ................................................................... 150

8. A new species of snails have been named Craspedotropis gretathunbergae, in honour of

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg........................................................................................ 150

9. Ajeya Warrior-2020 ............................................................................................................................. 151

10. Two-thirds of most polluted cities are in India: global report ................................................... 151

11. Hosni Mubarak, former Egypt President who was ousted in 2011 uprising, passes away . 153

12. Prime Minister to launch 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) all over the

country on 29th February 2020 ........................................................................................................ 154

Quiz Questions with answer key








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Polity and Governance 1. PM announces Cabinet nod for Ram temple in Ayodhya Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance Trust to establish Ram temple in Ayodhya Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the Lok Sabha that the Cabinet had approved a scheme for the construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya by setting up an autonomous trust, Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, to take forward the process as per the Supreme Court’s orders. The Supreme Court mandated three-month deadline to set up a trust was to end on February 9. Composition of trust The Ministry of Home Affairs notified the trust and Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in a tweet that there would be 15 trustees, out of which one would always be from the Dalit society. Land for site Mr. Modi announced that the government had decided to transfer the entire 67.703 acres to the trust. This trust will be fully autonomous to take any decision regarding the construction of temple. The Uttar Pradesh government had approved the Supreme Court’s direction to grant 5 acres to the Central Sunni Wakf Board for construction of mosque.








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Source: The Hindu

2. Sedition law — what courts said Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance Recently, a sessions court in Mumbai rejected the anticipatory bail application of a 22-year-old student booked under Section 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with 50 others. The sedition charge was filed on the basis of slogans that the student had raised in favour of another student who has already been booked for sedition. The court said the slogan “attracts the ingredients of sedition”. Sedition law: The grounds, the arguments








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The FIR filed by the Azad Maidan police on February 3 claims that Urvashi Chudawala is seen raising the slogan, “Sharjeel tere sapnoko hum manzil tak pahuchaenge,” at the LGBTQ Solidarity Gathering on February 1. Sharjeel Imam, a JNU student, was booked for sedition and on other charges for an anti-CAA speech in which he is reported to have spoken about “cutting off the Northeast from India” by blocking roads and railway tracks. He is in custody. Chudawala’s lawyer, Vijay Hiremath, argued that “in the intensity of sloganeering”, certain names were mentioned. He said Imam’s name was said only once, “for two seconds”. “It was raised against Imam’s arrest, whose sedition itself is not proved yet. To say that his arrest is wrong, cannot be considered sedition. We may disagree with what she has said, but it still does not attract sedition,” Hiremath said. Chief public prosecutor Jaising Desai, on the other hand, submitted that the slogan “was in support of a person who is an enemy of the country”. He said the police had also found that Chudawala had shared and liked a Facebook post that said, “Release Sharjeel Imam Unconditionally.” The court, while rejecting the application, said the offences registered against Chudawala were “serious”. “The court is required to keep in mind the effect of the order on the public at large,” the judge said. Hiremath has filed an appeal against the sessions court order in the Bombay High Court. The appeal is likely to come up for hearing on Friday. The sedition law and its validity Section 124A IPC states: “Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in India, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which a fine may be added; or, with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which a fine may be added; or, with fine.” Section 124A has been challenged in various courts in specific cases. The validity of the provision itself was upheld by a Constitution Bench in 1962, in Kedarnath Singh vs State of Bihar. That judgment went into the issue of whether the law on sedition is consistent with the fundamental right under Article 19 (1) (a) which guarantees each citizen’s freedom of speech and expression. The Supreme Court laid down that every citizen has a right to say or write about the government, by way of criticism or comment, as long as it does not “incite people to violence” against the government established by law or with the intention of creating public disorder.








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In the current Mumbai case, Chudawala’s lawyer submitted that the slogan was not raised with the intent of inciting violence, nor had it led to any public disorder. What the High Court said The High Court in 2015 referred to the Kedarnath judgment and said there was a need to lay down parameters for the invocation of Section 124A. “Otherwise a situation would result in which an unrestricted recourse to Section 124A would result in a serious encroachment of guarantee of personal liberty conferred upon every citizen of a free society,” the court had said. Apart from the Kedarnath judgment, the High Court referred to five other judgments, including a Supreme Court judgment (Balwant Singh vs State of Punjab) regarding raising of slogans by three men after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated. The SC then ruled that “casual raising of slogans, once or twice by two individuals alone cannot be said to be aimed at exciting or attempt to excite hatred or disaffection by the government”. The court observed, “It is clear that the provisions of Section 124A of IPC cannot be invoked to penalise criticism of the persons for the time being engaged in carrying on administration or strong words used to express disapprobation of the measures of the government with a view to their improvement or alteration by lawful means.”. The court, however, said it did not feel the need to dwell on the subject further as the state government at the time had proposed that it would issue guidelines in the form of a circular to all its police personnel, as submitted before the court by the then Advocate General. The AG had said the circular would indicate the parameters to be followed for invocation of Section 124A. Source: The Indian Express

3. Long wait and many twists in the story of Rajiv Gandhi case convict Perarivalan Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance The Centre told Madras High Court on Friday that the Governor of Tamil Nadu was at liberty to decide on the petition for remission of life sentence filed by A G Perarivalan, one of the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Over the last several days, demands for the release of Perarivalan have resurfaced strongly in public conversations in Tamil Nadu. The hashtag #ReleasePerarivalan spiked in social media after Perarivalan wrote to Governor Banwarilal Purohit to remind him about the








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state Cabinet’s decision granting him remission, which has been pending with Raj Bhavan for over 16 months. Perarivalan, who is lodged in Chennai’s Puzhal Central Prison, wrote to the Governor on January 25, days after the Supreme Court rebuked the CBI for failing to make progress in its investigation of the larger conspiracy behind the assassination 29 years ago. On January 21, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta said the multi-disciplinary monitoring agency (MDMA) “have done nothing, nor do they want to do anything”. The CBI-led MDMA was set up in 1998. The Supreme Court is hearing Perarivalan’s plea seeking suspension of his life sentence until the MDMA completes its probe into the cross-border aspects of the conspiracy. The Centre’s affidavit in the Madras High Court on Friday came in a separate petition filed by Nalini, another convict in the case. The case against Perarivalan Perarivalan alias Arivu was 19 when he was arrested in June 1991. He was accused of having bought two battery cells for Sivarasan, the LTTE man who masterminded the conspiracy, and which were used in the bomb that killed Rajiv. Perarivalan remained on death row for 23 years. On February 18, 2014, a Supreme Court Bench of then Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam and Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Shiva Kirti Singh commuted the death sentences of Perarivalan and two other convicts, Murugan and Santhan, into imprisonment for life. What strengthened Perarivalan’s claim of innocence was an admission in November 2013 by V Thiagarajan, a retired CBI SP, that he had altered Perarivalan’s statement in custody to make it read like a confession, which eventually played a crucial role in getting Perarivalan the maximum punishment. The CBI officer’s admission Thiagarajan, who had recorded the statements of Perarivalan and other accused in 1991, said that while Perarivalan had accepted that he had supplied the batteries, he had not said that he was aware that those batteries would be used to make the bomb. That second part had been his “interpretation”, Thiagarajan said. The statement was recorded as: “…Moreover, I bought two nine volt battery cells (Golden Power) and gave them to Sivarasan. He used only these to make the bomb explode.” However, Perarivalan had not actually said the second sentence — and this, Thiagarajan admitted, put him in a “dilemma”. “It (the statement) wouldn’t have qualified as a








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confession statement without his admission of being part of the conspiracy. There I omitted a part of his statement, and added my interpretation. I regret it,” Thiagarajan said. What Thiagarajan added to the statement was, in Tamil, “Ithu than Rajiv Gandhiyin kolakku payan paduthappettathu,” which translated into English as “He used only these to make the bomb explode.” In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, Thiagarajan confirmed that Perarivalan had never said that he knew of the conspiracy, or that he had knowingly bought the batteries to be used to make the bomb. In 1999, the Supreme Court acquitted 19 accused and suspended TADA provisions in the case — but it upheld Perarivalan’s TADA confession, observing it was “believable”. Status of the legal battle While Perarivalan’s ‘altered’ confession has kept him in prison, the CBI has failed to complete the investigation into the larger conspiracy. Perarivalan’s lawyers have argued that while he was sentenced to death for buying two battery cells, there is no evidence about the bomb, the bombmaker, where the bomb was tested, and who supplied the RDX, the military-grade explosive that was used. Perarivalan’s petition in the Supreme Court questioning the progress of the MDMA’s probe over more than two decades brought embarrassment to the CBI last month. The question of remission of his sentence remains stuck in the Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan. Article 161 gives the Governor the “power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the State extends”. In an earlier order passed on September 6, 2018, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Navin Sinha and K M Joseph had noted that Perarivalan had filed an application before the Governor under Article 161, and that “the authority concerned will be at liberty to decide the said application as deemed fit”. Perarivalan had told the court that he had filed his mercy plea before then Governor K Rosaiah on December 30, 2015. Following the Supreme Court’s order, the state Cabinet had decided on September 9, 2018, to recommend to the Governor (Purohit) to remit sentences of all seven convicts serving life terms in the case, including Perarivalan. The government’s decision was welcomed by both the Opposition DMK and the AIADMK’s TTV Dhinakaran faction. In its affidavit in the Madras High Court on Friday, however, the Centre has underlined that the “Governor is a Constitutional functionary and he has discretion to decide on the petition under the powers conferred upon him by the Constitution”. It has said that the








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Home Ministry has already rejected the Tamil Nadu government’s proposal to release the convicts, and that the mercy petition remains pending before the Governor. No time limit is prescribed for a Governor or the President for disposal of a mercy plea. Source: The Indian Express

4. Why it’s a good idea to have police commissioners in the bigger cities Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance The Uttar Pradesh government recently introduced the Police Commissioner system in Lucknow and Noida, metropolitan cities with populations of about 29 lakh and 16 lakh respectively (2011 Census). Making the announcement, the Chief Minister said that “in Police Commissioner system, police works as a team, under which the Police Commissioner has some magisterial powers in order to take forward smart and effective policing”, while the UP Director General of Police (DGP) cautioned that “with this comes greater responsibility to deliver”. These two statements sum up the roles and responsibilities of the police in the Police Commissioner system. Police in India are subject to dual control — although their administration under The Police Act, 1861 is vested in the police hierarchy, the District Magistrate exercises general control within his jurisdiction. All preventive actions initiated by police — from securing bonds of good behaviour from potential trouble makers, including habitual offenders, to using force during any law and order situation — require the executive magistrate’s order. The Inspector General of Police (nowadays called DGP) is also entrusted with magisterial powers under the Act, although these are subject to limits imposed by the state government from time to time. Although most states have drawn up their own police Acts (and repealed The Police Act of 1861) following directions issued by the Supreme Court in Prakash Singh v Union of India in 2006, dual control over police has been retained. The draft Model Police Act prepared by the Soli Sorabjee Committee to have a uniform law for police forces across the country, has not been adopted by any state. Since ‘public order’ and ‘police’ are part of the State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, it is for the states, and not the Centre, to initiate the bulk of police reforms. From 1856 to now The Police Commissioner system dates back to 1856. Samuel Wauchope was appointed Police Commissioner for the Town of Calcutta, and William Crawford for the Town of Bombay on November 1, 1856, under Act XIII of 1856. This Act provided for regulating police of the Towns of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, and the Commissioner of Police was appointed as a Justice of the Peace for the preservation of peace and detection of crime.








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Subsequently, separate Acts (i.e., The Calcutta Police Act, 1866, The Madras City Police Act, 1888, The Bombay Police Act, 1951) were created to regulate these presidency towns. Ahmedabad in Gujarat was the fourth city to get a Police Commissioner vide The Gujarat Adaptation of Laws (of Bombay) Order in 1960. Delhi got its Commissioner of Police following the recommendations of the Khosla Commission, and the enactment of The Delhi Police Act in 1978. Later, the metropolitan cities of Tamil Nadu (Madurai and Coimbatore in April 1990, and Salem, Tiruchirappalli, and Tirunelveli in June 1997); Odisha (Bhubaneswar-Cuttack in January 2008); Haryana (Gurgaon in June 2007, Faridabad in August 2009, and Panchkula-Ambala in August 2011); Punjab (Amritsar, Jalandhar, and Ludhiana in February 2010); Rajasthan (Jaipur and Jodhpur in January 2011); Andhra Pradesh (Cyberabad in December 2003), Gujarat (Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara); West Bengal (Bidhannagar and Barrackpore in January 2012); and Karnataka (Kalaburgi in October 2018) too, got police commissionerates. Maharashtra has the most cities — 11 — with the police commissionerate system; the latest to join the list was Meera-Bhayander late last year. Hyderabad got its Police Commissioner through The Hyderabad City Police Act of 1348F. (‘Fasli year’, which is 590 years behind the Gregorian calendar) Powers of the police The most important source of the police’s magisterial powers is The Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973. Section 20(1) authorises the state government to appoint as many executive magistrates “as it thinks fit”, and Section 20(5) provides for conferring the powers of an executive magistrate on a Commissioner of Police in a metropolitan area. Under Section 8, the state can declare any area with a population of more than 1 million, a metropolitan area. The previous CrPC of 1898 too contained similar provisions. Much depends on how much power is entrusted to police to effectively check crime. The Orissa Urban Police Act, 2003 (Orissa Act 8 of 2007) for example, gives ample powers to police to prove their mettle; the Police Commissioner of Gurgaon, on the other hand, had no powers of an executive magistrate to begin with. The powers of an executive magistrate provided under several special Acts (such as The Arms Act and the Excise Act), which are essential to check the mafia and effectively control crime, remain out of reach of police in many states including Rajasthan and UP. Although Salem, Tiruchirappalli and Tirunelveli got Police Commissioners in 1997, powers under certain special Acts were transferred only in November 2006. In June 2019, the posts of Inspector General of Police of Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram were changed to Commissioners of Police without any transfer of powers of the executive magistrate. Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, the Northeastern states,








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Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh are yet to introduce the Police Commissioner system. Where commissionerates score The idea of entrusting greater powers to police via a police commissionerate system is often accompanied by apprehensions of a “police raj”, alongside questions over the fitness of police to exercise these powers. These apprehensions are baseless. While certain aberrations are indeed seen in some states, the Police Commissioner system in itself has many advantages. It enlarges the role of the police and allows it to work as an agency that promotes the rule of law and renders impartial service to the community. Unified control over the crime prevention and detection mechanism in the hands of the police hierarchy has great potential to improve public order. An integrated command structure enables the police to exhibit its comprehensive responsiveness, and to avoid the game of blame-shifting to other agencies. The National Police Commission set up in the 1970s to suggest police reforms, noted that large urban areas in which crime and law and order situations develop rapidly, require a speedy and effective operational response from police. This can be possible only when the police are organised to perform the twin basic functions of decision-making and implementation. The Commission recommended that in cities with populations of 5 lakh and more, and in places that witness special circumstances like speedy urbanisation, industrialisation, etc., the system of police commissionerate would provide more effective policing. In fact, the situation in cities changes so quickly that the system of consultations between executive magistrates and police officers before taking preventive measures often leads to delays and confusion in urgent situations, which eventually attracts criticism from the public. An overall strengthening of the police structure and many reforms are needed — the adoption of the commissionerate system is an effective first step in achieving the objectives of crime-fighting and maintaining the rule of law. Source: The Indian Express

5. Supreme Court upholds amendments made to nullify own judgment diluting provisions of SC/ST Act Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance Recent stand of SC








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The Supreme Court upheld the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act of 2018, which nullified its own controversial March 20, 2018 judgment diluting the stringent provisions of the Dalit protection law. Rationale given by SC The Supreme Court had itself earlier recalled the March 20 judgment on October 1, 2019 in a review petition filed by the government. It had said it was wrong on the part of the March 20 judgment to treat all SC/ST community members as “a liar or crook”. It was against “basic human dignity”. The March 20 judgment had diluted the original 1989 legislation, saying they were using its provisions to file false criminal complaints against innocent persons. Parliament act The government had enacted the Amendments, saying the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes continued to face the same social stigma, poverty and humiliation which they had been subjected to for centuries. The 2018 Act had nullified a March 20 judgment of the Supreme Court, which allowed anticipatory bail to those booked for committing atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes members. The original 1989 Act bars anticipatory bail. The Supreme Court verdict saw a huge backlash across the country. Several died in ensuing protests and property worth crores of rupees was destroyed. The government reacted by filing a review petition in the Supreme Court and subsequently amended the 1989 Act back into its original form. Arguments by government The government had responded that there was no decrease in the atrocities committed on members of SC/ST communities despite the laws meant to protect their civil rights. “The SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989 is the least which the country owes to this section of the society who have been denied several civil rights since generations and have been subjected to indignities, humiliations and harassment,” the government had argued. Source: The Hindu

6. States not bound to make reservation in promotions, says Supreme Court Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance SC judgement on reservation in promotions








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Reservation in promotion in public posts cannot be claimed as a fundamental right, the Supreme Court reiterated in a judgment. Even the courts could not issue a mandamus directing States to provide reservations. Citing Constitution Bench precedents that had settled the law, the court said Articles 16 (4) and 16 (4-A) of the Constitution did not confer individuals with a fundamental right to claim reservations in promotion. The Articles empower the State to make reservation in matters of appointment and promotion in favour of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes only “if in the opinion of the State they are not adequately represented in the services of the State”. “The inadequacy of representation is a matter within the subjective satisfaction of the State,” the judgment said. Thus, the State government has discretion “to consider providing reservations, if the circumstances so warrant”. Summary “It is settled law that the State government cannot be directed to provide reservations for appointment in public posts. Similarly, the State is not bound to make reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in matters of promotions,” the apex court explained. However, if a State wishes to exercise its discretion and make reservation in promotions, it has to first collect quantifiable data showing inadequacy of representation of a class or community in public services. If the decision of the State government to provide SC/ST reservation in promotion to a particular public post is challenged, it would have to place the data and prove before the court that reservation was necessary and does not affect the efficiency of administration. The judgment was based in a batch of appeals pertaining to the reservations to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in promotions in the posts of Assistant Engineer (Civil) in Public Works Department of Uttarakhand. Source: The Hindu

7. Delhi election results Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were voted back to power with a massive mandate in the Delhi Assembly election as the party won 62 seats in the 70-member House.








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Performance of main parties The AAP secured 53.57 % of the vote share, marginally below its 54.2% in 2015; while the BJP got 38.5% votes and 5 seats; and the Congress 4.3%. The AAP party dropped just five seats and less than a percentage point in vote share from its stellar 2015 showing. The Congress, yet again, failed to open its account — the party’s candidates looked set to forfeit their deposits on 63 of the 66 seats contested.

Source: The Hindu

8. For AAP 2.0, what is the challenge ahead? Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) routed its closest rival, the BJP, for the second successive time in Delhi’s Assembly elections on Tuesday. Many of AAP’s detractors, especially in the BJP, have repeatedly argued that AAP solely relies on offering fiscally-ruinous “freebies” to the voters and luring them to vote for AAP. Its supporters, on the other hand, argue that AAP’s policy choices — with stress on improving provisioning of public education and public healthcare — present a new model of governance, and point out that under AAP, Delhi has








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not only grown faster than the India average but also increased its share to the national GDP. Where does the truth lie? Has the AAP government run its schemes by borrowing money from the market and increasing fiscal deficit? Or has it run one of the most fiscally-prudent governments in India? More importantly, is the AAP model sustainable? What are the schemes that are referred to as the “freebies”? The most recent example was the AAP government’s decision to allow free bus rides for women in Delhi. But it was not the first time nor the only scheme that involved the government subsidising a section of the society. Since 2015, when it came to power with 67 (out of 70) seats, AAP has provided: * Subsidy for those using less than 400 units of electricity; moreover, there has been no hikes in power prices over 5 years and Delhi now has the lowest electricity tariffs among the metropolitan cities of the country. * Free water for families that use less than 20,000 litres a month; the number of such families has almost trebled as a result. * Private schools have had to return the increased fee they charged “arbitrarily”; these schools now also provide 25% seats for students from marginalised backgrounds. * The government provides a loan of up to Rs 10 lakh to every student so that no student has to leave studies; it has also started a scheme of waiving up to 100 per cent fee for children of extremely poor families. * The government provides free treatment, medicines and test facilities in nearly 200 mohalla clinics, apart from free surgeries in empanelled hospitals; the government also bears the expenditure for the treatment of road accident and fire burn victims. * The minimum wage for every worker has been raised from Rs 9,500 to Rs 14,000. * Similar increases have been seen in the salaries of guest teachers in schools, honorariums of Anganwadi and Asha healthcare workers as well as the pensions of senior citizens, divyangs, and distressed women. This is not a complete list but the maximum stress of these schemes is towards education and healthcare provisioning by the state government.








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Source: RBI How does this affect Delhi expenditures? Predictably, in Delhi’s budget, the share of expenditure on education and healthcare sectors (as part of the overall expenditure) has zoomed. The line graphs are taken from the Reserve Bank of India’s latest study of state finances. They show how Delhi’s expenditure on education and healthcare shot up when AAP took over. The spike in Delhi is in stark contrast to the attention these sectors received on an average across all other states. Has this not ruined Delhi’s fiscal health? Yes, and no. That’s because this can be answered both ways. The bar graphs detail the two key parameters when judging the fiscal health of any government. The most commonly used parameter is fiscal balance. The bar graph on fiscal balance contrasts where Delhi stands as against the India average — and it basically maps the level of money (as a percentage of Gross State Domestic Product) that a state government has to borrow from the market in order to fill the gap between its overall expenditures and total revenues. Data show that despite these expenses, the AAP government ran lower fiscal deficits not just when compared to the rest of India’s average but also past Delhi governments. Despite the expected slippage in the current financial year, AAP has the lowest fiscal deficit of any state in the country.





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But what is even more striking is its performance on revenue balance, which maps the gap between revenue expenditure and revenue receipts. Typically, maintaining a revenue surplus is very difficult as subsidies and freebies tend to raise the revenue expenditure; states rarely achieve a revenue surplus. But as the graph on revenue balance shows, Delhi continues to have a revenue surplus right through — and makes it charges of fiscal imprudence rather hard to stick, especially when most of the states in the country stay in the negative territory.

Source: RBI Then, what is the reason for worry?





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As the revenue and fiscal balance graphs show, Delhi’s revenue surplus is coming down with each passing year and its fiscal deficit is starting to grow significantly. The revenue surplus, for instance, has come down from 1.6% of GSDP to just 0.6% over the AAP’s tenure. Manish Gupta, Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) said: “If we look at the own tax revenues (OTRs) of Delhi, we find that they have fallen from 5.49% of GSDP in 2015-16 to 4.93% in 2018-19. Despite this fall, its overall revenues have stayed roughly the same because of the GST compensation. But declining OTRs is a worry for sustaining expenditures”. Apart from this growing weakness in raising its own tax revenues, there was another structural disadvantage of AAP’s policy focus. Capital expenditure — that is investments into making new infrastructure like schools and hospitals — has been falling. “To be sure, capital expenditure had fallen from 1.16% of GSDP in 2011-12 to 0.89% in 2014-15. But, under AAP, it has further fallen to 0.54% in 2018-19,” said Gupta. So while spending more money into improving the functioning of existing schools and hospitals is creditable, not investing adequately towards raising the productive capacity of a growing city like Delhi will create bottlenecks in the medium- to long-term. Source: The Indian Express

9. Six years on, Lokpal is a non-starter Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance The massive public campaign in 2011 demanding an independent anti-corruption ombudsman resulted in the passage of the Lokpal law. The political dividend of the agitation was reaped at the national level by the BJP, which vociferously supported the demand for an effective Lokpal and rode to power in 2014 on the plank of anti-corruption. More than six years after the Lokpal law received the President’s assent, the institution of the Lokpal is yet to play any significant role in tackling corruption in the country. The manner in which the Lokpal has been emasculated by the current regime closely mirrors the undermining of other institutions of oversight and accountability. The preambular statement of The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 notes that the law has been enacted to ensure prompt and fair investigation and prosecution in cases of corruption against public servants. The Lokpal was envisioned to be independent. It was accorded a high stature and given extensive powers including the power to inquire, investigate and prosecute acts of corruption. Delay in appointments








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For more than five years, the chairperson and members of the Lokpal were not appointed. The government claimed that since no one could be recognised as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) after the 2014 general election, the committee responsible for selecting members of the Lokpal could not be constituted. This malady could have been easily remedied by either recognising the leader of the single largest party in Opposition in the Lok Sabha as the LoP, or by amending the Lokpal law to allow the leader of the largest Opposition party to be a member of the committee in the absence of a recognised LoP (this was done for the selection committee of the CBI Director). However, neither recourse was taken. The chairperson and members of the Lokpal were appointed only in March 2019 after a contempt petition was filed in the Supreme Court following the failure of the government to comply with the 2017 ruling of the court to initiate the process of making appointments. A truncated selection committee, without the LoP, was set up. The Prime Minister, Speaker, and the then Chief Justice of India appointed Mukul Rohatgi, who had earlier served as Attorney General of India during the BJP regime, as the eminent jurist on the selection panel. The leader of the largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha was invited for meetings of the selection committee as a ‘special invitee’, which he declined on grounds that it was mere tokenism. The four-member selection committee, having a preponderance of representatives of the ruling party with an inherent bias towards recommending candidates favoured by the government, selected the Chair and members of the Lokpal. The manner in which the appointments were made raised doubts about the independence of the Lokpal even before it became operational. Despite the fracas over appointments, many had hoped that once constituted, the Lokpal would nevertheless be a significant oversight body to check corruption and the arbitrary use of power by the government. More than 10 months later, however, evidence suggests that the Lokpal is a non-starter. Till date, the government has not made rules prescribing the form for filing complaints to the Lokpal. The Central government has also failed to formulate rules regarding asset disclosure by public servants. In order to ensure independent and credible action on allegations of corruption, the Lokpal was empowered under the law to set up its own inquiry wing headed by a Director of Inquiry and its own prosecution wing headed by a Director of Prosecution. However, information accessed under the Right to Information Act has confirmed that the inquiry and prosecution wings of the anti-corruption ombudsman are yet to be set up. The Lokpal has also not appointed the Director of Inquiry or Prosecution. Further, regulations which the Lokpal was obligated to make under the law are yet to be made, including those specifying the manner and procedure of conducting preliminary inquiry and investigation.








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The website of the Lokpal states that it scrutinised 1,065 complaints received till September 30, 2019 and disposed of 1,000. Since necessary procedures to operationalise the law are yet to be put in place, the legal veracity of the decisions of the Lokpal could potentially be challenged in a court of law. Failure to meet expectations Without the requisite rules, regulations and machinery in place, it is not surprising that the Lokpal has failed to meet expectations. In recent times, the only reason for the Lokpal being in the news has been the resignation of its judicial member, Justice Dilip B. Bhosale, for undisclosed reasons. The failure to operationalise the Lokpal in an effective manner lays bare the lack of political will of the BJP government. It took nearly half a century for the Lokpal law to be enacted from the time the need for the oversight institution was first articulated. It is anybody’s guess how much longer it will take before India has an effective, independent and empowered Lokpal. Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri are transparency and anti-corruption activists associated with the National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information. Source: The Indian Express

10. Supreme Court orders parties to publish criminal history of Lok Sabha, Assembly candidates Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance Supreme Court order The Supreme Court ordered political parties to publish the entire criminal history of their candidates for Assembly and Lok Sabha elections along with the reasons that made them to field suspected criminals over decent people. The information should be published in a local as well as a national newspaper as well as the parties’ social media handles. It should mandatorily be published either within 48 hours of the selection of candidates or less than two weeks before the first date for filing of nominations, whichever is earlier. A Bench led by Justices Rohinton F. Nariman, in the judgment, ordered political parties to submit compliance reports with the Election Commission of India within 72 hours or risk contempt of court action. The judgment is applicable to parties both at Central and State levels.








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Why SC gave order? The judgment by the Bench, also comprising Justice S. Ravindra Bhat, signified the court's alarm at the unimpeded rise of criminals, often facing heinous charges like rape and murder, encroaching into the country's political and electoral scenes. Information should be detailed The published information on the criminal antecedents of a candidate should be detailed and include the nature of their offences, charges framed against him, the court concerned, case number, etc. A political party should explain to the public through their published material how the “qualifications or achievements or merit” of a candidate, charged with a crime, impressed it enough to cast aside the smear of his criminal background. A party would have to give reasons to the voter that it was not the candidate’s “mere winnability at the polls” which guided its decision to give him ticket to contest elections. “It appears that over the last four general elections, there has been an alarming increase in the incidence of criminals in politics. In 2004, 24% of the Members of Parliament had criminal cases pending against them; in 2009, that went up to 30%; in 2014 to 34%; and in 2019 as many as 43% of MPs had criminal cases pending against them”, Justice Nariman wrote.








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Petition filed The four-page judgment was based on a contempt petition filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay about the general disregard shown by political parties to a 2018 Constitution Bench judgment (Public Interest Foundation v. Union of India) to publish the criminal details of their candidates in their respective websites and print as well as electronic media for public awareness. “In this judgment (2018), this court was cognisant of the increasing criminalisation of politics in India and the lack of information about such criminalisation among the citizenry”, Justice Nariman observed. Source: The Hindu

11. Why have LPG prices seen a sharp rise? Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance








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On February 12, LPG prices, which are revised on a monthly basis, went up again. The rate for unsubsidised, 14.2 kg cylinders has risen by a steep Rs. 144.50 in Delhi, at Rs. 858.50. In January 2020, a non-subsidised LPG cylinder cost Rs. 714 in Delhi. In three other metros too, LPG prices jumped — Kolkata: Rs. 896 (increase by Rs. 149); Mumbai: Rs. 829.50 (increase by Rs. 145); and Chennai: Rs. 881 (increase by Rs. 147). The recent price hike has been the sharpest since January 2014. What influences LPG prices in India? Domestic prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) are based on a formula — the import parity price (IPP), which is based on international LPG prices. Saudi Aramco’s LPG price acts as the benchmark for the IPP and includes the free-on-board price, ocean freight, customs duties, port dues and the like. This dollar-denominated figure is converted into rupees before local costs — such as local freight, bottling charges, marketing costs, margins for oil marketing firms and dealer commissions and the Goods and Services Tax — are added. This helps the government arrive at the retail selling price for LPG. The government resets the LPG price every month, the decision being influenced by international prices and how the rupee has behaved against the dollar in the immediately preceding weeks. How have international prices behaved recently? For most of December, the Brent crude price had been on an uptrend, and had breached the $68 level late that month. It peaked at $68.91 in early January, but with the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease hogging headlines in recent weeks, fears of a global slowdown have pushed oil prices down through January, save for a few spikes. Saudi Aramco had raised its propane prices to $565 per metric tonne in January, up sharply from $440 a metric tonne set for December. Aramco propane prices offer a benchmark for pricing the West Asia LPG sales to Asian markets.








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The dollar-rupee dance has since been within the range of Rs. 71- Rs. 72 to the dollar, having briefly breached the 72 mark in early January. Who will the price rise affect? The price increase will affect retail consumers who have given up the subsidy. The government has said that for those who avail subsidy, the increase would be mostly absorbed by the rise in subsidy. The Centre said the price of an unsubsidised cylinder would increase from Rs. 714 to Rs. 858.50 in Delhi, for example, and that the subsidy offered would go up from Rs. 153.86 to Rs. 291.48. Of the 27.76 crore retail consumers, 26.12 crore consumers avail LPG subsidy. Likewise, for Ujjwala consumers, the subsidy would go up from Rs. 174.86 to Rs. 312.48 per cylinder. Does this help the government move to an open pricing regime? Prior to the latest round of the price increase, the government had raised LPG cylinder prices by Rs. 62, starting from August 2019. Compare this with the increase of Rs. 82 that had taken place over five years to mid-2019, indicating a penchant for increasingly lesser subsidy. In the latest round, though, the Centre has sought to absorb much of the increase for those availing the subsidy. It looks like the most recent increase has been beyond its control and it is hence raising the subsidy levels to protect consumers, given that the economy is reeling from lack of consumer spending. What is the outlook? With international crude prices on the downtrend, it is plausible the LPG prices too would see a slump. Aramco has lowered its propane price for February to $505 per metric tonne. Assuming we receive no surprises from the rupee-dollar tango, a softening of LPG prices in the domestic context may be expected. What are the implications for the broader economy?








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At a time when consumer demand, in general, for goods and services in the country has slumped, more cash in the hands of the retail consumer may have helped spur demand. It is ironic that the government has had to raise LPG prices now. This sucks away even more disposable income from those consumers who pay market rates for LPG. As a result, household budgets are bound to go up, especially for those not availing the subsidy. The increase in LPG price could spur headline inflation even further. As it is, the consumer price index inflation has seen a rise over the past few months. For January, it had accelerated to 7.59%, compared with 7.35% in December 2019. The January inflation metric was the highest since May 2014, when the figure was at 8.33%. Source: The Hindu

12. When can a judge opt out of a case? Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper I; Polity & Governance On February 12, Supreme Court judge Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar recused himself from hearing a petition filed by Sara Abdullah Pilot, sister of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, against the government’s move to charge him under the Public Safety Act. The case was finally heard by another bench. Recusal usually takes place when a judge has a conflict of interest or has a prior association with the parties in the case. What are the rules on recusals? There are no written rules on the recusal of judges from hearing cases listed before them in constitutional courts. It is left to the discretion of a judge. The reasons for recusal are not disclosed in an order of the court. Some judges orally convey to the lawyers involved in the case their reasons for recusal, many do not. Some explain the reasons in their order. The decision rests on the conscience of the judge. At times, parties involved raise apprehensions about a possible conflict of interest. For example, if the case pertains to a company in which the judge holds stakes, the apprehension would seem reasonable. Similarly, if the judge has, in the past, appeared for one of the parties involved in a case, the call for recusal may seem right. A recusal inevitably leads to delay. The case goes back to the Chief Justice, who has to constitute a fresh Bench. Should the reasons be put on record? In his separate opinion in the National Judicial Appointments Commission judgment in 2015, Justice (now retired) Kurian Joseph, who was a member of the Constitution Bench, highlighted the need for judges to give reasons for recusal as a measure to build transparency. “It is the constitutional duty, as reflected in one’s oath, to be transparent and accountable, and hence, a judge is required to indicate reasons for his recusal from a particular case,” Justice Kurian wrote. Source: The Hindu








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13. How to treat a child witness Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance In the two weeks since police slapped sedition charges on a school in Bidar, Karnataka, where a play critical of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) had been staged, much of the spotlight has been on reports that the police questioned the children. The Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has pulled up the district police for violations, including repeated questioning of the children. Additionally, a public interest petition has been filed in the Karnataka High Court seeking a departmental inquiry against the policemen who allegedly questioned the children of Shaheen School, aged between 9 and 12, without the consent of their parents or guardians, and also video-recorded them without consent. The PIL referred to a statement by the Shaheen Alumni Association to say that the children were questioned by policemen carrying guns, which created an “intimidating and fearful environment”. The PIL has asked for guidelines to be issued to police regarding interrogation of minors in criminal proceedings in accordance with the Juvenile Justice Act and United Nations resolutions. How do the law in India and resolutions of the UN address the issue of questioning children? What are the safeguards for children being made witnesses? What are the international conventions on children in these situations? India has been a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child since 1992, which was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1989. “In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration,” the Convention states. In 2009, the ‘United Nations: Justice in Matters involving Child Victims and Witnesses in Crime: Model Law’ provided a more specific set of guidelines in the context of child witnesses. These guidelines recommend that authorities treat children in a caring and sensitive manner, with interview techniques that “minimise distress or trauma to children”. They recommend specifically that an investigator specially trained in dealing with children be appointed to guide the interview of the child, using a child-sensitive approach. “The investigator shall, to the extent possible, avoid repetition of the interview during the justice process in order to prevent secondary victimisation of the child.” Secondary victimisation is defined as victimisation that occurs not as a direct result of a criminal act, but through the response of institutions and individuals to the victim. Child rights activists say that children repeatedly questioned by authorities while in police uniform, without the presence of their parents, can lead to such trauma.








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How do Indian laws address the issue of child witnesses? Under Section 118 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, there is no minimum age for a witness. Children as young as three years old have deposed before trial courts in cases of sexual abuse. Usually during a trial, the court, before recording the testimony of a child witness, determines his or her competency on the basis of their ability to give rational answers. A child is usually asked questions like their name, the school they study in, and the names of their parents to determine their competency. If the child is very young and does not understand the significance of taking an oath to speak the truth — which is administered to each witness before testimony — the judge or the staff explain to the child that he or she should speak the truth, thinking of whichever God they believe in. Trials involving children as witnesses have primarily been in cases of child sexual abuse. Other criminal cases where children are examined as witnesses have included those where a parent is the victim of violence at home, in the sole presence of the child. Have courts dealt with how child witnesses are to be treated? The Delhi High Court has come up with guidelines for recording of evidence of vulnerable witnesses in criminal matters. A vulnerable witness is defined as anyone who has not completed 18 years of age. Focusing primarily on child witnesses giving testimonies that are recorded in court, the Delhi High Court guidelines underline the importance of the criminal justice system needing to respond proactively, sensitively, and in an age-appropriate manner when dealing with children. “The lengthy process of navigating the formal and adversarial criminal justice system can affect the vulnerable witnesses’ psychological development,” the guidelines say. They allow for a facilitator for a vulnerable witness to be appointed by a court for effective communication between various stakeholders including the police. In 2016, the Delhi High Court said that while children can be pliable, their testimony can be considered after careful scrutiny. What are the laws pertaining to the questioning of children? JJ Act: The primary legislation in the country pertaining to children is The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. The Act does not provide guidelines specifically relating to questioning or interviewing of children as witnesses. The Act’s very preamble, however, says that a “child-friendly approach in the adjudication and disposal of matters in the best interest of children” must be adhered to. This means adhering to general guidelines pertaining to the juvenile justice system — for instance, for the police to not be in their uniform while dealing with children. It also requires that interviews of children be done by specialised units of police who are trained to sensitively deal with them.








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The Act prescribes that a Special Juvenile Police Unit is to be constituted by the state government in each district and city, headed by a police officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police, and including two social workers, at least one of whom must be a woman, and both of whom should be experienced in the field of child welfare. Their work includes coordinating with the police towards sensitive treatment of children. The Act also provides for a Child Welfare Committee in every district to take cognisance of any violations by the authorities in their handling of children. POCSO Act: Apart from the Juvenile Justice Act, The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 has specific guidelines regarding interviewing children as witnesses. While it pertains to child sexual abuse victims, child rights activists say the guidelines are a framework for all children who are being interviewed by the police as witnesses. The Act states that interviews should be conducted in a safe, neutral, child- friendly environment, including allowing for them to be done at homes. It says a child should not be made to recount the incident in question multiple times. The Act also allows for a support person, who could be trained in counselling, to be present with the child to reduce stress and trauma. In 2018, the Bombay High Court had pulled up the police for repeatedly summoning a three-year-old to the police station for recording his statement in a case of alleged sexual abuse of his classmate; a school trustee was an accused in the case. Source: The Indian Express

14. What Supreme Court said on women in Army Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance The Supreme Court on Monday brought women officers in 10 streams of the Army on a par with their male counterparts in all respects, setting aside longstanding objections of the government. The case was first filed in the Delhi High Court by women officers in 2003, and had received a favourable order in 2010. But the order was never implemented, and was challenged in the Supreme Court by the government. Women in Army: Background of the case The induction of women officers in the Army started in 1992. They were commissioned for a period of five years in certain chosen streams such as Army Education Corps, Corps of Signals, Intelligence Corps, and Corps of Engineers. Recruits under the Women Special Entry Scheme (WSES) had a shorter pre-commission training period than their male counterparts who were commissioned under the Short Service Commission (SSC) scheme. In 2006, the WSES scheme was replaced with the SSC scheme, which was extended to women officers. They were commissioned for a period of 10 years, extendable up to 14 years. Serving WSES officers were given the option to move to the new SSC scheme, or to








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continue under the erstwhile WSES. They were to be however, restricted to roles in streams specified earlier — which excluded combat arms such as infantry and armoured corps. The Supreme Court rejected arguments against greater role for women officers, saying these violated equality under law. They were being kept out of command posts on the reasoning that the largely rural rank and file will have problems with women as commanding officers. The biological argument was also rejected as disturbing. While male SSC officers could opt for permanent commission at the end of 10 years of service, this option was not available to women officers. They were, thus, kept out of any command appointment, and could not qualify for government pension, which starts only after 20 years of service as an officer. The first batch of women officers under the new scheme entered the Army in 2008. The battle in the courts In 2003, a PIL was filed before the Delhi High Court for grant of permanent commission (PC) to women SSC officers in the Army. Another writ petition was filed by Major Leena Gurav on October 16, 2006, primarily to challenge the terms and conditions of service imposed by circulars earlier that year, and to seek PC for women officers. In September 2008, the Defence Ministry passed an order saying PC would be granted prospectively to SSC women officers in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) department and the Army Education Corps (AEC). This circular was challenged before the Delhi High Court by Major Sandhya Yadav and others on the ground that it granted PC only prospectively, and only in certain specified streams. The High Court heard the 2003, 2006, and 2008 challenges together, and passed its judgment in 2010. Women officers of the Air Force and Army on SSC who had sought permanent commission but were not granted that status, would be entitled to PC at par with male SSC officers, it ruled. However, this benefit was only available to women officers in service who had instituted proceedings before the High Court, and had retired during the pendency of the writ petitions. Women officers who had not attained the age of superannuation for permanently commissioned officers would be reinstated with all consequential benefits. The government challenged the order in the Supreme Court, and even though the High Court judgment was not stayed, the Defence Ministry did not implement those directions. While the proceedings were on, the government passed an order in February 2019 for the grant of PC to SSC women officers in eight streams of the Army, in addition to the JAG and AEC, which had been opened up in 2008. But they would not be offered any command appointments, and would serve only in staff posts.








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During the hearing, the government came up with a proposal whereby women officers of up to 14 years of service would be granted permanent commission in line with the letter of February 2019. Women officers with more than 14 years of service would be permitted to serve for up to 20 years without being considered for PC, but would retire with pension, and those with more than 20 years of service would be released with pensionary benefits immediately. Order and its implications The government put forth other arguments before the Supreme Court to justify the proposal on the grounds of permanent commission, grants of pensionary benefits, limitations of judicial review on policy issues, occupational hazards, reasons for discrimination against women, SSC as a support cadre, and rationalization on physiological limitations for employment in staff appointments. The apex court has rejected these arguments, saying they are “based on sex stereotypes premised on assumptions about socially ascribed roles of gender which discriminate against women”. It has also said that it only shows the need “to emphasise the need for change in mindsets to bring about true equality in the Army”. The SC has done away with all discrimination on the basis of years of service for grant of PC in 10 streams of combat support arms and services, bringing them on a par with male officers. It has also removed the restriction of women officers only being allowed to serve in staff appointments, which is the most significant and far-reaching aspect of the judgment. It means that women officers will be eligible to tenant all the command appointments, at par with male officers, which would open avenues for further promotions to higher ranks for them: if women officers had served only in staff, they would not have gone beyond the rank of Colonel. It also means that in junior ranks and career courses, women officers would be attending the same training courses and tenanting critical appointments, which are necessary for higher promotions. The Army had not officially responded to the judgment until evening, although Defence Minister Rajnath Singh welcomed it. The implications of the judgment will have to be borne by the human resources management department of the Army, which will need to change policy in order to comply. But the bigger shift will have to take place in the culture, norms, and values of the rank and file of the Army, which will be the responsibility of the senior military and political leadership. After the Supreme Court’s progressive decision, they have no choice but to bite the proverbial bullet.








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Source: The Indian Express

15. The Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill is a much-needed complement to Surrogacy Bill Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance The Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation (ART) Bill, which was cleared by the Union Cabinet this week, came after the Surrogacy Bill. The Surrogacy Bill; the amendment to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act and the older Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act present a bouquet of legislation that will have a positive impact on the reproductive rights and choices of women in India. Need of ART Bill The ART Bill to regulate clinics offering fertility treatments has been long in the works, and was first presented publicly way back in 2008. ART measures help couples unable to conceive naturally to bear children with the aid of state-of-the-art technology to achieve pregnancy, leading to safe delivery. India has a rich history of employing ART, though the initial years went officially undocumented at that time. In the late 1970s, only months after the birth of Louise Brown, the first ‘test tube baby’, Kolkata-based doctor Subhas Mukherjee announced the birth of the world’s second test tube baby. Subsequently, the industry saw phenomenal growth, as infertility rates went up. A market projection (by Fortune Business Insights) said the size of the ART market is expected to reach $45 billion by 2026. Among Asian countries, India’s ART market is pegged at third position. A lack of regulation and the consequent laxity in operations drove a lot of traffic from other nations to India. This, in turn, along with the relatively low costs, led to the mushrooming of ART clinics across the country. Undoubtedly, this also led to a plethora of legal, social and ethical issues. It is at this juncture that the ART Bill has seen a fitting revival, egged on by legislators who facilitated the passage of the Surrogacy Bill in the Rajya Sabha. What does the bill seeks to do? It seeks to regulate and monitor ART procedures, and mandates the establishment of a National Board and State Boards to lay down rules for implementation, and also honours a long-pending demand — creation of a national registry, and registration authority. While the rules will handle the bells and whistles, the Bill already sets a comprehensive framework to operate on. Most significantly, the Bill recommends punishment, even jail








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time, for violations of the provisions. Since it does impinge on surrogacy too, the government must now work on ensuring synchrony in both Bills. Having come this far to ensure the reproductive rights of women, the state now has the thriving ART industry on a leash, and the Bill is its best chance to eliminate exploitation in the field. Source: The Hindu

16. Research funding in India Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance Low level of research expenditure It is well known that research and development in India is inadequate, in terms of money, personnel and ambition. Public institutions contribute the lion’s share of R&D investment. In 2004-05, the private sector accounted for 28% of research spend; it was 40% in 2016-17. In most advanced economies, private R&D accounts for the bulk of investment in R&D. Moreover, relative to its income, India underspends on R&D compared to what the U.S. and China did when it had income levels comparable to India’s now. Given this history, the Department of Science and Technology is mooting a fund that will match the private contributions in R&D. A 40-crore target is on the anvil and the idea is that the private sector — Indian firms and foreign companies with Indian subsidiaries — would fund scientists in key academic institutions. Failure to attract private investment in R & D This is not the first time that the government has tried to get private sector money into R&D. When ‘Startup India’ and ‘Make in India’ were the buzzwords in the early years of the Modi government, there were attempts to have venture capitalists and government departments involved in scientific research, to pool money and invest in technology start-ups. But, unfortunately, this has not resulted in investment in creating intellectual property. Too much of India’s research investment is expended on a small pool of scientists in a limited number of institutions. The private sector has extremely limited risk-appetite to invest in futuristic technology. Private research funding is also boosted more by partnerships among companies rather than by centrally-funded research programmes. While private funding is increasing, it still has not reached a level where major central funding can make a significant impact. Many CSIR laboratories have had a long history of collaborating with companies to develop and transfer technology to industry, but here too, restrictions on how intellectual property and licence fees can be shared abound. Unless








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there is greater participation and cooperation at smaller levels among companies and government, central schemes may not be fruitful. Source: The Hindu

17. Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat is working on a timeline for the rollout of joint commands of the Army, Navy and Air Force. What are the existing commands in India, and how will jointness help? Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance On Monday, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat said his office is working on a tentative timeline for the establishment of joint commands among the three defence services — Army, Navy and Air Force — beginning with an Air Defence Command. With the creation of the CDS post on December 31, the government has set the ball rolling for bringing jointness and integration among the services. What are joint commands? Simply put, it is a unified command in which the resources of all the services are unified under a single commander looking at a geographical theatre. It means that a single military commander, as per the requirements, will have the resources of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force to manage a security threat. The commander of a joint command will have the freedom to train and equip his command as per the objective, and will have logistics of all the services at his beckoning. The three services will retain their independent identities as well. There are two tri-services commands at the moment. The joint command at the moment, the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), is a theatre command, which is headed by the chiefs of the three services in rotation. It was created in 2001 after a Group of Ministers had given a report on national security following the Kargil War. The Strategic Forces Command was established in 2006 and is a functional tri-services command. What is the structure right now? There are 17 commands, divided among the three services. The Army and the Air Force have seven commands each, while the Navy has three commands. The commands under the Army are Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western, Central, Southwestern and the Army Training Command. The Air Force has Eastern, Western, Southern, Southwestern, Central, Maintenance and Training commands, and the Navy is divided into Western, Eastern and Southern commands. These commands report to their respective services, and are headed by three-star officers. Though these commands are in the same regions, but they are no located together.








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How do joint commands help? One of the main advantages is that the leader of a unified command has control over more varied resources, compared to the heads of the commands under the services now. For instance, the head of one of the proposed commands, Air Defence Command, will have under him naval and Army resources, too, which can be used as per the threat perception. And the officer commanding the Pakistan or China border will have access to the Air Force’s fighter jets and can use them if needed. Rawat clarified, however, that not all naval resources will be given to the Air Defence Command, nor will all resources of the Air Force come under another proposed command, Peninsula Command, for the coasts. The Peninsula Command would give the Navy Chief freedom to look at the larger perspective in the entire Indian Ocean Region in which China’s presence is steadily increasing. The other key advantage is that through such integration and jointness the three forces will be able to avoid duplication of resources. The resources available under each service will be available to other services too. The services will get to know one another better, strengthening cohesion in the defence establishment. When will the new commands be ready? CDS Rawat has said a study for a proposed Air Defence Command has already been initiated and a report on the details of the command are expected by end of March. He said the Air Defence Command should start becoming operational by the end of this year, and the Peninsula Command by the end of 2021, followed by theatre commands — joint commands looking at the land boundaries — with the first of these to begin rolling out by the end of 2022. Army chief General M M Naravane is not as optimistic about the timeline for the theatre commands, and said on Thursday that the idea is still at a “very preliminary” stage, and added that at the moment it is “just very loud thinking”. He said the rollout of the theatre commands will take “much longer”. How many such commands are expected to roll out? While the number of commands India needs is still being studied, the CDS has envisaged that there could be between six to nine commands. It is not certain how many land-based theatre commands on the borders will come up. The CDS said it will be studied, and the study group will be given the options for creating two to five theatre commands. One possibility is to have single commands looking at the China and Pakistan borders respectively, as they are the two major threats. The other option is to have a separate command for the border in the Jammu and Kashmir region, and another command looking at the rest of the western border. There could be independent commands looking at the border with China which is divided by Nepal.








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There will be two functional commands as well. A proposed Logistics Command will bring the logistics of all the service under one person, and the CDS is also looking at a Training and Doctrine Command, so that all services work under a common doctrine and have some basic common training. A committee headed by Lieutenant General D B Shekatkar had earlier recommended three new commands: Northern, for China; Western, for the Pakistan border’ and Southern, for maritime security. Do militaries of other countries have such commands? Several major militaries are divided into integrated theatre commands. China’s People’s Liberation Army has five theatre commands: Eastern, Western, Northern, Southern and Central. Its Western Theatre Command is responsible for India. The US Armed Forces has 11 unified commands, of which seven are geographic and four functional commands. Its geographic commands are Africa, Central, European, Indo-Pacific, Northern, Southern and Space. Cyber, Special Operations, Transportation and Strategic are its functional commands. Rawat has said India will not follow any country and find its own structure for the unified commands. Source: The Indian Express

18. Govt to establish Central Consumer Protection Authority; what is it?

Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance Last week, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan announced that a Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) will be established by the first week of April. This was after the Minister held consultations with industry representatives about the role and functioning of a proposed CCPA. What is the Central Consumer Protection Authority? The authority is being constituted under Section 10(1) of The Consumer Protection Act, 2019. The Act replaced The Consumer Protection Act, 1986, and seeks to widen its scope in addressing consumer concerns. The new Act recognises offences such as providing false information regarding the quality or quantity of a goods or service, and misleading advertisements. It also specifies action to be taken if goods and services are found “dangerous, hazardous or unsafe”. The CCPA, introduced in the new Act, aims to protect the rights of the consumer by cracking down on unfair trade practices, and false and misleading advertisements that are detrimental to the interests of the public and consumers.








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The CCPA will have the powers to inquire or investigate into matters relating to violations of consumer rights or unfair trade practices suo motu, or on a complaint received, or on a direction from the central government. Sources said the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is in the process of finalising the rules relating to the composition and functioning of the CCPA, and these are expected to be notified by April. What can be the possible structure of CCPA? Sources said the proposed authority will be a lean body with a Chief Commissioner as head, and only two other commissioners as members — one of whom will deal with matters relating to goods while the other will look into cases relating to services. It will be headquartered in the National Capital Region of Delhi but the central government may set up regional offices in other parts of the country. The CCPA will have an Investigation Wing that will be headed by a Director General. District Collectors too, will have the power to investigate complaints of violations of consumer rights, unfair trade practices, and false or misleading advertisements. What kind of goods, and food items in particular, can be classified as “dangerous, hazardous or unsafe”? This is not specified in the notification of the Act. Regarding food, an official said the CCPA will ensure that all standards on packaged food items set by regulators such as the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) are being followed. What will the CCPA do if any goods or services are found not meeting these standards? Under Section 20 of The Consumer Protection Act, the proposed authority will have powers to recall goods or withdrawal of services that are “dangerous, hazardous or unsafe; pass an order for refund the prices of goods or services so recalled to purchasers of such goods or services; and discontinuation of practices which are unfair and prejudicial to consumer’s interest”. For manufacture, selling, storage, distribution, or import of adulterated products, the penalties are: * If injury is not caused to a consumer, fine up to Rs 1 lakh with imprisonment up to six months; * If injury is caused, fine up to Rs 3 lakh with imprisonment up to one year; * If grievous hurt is caused, fine up to Rs 5 lakh with imprisonment up to 7 years; * In case of death, fine of Rs 10 lakh or more with a minimum imprisonment of 7 years, extendable to imprisonment for life. How will it deal with false or misleading advertisements? Section 21 of the new Act defines the powers given to the CCPA to crack down on false or misleading advertisements. According to these provisions, if the CCPA is satisfied after investigation that any advertisement is false or misleading and is harmful to the interest of any consumer, or is in contravention of consumer rights, the CCPA may issue directions to








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the trader, manufacturer, endorser, advertiser, or publisher to discontinue such an advertisement, or modify it in a manner specified by the authority, within a given time. The authority may also impose a penalty up to Rs 10 lakh, with imprisonment up to two years, on the manufacturer or endorser of false and misleading advertisements. The penalty may go up to Rs 50 lakh, with imprisonment up to five years, for every subsequent offence committed by the same manufacturer or endorser. CCPA may ban the endorser of a false or misleading advertisement from making endorsement of any products or services in the future, for a period that may extend to one year. The ban may extend up to three years in every subsequent violation of the Act. What other powers will the CCPA have? While conducting an investigation after preliminary inquiry, officers of the CCPA’s Investigation Wing will have the powers to enter any premise and search for any document or article, and to seize these. For search and seizure, the CCPA will have similar powers given under the provisions of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The CCPA can file complaints of violation of consumer rights or unfair trade practices before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, and the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. It will issue safety notices to alert consumers against dangerous or hazardous or unsafe goods or services. Source: The Indian Express

19. In the ongoing Delhi violence, what action can the state government take in a UT where police are under the Centre? Under what circumstances can Delhi call for central forces? And if called, what is the state’s role? Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance Amid the violence that has rocked Delhi, a Union Territory, a key question being raised is whether or not the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi can take any action to bring law and order under control. The answer is not a straightforward one, with many factors coming into play. Can any official of the Delhi government request the Union government to deploy armed forces to maintain law and order? The NCT of Delhi, under Article 239 AA, has been given a special status, which gives powers of law-making and administration to an elected legislature and the council of ministers. The








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law, however, puts two subjects — public order and police — directly under the Union government. Even here, there are exceptions. Two sections of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) —129 & 130 — give the Executive Magistrate certain powers relating to “unlawful assembly”. If a group is found in unlawful assembly under Section 129 CrPC, the Executive Magistrate can issue orders to these persons to disperse. If this fails, the magistrate can use the civil force — which is the police. If these efforts too fail, the Executive Magistrate, under Section 130 CrPC, can call an officer of the armed forces of the Union to disperse the assembly. This section states that it can be invoked for “public security”. Therefore, under these two limited powers, the Executive Magistrate, who reports to the Chief Minister, can issue orders relating to public security. How does Section 130 CrPC operate? It has three sub-sections. The first sub-section states that if the civil force is not being able to disperse an unlawful assembly —“and if it is necessary for the public security that it should be dispersed” — then the Executive Magistrate of “the highest rank who is present may cause it to be dispersed by the armed forces”. The officer of a Union armed force must comply with a requisition made to him by the Executive Magistrate. However, Section 130 CrPC empowers the officer to decide, on his own, the manner in which the unlawful assembly has to be dispersed by forces under his command. The second sub-section under Section 130 reads: “Such Magistrate may require any officer in command of any group of persons belonging to the armed forces to disperse the assembly with the help of the armed forces under his command, and to arrest and confine such persons forming part of it as the Magistrate may direct, or as it may be necessary to arrest and confine in order to disperse the assembly or to have them punished according to law”. The third sub-section states that the armed forces shall only use a “little force”. It states: “Every such officer of the armed forces shall obey such requisition in such manner as he thinks fit, but in so doing he shall use as little force, and do as little injury to person and property, as may be consistent with dispersing the assembly and arresting and detaining such persons”. Does a full-fledged state have more powers to call the armed forces? While public order and police are under the state list, the state government may request the Union government to make available armed forces to help restore public order. Even in circumstances where public disorder is not so serious as to fall in the category of an “internal disturbance” as defined in Article 355 of the Constitution, the Union Government may accede to the request. However, it is important to note that except for the limited








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purpose of dispersing an “unlawful assembly” and arresting its members — for which Section 130 CrPC empowers the Executive Magistrate to requisition the aid of the Army — neither the state government nor any authority under it has been conferred by the Constitution any legal right to call the armed forces while dealing with a public disorder or “internal disturbance”. Also, the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution — which deals with the subject of public order in the state list — states that use of the armed forces in the maintenance of public order is outside the purview of the states. When was the Army called in during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi? P G Gavai, who was Delhi’s Lt Governor when the anti-Sikh riots broke out in 1984 following Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination, requested the government to deploy the Army. The Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission of Inquiry has found that there was a delay on the part of the Delhi administration (Lt Governor and Commissioner of Police) in calling the Army, though about 5,000 Army men were available by midnight of October 31, the day of the assassination. The Nanavati Commission too had agreed with the findings of the Justice Mishra Commission on the delay in calling the Army. Source: The Indian Express

International Organizations & Relations 1. National Consultation on the review of Beijing +25 Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR To mark of 25 years of the adoption of Beijing Platform for Action, Ministry of Women & Child Development (MWCD), the National Commission for Women (NCW) and UN Women organized a National Consultation on the Review of Beijing+25, to galvanize all stakeholders to implement actions that remove the most conspicuous barriers to gender equality. The aim of the consultation was to bring together civil society and the women and youth of India, gender equality advocates from all walks of life, in a national public conversation on the urgent actions that need to be taken for the realization of gender equality. Objective behind consultation The objectives of the Consultation were to assess progress and challenges to the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in India over the past 5 year, discuss lessons learned, priority actions required to realized gender equality and the








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empowerment of women by 2030, discuss emerging areas that have impact on women’s empowerment. Beijing conference on women The 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, was one of the largest ever gatherings of the United Nations, and a critical turning point in the world’s focus on gender equality and the empowerment of women. 25th anniversary 2020 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), (Beijing + 25). A quarter of a century on, several innovations and progress has been made on many fronts across the 12 critical areas of concern of the BPfA. Under the helm of Ministry of Women and Child Development, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao was expanded to all 640 districts resulting in a 13-point improvement in the sex ratio from 918 (2014-15) to 931 (2018-19), the female net enrolment ratio of 93.55 percent at the elementary level and a significant decline in the overall drop-out rate to 19.8% for boys and girls. Over 17.43 lakh women were reached out under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY Maternity Benefit Programme) and over 18.6 lakh were addressed through Women Helpline Number (181) across country as on September 2018. To improve the overall gender responsiveness of the police and encourage participation of women in the force, advisory have been issued to increase representation of women to 33 percent resulting in extension of reservation in 15 additional States in the last 5 years. Further, to strengthen the ecosystem for working women and encourage economic participation, extension of maternity leave duration from 12 to 26 weeks and compulsory establishment of crèche in work spaces have been effectuated through legislative amendment. Source: PIB

2. Brexit here, what changes and what doesn’t Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR By Friday night GMT (early Saturday morning in India), Britain will have exited the European Union after 47 years of membership. In a journey that began in January 2013 with the announcement of a referendum in which the British public would vote where or not the country would go for Brexit (they eventually voted in favour), the formal exit now is only the first step of another long journey ahead.








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As of now, an 11-month transition period has kicked in. This ends on December 31, 2020. A look at what changes during the period, and what remains the same: Out of EU politics With Brexit Day on Thursday, the United Kingdom leaves all of the European Union’s political institutions. The UK had 73 Members of European Parliament, and they automatically lose their seats. British ministers will no longer attend regular EU meetings, and the Prime Minister will no longer be an automatic attendee at EU Council summits, although he can still join if he is given a special invitation. EU rules apply During the transition period, the UK will continue to obey EU rules and make payments to the EU. If it is involved in a legal dispute with an EU member country, the European Court of Justice will continue to have the final say. New trade equations Out of the EU, Britain will have to build new trade relationships with countries outside the Union. While it was still in EU, Britain was not allowed to hold formal trade negotiations with countries such as the US and Australia. Now that it will have that freedom, Brexit supporters see that as a positive —Britain setting its own trade policy. There will also likely be priority given to a trade deal between the EU and its ex-member. Britain will want to lose as little as possible of the privileges it enjoyed as a member; it wouldn’t want to pay extra charges on goods and would want to continue without trade barriers after the transition ends. As of now, these trade rules have not changed. Passports, coins The British passport has a burgundy design, introduced three decades ago. Now, the country will return to the blue passports it used to issue before adopting the EU design. This change was announced in 2017, by then Immigration Minister, Brandon Lewis. The blue-and-gold design was first used in 1921. This switch will be phased over a number of months; all new passports will be issued in blue by the middle of the year. Entering circulation on Friday are about three million commemorative Brexit coins, of denomination of 50 pence. They bear the date “31 January” and the inscription “Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations”. No Brexit department The Department for Exiting the European Union was set up by then PM Theresa May in 2016. It disbands on Friday. No change Travel: Flights, boats and trains will operate as they did while Britain was in the EU. Driving licences will continue to be accepted, as long as they are valid.








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EHIC: European Health Insurance Card will remain valid inside Britain, and in the EU countries, during the transition. Freedom of movement: During the transition, UK nationals will continue to be be able to live and work in European Union countries. EU nationals who want to live and work in the UK, too, can do so. EU Budget: The UK will for now continue to contribute to the EU Budget. Existing schemes that are funded by EU grants will continue to be funded. Source: The Indian Express

3. What Brexit means for the EU and its partners Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR On January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom left the European Union. We lost a member of our family. It was a sad moment for us, for European citizens — and, indeed, for many British citizens. Nevertheless, we have always respected the sovereign decision of 52% of the British electorate, and we now look forward to starting a new chapter in our relations. A structured exit Emotions aside, February 1 turned out to be historic but also undramatic. This is largely thanks to the Withdrawal Agreement that we negotiated with the U.K., which enabled us to secure “an orderly Brexit”. One that, at least for now, minimises disruption for our citizens, businesses, public administrations, as well as for our international partners. Under this agreement, the EU and the U.K. agreed on a transition period, until the end of 2020 at least, during which the U.K. will continue to participate in the EU’s Customs Union and in the Single Market, and to apply EU law, even if it is no longer a Member State. During this period, the U.K. will also continue to abide by the international agreements of the EU, as we made clear in a note verbale to our international partners. Element of continuity So, with the transition period in place, there is a degree of continuity. This was not easy given the magnitude of the task. By leaving the Union, the U.K. automatically, mechanically, legally, leaves hundreds of international agreements concluded by or on behalf of the Union, to the benefit of its Member States, on topics as different as trade, aviation, fisheries or civil nuclear cooperation. We now have to build a new partnership between the EU and the U.K. That work will start in a few weeks as soon as the EU 27 Member States have approved the negotiating mandate








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proposed by the European Commission, setting out our terms and ambitions for achieving the closest possible partnership with a country which will remain our ally, our partner and our friend. Shared and deep links The EU and the U.K. are bound by history, by geography, culture, shared values and principles and a strong belief in rules-based multilateralism. Our future partnership will reflect these links and shared beliefs. We want to go well beyond trade and keep working together on security and defence, areas where the U.K. has experiences and assets that are best used as part of a common effort. In a world of big challenges and change, of turmoil and transition, we must consult each other and cooperate, bilaterally and in key regional and global fora, such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or the G20. It is perhaps a cliché but the basic truth is that today’s global challenges — from climate change, to cybercrime, terrorism or inequality — require collective responses. The more the U.K. is able to work in lockstep with the EU and together with partners around the world, the greater our chances of addressing these challenges effectively. At the very core of the EU project is the idea that we are stronger together; that pooling our resources and initiatives is the best way of achieving common goals. Brexit does not change this, and we will continue to take this project forward as 27. Together, the 27 Member States will continue to form a single market of 450 million citizens and more than 20 million businesses. Together, we remain the largest trading bloc in the world. Together, at 27, we are still the world’s largest development aid donor. Our partners can be sure that we will stay true to an ambitious, outward-looking agenda — be it on trade and investment, on climate action and digital, on connectivity, on security and counter-terrorism, on human rights and democracy, or on defence and foreign policy. We will continue to live up to our commitments. We will continue to stand by the agreements that link us to our international partners and we will continue to develop multilateral cooperation frameworks around the world. The European Union will continue to be a partner you can trust. A steadfast defender of rules-based multilateralism, working with our partners to make the world more secure and fair. Josep Borrell Fontelles is High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission. Michel Barnier is Head of Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom Source: The Hindu








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4. In Islamic State recruit Shamima Begum, a test case for West Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR On Friday, a woman who has been stripped of British citizenship after having run off in her teens to join the Islamic State in Syria — a story that made international headlines after she resurfaced last year — lost a legal challenge in a British tribunal on Friday. A look at the back story of Shamima Begum, whose case has thrown into focus the larger questions about how Western societies will deal with others who joined IS, but who want to return to their home countries now that the terror group has collapsed. The flight to Syria Shamima, now 20, was just 15 when she and two other London schoolgirls travelled to Syria in 2015. Shamima was discovered in a camp by The Times journalist Anthony Loyd in 2019. Media reports last year said the three girls had initially travelled to Turkey before being smuggled across the Syria border. Three weeks after arriving in Syria, Shamima married an IS fighter called Yago Riedijk, who grew up the Netherlands, and who is since said to have surrendered. Shamima and Riedijk lived in the city of Raqqa, an IS stronghold that collapsed in 2017, and later relocated to Baghuz in eastern Syria. The couple had three children, all of whom have died. When Shamima was found last year, she was pregnant with her third child. The resurfacing Loyd found Shamima at a refugee camp in Syria last year. She told reporters that she wanted to return home, but came under much criticism in Britain because she apparently felt no remorse for her actions. Even her family in London expressed shock at her lack of repentance. Former Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her citizenship. She challenged the decision before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. This was the first stage of her appeal, which she lost on Friday. The statelessness question The United Kingdom is a signatory to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, which seeks to address statelessness, as well as the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness under the UN refugee win UNHCR. In 2014, UNHCR launched the Campaign to End Statelessness in 10 Years.








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In the tribunal, Shamima argued that she is not a citizen of another country and that the decision to strip her of citizenship had left her stateless. The tribunal ruled that she was “a citizen of Bangladesh by descent”, and therefore not rendered stateless. Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, is reported to have said last year that Shamima was not a Bangladeshi citizen and there was “no question” of her being allowed into the country. Shamima family has long argued that she has never had a Bangladeshi passport. Revocation of citizenship The UK Immigration Act, amended in 2014, lays down the conditions under which British citizenship can be revoked. Under Section 40(4)(A), the Secretary of State can make an order to deprive a person of a citizenship status if “the Secretary of State is satisfied that the deprivation is conducive to the public good because the person, while having that citizenship status, has conducted him or herself in a manner which is seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the United Kingdom…” On Friday, the tribunal ruled said the decision to revoke Shamima’s citizenship did not breach the Home Office’s “extraterritorial human rights policy by exposing Ms Begum to a real risk of death or inhuman or degrading treatment”. Shamima’s lawyer, Daniel Furner, said the decision would be appealed. Source: The Indian Express

5. 1.36 crore Indians living abroad, one-fourth of them in UAE Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR There are over 1.36 crore Indian nationals living abroad, according to data tabled by the Ministry of External Affairs in Lok Sabha. Citing RBI data, the ministry said that during 2018-2019, $76.4 billion was received as remittances from Indians abroad. During 2019-2020 (April-September), $41.9 billion was received. The highest number of Indians abroad are living in the United Arab Emirates, where the 34,20,000 Indians comprise about one-fourth of all Indians abroad. The UAE is followed by Saudi Arabia (25,94,947), the US (12,80,000), Kuwait (10,29,861), Oman (7,79,351), Qatar (7,56,062), Nepal (5,00,000), UK (3,51,000), Singapore (3,50,000) and Bahrain (3,23,292).








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6. Pakistan jails Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed for terror financing Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR Conviction of Hafiz Saeed Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has been sentenced to jail in Pakistan for five-and-a-half years on terror finance charges. The FIR against Saeed and his associates was registered in July 2019 on charges of terror financing at the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in Gujranwala. Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist and head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), was found earlier guilty of “being part of a banned terrorist outfit” and for “having illegal property” by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore. For this crime also, he sentenced for five-and-a-half years. What is different this time? This is the first time that Saeed, who has a $10 million bounty on his head by the U.S. government, has been formally convicted of an offence. Pressure on Pakistan








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The sentencing comes days ahead of a crucial meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organisation combating money laundering and terror financing, that has put Pakistan on its grey list. Soon after the verdict was announced, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar tweeted: “Pak. remains committed to the earliest completion of its FATF Action Plan. FATF Plenary is a technical process. Irrespective of and without speculating on any final decision at the plenary, we look forward to acknowledgement of significant progress that Pak. authorities have made.” The FATF’s next meeting will take place later this week in Paris to decide whether Pakistan stays on the grey list or not.








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Source: The Hindu

7. Why US has shut out top Sri Lanka general — and where India stands Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR The United States has put travel restrictions on Sri Lanka’s Chief of the Army Staff, Lt Gen Shavendra Silva, for alleged war crimes committed during the last days of the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009. Sri Lanka General and the US accusations Lt Gen Silva commanded the 58th Division of the Sri Lankan army during the final stages of the war. Investigations by the United Nations have implicated the division in alleged serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The appointment of Lt Gen Silva as army chief by the government of former President Maithripala Sirisena in August 2019 was criticised by the US, the UN, and the European Union. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet had said that the elevation of Gen Silva “severely compromises Sri Lanka’s commitment to promote justice and accountability in the context of Human Rights Council resolution 30/1”, which aims to promote “reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka”. International punishment After Lt Gen Silva’s elevation in August last year, the UN banned Sri Lankan troops from its international peacekeeping missions. More than 650 Sri Lankan soldiers were at the time deployed with UN contingents in Lebanon, Mali, and South Sudan, and 35 officers were serving as staff officers and military observers, including at the UN headquarters in New York. According to the UN, about 45,000 ethnic Tamil civilians may have been killed in the last months of the war; other estimates mention a much bigger number. Amnesty International has said 60,000-100,000 people were victims of forced disappearance. The EU had said that Lt Gen Silva’s promotion called into question Sri Lanka’s commitment to the UN Human Rights Council to ensure justice and accountability, and that it shared the concerns expressed by Human Rights Commissioner Bachelet, due to the “allegations of grave human rights and humanitarian law violations against him (Silva)”. India’s calibrated position The Sri Lankan foreign ministry has said that the concerns raised by foreign entities are “unwarranted and unacceptable”. Since the General’s elevation last year, India has hosted








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Sri Lanka’s top political leadership — President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in November, and Prime Minister and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa this month. Lt Gen Silva served under Gotabaya as Defence Secretary and Mahinda as President, and New Delhi is aware of the allegations against him. Even as it has pressed the Sri Lankan leadership to move forward on the reconciliation process with the ethnic Tamil minorities, India has not taken an adversarial position on the allegations of human rights violations. Rather, it has chosen the more pragmatic approach of engaging with the Sri Lankans, keeping in mind its own strategic and national interests. Source: The Indian Express

8. Sub group of terror financing watchdog FATF recommends continuation of Pakistan in ‘Grey List’ Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR The International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG) of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Tuesday recommended that Pakistan be retained on the “Grey List”, given its failure to completely implement the 27-point action plan to check terror financing. The final decision would be announced on Friday, at the end of the five-day FATF Plenary session in Paris, sources aware of the proceedings said. Turkey, Malaysia’s support Speaking in favour of Pakistan, Turkey and Malaysia said Islamabad could be taken off the “Grey List” in coming June. Leaders of these two countries have already gone public on their plans to back Pakistan in the FATF. According to the sources, Pakistan's Minister for Economic Affairs Hamad Azhar assured the group that all the objectives would be achieved as early as June 2020. He claimed that since the last FATF Plenary, the country had taken all possible measures against terror financing. Pakistan was presented with the 27-point action plan in the previous FATF meet in October last. ‘Terror funding still on’ India asserted that the terror funding operations were still on and outfits such as the LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed, whose chief Masood Azhar's location as per Pakistan is “unknown”, were having a free run in Pakistan.








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In November last, when Pakistan complied with only five of the 27 action plan points, the FATF asked it to “swiftly complete its full action plan by February 2020”. Source: The Hindu

9. On Afghan presidential poll result Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II Results of election The Afghan Independent Election Commission’s much-delayed announcement that President Ashraf Ghani is the winner of the September 28 Presidential election is expected to deepen the political crisis in the war-torn country. That it took almost five months to declare the official results — he secured a narrow victory with 50.64% of votes against his main opponent Abdullah Abdullah’s 39.52% — itself points to the seriousness of the crisis. Objection by opposition Mr. Abdullah has called the results fraudulent and vowed to form a parallel government. If he does so, it would undermine the already feeble Afghan administration whose writ does not stretch beyond the main urban centres. For the Afghan voter, this is a déjà vu moment. Five years ago, Mr. Ghani was declared winner of the election but Mr. Abdullah refused to accept the result. The then U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, brokered a power-sharing agreement, which allowed Mr. Ghani to take over the presidency and made Mr. Abdullah the government Chief Executive. And throughout the five years, they were at odds with each other, while the Taliban steadily expanded across the country’s hinterlands and stepped up attacks on its city centres. Unsurprisingly, only less than a fourth of registered voters turned up in September, raising questions about faith in the whole exercise. Source: The Hindu

10. Why trade with the US matters to India Relevant for GS Prelims & mains Paper II; IOBR President Donald Trump arrives in India on February 24, months after he went on stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ‘Howdy Modi’ event in Texas. Both countries have repeatedly resolved to strengthen trade ties — however, attempts at working out a short-term agreement have fallen apart in the past, and tensions have risen over tariffs. What is the current state of play?








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India’s existing and stalled bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) started to receive attention from the government last year, even as the country worked to conclude the seven-year negotiations to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s “largest” regional trade pact. But by backing out of the RCEP in November, India shut the door on the large “integrated market” that the deal was offering — and increased the pressure on itself to strengthen existing separate trade agreements with each member of the RCEP bloc. Without these, it may not be able to tap a sizeable portion of the global market; also, it may not be able to easily access products and services of these countries. In the backdrop of the global economic slowdown, where India’s global exports have fallen consistently, it is important for the country to diversify and strengthen bilateral relations with other markets. It has set its sights on “large developed markets”, improved access to which would help its industry and services sectors. These include the US, which has, over the last two decades, become a crucial trading partner in terms of both goods and services.

In March 2017, soon after taking office following an election campaign focused on “making America great again”, Donald Trump ordered the “first-ever comprehensive review” of the trade deficits of the United States, and “all violations” of trade rules that harmed American workers. India was among the countries that exported more to the United States than it imported, and the latter was left with a trade deficit of over $21 billion in 2017-18.





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While the US’s deficit with India is only a fraction of its deficit with China (over $340 billion in 2019), American officials have repeatedly targeted the “unfair” trade practices followed by India. These include the tariffs that India imposes, which the Trump administration feels are too high — and over which the President has personally called New Delhi out on several occasions. A trade package with the US was in the spotlight last year, and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had said that the two countries had “almost resolved the broad contours” of the deal. “We will hopefully come out with our first set of agreements soon, but we both believe that India and the US should look at larger engagement in the days ahead, possibly even leading to an announcement for a bilateral agreement that will go beyond the mere tinkering that we are doing at present,” Goyal had said in October 2019. Nothing has been announced since then. Locating the main sticking points Negotiations on an India-US trade deal have been ongoing since 2018, but have been slowed by “fundamental” disagreements over tariffs (taxes or duties on imports), subsidies, intellectual property, data protection, and access for agricultural and dairy produce. The office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) has underlined India’s measures to restrict companies from sending personal data of its citizens outside the country as a “key” barrier to digital trade. The US wants India to strengthen patent regulations, and to ease the limitations American companies investing in India face. The ‘Harley tariffs’ India is a “tariff king” that imposes “tremendously high” import duties, President Donald Trump has complained repeatedly. He has cited the example of Harley-Davidson, the US motorcyclemaker. Even after India halved the duty on the bike to 50% in 2018, he has said the rate is “still unacceptable”. While it is often assumed that duties on the large-engine motorcycles have put them beyond the reach of most Indian consumers, the fact is that a plant at Bawal in Haryana has been assembling the bikes since 2011, and Harley has still not captured a sizeable chunk of the Indian market. Fewer than 3,700 of the motorcycles were sold in India in 2017, according to an analysis by Alyssa Ayres of the American think tank Council on Foreign Relations, and that too mostly cheaper models that were assembled in the country. Steel industry hit In 2018, the US imposed additional tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum imports from various countries, including India. While India’s government claims the impact is “limited”, they brought down the US share in India’s steel exports to 2.5% in 2018-19 from 3.3% in 2017-18. In March 2018, India challenged the US decision at the World Trade Organization (WTO). India held off on imposing retaliatory tariffs until the US struck again — by removing it from a scheme of preferential access to the American market.








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GSP axe and response In June 2019, the Trump administration decided to terminate India’s benefits under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) scheme, which provides preferential, duty-free access for over $6 billion worth of products exported from this country to the US. The decision followed a warning earlier that year, after negotiations on a potential trade agreement had broken down. The US accused India of taking decisions over the previous few years that prevented “equitable and reasonable access” for Americans to its markets. These included a decision to slash maximum retail prices of life-saving cardiac stents and essential knee implants by 65%-80%, put tariffs on information and communication technology products, and demand that exporters of dairy products certify their produce was derived from animals not fed food containing internal organs. India was the largest beneficiary of the US GSP programme. While duty-free benefits accrued to only around $200 million for the billions of dollars worth of exports, India is understood to have asked for restoration of these benefits in the ongoing trade negotiations. However, on February 10 this year, the USTR classified India as a “developed” country based on certain metrics. It is not clear whether the upgrade from “developing” will impact the restoration of benefits under the GSP scheme. Removal from the GSP list amidst rising trade tensions prompted India to finally impose retaliatory tariffs on several American imports, including almonds, fresh apples, and phosphoric acid. This was a significant move — and the US approached the WTO against India. India is one of the largest importers of almonds from the US, having imported fresh or dried shelled almonds worth $615.12 million in 2018-19. Imports from the US of fresh apples stood at $145.20 million, of phosphoric acid at $155.48 million, and of diagnostic reagents at nearly $145 million that year. Farms, medical devices The US has long demanded greater access for American agriculture and dairy products. For India, protecting its domestic agriculture and dairy interests was a major reason to walk out of the RCEP agreement. “In the recent past, India has shown its resolve in an international trade deal (RCEP) to protect the interests of its farmers and dairy industry. We expect the same resolve to be reflected in the case of the India-US trade deal,” Ashwani Mahajan, national co-convener of the RSS-affiliated Swadeshi Jagran Manch said. Trade negotiations over the last one year have grappled with the issue of improved access for American medical devices firms to India. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal even








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included the US ambassador, Kenneth Juster, in a discussion with government officials and multinational medical device firms on this. India is working to finalise a proposal to move from caps on prices of medical devices to limiting the margins of those involved in the supply of the products. It is unclear whether this would mean the government might be willing to reconsider its earlier, widely publicised decision to slash, in the public interest, prices of stents and knee implants. The health cess on imported medical devices announced in the Budget for 2020-21 too, may be seen as a negative for the American side, as the US is among the top three exporters of these categories of products to India. Some successes so far, some promise ahead While the United States is among India’s top trading partners for goods, India is its eighth largest. In comments on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump appeared to suggest that while no deal was imminent, work on a longer-term agreement was progressing well, and that his personal chemistry with Prime Minister Narendra Modi might help. “Well, we can have a trade deal with India but I’m really saving the big deal for later on. We’re doing a very big trade deal with India. We’ll have it,” Trump said. “I don’t know if it will be done before the [US presidential] election, but we’ll have a very big deal with India. We’re not treated very well by India, but I happen to like Prime Minister Modi a lot,” he said. India’s trade surplus with the US came down to $16.9 billion in 2018-19, and the previous Commerce Minister, Suresh Prabhu, had said last year that the surplus could be reduced further through imports of products such as aircraft from American firms. Experts feel that India and the US could begin with some “low-hanging fruit” to indicate their willingness for a deeper economic commitment. This includes the US reinstating India’s benefits under the GSP programme, and India doing away with duties on motorcycles. Source: The Indian Express

11. Pakistan retained on grey list of FATF Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR Pakistan has been retained on the “grey list” of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for another four months, with a stern warning from the global watchdog that met in Paris (February 19-21) to complete the 27-point action plan it has been given by June 2020 or face being put on the “black list”.








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Opinion of FATF “All deadlines in the action plan have expired. While noting recent and notable improvements, the FATF again expresses concern given Pakistan’s failure to complete its action plan in line with the agreed timelines and in light of the Terror Financing risks emanating from the jurisdiction,” a statement issued by the FATF’s plenary session on Friday said. According to the FATF summary report released on Friday evening, Pakistan needs to continue to work on eight specific areas, including demonstrating it is “identifying and investigating” all terror financing activity in the country, freezing the funds of all designated terrorists and that its prosecutions result in “effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions” against all terror entities in Pakistan. Why is Pakistan on Grey List? Pakistan was given a deadline of September 2019 to complete the tasks that included shutting down all access to funding of United Nations Security Council designated terrorist groups, including the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad and prosecuting their leadership for any access to finance, as well as tightening laws and banking security norms that deal with them. In November 2019, after Pakistan was judged to have complied with only four points of the action plan, the FATF extended the deadline to February, where its statement noted it had been cleared of 14 points. The FATF urged Pakistan to “swiftly complete” the remainder of the list. What does Black list and Grey list mean? The “black list” refers to countries for who there has been a “call to action” or strict banking and international finance sanctions, a list which at present includes Iran and North Korea. Pakistan is one of the 12 countries on the “grey list” or “other monitored jurisdictions” that are being reviewed for actions to stop terror financing and money laundering. Support to Pakistan Pakistan has been lobbying to get off the grey list, citing actions already taken, and reportedly has the backing of Turkey to be removed from the list entirely. View of India Significantly, even Indian government officials said placing Pakistan on the black list might prove counter-productive, as it would not be incentivised to complete the action plan under a deadline. Pakistan has been on the grey list in the past as well, including between 2012-2015, after which it was taken off the watch list until 2018. Source: The Hindu

12. Is the endgame near in Syria’s civil war?








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Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR Recent advances by Syrian government forces in Idlib, the last major rebel-held territory in the war-torn country, have triggered a massive displacement besides raising the possibility of a wider conflict with neighbouring Turkey. The Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad is backed by Russia and Iran in the operation to recapture Idlib, while some rebel factions within the province get support from Turkey. Ankara’s protests have also threatened to disrupt the delicate Turkish-Russian cooperation, which had gained traction in recent years. However, despite Turkey’s protests and mounting international concerns, the Syrian government seems determined to press ahead with the operation. Why is Idlib strategically important? The province in northwestern Syria that borders Turkey fell into rebel hands in 2015 at the height of the Syrian civil war. The Assad regime at that time was on the verge of defeat. Rebels and jihadists had captured huge swathes of the country from the regime, including parts of Aleppo, Hama, Homs, the outskirts of Damascus, the capital, and several towns in the south near the Jordan border. But since the arrival of the Russians in September 2015, the regime forces have recaptured almost all of these territories from the rebels. The Kurdish region in northern Syria is run by an autonomous government but the Kurdish rebels, under attack by Turkish forces and pro-Turkish rebels, recently bought peace with Damascus. So, in effect, Idlib is the last rebel stronghold, which is also the seat of the Syrian Salvation Government, the rebel administration that claims to represent the whole of Syria. If the government forces recapture Idlib, the Syrian civil war would practically be over, handing final victory to Mr. Assad. With Idlib under control, the regime can also take over, or come close to taking over, the 130-km border the province shares with Turkey. The government will also have control over the key highways that run through Idlib connecting Aleppo, which before the civil war was the commercial capital of Syria, to Damascus. The government version is that it wants to “liberate” Idlib from terrorists. Who controls Idlib? There have been several rival rebel and jihadist factions present in Idlib ever since it fell from government control. The dominant group among them is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) whose roots go back to al-Qaeda’s Syria branch. The group is commanded by Abu Mohammad al-Joulani, who was originally sent to Syria in the early years of the civil war by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the then chief of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI), to establish an al-Qaeda branch in Syria. Joulani set up Jabhat al-Nusra, which emerged as the most ferocious jihadist group in the Syrian theatre. When Baghdadi announced the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Joulani broke links with him and continued to command the Nusra Front, which remained the official Qaeda unit. Al-Nusra later rechristened itself a few times to shed the al-Qaeda tag and operate as a Syrian nationalist front. In January 2017, the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (another name for al-Nusra) and a few other Salafi-jihadist groups merged to create the HTS. The group has implemented a strict Sharia code in Idlib and has been








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ruling the province through fear and force ever since. Though the HTS has renounced al-Qaeda ties, it is still widely seen as the Syrian front of the transnational jihadist group. The Free Syrian Army and other pro-Turkish rebel groups are also part of the alternative government in Idlib, in an uneasy alliance with the HTS. Why is Turkey protesting? There are largely two aspects to Turkey’s strong opposition to the Syrian government’s bid to take Idlib. First, the humanitarian angle. Turkey already hosts more than three million Syrian refugees. It always feared that an attack on Idlib would trigger another refugee exodus towards its borders. The UN estimates that about one million people have already been displaced in Idlib over the past three months. Turkey has now shut its border with the province. But the pressure on Turkey will mount to open the border if more and more displaced people move towards it. Ankara does not want that situation to arise. The second is strategic. Turkey has made it clear that it wants the Syria-Turkish border to be controlled by pro-Turkish rebels, not by the Syrian government, nor by the Syrian Kurds. It had launched a few military offensives in the past to carve out buffer zones on the border. If the Syrian government recaptures Idlib, it will alter the balance of power in the border region, giving an upper hand to the Syrians, and of course, the Russians. The pro-Turkish rebels will be weakened, which means Turkey’s ability to manoeuvre in the Syrian conflict will be enfeebled. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants to prevent such an outcome. What is Putin’s game plan? Russian President Vladimir Putin, the main backer of the Syrian regime, has always maintained that his single most priority in the Syrian civil war is to help the government win the war. The Russians had taken tactical retreats in the past, like the de-escalation agreement they reached with Turkey to reduce violence in Idlib in 2017 or the pact reached between the two sides to neutralise Kurdish rebels in northern Syria. But Mr. Putin, it seems, never backed off from recapturing Idlib, and seal off the civil war. With the focus of the United States turning towards domestic issues in an election year, Mr. Putin and Mr. Assad have a window of one year to achieve this goal. This explains the timing of the attack. Turkey’s protests were predictable. But the question is whether Mr. Erdoğan has the wherewithal to stave off the Russians within Syria. Even if Turkey makes a limited intervention along with the rebels, it may be able to delay the Syrian-Russian advances, not deter them. And if Turkey launches a full-scale war, the consequences would be disastrous for all sides. Source: The Hindu

13. The Trump visit as India-U.S. trade booster? Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR








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United States President Donald Trump’s first foreign trip after his acquittal in an impeachment trial in the Senate will also be his first ever official visit to India. The 45th American President will be in India on February 24-25, spending time in Prime Minister Narenda Modi’s home State of Gujarat, and in New Delhi. At stake during Mr. Trump’s visit is the prospect of more cooperation on trade and tariffs, the possibility of major defence deals and the optics of a mass welcome at the just-constructed Motera/Sardar Patel stadium in Ahmedabad, which would hope to mirror the success of the “Howdy Modi!” event in Houston, Texas, in September 2019. Where do the two countries stand on trade cooperation? The world’s oldest and largest democracies have been, by and large, stable trading partners to each other, yet this area has not been without wrinkles in recent years, especially since Mr. Trump entered the Oval Office. At a broad level, U.S.-India trade in goods and services has grown at a steady clip from $16-billion to $142-billion during 1999-2018. As a recent report by the Council on Foreign Relations noted, “U.S. and Indian officials have disagreed for years on tariffs and foreign investment limitations, but also on other complicated issues, particularly within agricultural trade. Concern for intellectual property rights has preoccupied the U.S. for thirty years, while issues concerning medical devices and the fast-growing digital economy have more recently emerged.”








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At the heart of Mr. Trump’s foreign policy strategy are concerns about the trade deficit that the U.S. has with its economic partners worldwide. Although India does not rank among the top 10 in this regard — for example, its 2019 trade deficit with the U.S. of $23.3-billion is dwarfed by China’s corresponding figure of $346-billion — there have been a series of skirmishes between Washington and New Delhi over tariffs in specific sectors, and that has destabilised the bilateral balance to a certain extent. What is the chronology of U.S.-India trade squabbles?








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In March 2018, the Trump administration slapped “national security” tariffs of 25% on $761-million worth of steel and of 10% on $382-million of aluminium imported from India. Despite formal World Trade Organisation disputes initiated by India protesting these tariffs, Washington ended a year-long review of the U.S. Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) in June 2019 by removing India from the tariff concession system. This is said to have impacted nearly $5.8 billion of India’s exports, or more than 12% of exports to the U.S. in 2017. India immediately imposed higher retaliatory tariffs on 28 U.S. products including almonds, walnuts, cashews, apples, chickpeas, wheat, and peas. Besides other agricultural products such as dairy, the Trump administration remains wary of India’s position on intellectual property rights protection, barriers to free-flowing foreign direct investment, symbolically important trade sectors such as Harley-Davidson motorcycles and medical devices. The U.S. also recently changed the status of India, among other countries, to a “developed” country, to further reduce trade concessions that it could receive from the U.S. The other side of the coin is the concern that India has expressed on multiple occasions regarding restrictions on visas for highly skilled professionals seeking to take up employment in the U.S. — even though the laws that brought in restrictions, for example by imposing higher visa fees, were passed before Mr. Trump entered office. Is there any hope for a positive announcement on trade? While there were initial signs that a “limited trade deal” might be hammered out when Mr. Trump and Mr. Modi meet, that aspiration fell through when it became clear that nothing on that scale would likely be finalised in this space until after the November 2020 U.S. presidential election. Thus U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer’s planned visit to India just prior to Mr. Trump’s was put off to a future date. What unconfirmed reports point to presently is the possibility of a “mini trade deal” or more simply a smaller trade package announcement. This might include, reports suggest, an increase in India’s LNG imports from the U.S. In a similar vein, The Hindu reported earlier that “An MoU for India’s gas importer Petronet to invest $2.5 billion in U.S. company Tellurian Inc’s LNG project, that was signed during Mr. Modi’s visit to Houston, is likely to be formalised during Mr. Trump’s visit.” What are the priorities in the defence and strategic spaces? There is more positive news on the defence cooperation and trade front, with the likely announcement during the visit of Mr. Trump of a deal for 24 Lockheed Martin-built MH-60R Seahawk Multi-Role Helicopters for the Indian Navy; India’s Cabinet Committee on Security has cleared their purchase These 24 helicopters, said to be worth $2.4-billion, are likely to be procured through the Foreign Military Sales route of the U.S. government. India








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and the U.S. are also said to be in negotiations regarding India’s potential purchase of drones, additional P-8I long-range, multimission maritime patrol aircraft and also Raytheon intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) aircraft. On the strategic front, Mr. Trump’s oft-reiterated promise to stop the U.S.’s “endless wars,” particularly by bringing home U.S. troops from Afghanistan, will possibly pose some thorny questions for Indian strategies in its neighbourhood. If the American withdrawal proceeds apace and alongside the possible revival of the Taliban’s influence, Pakistan-based terror elements or the Inter-Services Intelligence gain a stronger foothold in the power vacuum that will inevitably develop there, this could compromise Indian interests considerably. Mr. Modi may privately seek reassurances from his American counterpart to mitigate the fallout of such a scenario. Source: The Hindu

14. Dual citizenship for Sri Lankan refugees? Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR The contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, has again triggered an ill-advised demand for dual citizenship to Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka. What is the position on dual citizenship in India? This demand is made despite the constitutional and legal position being clearly against the grant of dual citizenship per se. As on date, no Indian citizen holds the citizenship of any other country. Even when the Centre amended the Citizenship Act in 2003 to introduce the Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) scheme for sections of the Indian diaspora, all it provided was a limited version of ‘dual citizenship’ which came without political rights and with a bar on purchase of agricultural land. It would defy logic, then, to seek dual citizenship for those who are not Indian nationals. What is the present position on Tamil refugees? Although the Central and State governments do a lot to make the refugees’ stay comfortable, most of them are regarded as illegal migrants, as they arrived with no valid travel documents. At the same time, given the need to treat the refugees in a humane manner and in the absence of a law on refugees, the Centre should stop seeing Sri Lankan refugees as “illegal migrants”; they entered India with the knowledge and approval of Indian authorities. What should be done?








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As for those who wish to remain in India for studies or to earn a livelihood, the authorities should tweak the OCI Cardholder scheme or offer an exclusive long-term visa. By this, the stay of 95,000-odd refugees in Tamil Nadu will be regularised. As for those keen on returning home but are unable to do so for want of support from Sri Lanka, New Delhi should lean on Colombo to help enable their early return. Besides, the two countries should formulate a scheme of structured assistance to expedite voluntary repatriation, which is moving at a snail’s pace even a decade after the civil war ended. These steps can lead to a lasting resolution of issues concerning those who have been in India for over 30 years. Source: The Hindu

15. US-India bilateral trade and investment Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR President Donald Trump announced that India and the United States “will be making very, very major — among the biggest ever made — trade deals”, and that the countries were “in the early stages of discussion for an incredible trade agreement to reduce barriers of investment”. The current balance of trade, which is tilted in India’s favour, has long been a sore point with Trump, who has described India as a “tariff king”. This is where things stand. US-India trade: The big picture $142.6 billion US goods and services trade with India in 2018. $25.2 billion US trade deficit with India in 2018 $87.9 billion total (two-way) US-India goods trade in 2018; India is US’s ninth largest goods trading partner. US goods exports to India $33.5 billion; goods imports from India $54.3 billion (2018) $54.8 billion total US-India trade in services. US services exports $25.2 billion; services imports from India $29.6 billion (2018) 1,97,000 American jobs supported by US exports of goods and services to India (2015 Department of Commerce data; latest available) US exports to India India was the US’s 12th largest goods export market in 2018 $33.5 billion US goods exports to India in 2018; up 30.6% ($7.9 billion) from 2017, and up 89.5% from 2008. US exports to India accounted for only 2% of overall US exports in 2018








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$25.2 billion US services exports to India in 2018; up 6.6% ($1.6 billion) from 2017, and 151% from 2008. Top US exports (2018) * Precious metal and stone (diamonds) $7.9 billion * Mineral fuels $6.7 billion * Aircraft $2.9 billion * Machinery $2.2 billion * Organic chemicals $1.6 billion US imports from India India was the US’s 10th largest supplier of goods imports in 2018 $54.3 billion were US goods imports from India in 2018; up 11.9% ($5.8 billion) from 2017, and up 111.4% from 2008. US imports from India accounted for 2.1% of overall US imports in 2018 $29.6 billion were US imports of services from India in 2018; 4.9% ($1.4 billion) more than 2017, 134% greater than 2008 levels Top US imports (2018) * Precious metal and stone (diamonds) $11 billion * Pharmaceuticals $6.3 billion * Machinery $3.3 billion * Mineral fuels $3.2 billion * Vehicles $2.8 billion Source: The Indian Express

16. Outcomes of recent Trump visit to India Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR As India and the US elevated the partnership to India-US comprehensive global strategic partnership, the joint statement covered major areas of defence, terrorism, Afghanistan, and a response to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.








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Highlights Parsing the document, and comparing it with the June 2017 joint statement, reveals some new elements and departures. According to the statement issued late Tuesday, the two countries looked forward to an “early conclusion” of Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA), expressed interest in the Blue Dot Network, added Haqqani network and Tehrik-e-Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) in the list of terror groups against which concerted action are to be taken, reaffirmed US support for India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group “without any delay”.

Some key takeaways in the joint statement: BECA A thrust on “early conclusion of the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement” is a key feature of the joint statement, as this is one of the last of the foundational agreements (remaining are already signed), and it largely pertains to geo-spatial intelligence requiring information sharing on maps and satellite imaging for defence purposes. The US has already submitted a draft pact, and India has sought more details on the extent of information needed to be shared under this arrangement. Blue dot network With China moving to expand its strategic footprint through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Blue Dot network, a new proposal to cover infrastructure and development projects across the region and other countries, found a mention. Haqqani network and TTP in, CCIT out There is just one paragraph on terrorism, and it omits any mention of Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, which was mentioned in the 2017 statement. But, names of the Haqqani network and TTP are included, along with terrorist groups LeT, JeM and Al Qaeda, which was missing in the 2017 statement. It mentioned Pakistan, cross-border terrorism and expeditiously bringing justice to the perpetrators of Mumbai and Pathankot terror attacks. The statement said: “Prime Minister Modi and President Trump denounced any use of terrorist proxies and strongly condemned cross-border terrorism in all its forms. They called on Pakistan to ensure that no territory under its control is used to launch terrorist attacks, and to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of such attacks, including 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot. They called for concerted action against all terrorist groups including Al-Qa’ida, ISIS, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Hizb-ul Mujahideen, the Haqqani Network, TTP, D-Company, and all their affiliates.” Afghanistan In a major development, the two sides have agreed on a common language, which was very identical to India’s traditional position, and even talked about India’s role in development








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and security assistance to Afghanistan. While it talks about Afghan-led and Afghan-owned, it does not mention Afghan-controlled –– since in reality the peace process is controlled by other players, including the US. “India and the United States share interest in a united, sovereign, democratic, inclusive, stable and prosperous Afghanistan. They support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process that results in a sustainable peace; cessation of violence; elimination of terrorist safe havens; and preservation of the gains of the last 18 years. President Trump welcomed India’s role in continuing to provide development and security assistance to help stabilize and provide connectivity in Afghanistan,” the statement said. The 2017 joint statement, issued during Modi’s visit to the White House, had said Trump welcomed further Indian contributions to promote Afghanistan’s democracy, stability, prosperity, and security. Recognizing the importance of their respective strategic partnerships with Afghanistan, the leaders committed to continue close consultations and cooperation in support of Afghanistan’s future, Nuclear Suppliers Group With India in other multilateral export control regimes, it said Trump reaffirmed US support for India’s entry to the Nuclear Suppliers Group “without any delay”. “PM Modi and President Trump committed to working together to strengthen and reform the United Nations and other international organizations and ensure their integrity. President Trump reaffirmed the support of the United States for India’s permanent membership on a reformed U.N. Security Council. He also reaffirmed U.S. support for India’s entry to the Nuclear Suppliers Group without any delay.” Trade For Trump, this has been the most important issue. After months of negotiations, they were unable to come to a deal. But the joint statement said that the two countries “agreed to promptly conclude the ongoing negotiations, which they hope can become phase one of a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement that reflects the true ambition and full potential of the bilateral commercial relations, advancing prosperity, investment, and job creation in both countries”. Source: The Indian Express

17. What is the Blue Dot network? Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR Led by the US’s International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the Blue Dot network was jointly launched by the US, Japan (Japanese Bank for International








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Cooperation) and Australia (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) in November 2019 on the sidelines of the 35th ASEAN Summit in Thailand. It is meant to be a multi-stakeholder initiative that aims to bring governments, the private sector and civil society together to promote “high quality, trusted standards for global infrastructure development”. The network is like a “Michelin Guide” for infrastructure projects. This means that as part of this initiative, infrastructure projects will be vetted and approved by the network depending on standards, as per which, the projects should meet certain global infrastructure principles. The projects that are approved will get a “Blue Dot”, thereby setting universal standards of excellence, which will attract private capital to projects in developing and emerging economies. Countering China’s Belt and Road Initiative? The proposal for the Blue Dot network is part of the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy, which is aimed at countering Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitious BRI. While Blue Dot may be seen as a counter to BRI, there is a difference between these initiatives for two reasons. First, there is a fundamental difference between BRI and Blue Dot — while the former involves direct financing, giving countries in need immediate short-term relief, the latter is not a direct financing initiative and therefore may not be what some developing countries need. “The question is if Blue Dot is offering first-world solutions to third-world countries?” Secondly, Blue Dot will require coordination among multiple stakeholders when it comes to grading projects. “Given the past experience of Quad, the countries involved in it are still struggling to put a viable bloc. Therefore, it remains to be seen how Blue Dot fares in the long run.” (Quad is an informal strategic dialogue between the US, Japan, Australia and India) US foreign policy towards China Prior to 2001, US foreign policy was focussed towards integrating China into its plan, but this changed after China’s emergence as a global superpower. Under Barack Obama, US foreign policy started shifting focus to Asia, where the US wanted to counter China’s growing influence. In fact, the National Security Strategy (NSS) under Trump says the following, “China seeks to displace the United States in the Indo-Pacific region, expand the reaches of its state-driven economic model, and reorder the region in its favour.”








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From the US’s point of view, the Indo-Pacific region, which stretches from India’s west coast to the west coast of the US, is the most economically dynamic and populous part of the world. Further, the US sees China’s infrastructure investments and trade strategies as reinforcing its geopolitical aspirations, including efforts to build and militarise outposts in the South China Sea, which as per the US, restricts the free movement of trade and undermines regional stability. Source: The Indian Express

18. $3-billion defence deal- India to buy 30 armed choppers from US Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR India will buy military helicopters worth more than $3 billion from the US, consisting Apache and MH-60 Romeo helicopters. In the absence of a major trade deal, the deal to buy these helicopters for the Army and the Navy have been one of the biggest outcomes of Trump’s visit. India’s Cabinet Committee on Security had cleared the purchase of 24 multi-role MH-60 Romeo helicopters, through the Foreign Military Sale government-to-government route, and six Apache AH 64E Apache helicopters for the Army. Pricing of the deal While the 24 Romeo helicopters will cost close to $2.2 billion, the six Apache helicopters will cost approximately $800 million. The six choppers for the Army will be in addition to the 22 Apache helicopters that have already been ordered for the Air Force. MH-60 Romeo Seahawk The MH-60 Romeo Seahawk, made by defence giant Lockheed Martin, is one of the most advanced naval helicopters in the world, used by the US Navy, among others. It can not only track and hunt ships, but is also used by the US Navy as anti-submarine weapon. Sources in Indian Navy said that the deal comes more than a decade after the idea was first approved but had been stuck for various reasons. Romeo helicopters The 24 Romeo helicopters will come equipped with anti-submarine Mark 54 torpedoes and Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, along with precision-kill rockets, increasing the Navy’s capabilities to not only attack enemy boats, but can even tackle surface threats. As China’s presence in the Indian Ocean Region is on the rise, these 24 helicopters will help strengthen the Navy, which lacks a helicopter of similar capabilities.








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The Defence Acquisition Council had approved the procurement of these helicopters in August 2018, and a request was sent to the US in November 2018. The US had approved the potential sale last year. The helicopters are likely to be delivered within five years, with the first batch expected by 2022. The six Apache helicopters that will be bought as a direct commercial sale for the Army. The Indian Air Force had bought 22 of these helicopters, made by Boeing, and the deal for the additional six of them for the Army will be a follow-on order. The Army is likely to get the helicopters armed with Stinger air-to-air missiles and Hellfire Longbow air-to-ground missiles. The Army will deploy them at the Pakistan border. Source: The Indian Express

19. Chances of peace in Sudan Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR The inauguration of a national unity government in South Sudan last week is a milestone following the country’s independence from Sudan in 2011. But the durability of the peace in the world’s youngest nation depends on reconciliation between the majority ethnic Nuer and Dinka communities under the terms of the 2018 peace deal. The first peace deal, attempted in 2015, two years after Juba was plunged into a civil war in 2013 that cost an estimated 3,80,000 lives, collapsed. The implementation of the 2018 deal has been slow. Compromise reached The formation of a unity government, the centrepiece of the 2018 peace agreement, was deferred twice last year over differences regarding the demarcation of regional boundaries. The new formula reflects a compromise between the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the opposition SPLM-IO (in Opposition). Under the new arrangement, the exiled rebel leader Riek Machar is the first vice president (among five), a position he had held until his removal in 2013 on suspicion that he was plotting a coup. A security guarantee for Mr. Machar and other opposition leaders, as also an invitation to the thousands of refugees to return home, are goodwill gestures from President Kiir. The new package also commits to fresh appointments to a jumbo-sized cabinet, gubernatorial positions for the nation’s 10 states, and the chiefs of the three new administrative regions. The creation of administrative zones had proved contentious as recently as last week. Mr. Machar was apprehensive that such a reconfiguration was just another ruse to reward regime loyalists. President Kiir said last week that he would return to a system of 10 states from 32, a major opposition demand.








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The establishment of a tribunal to try war crimes is the other pillar of the 2018 deal. Describing the accord as a turning point, President Kiir had acknowledged that the prolonged conflict since 2013 and the humanitarian crisis was a betrayal of the aspirations behind South Sudan’s independence. Shortcomings But last year the shortcomings of the 2018 accord became apparent. The European troika and the U.S. saw it as unrepresentative of a broad spectrum of interest groups in South Sudan, focused instead on the country’s elites. A UN report exposed the recruitment of thousands of children into military units, highlighting how regional vested interests were violating the 2018 UN and U.S. embargo on arms sales to South Sudan. A human rights watchdog revealed the diversion of oil revenues to finance armed militias. No less damning is evidence released last week of civilian casualties, incidents of mass rape and abduction of children documented by the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan. Established in 2016, the body has said in its third report that while over a million people have been internally displaced, the deliberate obstruction of aid supplies has caused extreme hunger among more than half the population. In particular, the Commission draws attention to continued fighting between government and rebel forces in the Equatoria region, resulting in mass migration to areas bordering DR Congo. Recent executions depict a most ironic picture of a country that has been witness to mayhem and plunder. With many more remaining on death row, the Commission has called for a moratorium on the death penalty. There is much at stake in the unity government for South Sudan’s vast majority reeling under hunger and malnutrition, and severe drought in recent years. The conduct of free and fair democratic elections in 2022 would be a critical test and confidence-building measure. Institutionalising a legitimate succession mechanism is an important element in that process, given that Mr. Kiir has remained President since independence. The people had voted for secession in a referendum nearly a decade ago. Their hopes cannot be belied by their leaders. Source: The Hindu

Economics 1. Why Budget proposal on tax on Indians working abroad triggered confusion Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economics








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An amendment to the Income Tax Act proposed in the Finance Bill 2020, has created confusion about Indians who primarily work and earn their living outside India. The broad import of the amendment, as understood on February 1, was that all Indians who were working abroad and not paying any income tax in those countries — like the many Indians who work in jurisdictions like the UAE — would be liable to be taxed in India. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi recording his government’s “strong disagreement” with the provision, which he said “will hurt those who toil and bring foreign exchange to the country”. On February 2, the Finance Ministry issued a clarification, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sought to reassure non-resident Indians that they would not be unfairly targetted. What is the existing law? There are two parameters which determine whether India levies income tax on an individual. The first is “residency”. Unlike in the United States where citizenship also implies residency, in India, residency requires a person to actually live in the country for a specified number of days in a year. The other parameter is the “source” of the income — the country where the income is being generated. The difference between the treatment of a resident and non-resident Indian citizen is that for a resident Indian citizen, the income tax law applies to that person’s worldwide income — that is, any income earned in any jurisdiction is used to calculate the taxable income, and such a resident Indian is required to pay tax on all of it. But for a non-resident Indian, the income tax law applies only to the income earned from within India. As such, if an Indian national lives in New Delhi but earns rental income from a house she owns in London, then, along with all other income that she earns within India, this rental income too, will attract tax. However, if an Indian citizen stays and works in London — making her a non-resident Indian — and additionally earns a rental income from a home in Delhi, then the Indian income tax would apply only to the rental income from that Delhi home. What is the amendment proposed by the government? The proposed amendment to the IT Act has three parts. The first cuts the number of days that an Indian citizen can stay in India without becoming a “resident”, to 120 from 182. The Memorandum to the Budget said this provision was being misused: “Individuals, who are actually carrying out substantial economic activities from India, manage their period of stay in India, so as to remain a non-resident in perpetuity and not be required to declare their global income in India.”








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The second impacts the “Not Ordinarily Resident” category of taxpayers. The Memorandum has clarified that “this category of persons has been carved out essentially to ensure that a non-resident is not suddenly faced with the compliance requirement of a resident, merely because he spends more than specified number of days in India during a particular year.” Imagine now an NRI who has stayed out of India for the past seven years and then spends 183 days at one stretch in the eighth year. The NOR status ensures that such an individual, who is “not ordinarily a resident” is not taxed as a resident. The amendment states that an NOR would be someone who has not been a resident of India for seven of the past 10 years. Under the existing law, it is nine out of the past 10 years. The third proposed amendment is the one that created the confusion. This amendment said: “An Indian citizen who is not liable to tax in any other country or territory shall be deemed to be resident in India.” What is the problem with this? The amendment was seen as trying to tax non-residents as residents. As mentioned above, residents are charged income tax on their full global income while non-residents are charged only on their “Indian” income. This led to panic because, in the absence of clarifications, all non-residents working in tax-free jurisdictions concluded that all their income in those jurisdictions will now attract the Indian income tax rate. Apart from the likely harrassment, this undermined the whole point of people leaving their homes in India to work in tax-free jurisdictions. Why did the government propose this? The government has clarified that its intention is not to target bona fide workers, rather to catch tax evaders who game the residency provisions to evade all taxes. “The issue of stateless persons has been bothering the tax world for quite some time. It is entirely possible for an individual to arrange his affairs in such a fashion that he is not liable to tax in any country or jurisdiction during a year. This arrangement is typically employed by high net worth individuals (HNWI) to avoid paying taxes to any country/jurisdiction on income they earn. Tax laws should not encourage a situation where a person is not liable to tax in any country,” said the Memorandum to the Budget. Following the clarification, the government would be expected to now tweak the proposed amendment. Source: The Indian Express

2. Criteria adopted by 15th Finance Commission resulting in reduction of States share in Centre’s revenues from 42% to 41%








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Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economics The Fifteenth Finance Commission (FC) has considered the 2011 population along with forest cover, tax effort, area of the state, and “demographic performance” to arrive at the states’ share in the divisible pool of taxes. As had been widely anticipated, shares of the southern states, except Tamil Nadu, have fallen — with Karnataka losing the most. About Finance Commission The Finance Commission is a constitutionally mandated body that decides, among other things, the sharing of taxes between the Centre and the states. Article 280 (1) requires the President to constitute, “within two years from the commencement of this Constitution and thereafter at the expiration of every fifth year or at such earlier time as the President considers necessary”, an FC “which shall consist of a Chairman and four other members”. Under Article 280(3)(a), the Commission must make recommendations to the President “as the distribution between the Union and the States of the net proceeds of taxes which are to be, or may be, divided between them under this Chapter and the allocation between the States of the respective shares of such proceeds”. Accordingly, the Commission determines a formula for tax-sharing between the states, which is a weighted sum of the states’ population, area, forest cover, tax capacity, tax effort and demographic performance, with the weights expressed in percentages. 15th Finance Commission The report of the Fifteenth FC, along with an Action Taken Report, was tabled in Parliament on Saturday. The Commission has reduced the vertical devolution — the share of tax revenues that the Centre shares with the states — from 42% to 41%. Why share of States has been reduced? The Commission has said that it intends to set up an expert group to initiate a non-lapsable fund for defence expenditure. The terms of reference of the Commission included considering the Centre’s demand for funds for defence and national security. It may do so by creating a separate fund from the gross tax revenue before computing the divisible pool — which means that states would get a smaller share of the taxes.








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The population parameter The population parameter used by the Commission has been criticised by the governments of the southern states. The previous FC used both the 1971 and the 2011 populations to calculate the states’ shares, giving greater weight to the 1971 population (17.5%) as compared to the 2011 population (10%). The Fifteenth FC has reasoned that the terms of reference leave it with no choice but to use the 2011 population; it has also argued that in the interest of fiscal equalisation, it is necessary to use the latest Census figures. The use of 2011 population figures has resulted in states with larger populations like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar getting larger shares, while smaller states with lower fertility rates (the number of children born to a woman in her life) have lost out. The combined population of the Hindi-speaking northern states (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand) is 47.8 crore. This is over 39.48% of India’s total population, and is spread over 32.4% of the country’s area, as per the 2011 Census. They also get a slightly more than the proportional share of the divisible pool of taxes (45.17%). On the other hand, the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and undivided Andhra Pradesh are home to only 20.75% of the population living in 19.34% of the area, with a 13.89% share of the taxes. This means that the terms decided by the Commission are loaded against the more progressive (and prosperous) southern states. The demographic effort In order to reward population control efforts by states, the Commission developed a criterion for demographic effort — which is essentially the ratio of the state’s population in 1971 to its fertility rate in 2011 — with a weight of 12.5%. States such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana have fertility rates below the replacement rate, or the number of children that have to be born to a woman of








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reproductive age in order for the population to maintain itself at the current level without migration. However, the effect of the demographic effort in increasing states’ devolution is not clear. Shares of states like Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, along with Tamil Nadu, all of which have fertility rates below the replacement level, have increased slightly. On the other hand, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, and West Bengal’s shares have fallen, even though their fertility rates are also low. Incidentally, Karnataka, the biggest loser in this exercise, also had the highest tax-GSDP ratio in 2017-18, as per an RBI report on state finances. Tax effort was also used by the Commission to decide the states’ shares, with a weight of 2.5%. Income distance criterion The total area of states, area under forest cover, and “income distance” were also used by the FC to arrive at the tax-sharing formula. Income distance is calculated as the difference between the per capita gross state domestic product (GSDP) of the state from that of the state with the highest per capita GSDP, with states with less income getting a higher share in order to allow them to provide services comparable to those provided by the richer ones. The Commission used the per capita GSDP of Haryana as the reference for calculating the income distance, and gave it a weight of 45%, down from the 50% assigned by the 14th FC. The weight assigned to state area was unchanged at 15%, and that of forest cover was increased from 7.5% to 10%. Source: The Indian Express

3. Why govt has lifted a duty that polyester makers paid on a chemical Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economics During her Budget speech on Saturday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government was abolishing in “public interest” an anti-dumping duty that was levied on imports of a chemical called PTA. Domestic manufacturers of polyester have called the move a huge relief for the industry, claiming they had been fighting to remove the duty for four-and-a-half years. What is PTA? Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) is a crucial raw material used to make various products, including polyester fabrics. PTA makes up for around 70-80% of a polyester product and is, therefore, important to those involved in the manufacture of man-made fabrics or their components, according to industry executives.








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This includes products like polyester staple fibre and spun yarn. Our cushions and sofas may have polyester staple fibre fillings. Some sportswear, swimsuits, dresses, trousers, curtains, sofa covers, jackets, car seat covers and bed sheets have a certain proportion of polyester in them. What led to the government decision? As Sitharaman explained on Sunday: “That particular product (PTA) is a raw material for many of the industries. There has been persistent demand that they should be allowed to source that particular product at an affordable rate, even if it means importing it.” She had said easy availability of this “critical input” at competitive prices was desirable to unlock “immense” potential in the textile sector, seen as a “significant” employment generator. The duty had meant importers were paying an extra $27-$160 for every 1,000 kg of PTA that they wanted to import from countries like China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran, Korea and Thailand. Removing the duty will allow PTA users to source from international markets and may make it as much as $30 per 1,000 kg cheaper than now, according to industry executives. Why was it imposed in the first place? The anti-dumping duty on PTA was imposed after two domestic manufacturers, MCC PTA India Corp Pvt Ltd and Reliance Industries Ltd, approached the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) in October 2013. The companies, which submitted that they accounted for over 50% of the domestic PTA industry, had argued that some countries had been exporting the product to India at prices lower than its value in their own domestic markets. This dumping of PTA into the Indian market had a “significant” adverse impact on the domestic industry, they argued. Following an investigation, DGTR agreed with MCCPI and RIL’s claims, and imposed anti-dumping duties on PTA imported from South Korea and Thailand in 2014 and 2015, and from China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Iran and Malaysia in 2015 and 2016. Why was the move controversial? Companies using PTA to manufacture polyester products claimed that the move went against the government’s vision of making the textiles sector a globally competitive industry. According to them, the move left them with limited domestic suppliers of PTA. The companies had alleged that the product’s cost had become more expensive domestically, which made their own products pricier and less attractive for their domestic and international buyers. This had led to a drop in exports of some of these products during 2014-16, and an increase in imports of the products they had been producing, as there was no safeguard against imports of cheaper versions of these downstream polyester-based products. On top of this, the domestic industry had argued that domestic PTA producers had not only been unable to ramp up capacity to cater to demand for the product, shutdowns of their








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manufacturing facilities once a year for maintenance purposes had also led to shortages of the raw material. PTA users claim that they had not been manufacturing as much polyester as they were capable of, operating at 70% of their capacity at any given time. Are there other raw materials in line for a similar move? Mono Ethylene Glycol (MEG), another raw material used in the manufacturing of polyester, is currently the subject of another anti-dumping duty investigation initiated by DGTR recently. This investigation was initiated after RIL, supported by another company (India Glycols Ltd) had argued that top MEG exporters like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates had been dumping the product and that the domestic industry was suffering “material” injury as a result. An association representing textile companies like Indo Rama Synthetics India Ltd, Filatex India Ltd and Bombay Dyeing has approached DGTR against the move, arguing that anti-dumping duties on MEG would adversely impact the textile industry the way the duty on PTA allegedly did. Source: The Indian Express

4. The rising defence pension bill Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Ecnomics The Union Budget for 2020-21 has allocated Rs 1,33,825 crore to defence pensions. This is up by 10½ times in a decade and a half, from Rs 12,715 crore in 2005-06. Why this allocation is so huge? The allocation of Rs 1,33,825 crore is 4.4% of the total expenditure of the central government or 0.6% of GDP. And of the overall allocation made to the Defence Ministry, 28.4% goes towards pensions. So sharply has the bill for defence pensions gone up that it is now Rs 15,291 crore more than the Defence Ministry’s total capital expenditure, a bulk of which goes towards modernisation of the armed forces. It now nearly equals the salaries bill for Defence Ministry. The more the government spends on salaries and pensions, the less it can spend on modernising the armed forces. To compare it with other sectors, the government’s rural employment scheme MGNREGA has an allocation of only Rs 61,500 crore — 46% of the bill for defence pensions. The Prime Minister’s flagship Swachh Bharat gets Rs 12,300 crore. To put it in perspective, the government’s spending on education is Rs 99,300 crore and on health is Rs 69,000 crore.








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Why the bill is high 1. As per the Defence Ministry, there are about 26 lakh armed forces pensioners and family pensioners and approximately 55,000 pensioners are added every year. In 2015, government announced the OROP (One Rank, One Pension) scheme which cost it Rs 8,600 crore. The implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations in 2017 again increased the defence pensions bill. 2. Defence pensions are unique in many ways. Defence personnel retire at a young age and thus continue to get pensions for a longer period of time than their civilian counterparts. The current ratio of military pensioners to serving military personnel is 1.7 to 1, while the ratio of civil pensioners to civil working personnel is 0.56 to 1. This ratio in defence is projected to further change as life expectancy in India goes up and retired personnel live far longer than earlier. 3. All civilian employees in the government who joined service on or after 1 January 2004 do not get an assured pension but come under the ambit of the contributory National Pension Scheme (NPS). That is meant to reduce the pensions bill of the government on the civilian side, but military personnel have been excluded from the ambit of the NPS because of their short service span. Is there an easy answer to this? The short-term answer to keep the bill frozen at the same level is to increase the retirement age of serving military personnel and stop the rise in number of pensioners. But at a time when the country is facing unemployment at an all-time high, stopping recruitment for a few years will worsen the situation. The other solution is to send the retired military personnel to paramilitary forces but those forces, too, need to stay young and have not accepted the proposal. That would also pose the problem of recruitment in a time of high unemployment, as in the case of increase in retirement age of military personnel.








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Conclusion The sharply rising defence pensions bill, however, has become a challenge that cannot be ignored any longer. Unless India’s economy grows at a double-digit rate, it will not be possible to furnish this bill and still modernise the armed forces. There are no easy answers to the challenge, and the answer will have to come from the top political leadership: as former US Defense Secretary Bob Gates memorably said that if there was an easy answer, someone lower down the hierarchy would have found it. Source: The Indian Express

5. Cooperative banks to come under Reserve Bank regulation Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economics Cooperative banks brought under RBI In the wake of the recent Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank crisis, the Union Cabinet approved amendments to the Banking Regulation Act to bring 1,540 cooperative banks under the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulation.





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Cooperative banks have 8.6 lakh account holders, with a total deposit of about 5 lakh crore. What will be effect? 1. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters that administrative matters would continue to be under the Registrar, Cooperative. However, cooperative banks would be regulated under the RBI’s banking guidelines. Their auditing would also be done as per its norms. 2. Qualifications would be laid down for appointments, including that of Chief Executive Officers. Prior permission from the RBI would be required for the appointment of key positions. 3. The regulator would deal with issues such as loan waivers. 4. The RBI would also have powers to supersede the board of any cooperative bank in financial distress. These measures would be implemented in a phased manner, said Mr. Javadekar. Increase in deposit insurance cover The proposed amendments, along with the government’s decision to increase the insurance cover on bank deposits from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh, have been brought to strengthen the financial stability of cooperative banks and boost public confidence in the banking system. PMC Bank case In the PMC Bank case, the RBI had to step in last year after massive irregularities in its loan accounts were detected. The regulator had to place a withdrawal limit for account holders, which led to a major public strife and protests by them. The bank had allegedly loaned about Rs. 6,500 crores to the Housing Development & Infrastructure Limited, amounting to more than 73% of its overall exposure, which was not repaid. It is alleged that over 21,000 fake accounts were created to conceal the bad loans. The Enforcement Directorate is conducting a money laundering probe into the allegations. Source: The Hindu

6. Christina Koch’s longest spaceflight Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economics Recently, NASA astronaut Christina Koch returned to Earth from the International Space Station, where she set the record for the longest single spaceflight in history by a woman.








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Koch arrived along with Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos and Luca Parmitano of European Space Agency. The records, in context Koch launched on March 14, 2019 and completed 328 days in space. The previous longest single spaceflight by any woman was 289 days by Peggy Whitson, also an American, who set that record in 2017. Among Americans across genders, just Scott Kelly (340 days) is ahead of Koch. The world record across genders is 438 days by Valery Polyakov of Russia. Additionally, Koch is also seventh on the list of American astronauts in terms of cumulative time in space across one or more spaceflights. Whitson holds the American record for the longest cumulative time in space for any astronaut, at 665 days, which is also the world record for women. Across genders, the world record holder is a Russian astronaut, Gennady Padalka at 879 days. Among Americans, those ahead of Koch are Whitson, Jeff Williams (534 days), Scott Kelly (520), Mike Fincke (382), Mike Foale (374) and Don Pettit (370). Koch completed 5,248 orbits of the Earth and a journey of 220 million km, the equivalent of almost 300 trips to the Moon and back. She conducted six spacewalks during 11 months on orbit, including the first three all-woman spacewalks (the historic first being with Jessica Meir), spending 42 hours and 15 minutes outside the station. She witnessed the arrival of a dozen visiting spacecraft and the departure of another dozen. Lessons from her flight Koch’s extended mission will provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman as the agency plans to return humans to the Moon under the Artemis program and prepare for human exploration of Mars. Her work included participation in a number of studies to support those future exploration missions, including research into how the human body adjusts to weightlessness, isolation, radiation and the stress of long-duration spaceflight. One particular research project Koch participated in is the Vertebral Strength investigation, which better defines the extent of spaceflight-induced bone and muscle degradation of the spine, and the associated risk for broken vertebrae. This is expected to provide insight into the development of future countermeasures, such as preventative medicine or exercise. These results also could provide recommendations for limiting the amount of force astronauts are subjected to during launch. Other experiments included work on the Microgravity Crystals investigation, which crystallises a membrane protein that is integral to tumour growth and cancer survival. Results may support the development of cancer treatments that target the protein more effectively and with fewer side effects. Source: The Indian Express








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7. What is Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill? Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economics On Wednesday, when the government introduced The Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill, 2020, it led to an uproar in Parliament. Leaders of the Congress criticised the Bill first for the use of Hindi words in its name, arguing that this was government’s way to impose Hindi on the non-Hindi speakers, and also argued that the Bill treats honest and dishonest people equally. What is The Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill, 2020? In essence, the Bill is aimed at resolving direct tax related disputes in a speedy manner. In her Budget speech on February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that “in the past our Government has taken several measures to reduce tax litigations. In the last budget, Sabka Vishwas Scheme was brought in to reduce litigation in indirect taxes. It resulted in settling over 1,89,000 cases”. She then unveiled the Vivad se Vishwas Scheme, which was to do for direct tax related disputes exactly what Sabka Vishwas did for indirect tax related disputes. According to the Finance Minister, at present there are as many as “4,83,000 direct tax cases pending in various appellate forums i.e. Commissioner (Appeals), ITAT, High Court and Supreme Court”. The idea behind the scheme is to reduce litigation in the direct tax arena. Vivad se Vishwas Bill: What are the specifics of the scheme? The Finance Minister had clarified that “under the proposed Vivad Se Vishwas scheme, a taxpayer would be required to pay only the amount of the disputed taxes and will get complete waiver of interest and penalty provided he pays by 31st March, 2020. Those who avail this scheme after 31st March, 2020 will have to pay some additional amount”. However, the scheme will remain open only till June 30, 2020. The scheme also applies to all case appeals that are pending at any level. How much money is at stake? According to reports, over Rs 9 lakh crore worth of direct tax disputes are pending in the courts. The government hopes to recover a big chunk of this in a swift and simple way, while offering the taxpayers the relief of not having to fight the case endlessly. For a government that is staring at a big shortfall in revenues, especially tax revenues, the scheme makes a lot of sense. What was the response to the Sabka Vishwas scheme? At last count, the government expected to have raised Rs 39,500 crore from the Sabka Vishwas scheme, which was only about indirect tax disputes. The amnesty window for








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Sabka Vishwas closed on January 15 and close to 1.90 lakh crore applications, in relation to taxes worth Rs 90,000 crore were received. One of the standout successes of this scheme was Mondelez India Foods Pvt Ltd (which was earlier known as Cadbury India) settled one of its most controversial tax disputes, pertaining to its alleged plant in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh, with the government under this scheme. The firm was accused of evading taxes to the tune of Rs 580 crore (excluding taxes and penalties). In the end, Mondelez paid Rs 439 crore on January 20 under the amnesty scheme. Has the government responded to the Opposition for its criticism of the name of the scheme in Hindi? The official name of the Bill is Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Bill. However, in her Budget speech, the Finance Minister had mentioned the English name of the scheme — No Dispute, But Only Trust. She said the name has nothing to do with imposing Hindi. Source: The Indian Express

8. How LIC stake sale will affect policyholders Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economics In the Union Budget speech on February 1, Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government proposed to sell a part of its holding in Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) by way of an initial public offering (IPO). The state insurer was established in 1956 through an Act of Parliament. Governed by the Life Insurance Corporation Act, 1956, every LIC policy is guaranteed by the government. Explaining the rationale for divesting the government’s stake in LIC, Ms. Sitharaman said that listing would bring discipline while giving retail investors an opportunity to participate in wealth creation. What is the implication for policyholders? Before the government divests a part of its stake through a public issue, it will have to ensure that it amends the LIC Act, which among other things, ensures a sovereign guarantee for all policies under Section 37 of the Act. The Finance Ministry is in talks with the Law Ministry to amend the Act. Will listing change LIC’s operational approach or investment policies? LIC is the biggest institutional investor in the Indian equity markets. According to media reports, LIC’s gross investments in equity are set to touch an all-time high of 72,000 crore in the financial year 2019-20. In comparison, foreign portfolio investors had invested just over 65,000 crore into Indian equity up to February 8, according to data posted on the National Securities Depository Limited website.








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In FY19, LIC had invested a little less than 69,000 crore in equities. The numbers clearly show the clout that LIC enjoys in the equity market. The government has used LIC on many occasions to stabilise the markets. Analysts say that the proposed listing would usher in benefits including increased accountability, transparency and due process. There would be independent directors on board who could question the rationale for investments. Further, shareholders too could question the company on its investments. Could listing change the payout structure at LIC? Quite likely, according to analysts. Currently, LIC pays 5% of its surplus to the government and the balance 95% to policyholders. This makes it possible for the state-owned insurance company to give a higher bonus on the policies compared to private players, who typically give 10% of their surplus to shareholders and the balance 90% to policyholders. With outside investors becoming shareholders, with a few even gaining seats on the insurer’s board, there could be a demand to tweak the mix between shareholders and policyholders. Further, the norms of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on corporate governance would require the insurance company to make timely and quick disclosures about defaults among other things. LIC is a significant player in the debt segment as well and would have to make additional disclosures to retail shareholders. Does LIC have bad loans? At a time when all banks are reeling under the pressure of bad loans there is intense speculation on LIC’s non-performing assets (NPAs). While media reports have posited that LIC has about 6% gross NPAs. LIC official, however, clarified that on an overall basis, it was not even 1%. He said, “For us, most investments are in equity, government securities and a small part in corporate debt. The 6% is possibly in corporate debt. But overall, it is hardly 1% in gross [terms]. Since we made provisions, net [NPAs] is 0.04%.” LIC’s total assets amounted to 32.26 lakh crore as of September 2019. Source: The Hindu

9. Why industrial production has contracted, what it means for the economy Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economy Just a day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman quoted the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data for November 2019 as one of the evidence of the emerging “green shoots” in the economy, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released the December data, which, in turn, shows that the IIP contracted by 0.3 per cent.








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In November, the IIP had expanded by 1.8% after witnessing three consecutive months — August, September, and October — of contraction. A key reason for positive growth in November was the favourable base effect. The latest contraction would predictably undermine the FM’s assertion about the economy turning around. On the whole, between April and December 2019, the IIP has now shown a cumulative growth of a meagre 0.5%. According to the Quick Estimates of IIP released on Wednesday, in terms of industries, 16 out of the 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown negative growth during the month of December 2019 as compared with the corresponding month of the previous year. In other words, the contraction continues to be widespread. What is IIP? The IIP is an index used to track the performance of the industrial sector in the Indian economy. It does this by mapping the volume of production. But since it is an “index”, it targets a basket of industrial products — ranging from the manufacturing sector to mining to energy — and allocates different weights to them. Then, depending on the production of this basket, it throws up an index value. The index value is then compared with the value of the index in the same month a year ago to arrive at a percentage growth or decline figure. How is IIP data read? There are two ways to understand the IIP data. One can either drill down the IIP data and look at the sectoral performance — where the whole industrial sector is divided into three sub-sectors, namely manufacturing, mining and electricity — or look at the use-based classification. What is the sectoral classification? In the sectoral classification, manufacturing has the highest weight of 77.6%, mining has 14.4% share and electricity has 8% weight. In December, while production in mining grew by 5.4%, in manufacturing, which is the biggest chunk, production contracted by 1.2%; electricity contracted too, albeit marginally. What is use-based classification? Within the use-based classification, data is provided for six categories. These are :- Primary Goods (consisting of mining, electricity, fuels and fertilisers) — this has a weight of 34% Capital Goods (e.g. Machinery items) — this has a weight of 8%








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Intermediate Goods (e.g. yarns, chemicals, semi-finished steel items, etc) — this has a weight of 17% Infrastructure Goods (e.g. paints, cement, cables, bricks and tiles, rail materials, etc) — this has a weight of 12% Consumer Durables (e.g. garments, telephones, passenger vehicles, etc) — this has a weight of 13% Consumer Non-durables (e.g. food items, medicines, toiletries, etc) — this has a weight of 15% In December, while production of primary goods and intermediate goods has picked up, that of capital goods has contracted heavily. This shows there is little demand for new machinery, which in turn shows there is little enthusiasm in the economy to make new investments. The other three categories also witnessed contraction. What about green shoots of the economy? Observers who have tracked IIP for long argue that the key variable from the point of view of sustained growth or decline is the category of “intermediate goods”. That’s because it tallies with the order books. If intermediate goods are growing at a sustained pace month after month, then the domestic economy cannot continue to flounder for long. Similarly, if this category shows contraction, sustained growth appears far away. In December, this category has grown by 12.5%; in November it grew by over 17%, in October it grew by over 22% and in September by 7%. As such, there is hope that perhaps the economy has seen its worst. However, the weakness across most other categories continues to be a matter of worry. Source: The Indian Express

10. Why Maharashtra sugar mills are paying cane fair price in parts Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economics This sugarcane crushing season in Maharashtra, more than half the 136 mills that have entered the season have forged an unusual agreement with farmers. It enables the former to pay the government-declared Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for cane purchased in three instalments. What is FRP and how should it be paid?








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Before the start of the crushing season, the Commission of Agriculture Cost and Pricing (CACP) declares the season’s FRP, calculated after taking in consideration the cost of production. FRP is linked to recovery — the amount of sugar produced by crushing 1 tonne cane, expressed as a percentage. The higher the recovery, the higher be the sugar produced, and thus the higher the FRP too. At present , the basic FRP at 10% base recovery is Rs 275 per quintal, with every 0.1% increase in recovery resulting in an increase of Rs 2.75 in the FRP. The Sugarcane Control Order of 1966 mandates that mills pay the basic FRP within 14 days of purchase, failing which mills are to pay 15% per year interest. Sugar commissioners are empowered to recover pending dues by attaching properties of errant mills. The assured scheme of payment had over the years made cane a preferred crop among growers across the country. While the law mandates payment within 14 days, the payment schedule has not been rigorously followed. During the 1990s, sugar millers in Maharashtra used to meet at the start of the season and take a call about payment depending upon their finances. The first instalment mostly used to be paid within in 14 days of cane delivery, which was usually around 70-80% of the FRP, and the second instalment was paid in April when the mills ended their crushing operations. Depending on the availability of funds, another payment was made during Diwali ahead of the next crushing season. The total realisation of farmers depended on the finances of the mills which ensured that at least the basic FRP was paid. Since the start of the farmers’ movement by former MP Raju Shetti, the payment schedule underwent a major change. At the start of the crushing season, the farmers’ union in its Oosh Parishad (Cane Conclave) used to make demands for payment, which often was Rs 100-200 above the FRP. Mills had to accede to the demand to prevent disruption in transportation of cane. The first instalment was always the full FRP, while later instalments covered demands made by the farmers. How do mills generate capital to pay their growers? Sugar mills pledge their stock of sugar and avail of working capital from banks to pay their growers as well as to fund their operations. Based on the valuation of sugar (at present Rs 3,100 per quintal), banks issue loans to the tune of 75% of the current valuation. Why did mills feel the need to get into agreements? During the 2014-15 season, 20 mills in Maharashtra’s Nanded division had defaulted on payment of basic FRP. Prahlad Ingole, a farmer leader, approached the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court with demands including payment of 15% interest on late payment of FRP. The court eventually asked the sugar commissioner to start the process of calculation of interest. Shekhar Gaikwad, the then sugar commissioner, started the process in 2019 and appointed government auditors to calculate the interest. The Cooperation








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Minister, while hearing a similar case relating to mills in Kolhapur and Sangli, however, gave a stay on calculation on interest. Given the financial implications, mills took the cue from the Sugarcane Control order and started making formal agreements with farmers for part-payment. The order mandates payment of FRP within 14 days of cane delivery if there is no agreement otherwise. This leeway is now being used by the mills to get their farmers to sign agreements that would allow mills to pay 75% of the FRP as the first instalment and the rest in subsequent instalments. Of the 136 mills that have entered the crushing season in Maharashtra, 76 have got into such agreements. The payment clause was put in the cane registration forms that farmers sign and submit to the mills. The trend, started by mills in Marathwada, is now being followed across the state. What are the ramifications of such an agreement? It has not gone down well with many farmers’ leaders. They claim the agreement would not stand the test of law as it leaves a farmer without the necessary standing to argue for a fair agreement. In this case, many have said the agreement clause was put in the forms farmers have not read properly, but mills have denied this and said it was only a small section of farmers who were insisting on full payment of FRP. Financial constrains, mills claim, make is impossible for them to pay the full FRP at one go. Until these agreements are challenged in any court of law, mills in Maharashtra will continue to pay their growers as per these agreements. Source: The Indian Express

11. USTR takes India off developing country list Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economics Decision of U.S. government The U.S. government has changed an administrative rule making it easier for it to impose countervailing duties (CVDs) on goods from India and certain other countries. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has published a notice, amending lists of developing and least-developed countries that are eligible for preferential treatment with respect to CVD investigations. About classification of countries To harmonise U.S. law with the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM) Agreement, the USTR had, in 1998, come up with lists of countries classified as per their level of development. These lists were used to determine whether they were potentially subject to U.S. countervailing duties. The 1998 rule is now “obsolete” as per the USTR notice.








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Countries not given special consideration have lower levels of protection against a CVD investigation. A CVD investigation must be terminated if the offending subsidy is de minimis (too small to warrant concern) or if import volumes are negligible. The de minimis thresholds and import volume allowance are more relaxed for developing and least-developed countries.

What has changed now? India was, until February 10, on the developing country list and therefore eligible for these more relaxed standards. It has now been taken off of that list.








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The new lists consist of 36 developing countries and 44 least developed countries. The de minimis standard is usually a subsidy of 1% or less ad valorem and 2 percent for special cases. If a country’s goods constitute less than 3% of all imports of that good into the U.S., it meets the ‘negligible import volumes’ standard. For special cases it is 4%. Imports do not meet the standard, if , individual volumes are less than 3% (special cases: 4%) but the aggregate volume of imports into the U.S. is 7% of all such goods. The USTR used the following criteria to determine whether a country was eligible for the 2% de minimis standard: (1) Per capita Gross National Income or GNI (2) share of world trade (3) other factors such as Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) membership or application for membership, EU membership, and Group of Twenty (G20) membership. India, along with Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam were taken off the list since they each have at least a 0.5% share of the global trade, despite having less than $12, 375 GNI (the World Bank threshold separating high income countries from others). India was taken off the list also because — like Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa — it is part of the G20. “Given the global economic significance of the G20, and the collective economic weight of its membership (which accounts for large shares of global economic output and trade), G20 membership indicates that a country is developed,” the USTR notice said. Source: The Hindu

12. What does ‘developed’ tag mean for India? Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economics On February 10, the U.S. removed more than a dozen countries, including India, from its list of countries that are classified as “developing” for trade purposes. These countries will now be classified instead as “developed” economies, thus stripping them of various trade benefits. The move, which comes just ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to India later this month, has led to doubts over the chances of a trade deal being signed between India and the United States. What is the “developing country” status? The office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) maintains a list of countries that it classifies as “developing”, “developed”, and “least-developed”. Countries that are classified as “developing” are allowed to export certain goods to the U.S. without being hit by punitive tariffs that are usually imposed on goods from “developed” countries. The “developing country” status owes its origin to the U.S. Trade Act of 1974, which authorised








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the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) to help poor countries develop faster. These benefits were extended further under the World Trade Organization wherein rich countries agreed to grant trade benefits to countries that classified themselves as poor. It is worth noting that about two-thirds of countries that are members of the WTO classify themselves as “developing” countries and avail benefits. Is such a classification justified? Any classification of whether a country is “developing” or not is bound to be arbitrary. While the economic progress that India and China have achieved over the last few decades is seen by some as reason enough to get rid of their special status, others point to the various development indicators in which India and China still lag behind the rich world. Further, opinion on whether such a classification is required in the first place is divided. Why is India being stripped of this status? The U.S. administration under President Trump has repeatedly accused fast-growing countries such as India and China of wrongly claiming trade benefits that are reserved only for the truly developing countries. Therefore, Mr. Trump has sought to renegotiate trade deals with countries like China, essentially trying to make these deals more “fair” to the interests of the U.S. India has traditionally been one of the largest beneficiaries under the GSP, with over 2,000 goods having been exempted from import tariffs, until the Trump administration stripped it of the special benefit last year. With the current change in India’s status under the USTR’s classification, the task of reclaiming the lost GSP benefits now becomes even harder. In support of its actions, the Trump administration has argued that countries like India and China have witnessed significant growth in the last few decades. This, it believes, is enough reason to scale back the various trade benefits. It has further cited the share of global trade enjoyed by India and China and their membership in the G20 club to argue that they enjoy significant economic power. Moreover, many developed countries also classify themselves as “developing” in order to escape tariffs. How will the U.S. decision affect global trade? Any move to end duty-free access for foreign goods into the U.S., which becomes more likely after the change in trade status, will increase the overall tax burden on goods crossing international borders. This will add further pressure on the global economy, which has already witnessed a slowing of growth this year. The growth effects of a tariff war could rise further if countries that are stripped of their “developing” economy status decide to retaliate by imposing tariffs on goods that they import from the U.S. Recently, India offered to scale back tariffs on American dairy and other products that are imported into India. This came after the U.S. complained about the restricted access that American companies have to developing countries like India. If such trade tactics manage to bring down trade barriers on both sides, it can benefit the global economy. But, with








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both the U.S. and its various warring trading partners looking to protect their domestic producers rather than consumers who benefit from lower tariffs, a general fall in tariffs across the board seems unlikely. Source: The Hindu

13. Vodafone caught between 'the devil and the deep sea' Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economics The Supreme Court’s recent strict judgement to recover adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues has created panic for one of the concerned telecom players: Vodafone-Idea. The company in which Vodafone and Aditya Birla group own 44% and 27% stakes respectively, saw its shares plunge more than 23% next day. Already in dire straits Vodafone Idea, which is stipulated to pay over Rs. 53,000 crores in outstanding dues, has been performing very badly for quite a long time. It has reported a nearly Rs. 6,500 crore loss in the December quarter, the 6th consecutive quarter that it has lost money. Apart from the AGR dues, the company also has to repay long-term debts worth nearly Rs. 15,000 crores by the end of FY20. Sinking Market Cap As on 31st Dec. 2019, Vodafone Idea’s net worth has fallen to its lowest level in the past three years to around Rs. 17,600 crores. Bankruptcy looming large In view of this grave situation, Vodafone-Idea needs to infuse fresh capital urgently, or it will have no option left, but to file for bankruptcy. As per analysts, company’s depressing financial figures virtually rule out the possibility of it getting fresh loans from lenders. In fact, both Vodafone and Aditya Birla group have not put any more cash into the company since both lost a sizeable amount by investing in the company’s Rs. 25,000-crore rights issue last year.

14. Strong FPI inflows, fall in global oil prices push forex reserves to record $473 billion








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Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economics Reason for hike in forex A significant jump in foreign portfolio investment inflows over the first two weeks this year, coupled with drop in foreign currency outflow on account of sharp decline in global crude oil prices and dip in imports from China over the last month following the outbreak of coronavirus has resulted in a spike in India’s foreign exchange reserves. The reserves jumped to an all-time high of $473 billion in the week ended February 7, as they grew by $1.71 billion over the week ended January 31. Crude prices may stay low due to coronavirus impact While rising foreign fund inflows and lower crude oil prices have helped India raise its foreign exchange reserves to record highs, the impact of coronavirus on China’s economy activity over the next few months may keep the global crude oil prices lower, thereby benefitting India by way of lower import bill. Lower tax rates Since September 20, 2019, when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a cut in corporate tax rates, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have pumped in a net of Rs 78,676 crore (around $11 billion). Increase and decrease in crude oil prices It is important to note that, while there was a sudden spike in global crude oil prices in January — following the geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran and hit a 8-month high of $70.25 per barrel on January 6, 2020 — it fell sharply following the de-escalation of tensions and then the outbreak of coronavirus in China. Source: The Indian Express

15. India again leapfrogs U.K and France to become world’s 5th largest economy Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economics There is some good news for the Indian economy amidst the ongoing economic slowdown. As per a report by the US-based think tank, World Population Review, India has risen to become the world's 5th-largest economy. It became so by overtaking UK and France last year. Ironically, both the countries went past India on the same parameter in 2018. The Details








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According to World Population Review, which is an independent organisation without any political affiliations, India’s GDP rose to $2.94 trillion in 2019. In comparison, the GDPs of UK and France were $2.83 trillion and $2.71 trillion respectively. In purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, India's GDP is $10.51 trillion, which is more than that of Japan and Germany. Transforming for good As per this report, India is fast developing into an open-market economy from being an attempted self-sufficient one in the past. Since it took to economic liberalisation in the early 1990s, India has deregulated its industry, reduced control on foreign trade & investment, and privatised state-owned enterprises. India's service sector is now growing at an impressive rate. It accounts for 60% of the economy and provides 28% of all the jobs. Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses Renamed as Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses The Government has decided to rename 'The Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses' (IDSA) as ‘Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses’. The decision has been taken to honour the commitment and legacy of late Manohar Parrikar. It will align the vision and aspiration of the premier defence Institute with the contribution of the former Raksha Mantri and Padma Bhushan awardee. About Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses An autonomous body under Ministry of Defence, IDSA was established as a registered society in New Delhi in 1965, dedicated to objective research and policy relevant studies on all aspects of defence and security. Its aim is to promote national and international security through the generation and dissemination of knowledge on defence and security-related issues. To achieve its goals, the institute undertakes scholarly research, policy-oriented research, dissemination of research findings, training and capacity building and public education. The IDSA has a well-qualified multi-disciplinary research faculty drawn from academia, defence forces etc., representing a diversity of views. Research at the Institute is driven by a comprehensive agenda and the need to provide impartial analyses and policy recommendations. Since its inception, IDSA has served as a forum to debate important aspects of national and international security. The institute conducts several national and international conferences every year and regularly holds round tables and workshops on important developments. Source: PIB








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16. Why is RBI aligning accounting year with fiscal year? Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economics The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is aligning its July-June accounting year with the government’s April-March fiscal year in order to ensure more effective management of the country’s finances. How did the RBI’s July-June accounting year come to be? When it commenced operations on April 1, 1935, with Sir Osborne Smith as its first Governor, the RBI followed a January-December accounting year. On March 11, 1940, however, the bank changed its accounting year to July-June. Now, after nearly eight decades, the RBI is making another switch: the next accounting year will be a nine-month period from July 2020 to March 31, 2021 and thereafter, all financial years will start from April, as it happens with the central and state governments. Why are RBI’s accounts important? The RBI’s balance sheet plays a critical role in the functioning of the country’s economy — largely reflecting the activities carried out in pursuance of its currency issue function, as well as monetary policy and reserve management objectives. The RBI Act says the central bank “shall undertake to accept monies for account of the Central Government and to make payments up to the amount standing to the credit of, and to carry out (its exchange), remittance and other banking operations, including the management of the public debt”. The RBI is the country’s monetary authority, regulator, and supervisor of the financial system, manager of foreign exchange, issuer of currency, regulator and supervisor of payment and settlement systems, banker to the central and the state governments, and also banker to banks. But why is the system being changed? The Bimal Jalan Committee on Economic Capital Framework (ECF) of the RBI had proposed a more transparent presentation of the RBI’s annual accounts, and a change in its accounting year to April-March from the financial year 2020-21. It said the RBI would be able to provide better estimates of projected surplus transfers to the government for the financial year for budgeting purposes. It is also expected to result in better management of transfer of dividend or surplus to the government. Moreover, as governments, companies, and other institutions follow the April-March year, it will help with effective management of accounting. In May 2018, when Urjit Patel was Governor, the RBI appointed its first ever Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Sudha Balakrishnan. What will be impact of the change?








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The change in the fiscal year could reduce the need for interim dividend being paid by the RBI, and such payments may then be restricted to extraordinary circumstances. It will obviate any timing considerations that may enter into the selection of open market operations or Market Stabilization Scheme as monetary policy tools. It will also bring greater cohesiveness in monetary policy projections and reports published by the RBI, which mostly use the fiscal year as the base. Last fiscal, the RBI paid Rs 28,000 crore as interim dividend; in 2017-18, the government received Rs 10,000 crore. In RBI’s balance sheet, while capital and reserve fund are explicitly shown, other sources of financial resilience are grouped under ‘Other Liabilities and Provisions’ and enumerated via Schedules, making it difficult to arrive at total risk provisions, the Jalan panel said. In August 2019, the RBI transferred Rs 1,76,051 crore to government, comprising Rs 1,23,414 crore of surplus for 2018-19, and Rs 52,637 crore of excess provisions identified as per revised ECF proposed by the Jalan panel. Source: The Indian Express

17. Foodgrain production set to touch a record high Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economics Total foodgrain production is projected to scale an all-time high of almost 292 million tonnes in 2019-20, propelled by record production of both rice and wheat. The estimate for total foodgrain output of 291.95 million tonnes is more than six million tonnes higher than the 285.21 million tonnes produced in 2018-19. Production of several crops, including rice and major pulses, was lower than targeted in the kharif or the monsoon season. However, the abundance of late monsoon rains resulted in cumulative rainfall that was 10% higher than the long-period average for the season. This helped farmers rake in rabi or winter harvests that were larger-than-expected in almost all crops. Output of various crops The Agriculture Ministry expects rice production to reach 117.47 million tonnes, slightly higher than the 116.48 million tonnes produced in the previous year. Wheat, which is only grown in the rabi season, will see a major surge in production at 106.2 million tonnes in the current year, from the 103.6 million tonnes in 2018-19. Despite the government’s drive to encourage millets and nutri-cereals, production failed to match targets this year, with the estimate pegged at 45.24 million tonnes.








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Pulses production was also estimated to come in lower-than targeted 23 million tonnes, although it was still higher than the previous year’s harvest. Most pulses are dry land crops, grown on land without irrigation and the delay in monsoons in many areas hit kharif harvests although rabi production improved.

It was a similar story with oil seeds. Production was estimated at almost 342 million tonnes, higher than last year but still lower than the target for this year. Sugarcane is the only major crop where this year’s estimated production of 3,538 million tonnes was significantly lower than last year’s output of 4,054 million tonnes. A glut in sugar production over the last few years had resulted in a crash in prices and an increase in payment arrears from sugar mills to cane farmers. Source: The Hindu

18. How crop insurance changes Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Economics








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On Wednesday, the Centre decided to restrict its premium subsidy in its flagship crop insurance schemes to 30% for unirrigated areas and 25% for irrigated areas (from the existing unlimited), and to make enrolment of farmers in the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) voluntary from the 2020 Kharif season. What were the schemes? At present, under PMFBY and RWBCIS, farmers pay a premium of 2% of the sum insured for all foodgrains and oilseeds crops of Kharif; 1.5% for all foodgrains and oilseeds crops of Rabi; and 5% for all horticultural crops. The difference between actuarial premium rate and the rate of insurance premium payable by farmers, which is called the Rate of Normal Premium Subsidy, is shared equally between the Centre and the states. However, states and Union Territories are free to extend additional subsidy over and above the normal subsidy from their budgets. Until now, there was no upper limit for the central subsidy. On Wednesday, the Cabinet decided to cap the Centre’s premium subsidy under these schemes for premium rates up to 30% for unirrigated areas/crops and 25% for irrigated areas/crops. What changes with this move, and why has the government taken it? One interpretation of this decision is that the burden of premium subsidy will go up for the states. For example, in the old regime, if a farmer’s Kharif crop was insured for Rs 1,00,000 and the rate of actuarial premium was 40%, then the premium paid by the farmer was 2% (Rs 2,000), and the remaining premium was shared by the Centre and the state equally (19% or Rs 19,000). In the new regime, for the same sum insured (Rs 1,00,000) and the same rate of premium (40%), the Centre will give subsidy for premium rates up to 30%. This means that from the Kharif 2020 season , the Centre will have to pay premium at the rate of 14% (out of 30%, the farmer’s share is 2%, and the Centre’s and state’s 14% each) instead of the 19% it paid (out of 40%) in the last Kharif season; the state has to bear the entire burden of the premium subsidy in cases where the rate of premium goes beyond the threshold of 30%. A second interpretation is that the Centre may stop supporting insurance of certain crops in certain areas where the rate of premium is more than 30%. This interpretation emanates from Paragraph ‘L’ of the press note issued by the government on February 19, which states: “Besides above, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare in consultation with other stakeholders/agencies will prepare/develop State specific, alternative risk mitigation programme for crops/areas having high rate of premium.” While the average premium rate under PMFBY and RWBCIS at the national level was 12.32% for 2018-19, for some crops in certain districts, the rate of premium has been higher than 30% in recent years. For instance, the rate of premium for Kharif groundnut








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has reached 49% in Rajkot of Gujarat, and the rate for Rabi paddy crop Ramnathapuram (Tamil Nadu) has reached 42%. During 2018-19, an amount of Rs 29,105 crore was collected as gross premium under PMFBY and RWBCIS, which included farmers’ share of Rs 4,918 crore, the Centre’s share of Rs 12,034 crore, and the states’ share of Rs 12,152 crore. After the new changes come into effect, the share of the states is expected to go up in those states in which such crops are cultivated. Sources said that by capping the subsidy for premium rates up to 30%, the Centre wants to disincentivise certain crops in such areas where growing these crops involve high risks in terms of crop insurance premiums. How many farmers are covered under these two schemes? During 2018-19, about 5.64 crore farmers are enrolled with PMFBY for an insured sum of Rs 2,35,277 crore, and 30% of the gross cropped is insured. When the government approved PMFBY four years ago, it was described as “a path-breaking scheme for farmers’ welfare” under which there was no upper limit on government subsidy. “Even if balance premium is 90%, it will be borne by the Government,” said a statement released on January 13, 2016. For 2020-21, the government has allocated Rs 15,695 crore for PMFBY. While PMFBY is based on yield, RWBCIS is based on proxies and farmers are provided insurance protection against adverse weather conditions such as excess rainfall, wind and temperature. The number of insured farmers under RWBCIS is relatively low. How well-placed are states to raise their share of premium subsidy? The states are already defaulting on their share, and the Centre’s new cap will put an additional financial burden on them. Madhya Pradesh has not paid its share of premium even for Kharif 2018, which comes to Rs 1,500 crore. As a result, farmers have not got their claims. In fact, most states have delayed the payment of their share of premium. Sources said that in some states, the expenditure on premium of PMFBY is more than 50% of their budget for agriculture. What can be the fallout of making the schemes voluntary? That move will lead to a rise in the rates of premium, as the area covered under insurance and the number of enrolled farmers are expected to come down significantly. As of now the schemes are compulsory for all loanee farmers and optional for other farmers. Non-loanee farmers under the crop insurance schemes are much fewer than loanee farmers. If the latter opt out of the schemes, the number of insured farmers will drastically come down. Sources say that in such a scenario, the rate of premium of certain crops in some areas may go beyond 30%. Which are the other changes in crop insurance schemes?








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The government has given flexibility to states/UTs to implement PMFBY and RWBCIS, and given them the option to select any number of additional risk covers/features like prevented sowing, localised calamity, mid-season adversity, and post-harvest losses. Earlier, these risk covers were mandatory. Sources said this change will have two main impacts. First, it may bring down the rates of overall premium as the state governments now will not be required to invite bids factoring these risks. Second, it will make these schemes less attractive for farmers. However, states/UTs can offer specific single peril risk/insurance covers like hailstorm etc under PMFBY. Source: The Indian Express

Environment 1. Whether India should import Cheetahs or not Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Environment & Biodiversity The Supreme Court’s recent green light to introduction of African cheetahs in a suitable area in India has revived a decade-long debate over the controversial plan first floated in 2009 and shot down by the court in 2013. Why the plan was rejected earlier? To appreciate the cheetah question, one needs to look at the lion parallel. One of the reasons the Supreme Court scrapped the cheetah plan in 2013 was the lopsided focus on flying in an exotic species, as a replacement for what was long gone, at the cost of undermining the future of an indigenous species that is still around. Position of Cheetahs in India The last cheetahs in the Indian wild were gunned down in 1947. The few surviving in captivity perished soon after, making it the only large carnivore to have gone extinct in India. The last wild population of the Asiatic lion, on the other hand, survives in Gujarat’s Gir where the cat is only a natural calamity or an epidemic away from meeting same fate as the cheetah. The plan to secure the lions in a second home has been hanging fire since 1993. The dream Then Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, in 2009, floated plan to import Cheetahs. After Iran refused to part with any of its few surviving Asiatic cheetahs, the focus turned to the








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African variety. By September 2010, India’s cheetah plan was ready and the Centre approved Rs 50 crore for the programme in August 2011. SC putting brakes on the plan The matter came up before the Supreme Court during a hearing on shifting a few lions from Gujarat to Kuno-Palpur wildlife sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh, which was also one of the sites identified for releasing cheetahs. In May 2012, the court stayed the cheetah plan, and in April 2013, it ordered translocation of lions from Gujarat while quashing the plan for introducing African cheetahs to Kuno-Palpur. Revival of Cheetah plan The cheetah plan was revived in 2017 when the government sought permission from the Supreme Court to explore possibilities “in conformity with the applicable law to reintroduce cheetahs from Africa to suitable sites” other than Kuno-Palpur. By then, the lion translocation project was put on the back-burner again. The design In April 2013, the Supreme Court had set a six-month deadline for translocating lions from Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh. Between July 2013 and December 2016, the government convened six meetings of the expert committee set up for the lion project. Nothing has moved since. Instead, the third National Wildlife Action Plan (2017-2031) released in 2017 said that the identification of an alternative home and drawing up a conservation plan for the Asiatic lion will be completed during 2018-2021. Then, Kuno resurfaced as a potential cheetah site in the court. It is unlikely though that Kuno will get cheetahs. Much of its grasslands that were created by relocating villages have naturally progressed to woodlands not suitable for the African import. While the sanctuary has spotted deer and feral cattle in good numbers, there is barely any presence of the four-horned antelope, chinkara or blackbuck – all potential prey for the cheetah. The argument behind introducing Cheetah In saving the cheetah, claimed the proponents of the reintroduction plan, one would also save other endangered species of the grassland, such as the endangered Indian wolf and the near-extinct great Indian bustard (GIB). In the umbrella-approach of conservation, multiple species in a forest (tiger reserve, for instance) is protected in the name of a flagship species (i.e. tiger). It is inexplicable, though, as to why one must introduce an exotic replacement for an extinct species to save indigenous species. Wolves, for example, are the keystone species in Nauradehi and would have to compete with cheetahs. The majestic GIB is a potential prey for the cheetah. In fact, the project excluded Jaisalmer’s Desert National Park because “putting the cheetah in with the bustard








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cannot be contemplated at all, because of the threat to this most gravely endangered bird”. And yet, it recommended erstwhile GIB habitats for the cheetah, in effect denying the bird any chance of habitat recovery. The priority species The GIB is not the only species staring down the barrel. The government has identified 20 others – such as the Asian wild buffalo, Jerdon’s courser, red panda and Asiatic lion – that need immediate help to survive. Barring 50 reserves under Project Tiger, all wildlife habitats of the country and the 21 beleaguered species merited a total allocation of Rs 497 crore between 2017-18 and 2019-20. That is Rs 166 crore a year. A decade ago, the cost of the cheetah project was pegged at Rs 300 crore in the first year alone. In Nauradehi, merely constructing a 150-sq km cheetah enclosure will cost Rs 25-30 crore. To this, compare the recent sanctions of Rs 5 lakh for the Greater adjutant in Gangetic riverine tract in Bhagalpur, Bihar; Rs 1.22 crore for establishing a conservation breeding centre for wild buffaloes in Chhattisgarh; or Rs 3.87 crore for a snow leopard recovery programme in Ladakh. This raises several questions. Can India’s meagre conservation resources afford to splurge on hosting a few imported animals? Even if the cheetah programme finds an international sponsor, should India’s understaffed and inadequate wildlife management cadre be stretched for a vanity project? Even if a few African cheetahs survive, as they well might inside an enclosure and supplied with prey, what conservation purpose will they serve? And what future will they have once out in the open in a country teeming with people, livestock and feral dogs? The three-member expert panel will examine these issues in the next four months for the government to reach a considered decision. Meanwhile, as the policy dash for the fastest land animal is being cheered, the lions are running out of time. Source: The Indian Express

2. Why wetlands matter to world and India Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Environment & Biodiversity Sunday, February 2, was World Wetlands Day. It was on this date in 1971 that the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands was adopted in Ramsar, Iran. Only last week, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change had announced that the Ramsar Convention had declared 10 wetlands from India as sites of “international importance”, taking the total number of Ramsar Sites in the country to 37. Why the focus on wetlands?








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The Ramsar Convention definition for wetlands includes marshes, floodplains, rivers and lakes, mangroves, coral reefs and other marine areas no deeper than 6 metres at low tide, as well as human-made wetlands such as waste-water treatment ponds and reservoirs. The IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) the global assessment identified wetlands as the most threatened ecosystem. This impacts 40% of the world’s plant and animal species that live or breed in wetlands, according to UNESCO. Thirty per cent of land-based carbon is stored in peatland; one billion people depend on wetlands for their livelihoods; and wetlands provide $47 trillion in essential services annually, according to the Wetlands Day official website. This year’s Wetlands Day theme is Wetlands and Biodiversity. What is the status of wetlands in India? India has over 7 lakh wetlands and rules for their protection; yet not one of the wetlands has been notified under domestic laws, according to environmentalist Anand Arya, a petitioner in a Supreme Court case on wetlands. Wetlands are regulated under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017. The 2010 version of the Rules provided for a Central Wetland Regulatory Authority; the 2017 Rules replace it with state-level bodies and created a National Wetland Committee, which functions in an advisory role. The newer regulations removed some items from the definition of “wetlands” including backwaters, lagoon, creeks, and estuaries. “The 2010 Rules required States to identify and prepare Brief Documents, submit them to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, which was to notify them. Under the 2017 regulations, the whole process has been delegated to States,” Arya told The Indian Express. “We have a total of 7,57,060 wetlands, covering 1.6 crore hectares or 4.5% of India’s area. In February 2017, the Court extended protection to 2,01,503 of these under Rule 4 of the 2010 Rules, and ordered authorities to notify sites. The wetlands were supposed to have been notified by March 25, 2019, 180 days after the 2017 Rules went into force (September 26, 2017). Yet so far, not a single wetland has been notified,” Arya said. The 2,01,503 wetlands, measuring over 2.25 hectares, were identified using ISRO’s satellite imagery. In October 2017, the Supreme Court expressed concern over the disappearance of wetlands, and observed, “If there are no wetlands left, it will affect agriculture and several other things. It is a very, very important issue.” What does being a Ramsar Site mean? The designation is for “Wetlands of International Importance”. “They are recognised as being of significant value not only for the country or the countries in which they are located, but for humanity as a whole… The inclusion of a wetland in the list embodies the government’s commitment to take the steps necessary to ensure that its ecological








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character is maintained. The Convention includes various measures to respond to threats to the ecological character of Sites,” the Ramsar Convention website said. The selection is made on the basis of various criteria defined under the convention. Article 2.2 says: “Wetlands should be selected for the List on account of their international significance in terms of ecology, botany, zoology, limnology or hydrology.” There are currently over 2,300 Ramsar Sites around the world, covering over 2.1 million square km. In India, the 10 new wetlands declared Ramsar Sites are Nandur Madhameshwar in Maharashtra; Keshopur-Miani, Beas Conservation Reserve and Nangal in Punjab; and Nawabganj, Parvati Agra, Saman, Samaspur, Sandi and Sarsai Nawar in UP. On the newly identified Ramsar Sites, Arya said, “Until days ago, out of the 7,57,060 wetlands in the country, only 27 sites were protected. Now there are 10 more. Where are we as far as protection efforts are concerned?” Source: The Indian Express

3. Lessons from a melting Antarctic glacier Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Environment In the Antarctic floats a massive glacier, roughly the size of Britain, whose melting has been a cause of alarm for scientists over the years. Now, a new study has pinned the cause of the melting to the presence of warm water at a vital point beneath the glacier. What is the glacier and why is it important? Called the Thwaites Glacier, it is 120 km wide at its broadest, fast-moving and melting fast over the years. Because of its size (1.9 lakh square km), it contains enough water to raise the world sea level by more than half a metre. Studies have found the amount of ice flowing out of it has nearly doubled over the past 30 years. Today, Thwaites’s melting already contributes 4% to global sea level rise each year. It is estimated that it would collapse into the sea in 200-900 years. Thwaites is important for Antarctica as it slows the ice behind it from freely flowing into the ocean. Because of the risk it faces — and poses — Thwaites is often called the Doomsday Glacier. What has the new study found? A 2019 study had discovered a fast-growing cavity in the glacier sized roughly two-thirds the area of Manhattan. Then last week, researchers from New York University detected warm water at a vital point below the glacier. The NYU study was funded by the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, headed by the Natural Environment Research








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Council of the UK and the National Science Foundation of the US; the collaboration has been studying the glacier since 2018. The New York University study reported water at just two degrees above freezing point at Thwaites’s “grounding zone” or “grounding line”.

Why is that significant? The grounding line is the place below a glacier at which the ice transitions between resting fully on bedrock and floating on the ocean as an ice shelf. The location of the line is a pointer to the rate of retreat of a glacier. When glaciers melt and lose weight, they float off the land where they used to be situated. When this happens, the grounding line retreats. That exposes more of a glacier’s underside to seawater, increasing the likelihood it will melt faster. This results in the glacier speeding up, stretching out, and thinning, causing the grounding line to retreat ever further. “Warm waters in this part of the world, as remote as they may seem, should serve as a warning to all of us about the potential dire changes to the planet brought about by climate change,” David Holland of New York University said in a statement. How was the warming water detected? Scientists dug a 600-m-deep and 35-cm-wide access hole, and deployed an ocean-sensing device called Icefin to measure the waters moving below the glacier’s surface. “The fact that such warm water was just now recorded by our team along a section of Thwaites grounding zone where we have known the glacier is melting suggests that it may be undergoing an unstoppable retreat that has huge implications for global sea-level rise,” Holland said. Source: The Indian Express

4. India moves to include elephant, bustard in global conservation list Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Environment








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India will be moving to include the Asian Elephant and the Great Indian Bustard in the list of species that merit heightened conservation measures. The list will be debated at the 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), an environment treaty under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). 13th COP in Gandhinagar, Gujarat The COP is scheduled to be organised from February 17 to 22 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. There are 130 parties to the convention and India has been a member since 1983. Other important migratory species India is home to several migratory species of wildlife, including the snow leopard, Amur falcons, bar- headed geese, black-necked cranes, marine turtles, dugongs and hump-backed whales. Implication of including Asian Elephant and the Great Indian Bustard in the list of species Having the elephant and the Great Indian Bustard in the list — more formally known as Appendix 1 — would coax countries neighbouring India, where wild animals such as tigers and elephant foray into, to direct more resources and attention to protecting them. There are now 173 species in the Appendix 1. Source: The Hindu

5. A warm January 2020: the records in India, world Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Environment Globally, the average temperature over land and ocean surfaces made January 2020 the hottest January on record, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) whose dataset dates back to 1880. In India, January 2020 was the second warmest since 1919 in terms of average minimum temperatures, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data dating back to 1901. India trends Against a January normal of 20.59°C, minimum temperatures for January 2020 averaged approximately 21.92°C, a deviation of 1.33°C. The only warmer January on record was January 1919 at about 22.13°C, an anomaly of 1.54°C. The only other years when January was warmer than normal were 1901 (+1.23°C), 1906 (+1.1°C) and 1938 (+1.05°C). # The average maximum for January 2020 was the third highest on record at 30.72°C (normal 30°C), after 2016 (+1.1°C) and 2013 (+0.95°C).








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Source: NOAA; India trend based on IMD data # India’s mean temperature anomaly for January crossed 1°C for the first time since 1901. Against a January normal of 25.3°C, the mean temperature was 26.32°C — a deviation of 1.02°C. Other years when January mean temperature was over normal were 2016 (+0.88°C) , 2013 (+0.87°C), 1998 (+0.78°C) and 2005 (+0.57°C). # Bucking the nationwide January trend, the overall winter in North India was harsh, with some areas in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand experiencing record cold conditions leading to extreme snowfall. In Delhi, cold-day conditions broke records during December, including a 17-day cold spell when the maximum plunged up to 4°C. Punjab and Rajasthan, too, had severe cold conditions in December and January. Global trends # The January 2020 globally averaged temperature departure from average over land and ocean surfaces was the highest in the 141-year NOAA record, at 1.14°C above the 20th-century average of 12°C. This surpassed the 2016 record by only 0.02°C. Across all months, only March 2016, February 2016 and December 2015 had a greater temperature departure.





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# January 2016 and 2020 were the only Januaries with a global temperature departure from average above 1°C. The four warmest Januaries have occurred since 2016; the 10 warmest Januaries have all occurred since 2002. # The January 2020 temperature departure was the highest monthly temperature departure without an El Niño present in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Source: The Indian Express

6. Population of over 100 species of Indian birds on decline, claims first-of-its-kind report Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Environment A first-of-its-kind report on Indian birds claims that over a hundred species of birds exhibit a decline in the long term and short-term, raising their threat of extinction. State of India’s Birds 2020 The research titled ‘State of India’s Birds 2020’ (SoIB), put together by over ten institutions and numerous citizen scientists, was released Monday at the ongoing United Nations 13th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Findings of the study According to the study, the populations of raptors (eagles, hawks, kites, etc.), migratory seabirds and birds that live in specialised habitats were the most affected in the past decades. The number of birds in the Western Ghats, which is considered one of the world’s foremost biodiversity hotspots, also declined by almost 75 per cent since 2000. However, the study did have some good news. Indian Peafowl, the national bird, has shown a dramatic increase in both abundance and distribution across the country. The number of house sparrows has also stabilised nationwide, although there is still a marked decline in their population in cities. How was data gathered? The data for these birds was collected through the citizen science app ‘eBird’, which received a record ten million entries by approximately 15,500 citizen scientists. Cornell University’s Laboratory of Ornithology hosts the app, while its India-specific portal is curated and customised by Bird Count India, an informal group of birdwatching enthusiasts, ornithologists, naturalists and conservationists dedicated to documenting Indian birds.








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Categorization of data The data was compiled, categorised, and studied by ten research and conservation organisations within the country, spanning both governmental and non-governmental institutions. It categorises 101 species as ‘High Conservation Concern for India’ and suggests many urgent policy measures to be adopted immediately. For these species, “Conservation action must be taken immediately to identify causes of decline and implement measures to halt and reverse the trend for these species,” the report adds. 319 species are classified under the ‘Moderate Conservation Concern’ category. “These species must be carefully monitored to rapidly detect and act upon signs of continuing decline,” highlights the report. On the other hand, 126 species, including the peafowl, house sparrow, Asian Koel, rose-ringed parakeet and the common tailorbird, are expected to increase in numbers, primarily due to their ability to survive in human habitats. Institutions engaged in the project The institutions that worked on the report are Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Wetlands International South Asia (WI-SA), Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and World Wide Fund for Nature India (WWF-India). Source: The Print

7. International protection for Great Indian Bustard, Bengal Florican and Asian Elephant Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Environment & Biodiversity India’s proposal to include Great Indian Bustard, Asian Elephant and Bengal Florican in Appendix I of UN Convention on migratory species was unanimously accepted today at the ongoing thirteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on MigratorySpecies (CMS) in Gandhinagar. Asian Elephant The Government of India has declared Indian elephant as National Heritage Animal. Indian elephant is also provided highest degree of legal protection by listing it in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.








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Placing Indian elephant in Schedule I of the CMS Convention, will fulfil natural urge of migration of Indian elephant across India’s borders and back safely and thereby promote conservation of this endangered species for our future generations. It will also help to reduce human elephant conflicts in many parts of its migratory routes. The challenges confronting Asian elephant conservation in most elephant Range States are habitat loss and fragmentation, human elephant conflict, and poaching and illegal trade of elephants. Great Indian Bustard The Great Indian Bustard, an iconic, critically endangered and conservation dependent species, exhibits transboundary movements, and its migration exposes it to threats such as hunting in boundary area of Pakistan-India and power-line collisions in India. Inclusion of the species in Appendix I of CMS will aide in transboundary conservation efforts facilitated by International conservation bodies and existing international laws and agreement. The Great Indian Bustard is a Critically Endangered species with a small population of about 100–150 individuals that is largely restricted to Thar desert in Rajasthan, India.The species has disappeared from 90% of this range; their population has reduced by 90% within 50 years (six generations); and their threats are expected to increase in future. Bengal Florican The Bengal Florican an iconic, critically endangered species of topmost conservation priority, exhibits transboundary movements, and its migration exposes it to threats such as land use changes, collision with power transmission line at boundary area of India-Nepal and probable power-line collisions. Inclusion of the species in Appendix I of CMS will aid in transboundary conservation efforts facilitated by International conservation bodies and existing international laws and agreement. Populations have declined as a result of habitat loss, hunting and the species no longer breeds outside Protected Areas in the Indian subcontinent, except in a few areas of Assam. The CMS Conference underway in Gujarat has kicked off the Super Year for Environment, which will include a UN Summit in September and culminate in the UN Biodiversity Conference at the end of 2020, when a new global biodiversity strategy for the next decade will be adopted - the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Source: PIB

8. How India proposals at UN event can help elephants, migratory birds Relevant for GS Prelims & mains Paper III; Environment








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On Thursday, a committee adopted India’s proposals for including three species — great Indian bustard, Asian elephant and Bengal florican — for additional protection under the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). This happened at the 13th Conference of the Parties to the CMS (CMS COP13), which is under way in Gandhinagar, with “Migratory species connect the planet and together we welcome them home” as its theme. What does the Convention seek to do? CMS is a treaty agreed by 129 countries plus the European Union, and functions under the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). It works for protection and conservation of species that migrate across frontiers and are facing threats of extinction or require urgent attention. CMS aims to bring together different countries that are part of range of a given species, and facilitate coherent conservation and protection regimes in a group of countries. The conference is being held in India for the first time. Delegates from at least 78 countries are attending. Why do migratory species need special attention for conservation? With a change in season, many mammals and birds move from one country to another in search of food and shelter, and for breeding. Asian elephants, also known as Indian elephants, migrate from India to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar etc. However, wildlife laws and protection regimes for these species can be different in each country, making them vulnerable to taking, hunting, poisoning etc. Many migratory species are threatened with extinction due to habitat degradation, barriers in their migration routes, and other pressures. Therefore, these species need special attention by all countries that are part of their range. What were India’s proposals that were accepted? India has proposed inclusion of the three species on Appendix-I of the Convention. Appendix-I lists species threatened with extinction, while Appendix-II lists those in need of global cooperation for favourable conservation status. If listed on Appendix-I, it would facilitate trans-boundary conservation efforts of these species. The proposals cleared the first hurdle when they were adopted unanimously by the conference’s committee of the whole. However, Pakistan, which is the other range country of the great Indian bustard, did not take part in the discussion on the proposals. The plenary of COP13 is expected to take a final call on the listing on Saturday. What are the grounds on which India has proposed the listing? Asian elephant: India said the Asian elephant, an endangered species, once used to range from west Asia to north of Yagtze river in China but currently, the range has shrunk to 13 Asian countries, and their population in India to 29,964 in 2017. India said elephants’ inclusion on Appendix-I would ensure better coordination among the range countries, facilitate migration, increase effective habitat area, and reduce killings.








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Great Indian bustard: Its range stretching across India and Pakistan, it is a critically endangered species with a population of just around 150 individuals and its present habitat having shrunk to 10% of its historical range. India said there is prima facie evidence that the birds fly across the India-Pakistan border and hence the need for bilateral cooperation for recovery of the species. Bengal florican: This too is a critically endangered species of bird that belongs to the bustard family. In its proposal, India said the present population of the South Asian subspecies has shrunk to around 1,000 individuals and its present habitat been restricted to the Terai and Dooars grassland regions of the Indo-Gangetic and Brahmaputra floodplains. How does listing on a CMS Appendix help a species? Listing generally leads to concerted actions in different national jurisdictions in which a specie ranges. Actions may include cooperation among range countries, harmonisation in policies etc through regional agreements. CMS has working groups specialising in various fauna families, and a Scientific Council that advises research-based solutions for conservation. Many countries started shifting towards renewable energy by building infrastructure like wind turbines, power transmission lines, solar parks; these pose risks to wildlife. CMS set up in 2014 an Energy Task Force; it advises contracting parties on how to keep their energy projects wildlife-friendly. Despite the listing and consequent efforts, 73% of 175 migratory species on Appendix-I and 48% of the 518 on Appendix-II have an overall decreasing population trend, CMS says. So, what are the changes for species in India’s proposals? If the plenary eventually adopts these proposals and the listing goes through, which is expected to happen, a formal regional cooperation among range countries would become possible. Once the listing is done, contracting parties within the range of a species are obliged to cooperate in trans-border conservation efforts. Bangladesh, for example, welcomed the proposals on the elephant and the florican, a bird that went extinct in that country in 1882. However, Pakistan did not express any views on the proposal on the great Indian bustard. Conservation efforts would also gain from the international expertise of the CMS family, and could increase pressure on Pakistan for preventing alleged hunting of the great Indian bustard. What else is on the agenda of the conference? Besides the three species, proposals have been moved for including seven others — jaguar, urial, little bustard, antipodean albatross, oceanic white-tip shark, smooth hammerhead shark and tope shark — for listing on CMS Appendices. COP13 also discussed marine noise pollution, plastic pollution, light pollution, insect decline etc.








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India has also invited the COP13 to adopt the ‘Gandhinagar Declaration’ urging the world community to strive for ensuring ecological connectivity, especially for sustainable management and conservation of migratory species. India has proposed that once adopted, CMS forward the Gandhinagar Declaration to the 15th meeting of UN Convention on Biological Diversity conference in China in October this year, for preparing post-2020 global biodiversity framework. Source: The Indian Express

Science and Technology 1. Why coronavirus could hit Indian pharma industry Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology Reasons for India’s vulnerability Now that a case of infection by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has been flagged in India, central and state governments will be expected to try to ensure that its response system is strong, quick, and proactive in order to prevent the infection from spreading any further. The density of population in India, low levels of public awareness, and vulnerabilities in the healthcare network present strong challenges to controlling outbreaks of communicable disease. Dependence on China India is vulnerable also because it is heavily dependent on China for components used to make products across industries, including essential medicines. Its imports from China rose to $76.38 billion in 2017-18 from $60.41 billion in 2014-15 before dropping to $70.32 billion in 2018-19, but there is still a large imbalance in trade between the two countries — India imports much more from China than it exports to it. Several products that India imports from other trading partners also have a heavy Chinese presence. For instance, a lot of the ASEAN region’s value chains are dependent on China. The lockdown in China to control the outbreak has the potential to disrupt global supply chains of various essential products and consumer goods. If the situation does not improve soon, several industries in India and, ultimately, its citizens, could be impacted. Pharma sector key According to government data, bulk drugs used to manufacture medicines were among the top 10 imports from China between 2015 and 2019. While an impact is expected across the board if the situation does not improve, experts feel pharmaceuticals may be among the sectors to be hit the hardest.








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China supplies nearly 70% of the total bulk drugs and intermediates (raw materials) imported to make medicines in India. Some 354 drugs and drug ingredients were imported from China in 2017.

Experts said that supplies of fermentation-based ingredients used to make most antibiotics and vitamins would be the most impacted in case a shutdown of operations in China continues, or if the infection spreads to major manufacturing hubs. Major hubs for bulk drug exports are located far from Wuhan, but some industry executives said they were “closely” monitoring the situation as their imports from these hubs too have been impacted due to the extension of the Lunar New Year holidays. Most companies have enough stocks of these materials to last for 1-3 months, but there are “limited” alternatives in other countries for these ingredients to make antibiotics and vitamins. However, India has enough capacity to manufacture the raw materials for most other medicines. Impact on patients Industry executives fear that if the situation does not improve soon, the cost of materials used to make medicines in India will rise regardless of therapeutic category. In the case of








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products that are under price control, the prices that customers pay should not be impacted. However, in the past, increasing prices of key therapeutic ingredients used to make drugs have led to shortages of the medicines in the country. On those earlier occasions, industry bodies had sought an increase in the maximum retail prices of these medicines, arguing that they were unable to recover the cost of manufacturing them. Source: The Indian Express

2. What we know of 2019 Novel coronavirus Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology A new viral disease that has infected nearly 10,000 people across the world has just been declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. This new strain of coronavirus, which has caused the infection, had by Friday claimed 213 lives in China, where it originated last month. In India, one person, who recently returned from China, has tested positive for the virus, and has been quarantined. What is a coronavirus? Coronaviruses are a class of viruses so named because their electron microscope image resembles the corona of the sun. Coronaviruses are usually found in animals, but sometimes get transmitted to human beings possibly through the food chain. This happened during the 2003 outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which too was caused by a coronavirus and originating in China, and which had claimed close to 800 lives. The coronavirus strain involved in the current strain too is getting transmitted to humans. The strain has tentatively been named 2019 ‘novel’ coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV. Since the outbreak was detected about a month ago, scientists have been able to piece together considerable amount of information about the origin, transmission and lethality of the 2019-nCoV, but several questions are still being investigated. What are coronavirus symptoms, and how dangerous is the infection? Like other coronaviruses, 2019-nCoV manifests itself initially in the form of mild fever and cough, and affects mainly the respiratory system in human beings. Not more than one-fifth of the infected people are likely to develop severe illnesses. Hong Kong-based Professor Malik Peiris, who had played an important role in identifying SARS in 2003, said the nCoV seemed to be more easily transmissible than SARS but was less dangerous. According to an information dashboard put up by Johns Hopkins University, last updated at 8 am India time on January 31, there were a total of 9,776 confirmed cases of nCoV, of








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which 213 had resulted in deaths, giving a mortality rate of just over 2%. The mortality of SARS was considerably higher, closer to 10%, at 774 deaths from 8,096 confirmed cases. “This means that in nCoV, individual risk of getting infected is reasonably high, but severe disease in infected people is not inevitable,” says Dr Gagandeep Kang, executive director of Faridabad-based Translational Health Science and Technology Institute. The Johns Hopkins dashboard also shows that a total of 187 infected people had already been declared fully recovered. Where did coronavirus originate? An analysis of 10 genome sequences of nCoV from nine patients in Wuhan, published in The Lancet, has revealed that the virus was closely related to two SARS-like coronaviruses usually found in bats. Another study in the Journal of Medical Virology suggests that nCoV could have jumped from bats to snakes before infecting human beings. The first patients in Wuhan were found to have visited a local wholesale seafood market, where live animals, including snakes, too are sold for meat. However, how and when the nCoV first entered the human body is still an open question for investigation. How does coronavirus transmit itself? Respiratory viruses, like those that cause colds, flu, and pneumonia, spread mainly through coughs, sneezes and direct contact with infected people. In most such cases, the transmission of the virus happens only after an infected person has developed the symptoms. This was true of SARS as well. The spread of such viruses is relatively easier to contain, because people with symptoms can be quarantined. Initially, nCoV too was believed to have a similar trait. But a new study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday, has documented the first case in which the virus was transmitted from one person to the other, even before the symptoms had become evident in the first person. Such transmissions are called asymptomatic. A Chinese woman, who had travelled to Munich, passed on the virus to her German business partner a couple of days before she herself showed any symptoms. In another study in the same journal, this one published on Wednesday, researchers analysed data on the first 425 confirmed cases and found that each one of them had spread the infection to an average of 2.2 people. In general, any epidemic would continue to spread as long as this number, called reproductive number and referred to as R-naught, is greater than one. In the case of SARS, it was 3.12, but there was no asymptomatic transmission happening, and patients could be isolated. Now, asymptomatic transmission can complicate the efforts to contain the spread of the virus. WHO says coronavirus a global health emergency. What does this mean? The declaration of the nCoV outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by the WHO is aimed at halting the further spread of the epidemic. The








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WHO has asked all countries to be prepared for containment, active surveillance, early detection, isolation, and tracing of contacts of infected people. Countries would now have to mandatorily share all such data with the WHO. The declaration of PHEIC shows that WHO considers nCoV a significant public health threat outside China as well, requiring a coordinated global response. WHO, however, has not recommended any travel or trade restrictions on China, though several countries have put out their own travel advisories. A few countries have even closed their borders with China, while some airlines have stopped flights to Chinese cities. A global health emergency was first declared in 2009 during the time of H1N1 flue pandemic. Other instances of PHEIC being declared happened in 2014 for the Ebola virus spread, and in 2016 for the Zika virus outbreak. What precautions should one take to prevent coronavirus infection? The most effective way of prevention is avoidance of contact with an infected person. Making sure that infected people use cough hygiene — covering nose and mouse while they cough and sneeze, disposal of tissues or handkerchief carefully – and wash and rinse their hands properly is thus very important. There is no approved vaccine for the disease, neither is any antiviral treatment available as of now. But diagnostic tests have been quickly developed. “Because of the early sharing of gene sequence data by Chinese authorities, it was possible to develop diagnostics as well as identify vaccine targets. WHO is coordinating research and development efforts for nCoV diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. A global partners meeting will be held for this purpose in mid February,” said Dr Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at WHO. Source: The Indian Express

3. Draft notification on RO systems Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology Draft notification after NGT order The Environment Ministry’s draft notification to regulate the use of membrane-based water purification systems primarily concerns the manufacturers of reverse osmosis (RO) water filters but effectively bars domestic users from installing RO systems. The notification is the culmination of a legal dispute before the National Green Tribunal, which had banned RO water filter use in Delhi as the purification process wastes water. The association of water filter manufacturers challenged this order and the litigation led to this pan-India notification, where the intent is to conserve water and cut waste.








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Flaws in working of RO In RO, the total dissolved solids (TDS) in water — which covers trace chemicals, certain viruses, bacteria and salts — can be reduced, to meet potable water standards. Home filters waste nearly 80% of the water during treatment. Second, some research has shown that the process can cut the levels of calcium and magnesium, which are vital nutrients. Implication of notification The resort to prohibition (to restrict home filters) may cause consumer apprehension but it is unlikely that they will be taken to task for using such water filters. For one, the notification implies, these filters are only prohibited if the home gets water supply that conforms to Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for Drinking Water. Although several State and city water boards claim BIS standards, the water at homes falls short of the test parameters. BIS Standards The BIS, last year, ranked several cities on official water supply quality. Delhi was last and only Mumbai met all the standards. In the 28 test parameters, Delhi failed 19, Chennai 9, and Kolkata 10. The BIS norms are voluntary for public agencies which supply piped water but are mandatory for bottled water producers. Moreover, most of the country does not have the luxury of piped water. The Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) of NITI Aayog says that 70% of water supply is contaminated. India is ranked 120th among 122 countries in an NGO, WaterAid’s quality index. The case for restricting people’s choices on the means they employ to ensure potable water is thus weak. The notification mainly deals with rules for commercial suppliers and for integration of systems that inform consumers about TDS levels — a major determinant of water quality. This is envisaged both before water enters filtration systems and after it has been filtered. The aim is also to ensure that after 2022, no more than 25% of water being treated is wasted, and for residential complexes to reuse the residual waste water for other activities, including gardening. When implemented, the notification’s primary aim should be to persuade authorities to upgrade and supply BIS-standard water at the consumer’s end. This should be done without additional costs, particularly on millions who now lack access to protected supply. Source: The Hindu

4. Why 98.6°F is no longer ‘normal’ for the body Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology The thermometer reading of 98.6°F has been a gold standard for a century and a half, ever since a German doctor laid it down as the “normal” human body temperature. If you








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suspect you have a fever, a reading of 98.6 tells you that you are not. Over the last few decades, the benchmark has often been questioned. Different studies have found the human body temperature averaging out differently, including at 97.7°, 97.9° and 98.2°F. Now, new research has found that body temperatures have, in fact, been declining over the last two centuries. This was determined from an analysis of records of Americans dating between the 19th century and 2017. Why we follow 98.6°F In 1851, Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich pioneered the use of the clinical thermometer. It was a rod a foot long, which he would stick under the armpits of patients at the hospital attached with Leipzig University, and then wait for 15 minutes (some accounts say 20 minutes) for the temperature to register. He took over a million measurements of 25,000 patients, and published his findings in a book in 1868, in which he concluded that the average human body temperature is 98.6°F. Most modern scientists feel Wunderlich’s experiments were flawed, and his equipment inaccurate. In 1992, a study by the University of Maryland made 700 temperature measurements of 148 individuals over various times of the day, concluded that the average human body temperature is closer to 98.2°F, and suggested that the 98.6°F benchmark be discarded. In 2017, a study on 35,000 British individuals published in The BMJ found their average body temperature to be 97.9°F. And in 2018, Boston rheumatologist Jonathan Hausmann used an iPhone app, Feverprints, to collect 11,458 temperatures crowd-sourced from 329 healthy adults, and published findings that put the average normal temperature in adults at 97.7°F, measured orally. Last month came the new study, published in the journal eLife, that concluded the average human body temperature has never been constant in the first place. The body is cooler Stanford University researchers recorded temperatures from three datasets covering distinct historical periods. One set was from 1862-1930, with records of Union Army veterans of the Civil War and including people born in the early 1800s. Another set was from 1971-75, from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The newest set was from adult patients who visited Stanford Health Care between 2007 and 2017. From 6.77 lakh measurements and statistical modelling, the researchers reconfirmed some known trends — body temperature is higher in younger people, in women, in larger bodies and at later times of the day. Additionally, they found that the bodies of men born in the early to mid-1990s is on average 1.06°F cooler than those of men born in the early 1800s.








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And the body temperature of women born in the early to mid-1990s is on average 0.58°F lower than that of women born in the 1890s. The calculations from the research correspond to a decrease in body temperature of 0.05°F every decade, Stanford University said in a statement. Explaining the trend The researchers have proposed that the decrease in body temperature is the result of changes in the environment over the past 200 years, which have in turn driven physiological changes. The decrease in average body temperature in the US, they said, could be explained by a reduction in metabolic rate, or the amount of energy being used. This reduction, in turn, may be due to a nationwide decline in inflammation as a result of better healthcare in the US. Inflammation would have revved up metabolism and raised body temperature. “The environment that we’re living in has changed, including the temperature in our homes, our contact with microorganisms and the food that we have access to. All these things mean that although we think of human beings as if we’re monomorphic and have been the same for all of human evolution, we’re not the same. We’re actually changing physiologically,” senior author Julie Parsonnet said in the university statement. So, what is normal? While the authors are confident of a cooling trend, they do not offer an updated definition of “average body temperature” to cover all Americans today. The strong influences of age, time of day, and genders on body temperature preclude such a definition, they said. Source: The Indian Express

5. When can people transmit the novel coronavirus? Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology The spread of the novel coronavirus in mainland China continues unabated. On February 5, mainland China recorded 3,694 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) and 73 deaths, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 28,018 and deaths to 563. This is the second consecutive day when the number of daily new cases rose sharply. On February 4, mainland China recorded 3,887 new confirmed cases and 65 deaths. Which countries/regions outside mainland China have reported nCoV cases? As on February 5, 28 countries/regions have reported 243 cases of the virus. With 35 cases, Japan has reported the most number of cases. It is closely followed by Singapore with 28; Thailand 25; Hong Kong 21 cases including one death; South Korea 19;








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Australia 14; Germany and Malaysia 12 each; Taiwan, and the U.S. 11 each; Macau and Vietnam 10 each; France 6; U.A.E. 5; Canada 4; India 3; Philippines 3 cases including one death, Italy, U.K., and Russia 2 cases each; Nepal, Cambodia, Finland, Sri Lanka, Belgium, Spain, Sweden and Cambodia 1 case each. How many human-to-human transmissions have been seen outside mainland China so far? As on February 4, the World Health Organization said 27 cases of human-to-human transmission of the virus had been reported from nine countries outside of China. The first case of human-to-human transmission outside China was reported from Vietnam. It was followed by Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Germany, Singapore and the U.S. So far, 15 healthcare workers in mainland China have been infected through such transmission. The main route of transmission currently in China is believed to be through human-to-human transmission as the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan city, which is considered as the source of the virus, was shut down on January 1. Can the virus be transmitted during the incubation period? China’s National Health Commission Minister had first warned that the virus might be spreading even during the incubation period when symptoms do not show up in a person infected with it. Then on January 30, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published a Correspondence that reported a Chinese woman who had purportedly not shown any signs or symptoms of infection having transmitted the virus to a German during the incubation period. What is WHO’s position on virus transmission during the incubation period? WHO’s Situation Report posted on February 1 said: “WHO is aware of possible transmission of the novel coronavirus from infected people before they developed symptoms. Detailed exposure histories are being taken to better understand the pre-clinical phase of infection and how transmission may have occurred in these few instances.” It then stresses that “asymptomatic infection may be rare, and transmission from an asymptomatic person is very rare with other coronaviruses, as we have seen with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus. Thus, transmission from asymptomatic cases is likely not a major driver of transmission.” The main driver of nCoV transmission is people who exhibit overt symptoms. Such people will spread the virus more readily through coughing and sneezing, WHO says. The Public Health Agency of Sweden says on its website that scientific evidence on the coronavirus causing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) shows that it “does not








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infect at all during the incubation period. There is therefore much to suggest that similar would also apply to the new coronavirus”. Can people exhibiting mild symptoms transmit the virus? Two laboratories have been independently monitoring virus shedding by patients exhibiting few or minor symptoms and being treated in Munich. These patients have “symptoms of common cold rather than viral pneumonia”, according to a press release. The doctors at the two laboratories could isolate the infectious virus from the pharynx (part of the throat). Both laboratories “found signs of viral replication in the pharynx” besides the lungs.








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Based on these observations they say that persons who have “mild or early symptoms of common cold (sore throat, signs of sinusitis, feeling unwell without fever) may be able to transmit the novel coronavirus to other persons”. “Because of the immediate relevance for infection control, the participating institutions have decided to release this information prior to completion of studies and formal scientific publication,” the researchers said. The observations have not been published in any journal post peer-reviewing. The findings have not been independently verified by other labs, either. What do people with mild symptoms spreading the virus mean for infection control?








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The Chinese woman who infected the German colleague is an example of a person exhibiting mild, non-specific symptoms spreading the virus to others. If further studies find that some people infected with the virus have only mild symptoms, it would mean that many people might have gone or will go undetected. So the actual number of cases might be higher. More studies are needed to confirm if people with mild, non-specific symptoms might be spreading the virus and infecting others. Like in the case of the Zika virus, can the nCoV be transmitted from a mother to the child (vertical transmission)? In China, a baby born to a mother who tested positive of the virus was found to have been infected 30 hours after birth. But it is also possible that the baby was infected after birth probably due to close contact with the mother. No details are yet available to confirm or refute the claim by the Chinese doctor. Vertical transmission (mother-to-child) is confirmed if the virus is transmitted from the mother to the foetus, during delivery or from breastfeeding. According to WHO, there have been no reported cases of vertical transmission in the case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). According to the New York Times, the hospital disclosed details of a second case involving an infant who was born healthy but got infected 16 days later. The mother and the baby’s nanny were diagnosed with the virus after the baby was born. Though the median age of patients is between 49 and 56 years, these two cases suggest that even infants can get infected with the novel virus. Does a negative result mean the person is not infected with the novel coronavirus? Not always. There have been at least a few instances when people have initially tested negative for the novel coronavirus before being testing positive. It is not clear at what stage of infection the initial tests and final tests were done. Of the 1,155 people tested, as on February 6, in India for the virus, only three have been found positive. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a press release on February 6 that all 645 evacuees from Wuhan had tested negative. In addition, 510 samples had been tested by ICMR network laboratories and only three had turned out as positive. All the three people who tested positive are being kept in isolation wards in Kerala. Source: The Hindu








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6. Why does the Environment Ministry want to regulate RO-based water filtration systems? Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology

What is the problem with reverse osmosis? The Union Environment Ministry has issued a draft notification that seeks to regulate membrane-based water filtration systems in areas where the source of water meets drinking water norms of the Bureau of Indian Standards. This primarily affects reverse osmosis (RO)-based water filtration systems and the rules, at least in letter, effectively prohibit homes from installing domestic RO systems. What are reverse osmosis (RO) systems? RO was originally a technology devised to desalinate sea water. The idea exploits the principle of osmosis. Take a tube, twist it into a ‘U’-shape and insert a semi-permeable membrane (a material with very small holes that will allow only certain molecules to filter through) at the point where the tube curves. Fill half the tube with salt water and the other with freshwater. Over time, fresh water will cross over into the salty arm until the








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proportion of salt and water in both arms is the same. This is due to osmotic pressure which dilutes a region with a higher concentration of solute (in this case, the salt). Say you wanted to readjust this tube and have all the salt in one arm and pure water in the other. You would need to create some external pressure that will counter the osmotic pressure and suck all the water from the salty arm into the freshwater arm while leaving the salt behind. This is the essential principle of an RO system. RO desalination came about in the late 1950s and primarily in large industrial settings to convert brackish sea water into potable drinking water. However, it is possible to deploy a wide array of membranes and multiple stages of filters to filter a wide variety of solutes — arsenic, fluoride, hexavalent chromium, nitrates, bacteria — that come mixed in water. This has led to an industry of home-RO systems that are installed in a multiplicity of ways to provide potable water. To create external pressure, RO relies on a pump and electric motors. It uses “activated carbon” components, such as charcoal and carbon black that can filter out contaminants as well as organic substances such as bacteria. It all depends on the filtering material and the number of filters that incoming tap water must pass through. What is the problem with RO? In making tap water pass through multiple stages of cleaning, RO systems end up wasting a lot of water. Anywhere between three-five times more water is wasted by them than they produce and given the challenges that cities and government face in providing potable water, environmentalist groups have convinced the National Green Tribunal to ban the use of RO systems in Delhi. It is as part of this legal dispute, which began in March 2019 that led the Environment Ministry to move to regulate RO systems. Another concern with RO is that it filters out calcium, zinc, magnesium, which are essential salts needed by the body; drinking such water over time could be harmful. However, many manufacturers claim to overcome this challenge by “post-treatment”. The average RO system only aims to reduce Total Dissolved Solids, ensure water is odourless and has a pH from 6.5-8.5. The National Institute of Virology (NIV) claimed that most filtration methods did not eliminate Hepatitis E virus. A combination of filtration systems can eliminate most contaminants. But opponents of RO systems say this increases costs and reduces the incentive for public-funded water distribution systems to supply clean water to the vast majority of the country who can ill-afford such systems. How is the quality of piped water in the country? Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Prime Minister has committed to provide tap water to the entire country by 2024. However, studies show that the existing quality of piped water is








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deficient in much of India. Last year, the Department of Consumer Affairs undertook a study through the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on the quality of piped drinking water being supplied in the country. In Delhi, all samples drawn from various places did not comply with the BIS’s requirements. Most from Mumbai were found to comply, the report claimed. In Hyderabad (Telangana), Bhubaneswar (Odisha), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Amravati (Maharashtra) and Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), one or more samples did not comply and none of the samples drawn from 13 State or Union Territory capitals, Chandigarh, Thiruvananthapuram, Patna, Bhopal, Guwahati, Bengaluru, Gandhinagar, Lucknow, Jammu, Jaipur, Dehradun, Chennai, Kolkata, complied with the requirements. What is the quality of water globally? Countries with a high development index tend to have good quality tap water. Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, United Kingdom have access to freshwater lakes or glacier melt — extremely clean and mineral rich. This water is further filtered. Singapore and Israel rely on extensive recycling and even making sewage water fit for drinking. The limited population pressure, compared to India, as well as public resources allow these countries to ensure clean drinking water. But for much of the world, access to clean piped water from the public supply remains a challenge. Source: The Hindu

7. Why cancer gene map matters Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology A series of new papers in the journal Nature has revealed the most comprehensive gene map ever of the genes whose departures from normal behaviour — mutations — trigger a cascade of genetic misbehaviours that eventually lead to cancer. Just a handful of “driver” mutations could explain the occurrence of a large number of cancers, the researchers said, raising hopes of a cancer cure being nearer than ever. What is the new study that has oncologists around the world excited? It is a major international collaboration called the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG), in which researchers has published a series of papers after analysing 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types. They have come to the conclusion that “On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete.” This is the largest genome study ever of primary cancer. Various kinds of cancers required to be studied separately because cancers of different parts of the body often behave very








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differently from one another; so much so that it is often said that cancer is not one disease but many. What is the breakthrough have the studies achieved? Previous studies had focused on the 1 per cent of the genome that codes for proteins. The Pan-Cancer Project explored, in considerably greater detail, the remaining 99 per cent of the genome, including key regions that control switching genes on and off. This switching on and off of genes is the most important regulatory mechanism in the body so that it functions normally and diseases are kept at bay. The researchers identified 16 types of structural variation signatures in the genes ultimately leading to cancer. In one paper of the series, the researchers analysed 288,457 somatic structural variations in the genes to understand the distributions and effects. Structural variations mean deletion, amplification or reorganisation of genomic segments that range in size from just a few bases to whole chromosomes. Bases are the structural units of genes. In another paper, the researchers reconstructed the “life history and evolution of mutational processes and driver mutation sequences of 38 types of cancer”. On the need to do this, Nature says: “Cancers cells are subject to selective forces shaped by mutation rates and the microenvironment, among other factors. PCAWG researchers use the information obtained from whole-genome sequencing to delineate more precisely the parameters that influence tumour evolution, and how it shapes the cancer genome. Looking at cancer through an evolutionary lens can give clues into metastasis and therapy response and resistance.” What does this study mean for cancer treatment around the world? The mutations identified by the team have been catalogued. The catalogue, which is already available online, allows doctors and researchers from all over the world to look things up, consult and find information about the cancer of a given patient. The PCAWG has discovered causes of previously unexplained cancers, pinpointed cancer-causing events and zeroed in on mechanisms of development, opening new vistas of personalised cancer treatment to strike at the root of the problem. Cancer is known to be a disease of uncontrolled growth. The growth process, like all other physiological processes, has genetic controls so that the growth is self-limiting. When one or more genes malfunction, the growth process can go out of hand. Not just cancer, there are many other diseases with a genetic link in varying degrees. Identification and cataloguing of the genes is a very crucial step and has taken science’s understanding of cancer and its genesis ahead by several leaps. When it comes to drug development, however, the gene mapping is but a first step. The process of drug development will have to now kick in with pharmaceutical companies first identifying the compound(s) that target these gene mutations and then it being subjected to the rigours of








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clinical trials to prove its safety and efficacy. That could take anything from a few decades to a few years to cover all the mutations identified. Is the genetic link to cancer well established? Yes, it is. One such association, for example, is of breast cancer with the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes; the actress Angelina Jolie, who discovered that she carried the former gene, chose to undergo a preventive double mastectomy. This is personalised therapeutics where, instead of traditional toxic medications like chemotherapy, drugs that specifically target the delinquent genetic mutation are already being used. Such therapy, however, remains very expensive. In fact, the genetic analysis of tumours is an already practised protocol of cancer therapy. A good laboratory can analyse about 1,000 genes, of which less than 200 are implicated in various kinds of cancer. But the time taken for developing a drug from identifying a genetic mutation causing cancer varies. In case of ALK-1, which was identified as the driver gene for 5-7 per cent of lung cancers in 2006-07, it was exceptionally short. By 2011, doctors had the drug in their hands. However, of the 200 cancer-causing mutations known so far, less than 40 actually have a targeted drug. How big is the cancer burden? Cancer is the second most-frequent cause of death worldwide, killing more than 8 million people every year; incidence of cancer is expected to increase by more than 50% over the coming decades. One in 10 Indians will develop cancer during their lifetime, and one in 15 Indians will die of cancer, according to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report. The Northeastern states, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh account for 44% of the cancer burden in India, says a recent analysis, published in The Lancet Global Health, that looked about 9.7 million deaths that happened in India in 2017 and also investigated the reasons for the 486 million DALYs (disability adjusted life years) in India. DALYs are an international unit of death and disability in terms of the number of life years lost of an average person to death and disability. Source: The Indian Express

8. Mapping the ‘Indian’ genome Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology Recently, the government has cleared an ambitious gene-mapping project that is being described by those involved as the “first scratching of the surface of the vast genetic diversity of India”. What is a genome?








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Every organism’s genetic code is contained in its Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid (DNA), the building blocks of life. The discovery that DNA is structured as a “double helix” by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, for which they won a Nobel Prize in 1962, was the spark in the long, continuing quest for understanding how genes dictate life, its traits, and what causes diseases.

A genome, simply put, is all the genetic matter in an organism. It is defined as “an organism’s complete set of DNA, including all of its genes. Each genome contains all of the information needed to build and maintain that organism. In humans, a copy of the entire genome — more than 3 billion DNA base pairs — is contained in all cells that have a nucleus”. Hasn’t the human genome been mapped before? The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international programme that led to the decoding of the entire human genome. It has been described as “one of the great feats of exploration in history. Rather than an outward exploration of the planet or the cosmos, the HGP was an inward voyage of discovery led by an international team of researchers looking to sequence and map all of the genes — together known as the genome — of members of our species”.








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Beginning on October 1, 1990 and completed in April 2003, the HGP gave us the ability, for the first time, to read nature’s complete genetic blueprint for building a human being. What then is the ‘Genome India’ Project? This is being spearheaded by the Centre for Brain Research at Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science as the nodal point of about 20 institutions, each doing its bit in collecting samples, doing the computations, and then the research. Its aim is to ultimately build a grid of the Indian “reference genome”, to understand fully the type and nature of diseases and traits that comprise the diverse Indian population. For example, if the Northeast sees a tendency towards a specific disease, interventions can be made in the region, assisting public health, which make it easier to battle the illness. The other institutes involved are: AIIMS Jodhpur; Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad; Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics; Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology; Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre; IIIT Allahabad; IISER (Pune); IIT Madras; IIT Delhi; IIT Jodhpur; Institute of Bioresources And Sustainable Development; Institute of Life Sciences; Mizoram University; National Centre for Biological Sciences; National Institute of Biomedical Genomics; National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences; Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology; and Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences. So, what will the project broadly do? The mega project hopes to form a grid after collecting 10,000 samples in the first phase from across India, to arrive at a representative Indian genome. This has been found necessary as over 95% of the genome samples available, which are the basis of new, cutting-edge research in medicine and pharmacology, use the white, Caucasian genome as the base. Most genomes have been sourced from urban middle-class persons and are not really seen as representative. The Indian project will aim to vastly add to the available information on the human species and advance the cause, both because of the scale of the Indian population and the diversity here. Who is an Indian? The Indian subcontinent has been the site of huge migrations. Scientists associated with the project recognise that while the first migrations were from Africa, later too there were periodic migrations by various populations, making this a very special case of almost all races and types intermingling genetically. This can be seen as “horizontal diversity”. Moreover, later, there has been endogamy or inter-marriage practised among distinct groups, resulting in some diseases passed on strictly within some groups and some other traits inherited by just some groups. This is what scientists term “vertical diversity”. Studying and understanding both diversities would provide the bedrock of personalised healthcare for a very large group of persons on the planet. What are the challenges involved?








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MEDICAL ETHICS: In a project that aims only to create a database of genetic information, gene modification is not among the stated objectives. It is important to note, however, that this has been a very fraught subject globally. The lure to “intervene” may be much more if this kind of knowledge is available, without one being fully aware of the attendant risks. The risk of doctors privately running away with the idea of fixing genetic issues came to light most recently after a Shenzen-based scientist, who helped create the world’s first gene-edited babies, was sentenced to three years in prison. He Jiankui stunned the world when he announced in 2018 that twin girls had been born with modified DNA to make them HIV-resistant. He claimed he had managed that using the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 before their birth. DATA & STORAGE: After collection of the sample, anonymity of the data and questions of its possible use and misuse would need to be addressed. Keeping the data on a cloud is fraught with problems and would raise questions of ownership of the data. India is yet to pass a Data Privacy Bill with adequate safeguards. Launching a Genome India Project before the privacy question is settled could give rise to another set of problems. SOCIAL ISSUES: The question of heredity and racial purity has obsessed civilisations, and more scientific studies of genes and classifying them could reinforce stereotypes and allow for politics and history to acquire a racial twist. In India a lot of politics is now on the lines of who are “indigenous” people and who are not. A Genome India Project could add a genetic dimension to the cauldron. “Selective breeding” has been controversial since time immemorial, and well before the DNA was discovered. But eugenics acquired a dangerous context with the Nazis deliberating on the theme at length and its mention came up in the Nuremberg trials. Post World War-2, it has been a very touchy issue. Source: The Indian Express

9. Select Committee of Parliament recommendations on Surrogacy Bill Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology In a recent report, a Select Committee of Parliament has recommended that the contentious clause limiting surrogacy only to “close relatives” be removed from the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019, to make the benefits of modern technology more easily available to infertile couples. A look at the genesis of the Bill, its provisions and why the current report could signal some progressive amendments in the Bill: What are the provisions of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill? The Surrogacy Bill proposes to allow altruistic ethical surrogacy to intending infertile Indian married couples in the age groups 23-50 years (women) and 26-55 years (men).








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The couple should have been legally married for at least five years and should be Indian citizens. They cannot have a surviving child, either biological or adopted, except when they have a child who is mentally or physically challenged or suffers from a life-threatening disorder with no permanent cure. Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare recommendations The Bill has already been scrutinised once earlier by the Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare. It requires surrogacy clinics to be registered, and national and state surrogacy boards to be formed, and makes commercial surrogacy, and abandoning or disowning a surrogate child punishable by imprisonment up to 10 years and a fine up to Rs 10 lakh. Need for the bill It was first mooted in 2016 in the wake of repeated reports of exploitation of women who were confined to hostels, not provided adequate post-pregnancy medical care and paid a pittance for repeatedly becoming surrogate mothers to supplement family income. Select Committee recommendations The Select Committee chaired by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Bhupender Yadav recommended that the “close relatives” clause should be removed, and any “willing” woman should be allowed to become a surrogate mother provided all other requirements are met and the appropriate authority has cleared the surrogacy. It has strongly backed the ban on commercial surrogacy. It has also recommended that divorced and widowed women aged between 35 and 45 years should be able to be a single commissioning parent, and the need for a five-year waiting period for childless married couples could be waived if there is a medical certificate that shows that they cannot possibly conceive. It has recommended that persons of Indian origin should be allowed to avail surrogacy services. The committee has not, however, recommended expanding the definition of commissioning parent to include singles, either men or women. This means people like Tusshar Kapoor, Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor, all from the entertainment industry, would still not qualify for using the surrogacy route for children. All of them have already used that route. The Select Committee also recommended that the ART Bill (which deals with assisted reproductive technologies) should be brought before the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019, so that all the highly technical and medical aspects could be properly addressed in the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019. Source: The Indian Express

10. What is Yaravirus?








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Relevant for GS Prelims; Science & Technology In a lake in Brazil, researchers have discovered a virus that they find unusual and intriguing. Called Yaravirus. The Yaravirus infects amoeba and has genes that have not been described before, something that could challenge how DNA viruses are classified. The researchers found the Yaravirus while looking in the lake for giant viruses that infect amoeba. Because of the Yaravirus’s small size, it was unlike other viruses that infect amoeba and they named it as a tribute to Yara, the “mother of waters” in the mythological stories of the Tupi-Guarani indigenous tribes. Over 90% of the Yaravirus’s genome has not been observed before, the researchers have reported, after using standard protocols for genetic analysis and being unable to find any “classical viral genes”. In other viruses that affect amoeba, the researchers say that there are some similarities in their characteristics that are missing in the Yaravirus. “The amount of unknown proteins composing the Yaravirus particles reflects the variability existing in the viral world and how much potential of new viral genomes are still to be discovered,” they have written. The virus does not infect human cells, according to the researchers. Source: The Hindu

11. COVID-19— How WHO names a new disease Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology On Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) gave an official name to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The disease will be called “COVID-19”; the “CO” stands for coronavirus, “VI” for virus and “D” for disease. The coronavirus itself is called “nCoV-2019”. The death toll from the virus has now crossed 1,000 and the disease has infected tens of thousands of people, the majority of them in China. WHO names what The WHO, in consultation with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has identified best practices for naming new human diseases. These best practices apply to a new disease: • That is an infection, syndrome, or disease of humans; • That has never been recognised before in humans; • That has potential public health impact; and • Where no disease name is yet established in common usage








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Names that are assigned by the WHO may or may not be approved by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) at a later stage. The ICD, which is also managed by the WHO, provides a final standard name for each human disease according to standard guidelines that are aimed at reducing the negative impact from names while balancing science, communication and policy. Terms to avoid In a statement on Tuesday, the WHO Director-General said: “Under agreed guidelines… we had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people, and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease. Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing.” The agreed best practices include advice on what the disease names should not include, such as geographic location (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Spanish Flu, Japanese encephalitis). Disease names should not include people’s names (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Chagas disease), the species or class of animal or food (swine flu, monkeypox etc.), cultural or occupational references (miners, butchers, cooks, nurses etc.) and terms that incite “undue fear” such as death, fatal and epidemic. In a media note issued in May 2015, WHO had said that the use of names such as “swine flu” and “Middle East Respiratory Syndrome” has had “unintended negative impacts” by stigmatising certain communities and economic sectors. Terms to include The best practices include using generic descriptive terms such as respiratory diseases, hepatitis, neurologic syndrome, watery diarrhoea. They include using specific descriptive terms that may indicate the age group of the patients and the time course of the disease, such as progressive, juvenile or severe. If the causative pathogen is known, it should be used as part of the disease name with additional descriptors such as the year when the disease was first reported or detected. For example, novel coronavirus respiratory syndrome. The names should also be short (rabies, malaria, polio) and should be consistent with the guidelines under the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) Content Model Reference Guide. As per the WHO, “severe” should be used only for those diseases that have a very high initial case fatality rate. “Novel” can be used to indicate a new pathogen of a previously known type. In the case of the novel coronavirus, “recognizing that this term will become obsolete if other new pathogens of that type are identified”, the WHO has now changed its name. Source: The Indian Express

12. Medical device new rules








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Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology Recently, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday notified changes in the Medical Devices Rules, 2017 to regulate medical devices on the same lines as drugs under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. A look at what the changes are, what necessitated them and how they will affect the quality of medical devices in the country. What are the changes in the rules that were notified? Called the Medical Devices (Amendment) Rules, 2020, these are applicable to devices “intended for internal or external use in the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of disease or disorder in human beings or animals” (as notified by the ministry) and require online registration of these devices “with the Central Licensing Authority through an identified online portal established by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation for this purpose”. Among the information that the manufacturer has to upload are “name & address of the company or firm or any other entity manufacturing the medical device along with name and address of manufacturing site of medical device (and) certificate of compliance with respect to ISO 13485 standard accredited by National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies or International Accreditation Forum in respect of such medical device”. This would mean that every medical device, either manufactured in India or imported, will have to have quality assurance before they can be sold anywhere in the country. “After furnishing of the above information on the ‘Online System for Medical Devices’ established by Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation for this purpose by the applicant’s, registration number will be generated. Manufacturer shall mention the registration number on the label of the medical device,” reads the gazette notification. The notification calls for a voluntary registration within a period of 18 months from April 2020 and obtaining manufacturing/import licence under the Medical Device Rules within 36 months for some devices and 42 months for others. What are the items covered under the Medical Device Rules? A large number of commonly used items including hypodermic syringes and needles, cardiac stents, perfusion sets, catheters, orthopaedic implants, bone cements, lenses, sutures, internal prosthetic replacements etc are covered under the new rules and will have to comply starting April. For some items such as sphygmomanometers (used to monitor blood pressure), glucometers (to check blood sugar), thermometers, CT scan and MRI equipment, dialysis and X-ray machines, implants etc, different deadlines for compliance have been set. For








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example for the first three, it is January 2021, for the others it is April next year. For ultrasound equipment, it is November 2020. Is this a sudden move? No. This has been in the offing for some time now. In October last year, the ministry had circulated copies of the then proposed notification for public comments following recommendations of the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), which is the highest technical body for these decisions and has experts among its members. In April last year, the DTAB had recommended that all medical devices should be notified as “drugs” under the drug regulation law to ensure they maintain safety and quality standards. The notification makes it clear that the government has issued it in consultation with the DTAB. Why was the move required? For much of the last one year, the health sector has been at the centre of attention following revelations about faulty hip implants marketed by pharma major Johnson & Johnson. This has caused major embarrassment to the government, too, as it exposed the lack of regulatory teeth when it came to medical devices. The matter dragged on, exposing the regulatory loopholes until finally the company agreed in court to pay Rs 25 lakh each to the 67 people who had had to undergo revision surgeries because the implants were defective. In fact, even after Johnson & Johnson agreed in a Texas court to shell out $1 billion to settle about 6,000 lawsuits filed by patients in the US who used its “defective” pinnacle hip implants for 10 years from 2003 to 2013 before the product was withdrawn, in India it had for a very long time maintained that it had not received any adverse events report in the product. That is really where the discussion started about regulation of medical devices. The Indian Express published the ‘Implant Files’, a series of investigative reports highlighting lapses in regulation in India’s medical devices industry and the impact it had on patients. This included Johnson & Johnson’s use of loopholes in United States laws to obtain approval for and marketing hip implants in India, that had to be globally recalled in 2010. What are the penal provisions under Indian law? There are various penal provisions under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 for various kinds of offences. Manufacture or sale of substandard items is punishable with imprisonment of at least 10 years, which may extend to imprisonment for life. There is also a provision for fine that will “not be less than Rs 10 lakh rupees or three times value of the confiscated items”. How has the industry reacted to the government move? The industry has so far reacted positively, though doubts remain about the ability of the Central Drugs and Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) to effectively regulate both drugs and medical devices.








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13. Why do activists fear that Facebook’s encryption plans will reduce child safety online? Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology After Facebook announced end-to-end encryption for Facebook Messenger and Instagram, a coalition of child protection organisations and experts from all over the world, anchored by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, U.K., sent an open letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, expressing “significant concerns” about the company’s proposals. They were worried that this decision would reduce child safety online, because such a move will not allow the due process of monitoring for content that is not safe for children, including online grooming or uploading of child pornographic content. The petition said: “We urge you to recognise and accept that an increased risk of child abuse being facilitated on or by Facebook is not a reasonable trade-off to make.” What is end-to-end encryption? Why is there opposition to it? It is a system of locking messages wherein only those who are communicating can view them. Encryption kicks in the minute the message is sent, and only unravels for the intended recipient. No third party can decrypt the message, including platform administrators and law enforcement agencies. It can only be shared through screenshots. The advantage with this kind of encryption is that it ensures online privacy. Last year, Mr. Zuckerberg revealed his intention to rejig the architecture to integrate three platforms: WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram. He also announced his intention to write in default end-to-end encryption. Child safety activists are aghast as they believe that as far as child safety goes, this could well be a misstep. What are the key demands? The signatories, including three Indian organisations (Tulir, Arpan and Equations), have urged that Facebook put the brakes on end-to-end encryption until it is able to satisfactorily demonstrate that there will be no reduction in children’s safety. What’s the future? The process of securing end-to-end encryption is not easy. Meanwhile, the coalition has also pledged its support to work with Facebook to embed safety mechanisms. Ultimately, the true test will be to pick that mode of encryption that will ensure privacy but address concerns of online safety too. Source: The Hindu

14. Eyes on the Sun, how ISRO is preparing for its next giant leap in space








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Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology Earlier this month, 47 new papers were published in a special supplement of The Astrophysical Journal, analysing data from the first three flybys of the Parker Solar Probe, NASA’s historic mission to the Sun. The probe, launched on August 12, 2018, completed its fourth close approach — called perihelion — on January 29, whizzing past at about 3.93 lakh km/h, at a distance of only 18.6 million km from the Sun’s surface. So why is all of this exciting for India? Alongside another mission to the Moon, being planned for next year, and the first human space flight scheduled for 2022, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is also preparing to send its first scientific expedition to study the Sun. Named Aditya-L1, the mission, expected to be launched early next year, will observe the Sun from a close distance, and try to obtain information about its atmosphere and magnetic field. ISRO categorises Aditya L1 as a 400 kg-class satellite, that will be launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in XL configuration. The space-based observatory will have seven payloads (instruments) on board to study the Sun’s corona, solar emissions, solar winds and flares, and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), and will carry out round-the-clock imaging of the Sun. The mission will be undertaken in collaboration between various labs of ISRO, along with institutions like the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, and Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER), Kolkata. Aditya L1 will be ISRO’s second space-based astronomy mission after AstroSat, which was launched in September 2015. What makes a solar mission challenging is the distance of the Sun from Earth (about 149 million km on average, compared to the only 3.84 lakh km to the Moon) and, more importantly, the super hot temperatures and radiations in the solar atmosphere. All participating institutions are currently in the final stages of developing their respective payloads. Some payloads have been built, and are in the testing phase with each component being checked and calibrated. Some payloads are at the stage of integration of individual components. But why is studying the Sun important? Every planet, including Earth and the exoplanets beyond the Solar System, evolves — and this evolution is governed by its parent star. The solar weather and environment, which is determined by the processes taking place inside and around the sun, affects the weather of the entire system. Variations in this weather can change the orbits of satellites or shorten their lives, interfere with or damage onboard electronics, and cause power blackouts and other disturbances on Earth. Knowledge of solar events is key to understanding space weather.








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To learn about and track Earth-directed storms, and to predict their impact, continuous solar observations are needed. Every storm that emerges from the Sun and heads towards Earth passes through L1, and a satellite placed in the halo orbit around L1 of the Sun-Earth system has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipses, ISRO says on its website. L1 refers to Lagrangian/Lagrange Point 1, one of five points in the orbital plane of the Earth-Sun system. Lagrange Points, named after Italian-French mathematician Josephy-Louis Lagrange, are positions in space where the gravitational forces of a two-body system (like the Sun and the Earth) produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion. These can be used by spacecraft to reduce fuel consumption needed to remain in position. The L1 point is home to the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Satellite (SOHO), an international collaboration project of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). The L1 point is about 1.5 million km from Earth, or about one-hundredth of the way to the Sun. Aditya L1 will perform continuous observations looking directly at the Sun. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has already gone far closer — but it will be looking away from the Sun. The earlier Helios 2 solar probe, a joint venture between NASA and space agency of erstwhile West Germany, went within 43 million km of the Sun’s surface in 1976. What kind of heat will Aditya L1 face? The Parker Solar Probe’s January 29 flyby was the closest the spacecraft has gone to the Sun in its planned seven-year journey so far. Computer modelling estimates show that the temperature on the Sun-facing side of the probe’s heat shield, the Thermal Protection System, reached 612 degrees Celsius, even as the spacecraft and instruments behind the shield remained at about 30°C, NASA said. During the spacecraft’s three closest perihelia in 2024-25, the TPS will see temperatures around 1370°C. Aditya L1 will stay much farther away, and the heat is not expected to be a major concern for the instruments on board. But there are other challenges. Many of the instruments and their components for this mission are being manufactured for the first time in the country, presenting as much of a challenge as an opportunity for India’s scientific, engineering, and space communities. One such component is the highly polished mirrors which would be mounted on the space-based telescope. Due to the risks involved, payloads in earlier ISRO missions have largely remained stationary in space; however, Aditya L1 will have some moving components, scientists said. For example, the spacecraft’s design allows for multiple operations of the front window of the telescope — which means the window can be opened or shut as required. Source: The Indian Express








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15. Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill proposes national registry of clinics Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill, 2020 to monitor medical procedures used to assist people to achieve pregnancy. The Bill provides for a national Board which will lay down a code of conduct to be observed by those operating clinics. It will also formulate minimum standards for laboratory and diagnostic equipment and practices to be followed by human resources employed by clinics and banks. The States and Union Territories will also have to form State Boards and State authorities within three months of the notification of the proposed legislation. Under the proposed law, a national registry and registration authority will maintain a database to assist the national Board to perform its functions, according to a statement issued by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry. Strict punishment The Bill also proposes stringent punishment for those who practise sex selection, indulge in sale of human embryos or gametes and those who operate rackets.








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“India has one of the highest growths in the number ART centres and ART cycles performed every year. India has become one of the major centres of this global fertility industry, with reproductive medical tourism becoming a significant activity. This has also introduced a plethora of legal, ethical and social issues; yet, there is no standardisation of protocols and reporting is still very inadequate,” the Ministry added. Confidentiality clause “The Bill will also ensure confidentiality of intending couples and protect the rights of the child,” Union Minister Smriti Irani said at a media conference on Wednesday. She also said that in the Surrogacy Regulation Bill 2020, the government was looking to restrict the maximum age of surrogates from “above the marriageable age” to 50 years. Source: The Hindu

16. What InSight has told us about Mars so far Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology








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It’s now more than a year since NASA’s InSight lander mission touched down on Mars on November 26, 2018. What lessons has the mission provided in its first year on the Red Planet? What is InSight InSight is the first mission dedicated to looking deep beneath the Martian surface. Among its science tools are a seismometer for detecting quakes, sensors for gauging wind and air pressure, a magnetometer, and a heat flow probe designed to take the planet’s temperature. The InSight mission is part of NASA’s Discovery Program. It is being supported by a number of European partners, which include France’s Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA). Tremors on Mars Mars trembles more often than expected, but also more mildly. This emerged from readings of the ultra-sensitive seismometer, called the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS). The instrument enables scientists to “hear” multiple trembling events from hundreds to thousands of miles away. Absence of Tectonic plates Mars doesn’t have tectonic plates like Earth, but it does have volcanically active regions that can cause rumbles. SEIS has found more than 450 seismic signals to date, the majority of which are believed to be quakes (as opposed to data noise created by environmental factors, like wind). The largest quake was just about magnitude 4.0 in size. Seismic waves are affected by the materials they move through. As such, they help scientists study the composition of the planet’s inner structure. Mars can help the team better understand how all rocky planets — including Earth — first formed. The surface: magentism Billions of years ago, Mars had a magnetic field. Although it is no longer present, it left behind what NASA describes as “ghosts” – magnetised rocks that are now between 61 m to several km below ground. InSight is equipped with a magnetometer, which has detected magnetic signals. At a Martian site called Homestead hollow, the magnetic signals are 10 times stronger than what was predicted earlier (based on data from orbiting spacecraft). Because InSight’s measurements are more local, they ate more precise. At InSight’s location, most surface rocks are too young to have been magnetised by the former magnetic field. “This magnetism must be coming from ancient rocks underground,”








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Catherine Johnson, planetary scientist with the University of British Columbia and the Planetary Science Institute, said in a statement issued by NASA. Scientists are now using these data and what was previously known to understand the magnetised layers below InSight. In addition, scientists on Earth are intrigued by how these Martian signals change over time. The measurements vary by day and night; they also tend to pulse around midnight. Theories are still being formed as to what causes such changes. In the wind: dust devils InSight measures wind speed, direction and air pressure nearly continuously. Weather sensors have detected thousands of passing whirlwinds, which are called dust devils when they pick up grit and become visible. The site has more whirlwinds than any other place where a landing has been made on Mars while carrying weather sensors. Despite all that activity in the wind and frequent imaging, InSight’s cameras have yet to see dust devils. But SEIS can feel these whirlwinds pulling on the surface. “Whirlwinds are perfect for subsurface seismic exploration,” said Philippe Lognonné of Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), principal investigator of SEIS. The core: still to come InSight has two radios. One is for regularly sending and receiving data. The other radio, which is more powerful, is designed to measure the “wobble” of Mars as it spins. This X-band radio, also known as the Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment (RISE), can eventually reveal whether the planet’s core is solid or liquid. A solid core would cause Mars to wobble less than a liquid one would. This first year of data is just a start, NASA said in the statement. When it is two years on Earth, Mars will have completed one year. A full Martian year will give scientists a much better idea of the size and speed of the planet’s wobble, NASA said. Source: The Indian Express

17. Coronavirus in 47 countries, but is it a pandemic yet? Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said the world is “on the cusp of a [coronavirus] pandemic”, and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the country’s primary federal agency responsible for tracking and responding to outbreaks of disease, believes that a pandemic is now “not so much a question of if… but rather more a question of when”.








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The World Health Organisation (WHO) and other health authorities have so far been referring only to a COVID-19 “outbreak”, which WHO on January 30 declared was a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern”. DEFINITIONS: While an outbreak is understood to be a sudden rise in the cases of a disease in a particular place, and an epidemic as a large outbreak among a particular population or region (such as the current situation in China), a pandemic, according to the WHO, is “the worldwide spread of a new disease”. On February 24, Dr Michael J Ryan, a senior WHO official, told reporters that the word “pandemic comes from the Greek ‘pandemos’, which means everybody”, CNN reported. “Demos means the population. Pan meaning everyone. So ‘pandemos’ is a concept where there’s a belief that the whole world’s population will likely be exposed to this infection and potentially a proportion of them fall sick,” Dr Ryan said. SPREAD: The novel coronavirus disease that emerged in Wuhan, China, in the final days of last year, is now in at least 47 countries around the world, spanning every continent except Antarctica. More than 82,000 people have been infected, and over 2,800 are dead. On Thursday, Saudi Arabia, for the first time in living memory, suspended pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina for people outside the country. Japan has shut all schools until April, and the Olympic Games, scheduled to begin in Tokyo on July 24, are in danger of being cancelled. Infections have been confirmed in countries from Brazil to Sweden, Canada to Australia. Iran has confirmed 26 deaths, South Korea 13, Italy 12. Estonia, Norway, Denmark, and Romania have reported their first cases, and in two new cases in the UK, the infection has been traced to places as far apart as Italy and the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. ‘SEMANTICS’: Many experts believe that irrespective whether the WHO makes a formal “declaration”, a pandemic is in effect already upon us. CNN quoted Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as saying there was no definitive definition of what constitutes a pandemic, it “means different things to different people”, and “it really is borderline semantics”. Commentators have pointed out that declaring a pandemic will not bring in more money to fight the disease or bestow extra powers on the WHO. Source: The Indian Express

18. Biofuel from microorganisms Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology








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The biofuel sector could get a boost, with researchers at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) developing a method to improve the growth rate and sugar content of a marine microorganism called Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002. Need for microorganisms Most biotechnological processes, including biofuel production, are dependent on the availability of low-cost and sustainable supply of sugars and a nitrogen source. The sugars typically come from plants. Plants utilize light energy through the process of photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into biological components such as sugars, proteins and lipids. However, some bacteria, such as the cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae), too can perform photosynthesis and produce sugar by fixing the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The yield of sugars from cyanobacteria could potentially be much higher than that of land-based crops. Further, unlike plant-based sugars, cyanobacterial biomass provides a nitrogen source in the form of proteins. Cyanobacteria are found in both fresh and marine waters. Using marine cyanobacteria could be better as freshwater is increasingly getting scarce. However, there is a need to significantly improve their growth rates and sugar content in order to improve the economic feasibility of marine cyanobacteria-based sugar production. A team from International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology has achieved this. Dr. Shireesh Srivastava, Group Leader of the System Biology for Biofuel group of the Centre and an investigator in the DBT-ICGEB Centre for Advanced Bioenergy Research, and Jai Kumar Gupta, a Ph.D. student at ICGEB led the team. They have successfully engineered a marine cyanobacterium called Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 which showed a higher growth rate and sugar (glycogen) content. When grown on air, the growth was doubled and the glycogen content of the cells increased by about 50%. Speaking to India Science Wire, the leader of the study team, Dr. Srivastava, noted that Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 is a model marine cyanobacterium and there were other Synechococcus species or related organisms where this work can be extended right away. Source: PIB

Culture

1. Why govt wants to locate Dara Shikoh tomb, and why it’s not easy








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Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper I; Culture The Ministry of Culture recently set up a seven-member panel of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to locate the grave of the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh (1615-59). He is believed to be buried somewhere in the Humayun’s Tomb complex in Delhi, one of around 140 graves of the Mughal clan. The panel has been given three months. For the findings to be conclusive, the three-month time can be extended. The panel will use architectural evidence from that time, and also written history and any other information that can be used as evidence. Dara Shikoh’s legacy The eldest son of Shah Jahan, Dara Shikoh was killed after losing the war of succession against his brother Aurangzeb. Dara Shikoh is described as a “liberal Muslim” who tried to find commonalities between Hindu and Islamic traditions. He translated into Persian the Bhagavad Gita as well as 52 Upanishads. Dara Shikoh & Aurangzeb Some historians argue that if Dara Shikoh had ascended the Mughal throne instead of Aurangzeb, it could have saved thousands of lives lost in religious clashes. It is believed that Dara Shukoh was the total antithesis of Aurangzeb, in that he was deeply syncretic, warm-hearted and generous — but at the same time, he was also an indifferent administrator and ineffectual in the field of battle. Of late, there have been renewed attempts to compare Dara Shikoh’s legacy against that of Aurangzeb. At a recent conclave in Delhi, speakers included RSS functionaries called Dara Shikoh “a real Hindustani”. A research chair was set up in Dara Shikoh’s name at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) last year. The remains of Dara Shikoh According to the Shahjahannama, after Aurangzeb defeated Dara Shikoh, he brought the latter to Delhi in chains. His head was cut off and sent to Agra Fort, while his torso was buried in the Humayun’s Tomb complex. No one knows where exactly Dara Shikoh was buried. All we know is that it’s a small grave in the Humayun’s Tomb complex. Most people point to a specific small grave there. Italian traveller Niccolao Manucci gave a graphic description of the day in Travels of Manucci, as he was there as a witness to the whole thing. That is the basis of the thesis. Source: The Indian Express

Miscellaneous








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1. Shaheen Bagh protest Relevant for GS Prelims The Shaheen Bagh protest is an ongoing 24/7 sit-in peaceful protest, led by women, that began with the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in both houses of Parliament on 11 December 2019 and the ensuing police intervention against students at Jamia Millia Islamia who were opposing the Amendment. Mainly consisting of Muslim women, the protesters at Shaheen Bagh, since 15 December 2019, have blocked a major highway in New Delhi using non-violent resistance for 50 days now as of 3 February 2020. It has now become the longest ongoing continuous protest against CAA-NRC-NPR. The leaderless protest now is not only against CAA and police brutality but also against the BJP government in general.[5] The protesters have also supported unions opposing the government's "anti-labour policies" and have protested against recent happenings such as the 2020 JNU attack as well as shown solidarity with Kashmiri Pandits. Impact of Protest The blocked road affects more than 100,000 vehicles a day with some 25 - 30minute journeys taking 2 - 3 hours. As the area is also a border point into the capital, thousands of trucks are being diverted to other border points. Response of administration Four petitions have been filed to stop the blockade. The Delhi High Court refused to hear the first two pleas and on 14 January 2020 said this is a police matter. The Delhi Police have said they will use "persuasion" and won't use force to end the blockade. Notably, the protesters are also protesting against police brutality and government apathy. However, the leaderless nature of the protests are making it harder for the police to take action and the protesters have refused to move. A third petition was filed on 18 January 2020, highlighting the difficulty students are facing, as well as the coming board examinations; the High Court accordingly directed the police to look into it. The matter has also reached the Supreme Court. Source: The Wikipedia

2. India becomes second largest steel producer of Crude Steel Relevant for GS Prelims








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As per World Steel Association data, India became the second largest steel producer of crude steel after China in 2018 and 2019, by replacing Japan. The details of five leading crude steel producers in the world during 2018 and 2019 are listed below:

Top 5 Crude steel producers in the world: 2018, 2019*

2018 2019*

Rank Country Qty (mt) Rank Country Qty (mt)

1 China 920.0 1 China 996.3

2 India 109.3 2 India 111.2

3 Japan 104.3 3 Japan 99.3

4 USA 86.6 4 USA 87.9

5 South Korea 72.5 5 Russia 71.6

Source: worldsteel, (* Provisional)

India’s crude steel production in 2018 was at 109.3 MT, an increase of 7.7 per cent from 101.5 MT in 2017. Steel being a deregulated sector, the Government does not set any annual targets for steel production. Decision on quantity of steel production is taken by individual companies based on commercial considerations and market requirements. Source: PIB

3. Narayana Murthy’s son-in-law Rishi Sunak named new Finance Minister of U.K. Relevant for GS Prelims Indian-origin politician Rishi Sunak was appointed as the U.K.’s new Finance Minister by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a Cabinet reshuffle. The 39-year-old is set to move into No. 11 Downing Street, next door to the Prime Minister’s Office as he takes charge of the second most important government position as the Finance Minister.








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The MP for Richmond in Yorkshire, married to Murthy’s daughter Akshata, first entered the U.K. Parliament in 2015 and has fast risen up the Conservative Party ranks as a staunch Brexiteer who had back Johnson’s strategy to leave the European Union (EU). Source: The Hindu

4. Why this study by Indian scientists in Antarctic matters At noon on January 11, the South African oceanographic research vessel SA Agulhas set off from Port Louise in Mauritius, on a two-month Indian Scientific Expedition to the Southern Ocean 2020. As of Friday, the vessel was at Prydz Bay, in the coastal waters of “Bharati”, India’s third station in Antarctica. On board the vessel are 34 scientific staff from India, apart from technical hands, seamen and a chef who are all from South Africa. This is the 11th expedition of an Indian mission to the Southern Ocean, or Antarctic Ocean. The first mission took place between January and March 2004. Lessons on environment The 18-institution team, led by Dr Anoop Mahajan from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, are collecting air and water samples from around 60 stations along the cruise track. These will give valuable information on the state of the ocean and atmosphere in this remote environment and will help to understand its impacts on the climate, according to a statement from the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCOPR) in Goa, which works under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. A key objective of the mission is to quantify changes that are occurring and the impact of these changes on large-scale weather phenomenon, like the Indian monsoon, through tele-connection, the researchers said. “We know that carbon dioxide is getting emitted into the atmosphere, and through atmospheric circulation goes to the Antarctic and polar regions. Since the temperature is very low there, these gases are getting absorbed and converted into dissolved inorganic carbon or organic carbon, and through water masses and circulation it is coming back to tropical regions. Since it is warmer in these areas, it re-enters the atmosphere,” the researchers said. It is this cycle that the mission will help understand better. “How much carbon dioxide is going to those regions, and how much is coming back. That is the main objective.”








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There are six core projects: 1. Study hydrodynamics and biogeochemistry of the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean; involves sampling sea water at different depths. This will help understand the formation of Antarctic bottom water. 2. Observations of trace gases in the atmosphere, such as halogens and dimethyl sulphur from the ocean to the atmosphere. Will help improve parameterisations that are used in global models. 3. Study of organisms called coccolithophores that have existed in the oceans for several million years; their concentrations in sediments will create a picture of past climate. 4. Investigate atmospheric aerosols and their optical and radiative properties. Continuous measurements will quantify impact on Earth’s climate. 5. Study the Southern Ocean’s impact on Indian monsoons. Look for signs in sediment core taken from the bottom of the ocean. 6. Dynamics of the food web in the Southern Ocean; important for safeguarding catch and planning sustainable fishing. Source: The Indian Express

5. Department of Telecommunications announces ‘5G Hackathon’








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Relevant for GS Prelims In its endeavour to identify and promote applications relevant to India in the 5G realm, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has launched ‘5G Hackathon’in association with a number of government, academia & industry stakeholders. About 5G technology 5G technology provides quantum leap over 4G in terms of speed, peak data rate, latency, spectrum efficiency and connection density. Most distinct feature is applications in different economic verticals. 5G Hackathon will convert innovating ideas in to products and solutions in different verticals and develop India specific Use cases around 5G. Various phases of the Hackathon broadly include preliminary submission of ideas, selection of 100 best ideas, mentorship and support from the Hackathon partners, development of solutions/products, selection and testing of 30 best solutions/ products on 5G trial network followed by felicitation of the 3 best ideas during India Mobile Congress (IMC), 2020. Participants can develop 5G solutionsfrom across 10 categories including Healthcare, Education & Governance, AgriTech & Livestock, Environment, Public Safety & Disaster Management Enterprise, Smart Cities & Infrastructure, Cyber Security, Banking, Finance & Insurance, Logistics & Transportation, Multimedia & Broadcast, among others. What is 5G Hackathon? The 5G Hackathon is open to developers, students, start-ups, SMEs, academic institutions & registered companies in India & NRIs. Stakeholders can participate as individuals or as a team to present use cases for the 5G network in the Indian context. A jury comprising of academicians, industry leaders and subject experts from around the country will be established to facilitate assessment and shortlisting of submissions. Total prize money of Rs. INR 2.5 crore will be distributed among selected applications. Source: PIB

6. ASKDISHA Relevant for GS Prelims In order to resolve queries of railway passengers over the internet pertaining to various services offered, Indian Railways had introduced the services of Artificial Intelligence based ASKDISHA chatbot in October 2018 for the benefit of the users. The ASKDISHA Chatbot was initially launched in English language but in order to further enhance the customer services rendered and to further strengthen the services of the chatbot, IRCTC has now powered voice enabled ASKDISHA to converse with customers in Hindi language.








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Source: PIB

7. First Khelo India University Games in Bhubaneswar Relevant for GS Prelims The first-ever Khelo India University Games will take off in Odhisha with a mega launch event at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Cuttack on February 22, 2020. The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi will launch the multi-disciplinary sporting event through a video conference facility. As many as 3400 athletes from 159 universities across the country have been given entries in 17 disciplines, including rugby which is among the six team events. Athletes are looking at the Khelo India University Games to make a mark not only for their institutions and themselves but also to catch the eye of talent scouts. There will be a total of 17 sports namely archery, athletics, boxing, fencing, judo, swimming, weightlifting, wrestling, badminton, basketball, football, hockey, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, rugby and kabaddi. Source: PIB

8. A new species of snails have been named Craspedotropis gretathunbergae, in honour of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg Relevant for GS Prelims A group of citizen scientists working together with scientists from Taxon Expeditions, which organises field trips of taxonomic experts and laypeople to discover unknown species, has identified a new species of land snail. They have named it Craspedotropis gretathunbergae, in honour of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. The species has been described in the Biodiversity Data Journal. The new species comes from tropical rainforests and is sensitive to drought and extreme temperatures, which are likely to be more frequent as climate change continues. Hence the honour to Thunberg, who has been making efforts to raise awareness about climate change. The snails were found during a field course conducted by Taxon Expeditions at Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre in Brunei. When they were found, the snails were at the foot of a steep hillslope, next to a riverbank while they were foraging at night. The two-millimetre-long snails have dark grey tentacles, a pale body and a concave shell, whose outer part is greenish-brown.








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In 2018, a Taxon Expedition team had named a new species of beetle after the actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who is also a climate activist. Source: The Indian Express

9. Ajeya Warrior-2020 Relevant for GS Prelims Exercise AJEYA WARRIOR - 2020, a joint military training exercise between India & United Kingdom (UK) culminated at Salisbury Plains Training Area, UK. The fifth edition of the exercise included joint training in urban and semi urban areas. As part of the exercise, important lectures, demonstrations and drills related to counter insurgency and counter terrorist operations were rehearsed and executed jointly. The highlight of the exercise was the Bonhomie and Camaraderie displayed by the troops, thereby ensuring integration and achievement of interoperability at all levels. The joint training was undoubtedly, an unprecedented success. Besides promoting understanding and interoperability between the two armies, it further helped in cementing ties between both the nations. Source: PIB

10. Two-thirds of most polluted cities are in India: global report Relevant for GS Prelims India accounts for two-thirds of the world’s most polluted cities — 21 of the most polluted 30 cities; 14 of the highest 20; and 6 of the highest 10 — in the 2019 World Air Quality Report released by the pollution tracker IQAir and Greenpeace. The ranking is based on a comparison of PM2.5 levels. Among countries, when population is taken into account, average PM2.5 pollution is highest in Bangladesh, followed by Pakistan, while India is at number 5.








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Source: IQAir While cities in India, on average, exceed the WHO target for annual PM2.5 exposure by 500%, national air pollution decreased by 20% from 2018 to 2019, with 98% of cities experiencing improvements. These improvements are believed to be largely a result of economic slowdown, IQAir said.








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It said 90% of the global population breathing unsafe air. “While the new coronavirus is dominating international headlines, a silent killer is contributing to nearly 7 million more deaths a year: air pollution,” IQAir CEO Frank Hammes said in a statement. China is at number 11 in the list of countries affected by population, with population factored in. Chinese cities achieved a 9% average decrease in PM2.5 levels in 2019. Source: The Indian Express

11. Hosni Mubarak, former Egypt President who was ousted in 2011 uprising, passes away Relevant for GS Prelims Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian leader who for nearly 30 years was head of Egypt, died recently. He had to give up power during democracy protests in Egypt and nearby countries called Arab spring.








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About Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak[a] (4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian military and political leader who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in the Egyptian Air Force. He served as its commander from 1972 to 1975 and rose to the rank of air chief marshal in 1973.[2] Some time in the 1950s, he returned to the Air Force Academy as an instructor, remaining there until early 1959.[2] He assumed the presidency after the assassination of Anwar Sadat. Mubarak's presidency lasted almost thirty years, making him Egypt's longest-serving ruler since Muhammad Ali Pasha, who ruled the country from 1805 to 1848, a reign of 43 years.[3] Mubarak stepped down after 18 days of demonstrations during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.[4] On 11 February 2011, former Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak and he had resigned as president and vice president respectively and transferred authority to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Thereafter he was imprisoned on charges of corruption and abuse of power. He was acquitted and released from prison in 2017. He died on 25 February 2020. Source: The Hindu

12. Prime Minister to launch 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) all over the country on 29th February 2020 Relevant for GS Prelims Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi shall launch 10,000 Farmers Producer Organisations all over the country at Chitrakoot, 29th February 2020. Nearly 86% of farmers are small and marginal with average land holdings in the country being less than 1.1 hectare. These small, marginal and landless farmers face tremendous challenges during agriculture production phase such as for access to technology, quality seed, fertilizers and pesticides including requisite finances. They also face tremendous challenges in marketing their produce due to lack of economic strength. FPOs help in collectivization of such small, marginal and landless farmers in order to give them the collective strength to deal with such issues. Members of the FPO will manage their activities together in the organization to get better access to technology, input, finance and market for faster enhancement of their income. Completion of One Year of PM-KISAN The event shall also witness the completion of one year of the launch of PM-KISAN scheme.








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Modi Government has launched the Pradhan MantriKisanSammanNidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme as an income support scheme for farmers to enable them to take care of expenses related to agriculture and allied activities as well as domestic needs. Under the Scheme, benefit is provided to the eligible beneficiary to the tune of Rs.6000/- per year. It is payable in three 4-monthly instalments of Rs.2000/- each. The payment is made online directly into the bank accounts of the eligible beneficiaries under Direct Benefit Transfer mode. The Scheme was launched on 24th February, 2019 and has successfully completed one year of implementation on 24th February, 2020. In a historic decision in its first cabinet meeting Modi 2.0 Government has decided to extend the PM-KISAN scheme to all the farmers. Special drive to saturate PM-KISAN beneficiaries with Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) The Prime Minister shall also be launching a saturation drive for distribution of Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) to all the beneficiaries under the PM-KISAN Scheme, on the 29th February 2020. Over 6.5 Crore of the approximately 8.5 Crore beneficiaries under PM-KISAN Scheme, possess the Kisan Credit Cards. The saturation drive shall ensure that the remaining about 2 Crore PM-KISAN beneficiaries are also distributed the Kisan Credit Cards. A 15 day special drive has been launched from 12th February to 26th February to provide access to concessional institutional credit to all the PM-KISAN beneficiaries wherein a simple one page form has to be filled with the basic data including bank account number, land record details and a simple declaration that he is presently not a beneficiary of KCC from any other bank branch. All PM-KISAN beneficiaries where applications are received till 26th February will be called to the bank branches on 29th February for handing over the Kisan Credit Cards. Source: PIB








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Quiz Questions with answer key:

Q1. Consider the following statements regarding Cheetah:

1. Cheetah is extinct species in India.

2. Cheetah can help in preserving some of the endangered species in India.

3. In recent years, SC has allowed import of Cheetah.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1,2 and 3

Q2. When is Wetlands day celebrated across the world?

(a) February 2

(b) March 15

(c) April 5

(d) June 21

Q3. What does the designation of Ramsar site mean?

1. These sites are considered as significant value not only for the country in which they are

located, but for humanity as a whole.

2. The inclusion of a wetland in the list requires the government’s commitment to take the steps necessary to ensure that its ecological character is maintained.








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3. These sites are protected with the help of international funding available under Ramsar

convention.


(a) 2 only

(b) 1 and 2 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 2 and 3 only

Q4. Why are anti-dumping duties levied?

(a) These duties are levied to control the excessive imports of costlier products.

(b) These duties are levied to control excessive exports of costlier products.

(c) These duties are levied to control excessive imports of cheaper products.

(d) These duties are levied to control excessive exports of cheaper products.

Q5. As per the recent data on crude steel production, which is the largest

producer of crude steel?

(a)USA

(b)China

(c) Japan

(d) India

Q6. Consider the following statements:

The defence pension annual bill is higher than the capital expenditure on defense.

1. Millitary personnel who joined service on or after 1 January 2004 are eligible for 2.

National Pension Scheme (NPS).









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(a)1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Q7. Who holds the world record of longest single spaceflight?

(a) Christina Koch

(b) Peggy Whitson

(c) Scott Kelly

(d) Valery Polyakov

Q8. What is objective of Vivad se Vishwas Bill?

(a) The bill has been brought to reduce litigation on pending indirect tax dues.

(b) The bill has been brought to settle pending loans between banks and defaulters.

(c) The bill has been brought to promote Hindi as national language of India.

(d) The bill has been brought to reduce litigation on pending direct tax dues.

Q9. Consider the following statements about charges of sedition under

IPC:

1. The maximum imprisonment for sedition charges is 3 years.

2. The charges can be brought on promoting hatred or contempt against the Government of

India.

3. The Supreme Court has held that charges of sedition can be levied only when sedition

promotes violence.

Which if the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only








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(c) 1 and 2 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Q10. Arrange the following countries in descending order in terms of

number of Indian nationals living in them?

1. United States (US)

2. Kuwait

3. Saudi Arabia

4. UAE

Select the correct answer from the code given below:

(a) UAE – Saudi Arabia – US- Kuwait

(b) Saudi Arabia – UAE –Kuwait- US

(c) UAE –Kuwait- Saudi Arabia- US

(d) US- Saudi Arabia – UAE –Kuwait

Q11. Which of the following is the objective of Genome India project?

(a) To understand the common traits of the Indian population

(b) To understand the genetic causes behind variation in plant species

(c) To understand the genetic diversity among animal species

(d) None of the above

Q12. What is ‘grounding line’ in context of glaciers?

(a) The grounding is the boundary of glacier floating over sea.

(b) The grounding line is the starting point of the glacier which gradually covers a vast

stretch of land.

(c) The grounding line is the place below a glacier at which the ice transitions between

resting fully on bedrock and floating on the ocean as an ice shelf.








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(d) The grounding line is the place from where glacier is first likely to melt in the event of

climate change.

Q13. What is special about newly discovered Yaravirus?

(a) Yaravirus can affect only humans but not lower forms of life.

(b) Yaravirus evidence has been found only in Antarctica.

(c) Yaravirus is similar to other viruses that affect primitive forms of life.

(d) Yaravirus has different genetic composition than other viruses which affect primitive

forms of life.

Q14. Consider the following statements regarding Index for industrial

production (IIP):

1. The IIP index is used to track the level of production in the economy.

2. The IIP is calculated on quarterly basis.

3. The IIP considers the complete industrial output and not just basket of industrial

products.


(a) 1 only

(b) 1 and 2 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Q15. Recently, a body gave an official name to the disease caused by the

novel coronavirus. The disease will be called “COVID-19”. Who is this body?

(a) Health Ministry of China








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(b) UN

(c) FAO

(d) WHO

Q16. Consider the following statements regarding Supreme Court order

to political parties to publish criminal history of candidates:

1. The SC order is applicable to political party candidates only for Lok Sabha elections and

not assembly elections.

2. The SC order mandates political parties to publish criminal history since the last

elections.

3. The information pertaining to criminal history of candidates shall be published in a local as well as a national newspaper as well as the parties’ social media handles. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 3 only

(b) 1 and 3 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1 and 2 only

Q17. Rishi Sunak, a person of Indian origin, was in news recently. He was

appointed

(a) Labour Minsiter in Australia Government

(b) Finance Minister in UK Government

(c) External Minister in Canada Government

(d) Home Secretary in UK Government








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Q18. On February 10, the U.S. removed more than a dozen countries,

including India, from its list of “developing” countries for trade purposes. What is the implication of this move?

(a) India will not get the trade benefits under Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).

(b) India will get additional say in global economic forums such as G-20.

(c) The Indian imports into US will get preferential treatment.

(d) The Indian imports into US will be subjected to lower import tarrifs.

Q19. While determining the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in

India, what is import parity price (IPP)?

(a) It is the international price of LPG without any import charges.

(b) It is the price which includes not just international prices but also import charges on

LPG.

(c) It is the price at which LPG is sold to gas agencies.

(d) It is the price at which LPG is sold to final consumers.

Q20. Which problems may arise on account of failure of

telecommunication companies?

1. Increase in NPAs of banks

2. Monopolization of telecommunication sector

3. Increase in unemployment

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 2 only

(b) 1 only

(c) 2 and 3 only








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(d) 1, 2 and 3

Q21. Which of the following statement does not reflect Dara Shikoh?

(a) He was son of Shah Jahan.

(b) He was younger brother of Aurangzeb.

(c) He was killed in the war of succession.

(d) His tomb is unidentified.

Q22. Which of the following is/are the possible reason/s behind spike in

forex of India?

1. Reduction of imports from China due to spread of Coronavirus

2. Increase of exports to China due to spread of Coronavirus

3. Hike in foreign investment inflows into India

4. Reduction in global crude oil prices

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 3 and 4 only

(b) 1 and 4 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1, 3 and 4

Q23. Which of the following is the correct ascending order of economies

in terms of their GDP?

(a) Germany- France-India- UK

(b) India- France- Germany-UK








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(c) India-UK-France-Germany

(d) Germany-India-UK-France

Q24. What is time period of RBI’s present accounting year?

(a) July-June

(b) April-March

(c) January- December

(d) September - August

Q25. Consider the following statements about Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA):

1. IDSA is an autonomous body under Ministry of Defence.

2. IDSA understakes research and policy relevant studies on all aspects of defence and security.

3. Recently, government has decided to rename IDSA as Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.


(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Q26. Which is the nodal ministry/department for 5G Hackathon?

(a) Department of Higher Education

(b) Ministry of Science & Technology








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(c) Department of Telecommunications

(d) Ministry of Skill Development

Q27. Where are first Khelo India University Games planned to be held?

(a) Delhi

(b) Kolkatta

(c) Bhubaneswar

(d) Chennai

Q28. Which of the following species have been included under Appendix

I of UN Convention on migratory species on India’s request?

(a) Asian Elephant, Great Indian Bustard, Bengal Florican

(b) Black Buck, Great Indian Bustard, Bengal Florican

(c) Great Indian Bustard, Black Buck, Asian Elephant

(d) Bengal Florican, Black Buck, Asian Elephant

Q28. What is the Blue Dot network?

(a) It is the proposed network of military bases belonging to US army.

(b) It is the proposed network of infrastructure projects.

(c) It is the technology which will aid in bringing precision to navigation.

(d) It is the technology to deal with cross border terrorism.

Q29. Which countries were central to start the concept of ‘Blue Dot Network’?

(a) US, Japan and Australia

(b) US, China and India








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(c) Russia, China and India

(d) US, UK and France

Q30. India is planning to import MH-60 Romeo helicopters from which of

the following countries?

(a) USA

(b) UK

(c) France

(d) Israel

Q31. The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) is a proposed

body which aims to protect the rights of the consumer by cracking down

on unfair trade practices, and false and misleading advertisements that

are detrimental to the interests of the public and consumers. It will have

jurisdiction in respect of

(a)Goods only (b) Services only (c) Goods and Services (d) Goods, Services and Property

Q32. InSight is a lander mission to study Mars. The project primarily belongs to which space agency? (a) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (b) France’s Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) (c) German Aerospace Center (DLR) (d) United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA).

Q33. Delhi is often called semi-state. In comparison to other states, which subjects of state list are not available with Delhi? (a) Gas, Water and electricity (b) Public order, Police and Land (c) Industry and agriculture (d) None of the above








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Solution:

1- d 2- a 3- b 4- c 5- b 6- a 7- a 8- d 9- d 10- a

11- a 12- c 13- d 14- a 15- d 16- a 17- b 18- a 19- b 20- d

21- b 22- d 23- d 24- a 25- d 26- c 27- c 28- a 29- a 30- a

31- c 32- a 33- b





WhatsApp No. 88986-30000 - PrepMate · Hosni Mubarak, former Egypt President who was ousted in 2011...

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