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INDEX

1. National news 1.1 China deploys warships in Indian Ocean

1.2 NCERT will cut syllabus by half, says Javedkar

2. International News 2.1 U.S. tightens H-1B approval process IT firms worried

3. Polity and Governance 3.1 Mahanadi tribunal gets central nod

3.2 NITI Aayog preparing new list of sick PSUs

4. Economy 4.1 Blockchain Tech could help prevent frauds like at PNB

5. Science and Tech 5.1 Experts urge more funds to tackle tuberculosis crisis

5.2 Rustom-2 UAV takes to skies

6. India and World 6.1 India, China hold talks ahead of SCO

6.2 Vietnam and India to discuss South China Sea


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Current Affairs (21 to 28 February, 2018)

1. National News

1.1 China deploys warships in Indian Ocean

A Chinese naval contingent has been deployed in the East Indian Ocean for more than a week at

a time when the Maldives is undergoing a political crisis, a Chinese website has reported.

The website, sina.com.cn, has linked the deployment of the warships, including an amphibious

vessel that can transfer troops from sea to land, to the evolving situation in the Maldives.

China had earlier warned against external intervention in the Maldives after the country’s exiled

former President Mohamed Nasheed called for New Delhi’s intervention to release political

prisoners.

The detachment of the People’s Liberation Army-Navy comprises two 052D destroyers, a 054A

frigate, and a 071 dock landing ship. A supply ship is also part of the flotilla.

An Australian website, news.com.au, underscored that the entry of Chinese warships in the

Indian Ocean marks a significant shift in regional power. “They’re there to keep India away from

Beijing’s interests in the strife-torn Maldives Islands.”

The 7500 tonnes Type 052D guided missile destroyer (Luyang-III class) boards a crew of 280

members. Land attack cruise missiles, as well as other projectiles which can target submarines,

aircraft and hostile warships provide it credible firepower.

The Type 054A frigate (Jiangkai II) has a hard-to-pick stealthy design and good anti-ship and

counter-submarine capability.

The Type 071 amphibious transport ship is geared for beach landing troops. An array of

amphibious landing craft, assault vehicles and two back-up helicopters are used for sea-to-land

deployment of around 800 troops, equivalent of an army battalion.

“Overall, the Chinese Navy is sending out an amphibious convoy fleet with strong regional air

defence, anti-ship and anti-submarine capabilities and the ability to deliver rather large-scale

amphibious troops quickly,” Sina observed.

Not near Maldives

Meanwhile, Indian defence sources said no movement of Chinese ships was detected near the

Maldivian waters.

A couple of weeks back, a Chinese naval task force has entered the Indian Ocean from the Sunda

Strait for exercises in international waters closer to Australia and has since left via the Lombok

Strait, the source explained.


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1.2 NCERT will cut syllabus by half, says Javedkar

In a bid to provide relief to school students, the NCERT syllabus will be reduced by half from the

2019 academic session, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar has

said.

He said the school syllabus was more than that of BA and B.Com courses, and it needed to be

reduced by half so that students get time for other activities for their all-round development.

At the stage of development of cognitive skills, students need to be given full freedom. I have

asked NCERT to reduce the syllabus by half and it will be effective from the 2019 academic

session.

Exams will stay

Elaborating on the reforms in school education under consideration, the Minister said

examinations and detentions would be introduced. He said a Bill in this regard would be

considered in Parliament in the next part of the Budget session.

“Without examination, there is no competition and no target. There must be an element of

competition for better outcomes,” he said.

If a student fails in March, he would get another chance in May. If student flunks both times,

then only he/she would be detained, he added.

Mr. Javadekar also expressed concern over the poor quality of teachers, which he said was

resulting in poor learning outcomes. The basic task of teachers is to assess the strengths and

weaknesses of students and mentor them accordingly.


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2. International News

2.1 U.S. tightens H-1B approval process IT firms worried

The U.S announced fresh measures to tighten the scrutiny of H-1B visa petitions, mandating

fresh documentary requirements for workers at third-party worksites.

The move will impact Indian IT services providers that place employees with H-1B visas at

American companies that contract them, by imposing more paper work and processing hurdles.

The companies filing H-1B petitions for their employees will have to associate a particular

project to the individual visa, which could be approved only for the duration of the project.

Close scrutiny

The measures are intended to bring the client-vendor -employee relations in business models

based on bringing high skilled H-1B workers to America under closer scrutiny.

Industry insiders said the scrutiny of this model had been increasingly stringent in recent years,

and that the requirements included in announcement represent a further tightening of the

screws. Vendors that get contracts from American companies often subcontract the job to other

companies or hire H-1B employees brought by other companies, creating multilevel structures,

a practice that immigration authorities have been monitoring more closely and trying to curb.

Industry insiders said lower level jobs would be hit harder under the new regulations.

In order for a H-1B petition involving a third-party worksite to be approved, the petitioner must

show by a “preponderance of evidence that, among other things: the beneficiary will be

employed in a specialty occupation; the employer will maintain an employer-employee

relationship with the beneficiary for the duration of the requested validity period,” the U.S

Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said in a statement.


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3. Polity and Governance

3.1 Mahanadi tribunal gets central nod

The Union Cabinet approved the setting up of a tribunal to settle a row between Odisha and

Chhattisgarh on sharing the waters of the Mahanadi river.

This is in keeping with a Supreme Court order last month directing the Centre to set up a

tribunal in response to a plea by the Odisha government to stop the Chhattisgarh government

from constructing several weirs on the river.

The tribunal is expected to determine water sharing among basin States on the basis of the

overall availability of water in the complete Mahanadi basin, the contribution of each State, the

present utilisation of water resource in each State and the potential for future development,

official sources said.

The order on constituting a new tribunal comes even as the government plans to introduce a

new bill that would have a single tribunal to replace all existing water tribunals.

‘Extremely inefficient’

The driving motive for such a tribunal was, according to senior official in the Water Ministry,

that tribunals had a decades-long history of being “extremely inefficient” at settling disputes

quickly and fairly. The bill, called the Inter-State River Disputes (Amendment) Bill, was

introduced in the Lok Sabha by former Water Resources Minister, Uma Bharti, last March but is

yet to be debated. “It is expected to be placed in Parliament after it reconvenes after the recess

of the Budget session,” an official said.

Were such a Bill to become law, it could affect the composition of the members of various

tribunals. Currently, all tribunals are staffed by members of the judiciary, nominated by the

Chief Justice.

The proposed Bill has provisions for members, even a chairperson, outside the judiciary. “It is

possible that a newly-constituted tribunal, such as for Mahanadi, will have to be re-formulated

were the new law to come into effect,” said another Water Ministry official.


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Chhattisgarh projects

Over the last year, Uma Bharti as well as the incumbent Minister Nitin Gadkari had asked the

governments of Chhattisgarh and Odisha to settle their differences over water sharing and avoid

the setting up of a tribunal, a long-standing demand of the Odisha government.

Odisha had moved the court in December, 2016, for an order asking Chhattisgarh to stop its

construction work in projects on the upstream of Mahanadi, saying it affected the river flow in

the State.

Delayed awards

According to the provisions of the Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956, the

tribunal is required to submit its report and decision within a period of three years, which can be

extended for a period not exceeding two years.

Only three out of eight tribunals have given awards accepted by the States. Tribunals for

Cauvery and Ravi Beas have been in existence for several decades.

Delays are on account of there being no time limit for adjudication by a tribunal, no upper age

limit for the Chairman or the Members, work stalling due to occurrence of vacancy and no time

limit for publishing the report of the tribunal.

3.2 NITI Aayog preparing new list of sick PSUs

NITI Aayog is working on a new list of sick and loss-making Public Sector Units (PSUs) that could

be privatised, said CEO Amitabh Kant.


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NITI Aayog has already given recommendations with regard to strategic disinvestment of 40

PSUs. Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) is working on it and

the process is in an advanced stage.

He added that the Aayog had already prepared and given four lists of such PSUs and was

“working on the fifth list.”

The government has set a target of ₹80,000 crore from disinvestment proceeds in 2018-19.

Stake sales

In the current fiscal, the government has earned more than ₹1 lakh crore from stake sales in

public sector firms, as against the Budget estimate of ₹72,500 crore in 2017-18 for the

disinvestment process.

Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh, who was also present at the conference,

pointed out that the Budget allocation for NITI Aayog had been increased by more than 20% to

₹339.65 crore in 2018-19 from ₹279.79 crore in 2017-18.


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4. Economy

4.1 Blockchain Tech could help prevent frauds like at PNB

The adoption of blockchain by India’s banks could help avert frauds such

as the one at Punjab National Bank as the disaggregated and transparent

nature of the technology, which updates information across all users

simultaneously, would have ensured that various officials would have

instantly been alerted to the creation of the letters of undertaking

(LoUs), according to bankers and blockchain specialists.

‘Immediate notification’

Blockchain, a distributed ledger technology originally developed as an accounting system for the

cryptocurrency Bitcoin, is being researched across the banking and financial services industries

for the potential benefits it may offer in an increasingly digitised business environment.

Central banks including the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Reserve Bank of India have been

examining the technology to understand the regulatory challenges it may pose.

Blockchain potentially has far-reaching implications for the financial sector, and this is

prompting more and more banks, insurers and other financial institutions to invest in research

into potential applications of this technology.

Market participants in other securities markets are exploring the usage of blockchain or

distributed database technology to provide various services such as clearing and settlement,

trading.

Indian securities market may also see such developments in the near future and, therefore,

there is a need to understand the benefits, risks and challenges such developments may pose.


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5. Science and Tech

5.1 Experts urge more funds to tackle tuberculosis crisis

Stating that tuberculosis (TB) has become a national crisis in India, the Health Ministry assured

the TB community that eliminating the disease by 2025 had the ‘highest level of commitment

from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office.’

Senior Health Ministry official Sunil Khaparde, who heads the TB programme voiced the

assurance at the opening day of the 5th Global Forum on TB Vaccines in New Delhi.

Nearly 4.2 lakh Indians die of TB every year. Out of the 10 million cases globally, India shoulders

the maximum burden with 2.8 million cases. According to Health Ministry data, only 63% of the

patients infected with the airborne disease are currently under treatment.

Further, 1,47,000 patients are resistant to first and second line TB medicines. At the current rate

of progress, global targets to eliminate TB by 2030 will be missed by a 150 years.

Against this backdrop, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, deputy director general of the World Health

Organisation (WHO) said that globally, governments need to invest more in TB research and

development to meet the global targets.

WHO representative to India Hendrick Bekedam added that TB vaccine was a global public

health good, which meant governments need to invest if they want to own it later.

5.2 Rustom-2 UAV takes to skies

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) carried out a test-flight of the

unmanned aerial vehicle Rustom-2.

“This flight assumes significance because of the fact that this is the

first flight in user configuration with a higher power engine. All

parameters were normal,” the DRDO said in a statement. The flight

was conducted at its Aeronautical Test Range in Chitradurga of

Karnataka.

Rustom-2 belongs to a family of UAVs under development, besides Rustom-1 and Rustom-H. It is

a medium-altitude long-endurance drone (MALE) and will fill a critical capability gap in the

inventory of the armed forces.

It can fly up to an altitude of 22,000 feet and has an endurance of over 20 hours. It is capable of

carrying payloads for electronic and signal intelligence missions.

Currently, the three services employ hundreds of Israeli drones and have projected a

requirement of hundreds of more UAVs, including armed variants, in the near future. The DRDO

is also developing other drones in different categories.


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6. India and World

6.1 India, China hold talks ahead of SCO

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale has held across-the-board talks with top Chinese officials on

advancing ties between India and China, which have encountered several points of friction.

Mr. Gokhale’s visit is also seen as part of preparations for talks between Prime Minister

Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at the June summit of the Shanghai Cooperation

Organisation (SCO) in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao.

The Foreign Secretary met Politburo member and State Councilor Yang Jiechi, China’s top

foreign policy official, as well as Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice-Foreign Minister Mr. Kong

Xuanyou.

Last year, Prime Minister Modi and President Xi met in Xiamen on the sidelines of the BRICS

summit in September to revive ties that had been hit by the Doklam border crisis. As a follow-up

to these talks, Mr. Yi and Mr. Yang visited New Delhi in December.

“During the consultations, the two sides reviewed recent developments in bilateral relations,

including high-level exchanges, and discussed the agenda for bilateral engagement in the

coming months,” an Indian Embassy press statement said.

India’s concerns regarding China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean have been rising, and

have peaked after the pro-China President of Maldives Abdulla Yameen declared a state of

Emergency on February 5 in the island nation.

Without making any specific reference to the Maldives, the statement said the “two sides also

exchanged views on regional and international issues of common interest”.

Building convergence

The statement noted the necessity of building on “convergences” between the two countries. It

stressed that Beijing and New Delhi should “address differences on the basis of mutual respect

and sensitivity to each other’s concerns, interests and aspirations”.

In the past, Indian officials have pointed to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which

passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as an infringement of India’s sovereignty.

China’s decision to come in the way of a UN ban on Masood Azhar, head of the Pakistan-based

terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM), and Beijing’s objections to India’s entry into the Nuclear

Suppliers Group emerged as additional points of abrasion in ties.

6.2 Vietnam and India to discuss South China Sea

Vietnam will take up South China Sea-related issues during the March 2-4 visit by President Tran

Dai Quang.

Speaking to the media here on Tuesday, the ambassador of Vietnam said that Hanoi wished to

fully utilise the comprehensive strategic partnership with India and was likely to sign a civil

nuclear agreement during the visit.


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“South China Sea issue will be discussed between leaders as the situation in the South China Sea

is complicated. Some positive developments have taken place but the ground reality remains

problematic,” said Ambassador Ton Sinh Thanh.

Beijing’s claims over most of the South China Sea is a major issue between the two countries,

and Hanoi has been one of the more vocal countries in the 10-member ASEAN grouping to find a

solution to China’s expansionist policy in the crucial water body. The ambassador however

assured that his country remained committed to maintaining cordial ties with Beijing.

The envoy clarified that Vietnam had not yet firmed up its position on the One Belt, One Road

initiative of China and said, “OBOR is a big project, we need to look into it whether it is good for

the country or not, will then take a position on this.”

The Presidential visit will begin with a stopover at Bodhgaya where President Tran will reach on

February 2. The delegation will reach New Delhi later same day and both sides will hold official

talks on February 3.


NeoStencil Live Online Classes - IAS/IES/GATE/SSC/PSC ... · NeoStencil – Live Online Classes - IAS/IES/GATE/SSC/PSC ... aircraft and hostile warships provide it credible firepower.

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