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Daily Current Affairs – 27 December
2017
Editorial: Seeing through a glass
darkly
Context:
Much has changed since November
26, 2008 terror attacks on multiple targets in Mumbai and terror has evolved
into an even more dangerous phenomenon. Recent variants represent a
paradigmatic change in the practice of violence.
To deal with the terror
threat, there must be far greater sharing of intelligence among agencies
worldwide.
A
different genre
·
It
is difficult to recognise the new generation of terrorists as a mere extension
of the earlier lot of radical Islamist terrorists. The new age terrorist seems
to belong to an altogether different genre of terrorism.
·
The
spate of recent attacks in Europe and parts of Asia, from 2015 to 2017 —
·
Beginning
with the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris in January
2015; the major incidents at Brussels and Istanbul Ataturk
airports as well as the Bastille Day attack in Nice, France, all in
2016; to the string of attacks in London, Stockholm, Barcelona and New
York, in 2017
·
are
very different in structure and the morphology from attacks of an earlier
period.
Islamic
State, Standing out from the crowd
A large number of terror
attacks in the past three years have been attributed to the handiwork of the
Islamic State (IS).
§
IS
is distinguished from many of the other radical Islamist groups such as
al-Qaeda and its affiliates.
§
The IS’s
recruitment techniques, especially its ability to proselytise over the
Internet, including “direct to home jihad” as also its more brutal brand of
violence, set it apart from earlier variants of radical Islamist terror.
Even while the IS has gained a
great deal of prominence due to its brand of violence, other terror networks
such as al-Qaeda and its affiliates have continued to be no less active.
§
The Boko
Haram (Nigeria) in Africa has been responsible for more killings than
most people would realise.
§
The Afghan
Taliban and the Haqqani network have carried out several spectacular
attacks inside Afghanistan.
§
The Tehrik-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have
carried out several attacks inside Pakistan.
§
Pakistan
provides the wherewithal and the support to terror outfits such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and
the Jaish-e-Mohammad to launch well-planned attacks on
Indian targets.
§
Al-Shabab(Somalia) formalized ties with
Al-Qaeda, became the international militant
group’s wing in the Horn of Africa.
Most of these outfits continue
to adopt earlier methodologies. These have proved no less effective than those
followed by the IS.
§
The
terror attack on a mosque in North Sinai, Egypt in November this year, which
killed over 230 persons, is one such example.
§
In
December, the TTP was responsible for a terror attack on an agricultural
training institute in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Differences among terror
outfits, do not, however, preclude a complicated pattern of relationships when
it comes to operational aspects.
Incorrect
perception on agencies of intelligence failure
Understanding the constantly
altering trajectory of terror is important before charges of intelligence
failure are levelled.
It has become common practice
to attack agencies of intelligence failure whenever a major terror attack takes
place. This need not be the case in every instance. The usual charge
levelled is of the failure of intelligence agencies “to connect the dots”. Most
often, this is not true.
There are many other reasons
for adequate intelligence not being available to prevent a terror attack.
Intelligence agencies are
well-versed in the latest techniques of intelligence gathering:
One common fallacy is that
intelligence agencies have remained static, are rooted in the past, and that
their personnel are inadequately trained to handle current day intelligence
tasks.
§
Agencies
obtain vast amounts of information from both human and technical
intelligence, not excluding signal intelligence and electronic intelligence,
intelligence from satellites and photo reconnaissance, etc. This is apart from
open source intelligence.
§
Agencies
employ data mining techniques and are familiar with pattern recognition
software.
§
Today,
noise and signals constitute valuable meta-data. Analysing meta-data has
produced more precise information and intelligence than is possibly envisaged,
and agencies well recognise the value and utility of this.
§
In
addition, intelligence agencies have become highly proficient in
monitoring and exploiting open source material.
§
Mapping
and analysis of social networks is today a critical aspect of their work.
This is especially useful when it comes to unearthing covert terror networks.
Many intelligence agencies
today have an extensive database of several thousands of terrorists and
potential terrorists.
What
is the real problem?
Problems arise from inadequate
sharing of intelligence across institutions and countries.
§
The
real problem is that when dealing with terrorism and terror networks, no
two situations in the actual world are identical.
§
The
nature of threats is such that they continue to evolve all the time. Both
the 2001 terror attack in New York and the November 2008 attack in Mumbai were
one of a kind with few parallels at the time.
Anticipating an attack of this nature
remains in the area of an “intelligence gap” rather than an “intelligence
failure”. An intelligence gap is one denoting an absence of intelligence output
while an intelligence failure is one where, based on available evidence, no
warning was issued.
Newer
challenges faced by intelligence agencies
One of the major challenges
that all intelligence agencies face is a qualitative understanding of the
newer, and many post-modern threats. These newer generation threats,
including those by terror groups and outfits, often lie “below the radar” or
beyond the horizon.
Anticipating such threats and
their nature requires intelligence agencies to be constantly ahead of the
curve.
Anticipating newer threats is
only partly facilitated by today’s technical advances such as new
computing and communication technologies. However, these alone are not
often enough to meet today’s intelligence needs.
As problems become more
complicated, and as terror networks become even more sophisticated, there has
to be recognition that the situation demands better understanding of factors
that are at work.
Way
Forward
Alongside this, and to fill the
gap, there is a case for far greater sharing of intelligence and
information among intelligence agencies worldwide than it exists at present.
This is important to prevent another terror attack on the lines of the Mumbai
2008 attack.
It now transpires that certain
foreign intelligence agencies had additional information about the possible
attack which was not shared in time, and which led to an intelligence gap. This
could have been avoided.
More important, such a
situation should never arise in the future.
Terror and terrorism is a
universal phenomenon. Every nation is bound to share able with it to prevent a
possible major terror attack.
Important
Points
·
UP
Government launched Prakash Hai to Vikas Hai Scheme on - 25th December 2017
·
Singapore's
Deputy PM to join Sushma Swaraj at- ASEAN-India PBD
·
Rupani
takes oath as Gujarat CM for 2nd consecutive term on - 26th December 2017
·
India
signed USD 318 million loan Agreement with World Bank for
agriculture project in Tamil Nadu on - 26th December 2017
Details
UP
Government launched Prakash Hai to Vikas Hai Scheme on - 25th December 2017
The Uttar Pradesh Government initiated
‘Prakash hai to vikas hai’ Scheme, a free of cost household electricity
connection scheme for the below poverty line and poor in the state. It was
initiated to celebrate former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birth anniversary, on
the eve of Good Governance Day on 25th December 2017. In the beginning, 2
village Lohban and Gausana of Mathura district have been considered under same
scheme for 100% power supply. In this scheme, state government aims to cover 16
million power supplies by the ending of year 2018.
Kisan Uday Yojana- UP government has also imitated Kisan Uday
Yojana, a project for the farmers of the state under which present 5 Horse
Power to 7.5 Horse Power submersible and coupling pairs of farmers will be
changed free of cost. The project will cover 10 lakh farmers by the year 2022
and will result into 35 percent electricity saving. The UP Government has
signed Memorandum of Understanding with South Korea on to upgrading the
coordination in the field of tourism, culture, farming and skill development.
It was signed after a commission from South
Korea’s Gimhae city visited Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow and
talked on the ways to enhanve cooperation between the 2 nations.
Key Highlights
·
The
Memorandum of Understanding will go a long way in joining the bond mainly
cultural and historical bonds between Uttar Pradesh and South Korea.
·
·
In
the past, an accordance was signed to develop Ayodhya and Gimhae as sister
cities in year 2000, after which memorial was built in Ayodhya which is visited
by many tourists from South Korea annually.
·
·
It
is the trust of the South Korea people that 2,000 years ago, Ayodhya princess
got married to Korean King Kim Suro. Currently, members of the ‘Crock Clan’ are
believed as their successors.
·
Singapore's
Deputy PM to join Sushma Swaraj at - ASEAN-India PBD
International Affairs Singapore's Deputy
Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean will meet India's External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj for a 2-day “ASEAN-India Pravasi Bharatiya
Divas” to be organized in Singapore coming month.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and chief ministers of
Andhra Pradesh and Assam, N Chandrababu Naidu and Sarbananda Sonowal, will also
accompany her during the function on 6-7th January 2018.
The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is observed annually to mark the participation of
overseas Indian group in the progress of India.
Rupani
takes oath as Gujarat CM for 2nd consecutive term on - 26th December 2017
BJP MLA Vijay Rupani on Tuesday 26th
December 2017 took pledge as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for his 2nd
consecutive term in state capital Gandhinagar. Rupani noticed victory from
the Rajkot West constituency with a margin of 53,755 votes. 19 other ministers,
along with Deputy CM-elect Nitin Patel, also took pledge on this occasion.
The newly nominated cabinet was administered the pledge of office and secrecy
by Governor OP Kohli at a mega occasion. Prime minister Narendra Modi,
Shah and chief ministers of different BJP governed states attended the
ceremony. Rupani and his wife also offered their devotions at the
Panchdev Mahadev temple here earlier to the oath-taking function.
Rupani and Patel were nominated as the leader and deputy leader,
respectively, of the BJP legislature party at its meeting on 22nd December
2017.
Vibhavari Dave, the only woman candidate and also the alone Brahmin face in the
advisory committee is an important leader from Saurashtra region. She is
also a 3-term MLA. With 99 MLAs, the BJP has a lead in the 182-member
Assembly, 16 less than its 2012 sum total of 115. the opponent Congress
party that had achieved 61 seats in 2012, directed to increase its sum
total to 77. The total dominance of the Congress and its allies in the
new House is eighty.
India
signed USD 318 million loan Agreement with World Bank for agriculture project
in Tamil Nadu on - 26th December 2017
India on 26th December 2017 signed USD 318
million Loan Accordance with the World Bank for Tamil Nadu Irrigated
Agriculture Modernization Project to enhance climate resilient agriculture
technologies, improve water management exercises and raise market chances
for farmers in the state. The accordance was signed by Sameer Kumar
Khare, Joint Secretary in Department of Economic Affairs,Ministry of
Finance; S. K. Prabhakar, Principal Secretary of PWD, Tamil Nadu and John
Blomquist, Program Leader and Acting Country Director of World Bank,
India.
Highlights of the Tamil Nadu Irrigated
Agriculture Modernization Project
·
Approximately
500000 farmers, are supposed to benefit from Tamil Nadu Irrigated Agriculture
Modernization Project.
·
The
scheme will rehabilitate and udate about 4800 irrigation storage tanks and 477
check dams that are expanded across 66 sub-basins to supply bulk water to
irrigation projects.
·
It
will upgrade the reliability and availability of irrigation water for farming
groups, making them less prone to climatic changes.
·
More
than 160000 hectares of presently partially irrigated places will come into
full irrigation with this scheme.
·
It
will help farmers in improving the efficiency of water utilised in farming and
grow crops that are resilient to the increasing threats of climate
hazards.
·
The
scheme will facilitate farmers to move from a mono crop paddy arrangement to
mixed cropping including high-value crops, vegetables, spices, millets,
fruits, oilseeds and pulses.
·
It
will increase the ability of crops to withstand unfavourable effects of climate
change by helping smallholder producers in acquiring new conservation
applications such as Sustainable Sugar
·
Initiative
and the System of Rice Intensification.
·
This
loan of USD 318 million from the World Bank for Reconstruction and Development
has a five year of favourable period and a maturity of nineteen years.
Urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
‘Prasad’
scheme
Context: The parliamentary
standing committee on transport, tourism and culture has referred to the
tourism ministry’s flagship Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation
Drive (Prasad) scheme as one whose conceptualisation is “radically wrong” and
which needs a “complete relook”.
What’s the
issue?
The standing
committee noted that the scheme was not running properly even three years after
its launch. It said, “States are not actually buying the idea of tourism
department and their plan. The committee visited Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and
Telangana and during deliberations of the committee, it came to know that they
have their own tourism policy. But it seems there is no coordination with the
central government.” The standing committee was also dissatisfied with the
government’s response blaming state government agencies for the delay.
The committee also
notes that there is something radically wrong with the conceptualisation of the
‘Prasad’ scheme itself. The committee finds that study of the ‘Prasad’ scheme
shows that it has not been properly conceived at all. Even today, without
government intervention, there are many other well operated religious circuits
in the country.” The standing committee recommended that the ministry undertake
a “complete relook” of the scheme.
About PRASAD
scheme:
PRASAD scheme aims
to create spiritual centres for tourism development within the nation. To
implement the PRASAD scheme a Mission Directorate has been set up in the
Ministry of Tourism.
Twelve
cities namely Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh), Gaya(Bihar),
Dwaraka(Gujarat), Amritsar(Punjab), Ajmer(Rajasthan), Kanchipuram(Tamil Nadu),
Vellankani(Tamil Nadu), Puri(Odisha), Varanasi(Uttar Prasesh), Mathura(Uttar
Pradesh), Kedarnath (Uttarakhand) and Kamakhya (Assam) have been identified for
development under Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spirituality Augmentation Drive
(PRASAD) by the Ministry of Tourism.
Government policies and interventions for development in
various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Atal
Innovation Mission
Context:
NITI Aayog’s Atal
Innovation Mission (AIM), Government of India’s flagship program to promote
innovation and entrepreneurship nationwide in schools, universities and
industry, has selected additional 1500 Schools for establishment of Atal
Tinkering Labs (ATLs).
The addition of
these schools will give a major boost to realize the vision of the mission
to ‘Cultivate One Million children in India as the Innovators of
tomorrow’. With this announcement of the new Atal Tinkering Labs, AIM, has
selected 2441 Schools across India to establish ATLs to date since it began its
operations over a year ago.
What are
Atal Tinkering Labs?
ATLs are
innovation play workspaces for students between Grade VI to Grade XII,
stimulating innovations combining science & technology. These open-ended
innovation workspaces equipped with state of the art technologies like 3D
printers, Robotics, Sensor Technology Kits, Internet of Things, miniaturized
Electronics etc enable the students to learn and solve local community problems
using emerging Technologies. Students are encouraged to explore and experience
Design Thinking and Innovation, using a do-it-yourself approach, and develop
innovative solutions to India’s social, community or economic problems.
Background:
NITI Aayog’s Atal
Innovation Mission is among one of the flagship programs of the Government of
India to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the country to set up the
Atal Tinkering Labs across the country. The Mission has / is in the process of
setting up 900+ such labs across India and aims to have 2,000 such labs by end
of 2017.
Important aspects of governance, transparency and
accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and
potential.
Public
Financial Management System (PFMS)
Context:
The home ministry
has directed all NGOs, business entities and individuals who receive funds from
abroad to open accounts in any of the 32 designated banks, including one
foreign, within a month for higher level of transparency. It also asked them to
ensure that such funds are not utilised for activities detrimental to the
national interest.
The directive to
the NGOs, companies and individuals to open foreign contribution accounts in
banks, which are integrated with the central government’s Public Financial
Management System (PFMS), came for providing a higher level of transparency and
hassle-free reporting compliance.
Background:
The Foreign
Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010 provides for the regulation of
acceptance of the foreign funds or foreign hospitality by certain individuals,
associations, organisations and companies “to ensure that such contributions or
hospitality is not being utilised for the activities detrimental to the
national interest”.
About PFMS:
What is it?
The PFMS, which
functions under the Controller General of Accounts in the Ministry of Finance,
provides a financial management platform for all plan schemes, a database of
all recipient agencies, integration with core banking solution of banks
handling plan funds, integration with state treasuries and efficient and
effective tracking of fund flow to the lowest level of implementation for plan
scheme of the government.
Significance of
PFMS:
Introduction of
the PFMS resulted in effectiveness and economy in public finance management
through better cash management for government transparency in public
expenditure and real-time information on resource availability and utilisation
across schemes. It also resulted in improved programme administration and
management, reduction of float in the system, direct payment to beneficiaries
and greater transparency and accountability in the use of public funds.
Indian Economy and issues relating to planning,
mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.
Finance
Ministry to issue recapitalisation bonds to PSBs
Context:
The Ministry of
Finance is likely to issue the first tranche of recapitalisation bonds to
public sector banks (PSB) in early January. The recapitalisation bonds will not
be sold in open market and will be issued to all banks. Apart from this, the
government will also infuse capital worth Rs 8,000 crore on the basis of
performance.
Background:
Earlier in
October, the government had announced an unprecedented PSU banks
recapitalisation programme of Rs 2.11 lakh crore. This was essential to improve
the lending capacity of the banks and to increase public spending on
infrastructure.
Nature of
re-cap bond:
The government
will issue bonds worth Rs 1.35 lakh crore to PSBs against equity shares. This
then becomes a cash-neutral transaction (instead of a direct cash infusion).
The government can also float a bank holding company, transfer all its shares
in PSBs to this corporate entity, infuse some capital into this entity. This
entity then borrows in the market against its equity as a AAA Quasi-Sovereign entity
and uses the money to recapitalise the banks.
Fiscal
implication:
Since upfront it’s
a cash neutral transaction, fiscal deficit will be impacted only by the
interest cost on the bonds that the government pays every year. The
government’s overall debt/GDP ratio though will increase to the extent of the
bond issued and so will its repayment obligations. Whenever the banks require
liquidity, they can sell these bonds in the market, raise cash and use it for
either lending or write-off purposes.
Significance
of this move:
Ultimately, this
recapitalisation will lead to an improvement in the government’s finances as it
would also be able to sell its stake in public sector banks at much higher
valuations. Even on the demand side, some banks who were not investing their
extra cash into debt securities due to capital shortage may now be able to do
so instead of placing them with the Reserve Bank of India’s reverse repos.
Indian Economy and issues relating to planning,
mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.
Special
Economic Zone (SEZ)
Context: A commerce
ministry-appointed panel has suggested few changes in the existing SEZ rules.
Background:
In order to align
the SEZ rules 2006 with the GST (Goods and Services Tax) laws as well as for
removal of various difficulties faced, the committee was constituted by the
ministry to make necessary recommendations.
Proposed changes:
§ The Board of
Approval (BoA), the highest decision making body for SEZs, should be given
additional powers to exempt units and developers from certain rules to promote
these zones.
§ The other
suggestions include submission of GST registration certificate instead of sales
tax registration. It also provides for obtaining national security clearance as
per guidelines issued by the home affairs ministry.
§ The committee has
also sought the establishment of a SEZ Rules Interpretation Committee to help
in ease of operations, as well as suggestions to reduce paper work for
developing SEZ units.
What is a SEZ?
A Special Economic
Zone (SEZ) is a geographical region that has economic laws more liberal than a
country’s typical economic laws. They are established with an aim to purport
development , promote rapid economic growth by providing tax and business
incentives for attracting foreign technology along with investment. These
are not merely SEZ’s but may be called as “favorite Investment destinations”
for foreign establishments. Such units would be future sources of employment,
hubs of latest technologies and equipped with the best infrastructure.
Pollution.
Centre
releases draft action plan to tackle air pollution in Delhi
A high-level task
force headed by the principal secretary to the Prime Minister has released a
12-point draft plan to tackle pollution in Delhi NCR. The task force includes
senior officials from the environment, agriculture, earth sciences, transport,
power and petroleum ministries and principal secretaries of Delhi and NCR
states.
Proposed
measures:
§ Put in place a
plan to manage crop stubble and ensure that data on its burning is generated
independently and in real time by monitoring the fires.
§ Punitive measures
for polluting industries have to be stricter and clearly defined to fix
accountability which seems to be very relaxed in the current plan and, finally,
the PMO has to intervene at the national level to act on the rising air
pollution and health crises.
§ Conduct
source-attribution studies for NCR every year. The lack of data has been a
problem in implementation of pollution-control measures. The last comprehensive
study on air pollution in Delhi NCR was done by IIT-Kanpur in 2015.
§ Nitrogen oxide
emissions from thermal power plants should be brought under control. In
December 2015, the environment ministry notified stricter standards for thermal
power plants. None of the plants met the deadline to comply with the norms this
year. These include limits for particulate matter, sulphur oxide and nitrogen
oxide.
§ Decongestion
measures must be implemented in choke points in Delhi, Meerut, Rohtak and
Gurugram. Recommendations to improve public transport include adding buses,
improving last-mile connectivity, launching a journey planner app integrating
Metro, DIMTS and DTC services.
§ An anti-pollution
helpline has also been proposed along with an app whereby people can submit
photos of violations to get prompt remedial action.
§ The action plan
called for strict action against polluting brick kilns, especially in areas
such as Bagpat (Uttar Pradesh) and Jhajjar (Haryana), operating without
environmental clearance. These kilns are required to migrate to zig-zag
technology that reduces particulate matter pollution.
§ The task force
also called for promotion of electric vehicles to tackle transport-related
pollution. State and municipal bodies have been asked to manage solid waste
better and ensure no fire outbreaks at landfills. Agencies involved in large
construction projects have been directed to set up facilities to take care of
construction and demolition waste and recycle as far as possible.
Background:
The task force was
formed after a severe spell of pollution in the region in November when air
quality remained at hazardous levels for almost two weeks. The centre and the
Union environment ministry faced flak for failing to coordinate actions across
states that impacted Delhi NCR’s air quality.
The environment
secretary is tasked with ensuring implementation of the measures, while the
task force will step in occasionally to monitor progress. The direct
intervention by the PMO would give the action plan more heft.
Blue Flag for Beach Clean-up
The environment
ministry has launched a pilot project named ‘Blue Flag’ for beach clean-up and
development.
About the Blue Flag project:
The prime
objective of the project is to enhance standards of cleanliness, upkeep and
basic amenities at beaches. Under the project, each state or union territory
has been asked to nominate a beach which will be funded through the ongoing
Integrated Coastal Management Programme.
Facts for Prelims:
‘Mission Seven Summits’:
What is it? After scaling of
Mt Everest in 2005, IAF launched a unique and unprecedented series of
mountaineering expedition ‘Mission Seven Summits’ with an aim to fly the
tricolour and the IAF flag on the highest peaks in every continent. With this,
the IAF has become the first organisation in India to achieve this unique feat.
The highest peak
on each continent – Asia Mt. Everest, Australia Mt. Kosciuszko, South America
Mt. Aconcagua, Antarctica Mt. Vinson Massif, North America Mt. Denali, Europe
Mt. Elbrus and Africa Mt. Kilimanjaro – are part of Misson7Summit.
Yaogan 30 project:
Context: China has
launched its Long March 2C rocket with a trio of Yaogan-30 satellites into
space. Developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Yaogan-30 03
trio consists of three identical satellites equipped with two deployable solar
arrays.
Yaogan is a series
of Earth-observing satellites launched by China since 2006. The satellites are
intended for scientific experiments, land survey, crop yield assessment and
disaster monitoring.
COUNTRIES AND CAPITALS
Ireland Dublin
Italy
Rome
Japan Tokyo
Nepal Kathmandu
Oman Muscat
Pakistan Islamabad
Portugal Lisbon
Qatar Doha
Russia Moscow