Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE:19-03-15
S.NO. / NEWS ITEM / SYLLUBUS / ESSENCE OF THE ARTICLE1. / Changing equations not against India (Page 12) / a) I.R / a) Acknowledging that after a long time Pak-Afghan relations are shaping up in a constructive way, Pakistan High Commissioner has said the changing equations between the countries are not directed against India.
2. / Crafting a constitution for Nepal (Page 8) / a) I.R / a) As a player in Nepal politics, the best support India can provide is by staying outside the convention of constitution writing.
3. / Its time for India to join the Mine Ban Treaty (Pg 9) / a) I.R / a) Left over from a previous phase of conflict, Indias landmines are no longer useful, instead producing severe hardship on border communities.
4. / Colombo may lift ban on Tamil groups (Page 13) / a) International / a) Sri Lankan govt said it may lift ban on several Tamil diaspora groups and individuals imposed by the Rajapaksa regime for their alleged links to LTTE.
5. / Putin fetes takeover of Crimea (Page 13) / a) International / a) Russian President Putin victoriously joined the supporters to mark one year since his takeover of Crimea, a shift that upset ties with Ukraine and the West.
6. / Netanyahu sweeps to surprise win, secures a third term as PM (Page 13) / a) International / a) Benjamin Netanyahu swept to a stunning election victory, securing a third straight term for an Israeli leader who has deepened tensions with the Palestinians and angered key ally US.
7. / GST Bill to be first off the block (Page 1) / a) National
b) Polity / a) The Union govt will give the long-pending GST Constitution Amendment Bill precedence over the controversial Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill.
8. / Collegium system is illegal, says govt (Page 11) / a) National
b) Polity / a) Calling the 21-year-old collegium system of judicial appointments to higher courts completely illegal, the Union govt said that there was no guarantee that the best judges could be appointed only by judges.
9. / Caste determines spending on food, choice of work: NSSO (Page 11) / a) National
b) Social issue / a) New data from the National Sample Survey Office show how much and what people eat and what work they do differs significantly by caste.
10. / The long road to growth (Page 9) / a) National
b) Environment / a) As power lines and roads cut up forest cover, it becomes clear that a knowledge economy must tackle development with a wider perspective than that of only short-term gains.
11. / Reserve Bank prepared for impact of Fed policy shift, says Rajan (Page 14) / a) Economy / a) RBI Governor said that the RBI is fully prepared to deal with any volatility in Indian markets due to US Federal Reserves policy action on interest rates and normality will be ensured.
12. / Astra performs key manoeuvre (Page 12) / a) National
b) S&T / a) A critical high-g manoeuvring capability of indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range air-to-air missile (Astra) was proved after it was launched from Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft against a moving simulated target from Chandipur in Odisha.
13. / IISc: Chennai highest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases (Page 16) / a) S&T / a) At nearly 39 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, Delhi has the highest greenhouse gases footprint in the country.
14. / Breakthrough in treating acute myeloid leukaemia (Page 16) / a) S&T / a) Acute myeloid leukaemia is a type of cancer affecting bone narrow and blood cells and less than 25 percent survive for more than five years in adult cases.
15. / Leukaemia cells be converted into immune cells (Page 7) / a) S&T / a) Researchers have found a new method that can force dangerous leukaemia cells in the lab to mature into immune cells that may help fight cancer.
S.NO. / NEWS ITEM / SYLLUBUS / BACKGROUND / IMPORTANT POINTS
1. / Changing equations not against India (Page 12) / a) I.R / a) Pakistan – Afghanistan relations
b) India – Afghanistan relations
c) SAARC Summit
d) SAARC Motor Vehicles Agreement
e) Terrorism / a) Acknowledging that after a long time Pak-Afghan relations are shaping up in a constructive way, Pakistan High Commissioner has said the changing equations between the countries are not directed against India.
b) He also said Afghanistan is not bypassing India, while talking to Pakistan. Pakistan and Afghanistans relationship is unique as they share a long border, cultural and religious commonalities.
c) He highlighted on the need for a strong India-Afghanistan relationship to complement Pakistans ties with Afghanistan.
d) He said our focus at the moment is on terrorism and how to help Afghanistan under its own leadership and reconciliation plan. We are just facilitating that to the extent we can. It is up to Afghanistan to see where and how Pakistan can be relevant.
e) He said that one of the main focuses in next years SAARC Summit (when Pakistan will be hosting it) is to put the SAARC Motor Vehicles Agreement in place. The agreement will ensure trouble-free movement of cargo and passengers among many member countries of SAARC.
2. / Crafting a constitution for Nepal (Page 8) / a) I.R / a) India – Nepal relations
b) Nepals new constitution process
c) Federalism
d) Secularism
e) First-past-the post system / a) Nepal is trying to write a constitution for the second time, after the first Constituent Assembly (CA) of four years collapsed in May 2012. The entire polity and economy of the country have suffered a state of suspension since 2006, when the Peoples Movement and the end of the decade-long internal conflict promised peace and prosperity.
b) The ongoing attempt is to erect the newborn republic on a strong foundation of pluralism and representative politics and make Nepal an exemplary democracy of South Asia, which its size and sensibility allow.
c) There are hurdles to the constitution drafting that have to be resolved urgently if the radical leftists and the royalist (Hindutva) right are not to rear up and blow away hard-won freedoms. As a player in Nepal politics, the best support India can provide is by staying outside the convention of constitution writing.
d) There are three main pending issues before the second CA - secularism, electoral process and definition of federalism. On secularism, there is a rising undercurrent to redefine Nepal as a Hindu state and a whole group has taken energy from the BJPs electoral success in India.
e) On the electoral scheme, the struggle is between those favouring the first-past-the post system for effective governance and others who maintain that only proportional representation can reflect Nepals diversity of marginalised communities.
f) Nepal was officially declared a federal democratic republic in 2008 but the debate on federalism has yet to mature to the level of allowing demarcation.
g) In the CA, the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified-Marxist-Leninist)can come up with the two-thirds majority required for promulgation. However, they have not been able to generate momentum for constitution drafting, laid low by the dull performance of their coalition government.
h) The demography of the plains is rather complex and it would be unwise to concede on any proposed federal arrangement out of sheer irritation, whether identity-based or on economic geography.
i) By some believable accounts, the plains-specific provinces idea was thought up by Indian diplomats and intelligence operatives, with the Madhesi Morcha leaders made to carry the burden as a kind of ideology.
j) With the arrival of the Modi-led govt in India, there seems to be second thoughts about the viability of the proposed plains-specific provinces. Some strategists in India are now wondering whether this prescription is not geopolitically fraught, with dangers of making Nepal a stomping ground for international adventurism.
k) The best option for now is to enact a constitution that confirms a democratic, federal, non-denominational Republic of Nepal, while leaving the matter of federal arrangement to parliament or to a credible, high-level commission.
l) If the country finds itself without a constitution after eight years of trying, the politicians and political parties of Nepal will be the first to be held accountable. But history will also ask India about its role in the failure.
3. / Its time for India to join the Mine Ban Treaty (Pg 9) / a) I.R / a) Mine Ban Treaty
b) UN General Assembly Resolution
c) UN Secretary General
d) UN Convention on Conventional Weapons
e) Operation Parakram
f) Line of Control (LoC)
g) International Border (IB) / a) India (since its independence) has been a passionate advocate of disarmament measures in the UN system. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, India has a long-standing commitment to the goal of general and complete disarmament based on the principles of universality, non-discrimination and verification.
b) In 1996, India voted in favour of a UN General Assembly Resolution urging states to stronglyfollow an international agreement banning anti-personnel mines. However, in 1997 when the Mine Ban Treaty came into existence, India chose to remain outside it. 80 percent of govts in the world have joined this treaty and the UNSG has accepted it as a near universal convention.
c) In 1999, India joined an Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on Conventional Weapons, a limited disarmament measure on anti-personnel landmines. The protocol prohibits the use of undetectable landmines, requires permanent marking and fencing of any mined area but does not comprehensively ban the weapon.
d) In the past, India was a major manufacturer of undetectable landmines and used them along the IB with Pakistan as well as along the LoC in Kashmir.
e) In the past, India has stated that it needs landmines to prevent incursion by armed militants, especially into Kashmir. India has suffered greatly from anti-personnel mine use.
f) The largest known use of anti-personnel mines by any govt in recent times was Indias and Pakistans deployment of hundreds of thousands of anti-personnel mines along the international border during Operation Parakram in the wake of the attack on the Indian Parliament in Dec 2001.
g) The full extent of areas mined during Operation Parakaram is unknown. However, reports from that time indicate 700 sqkm along LoC in J&K and large areas of Punjab and Rajasthan were mined.
h) The mines laid over the past decades did not impact the insurgency in Kashmir in any significant way. But the misery they have produced in the communities along the IB and the LoC is real today. With the subsequent construction of the fence along the LoC, Indias anti-personnel mines have become all the more dispensable. Left over from a previous phase of conflict, they no longer serve any purpose.
i) It is time for India to rethink its policy and join the other nations around the globe that have concluded that this weapon deserves to be consigned to dustbin of history.
4. / Colombo may lift ban on Tamil groups (Page 13) / a) International / a) Sri Lankan internal issues
b) Tamil diaspora groups
c) Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) / a) Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that Sri Lankan govt said it may lift a ban on several Tamil diaspora groups and individuals imposed by the previous Mahinda Rajapaksa regime for their alleged links to the LTTE to achieve reconciliation with the countrys largest ethnic minority.
5. / Putin fetes takeover of Crimea (Page 13) / a) International / a) Russias takeover of Crimea
b) Ukraine crisis
c) Black Sea peninsula / a) Russian President Putin victoriously joined tens of thousands of supporters to mark one year since his takeover of Crimea, a shift that upset ties with Ukraine and the West.
b) He appeared on stage in front of a flag-waving crowd at a celebratory concert by the walls of the Kremlin to make an impassioned justification for seizing the Black Sea peninsula in a move that sent his poll ratings soaring.
6. / Netanyahu sweeps to surprise win, secures a third term as PM (Page 13) / a) International / a) Israels internal issues
b) Palestinian crisis
c) US – Israel relations
d) India – Israel relations / a) Benjamin Netanyahu swept to a stunning election victory, securing a third straight term for an Israeli leader who has deepened tensions with the Palestinians and angered key ally US.
b) The prospect of new term for the aggressive binding is likely to cast a long shadow over Israels upset relationship with the Palestinians and its strained ties with the US administration.
c) In a demonstration of the openness and increasing friendliness between India and Israel, PM Modi congratulated his Israeli counterpart Netanyahu on his re-election.
d) India and Israel established bilateral relations in 1992 and with several common concerns, strategic cooperation quickly progressed.
7. / GST Bill to be first off the block (Page 1) / a) National
b) Polity / a) Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitution Amendment Bill
b) Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill
c) Parliament / a) Sources said the govt will give the long-pending GST Constitution Amendment Bill precedence over the controversial Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill.
b) The GST Bills passage will require a constitutional amendment, which means a two-thirds majority was required in Parliament. The Assemblies too will have to approve the Bill ahead of the April 2016 deadline.
8. / Collegium system is illegal, says govt (Page 11) / a) National
b) Polity / a) National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC)
b) 99th Constitution Amendment
c) Collegium system / a) Calling the 21-year-old collegium system of judicial appointments to higher courts completely illegal, the govt said that there was no guarantee that the best judges could be appointed only by judges.
b) The govts observation came during its final submissions before a Special Bench. The Bench is deciding whether the legal challenge to the NJAC is maintainable at all.
c) The NJAC would replace the collegium in judicial appointments. The NJAC Act and the 99thConstitution Amendment recently received the Presidents assent after ratification by 20 States but is yet to be notified by govt.
d) The govt dismissed the argument by petitioners that the judicial voice in the six-member NJAC would be drowned by veto power of two eminent persons on the panel.
9. / Caste determines spending on food, choice of work: NSSO (Page 11) / a) National
b) Social issue / a) National Sample Survey Office (NSSO)
b) Poverty / a) New data from the NSSO show how much and what people eat and what work they do differs significantly by caste.
b) The NSSO released two new reports this week - one on household consumption expenditure by a social group and the other on employment and unemployment by a social group.
c) The data show that while food takes up a larger share of the total expenditure of ST and SC households, compared with those if OBCs and others, the food items that different social groups spend on, changes with caste.
d) It added that SC and ST households are among Indias poorest, and both the occupational profile and consumption patterns should be seen as a function of poverty.
10. / The long road to growth (Page 9) / a) National
b) Environment / a) National Board for Wildlife
b) Forest Conservation Act of 1980 / a) In just two meetings in Aug 2014 and Jan2015, the National Board for Wildlife considered projects involving over 2300 hectares of land in and around wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. In four meetings between Sept and Dec 2014, the Forest Advisory Committee considered diversion of over 3300 hectares of forests for 28 projects.
b) Linear infrastructure projects (roads, trains and power lines that make long intrusions into forests and stretch over 1000s of kms) are the new threat to our forests, in addition to submergence by dams or clearing for mining and agriculture.
c) The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has been gradually diluting the norms for such projects. It has recently permitted Central agencies executing linear projects in forests to cut trees after in-principle or first stage approval under the Forest Conservation Act of 1980.
d) Roads and power lines support economic growth and other needs such as mobility and delivery of services, and are vital in a developing country. But they also bring a host of associated problems that affect natural ecosystems and rural and tribal communities.
e) With multiple linear intrusions (roads, canals, power lines and railways) together cutting up the landscape, the cumulative impact on wildlife and habitat is deadly.
f) Linear infrastructure projects are needed for the economy but so are forests. They are not only fungible assets to be compensated by artificial plantations but unique living systems of plants, animals and dependent human communities.
g) Besides adopting economic benefits, linear projects must measure and mitigate long-term costs and ecological effects in a credible and transparent manner.
h) In India, the Standing Committee of National Board for Wildlife guidelines accord primacy to the Principle of Avoidance, whereby wildlife protected areas and valuable natural ecosystems are not unnecessarily disrupted by linear intrusions
i) If linear infrastructure can be scientifically informed, ecologically sensitive and well designed, it can promote economic development and safeguard the habitat as well.
11. / Reserve Bank prepared for impact of Fed policy shift, says Rajan (Page 14) / a) Economy / a) Monetary policy
b) US Federal Reserves policy / a) RBI Governor said that the RBI is fully prepared to deal with any volatility in Indian markets due to US Federal Reserves policy action on interest rates and normality will be ensured.
b) It is widely expected that the Fed could give signal on rate hike as the US economy is showing signs of improvement. This may result in the flight of capital from the emerging markets, including India.
12. / Astra performs key manoeuvre (Page 12) / a) National
b) S&T / a) Astra
b) Lakshya
c) Tejas
d) Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)
e) Sukhoi-30 MKI
f) DRDO / a) A critical high-g manoeuvring capability of indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range air-to-air missile (Astra) was proved after it was launched from Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft against a moving simulated target from Chandipur in Odisha.
b) The DRDO scientists have planned to launch Astra against an actual target - Pilotless Target Aircraft (Lakshya).
c) The smallest of the missiles developed by DRDO, the 3.8-metre long Astra uses solid propellant and can carry a warhead weighing 15 kg. The state-of-the-art missile can intercept and destroy enemy aircraft at supersonic speeds in tail-chase mode and at very long range in head-on mode.
d) DRDO scientists also plan to equip Tejas LCA with Astra.
13. / IISc: Chennai highest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases (Page 16) / a) S&T / a) Greenhouse gas emissions
b) Carbon footprint
c) Per capita emission of carbon dioxide equivalent / a) A team of scientists in IISc studied that at nearly 39 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, Delhi has the highest greenhouse gases footprint in the country.
b) Despite the total GHS footprint being 17 million tonnes lesser than Delhi, Chennai has the highest per capita emission of carbon dioxide equivalent - 4.79 tonnes. Chennai also emits the highest carbon dioxide equivalent per GDP - 2.55 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent per lakh rupees.
c) The study has looked into all sources of greenhouse gas emissions - transportation, domestic sector, electricity consumption, industry, agriculture and livestock, and solid and liquid waste.
d) A sector-wise analysis revealed that transportation turned out to be biggest source of emission in cities. The domestic sector was the next biggest contributor of greenhouse gases emissions.
14. / Breakthrough in treating acute myeloid leukaemia (Page 16) / a) S&T / a) Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML)
b) Leukaemia cells
c) DNA / a) Targeted therapy or personalised medicine for treating AML got closer to reality - an important development achieved by a group of scientists in US.
b) AML is a type of cancer affecting bone marrow and blood cells and less than 25 percent survive for more than five years in adult AML cases.
c) Like in many other cancers, AML too is caused by genetic changes at cellular level. These changes result in production of fusion proteins, transcription factors and lead to growth of abnormal leukaemia cells. Transcription factors which bind DNA and regulate gene expression play a key role in causing such abnormal cancerous cells.
15. / Leukaemia cells be converted into immune cells (Page 7) / a) S&T / a) Leukaemia cells
b) Cancer cells
c) Macrophages / a) Researchers have found a new method that can force dangerous leukaemia cells in the lab to mature into immune cells that may help fight cancer.
b) They collected leukaemia cells from a patient and were trying to keep the cells alive in a culture plate and mentioned that some of the cancer cells in culture were changing into what looked like harmless immune cells known as macrophages.
NOTE: Read all articles in S&T Page 16.