Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 04-08-15

S.NO. / NEWS ITEM / SYLLUBUS / ESSENCE OF THE ARTICLE
1. / NSA meet: India ready with water-tight case (Page 12) / a) I.R / a) Backed with forensic and electronic evidence, the govt will be presenting a water-tight case before Pakistan at NSA-level dialogue saying the three militants involved in the Gurdaspur attack came from across the border.
2. / Opinion divided on whether India should join (Page 12) / a) I.R / a) The hostage situation in Libya coupled with recent call by the Islamic State for a combined Afghanistan-Pakistan jihadi coalition against India, once again brings to focus the debate on whether or not India should play a more active military role in the global war against IS.
3. / Freedom after many midnights (Page 10) / a) I.R / a) Even the sternest of critics of Indian foreign policy will find it a tough task to question some of diplomatic feats that India has managed to notch up of late.
4. / Obama takes biggest step to tackle climate change (Page 14) / a) International / a) Billed as the strongest action ever on climate change by a US President, hundreds of businesses including eBay, Nestle and General Mills have issued their support for Barack Obamas clean power plan.
5. / Afghan govt says it will not deal with Taliban separately (Pg14) / a) International / a) Afghans govt has addressed the growing leadership crisis in the Taliban for the first time, saying it wont deal with the militant group separately from other armed opposition in the country.
6. / Major Sri Lankan parties reject TNAs demand for federalism (Pg14) / a) International / a) Major political parties in Sri Lanka have flatly rejected the Tamil National Alliances demand for federalism.They have said the demand(if accepted) would lead to division of the country.
7. / Centre inks peace accord with Naga insurgent outfit (Pages 1 and 12) / a) National / a) The govt signed a peace accord with the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), which has been demanding a unified Naga identity and a separate Nagalim State for over six decades.
8. / Centre disowns Indian Financial Code draft (Pages 1 and 12) / a) National
b) Economy / a) The Modi govt stepped back from the controversy surrounding the draft Indian Financial Code that seeks to dilute the RBIs powers to regulate the foreign exchange and government bond markets and set monetary policy.
9. / A victims submission to sexual assault does not mean consent: SC (P13) / a) National
b) Polity / a) Noting that rape is basically an assault on human rights, the Supreme Court said submission to sexual assault should not be construed as consent by the victim, but immobility caused by sheer terror.
10. / Only 8.15 percent of Indians are graduates, Census data show (Pages 1 and 12) / a) National
b) Social issue / a) New Census data show that despite a big increase in college attendance (especially among women), fewer than one out of every 10 Indians is a graduate.
S.NO. / NEWS ITEM / SYLLUBUS / BACKGROUND / IMPORTANT POINTS
1. / NSA meet: India ready with water-tight case (Page 12) / a) I.R / a) India – Pakistan relations
b) Border disputes
c) Terrorism
d) Gurdaspur terror attack
e) Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)
f) Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)
g) Global Positioning System (GPS) / a) Backed with forensic and electronic evidence, the govt will be presenting a water-tight case before Pakistan at NSA-level dialogue saying the three militants involved in the Gurdaspur attack came from across the border.
b) The talks are expected to be held in Delhi on Aug 23-24. Official confirmed that the last weeks strike would be taken up. While India has consciously decided not to blame Pakistan for the attacks, it will present before it corroborative evidence like GPS coordinates and forensic evidence extracted from soil samples of the shoes of the three fidayeen militants.
c) Sources said that India would also raise the following issues: Pakistans support to terrorists operating against India, which includes banned groups like LeT, JeM; cross-border infiltration; fugitives like underworld don Dawood Ibrahim being sheltered by Pakistan; terrorist financing and pumping of Fake Indian Circulation Notes; and, the impending trial against accused like Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
2. / Opinion divided on whether India should join (Page 12) / a) I.R / a) Islamic State (IS)
b) Syria and Iraq crisis
c) UN Peacekeeping mission / a) The hostage situation in Libya coupled with recent call by the IS for a combined Afghanistan-Pakistan jihadi coalition against India, once again brings to focus the debate on whether or not India should play a more active military role in the global war against IS.
b) India is under increasing pressure from the US to join the coalition. This had come up for discussion on several occasions at highest levels and is likely to be raised again in September when PM Modi meets US President Obama in New York on the sidelines of the US-led World Peacekeeping Summit.
c) However, expert opinion on this is divided between the imperative need to tackle the threat versus exercising caution in external interference. Any role logistical or full offensive has to factor in the geopolitical, economic and domestic sensitivities.
d) A senior officer who served in UN Peacekeeping missions cautioned against rushing into what is largely a regional war though the threat of IS is global.
3. / Freedom after many midnights (Page 10) / a) I.R / a) India – Bangladesh relations
b) Land Boundary disputes
c) Land Boundary Agreement
d) Universal Declaration of Human Rights / a) Even the sternest of critics of Indian foreign policy will find it a tough task to question some of diplomatic feats that India has managed to notch up of late.The settlement of thedispute related to the maritime boundary with Bangladesh in July 2014 was one of these.
b) And as if to mark its anniversary, the long-running land boundary dispute was buried in July. The enclaves on both sides were exchanged quickly after the required formalities by the midnight of July 31. Settlement of inter-country disputes are always the most remarkable of achievements, howsoever warm their relationships might be.
c) So settling a dispute that involved issues that ran counter to the very opening lines of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the UN(that recognises equal and absolute rights of the human family to freedom, justice and peace) is a creditable achievement.
d) Indeed, the enclave issue involved the denial of the right to freedom and justice to many. It had its roots in Partition. Now, as the national flags of the respective countries fly in the 162 former enclaves, it is time for the state to set up the infrastructure as quickly as possible to mitigate the damage of citizens who lived without a country for decades.
e) The illegal Bangladeshis of the enclaves have become legal because the states felt the time was conducive to award the absolute right to the poorest of the poor. Perhaps if there were different sets of political parties, leaders or diplomats in both the national capitals, the enclave-dwellers would still have been considered a security threat and arrested across the line, as was being done until just last week.
f) Maybe what we need now is not a powerful state or a diplomat, but a historian to document the excess of personal narratives on both sides, which are otherwise bound to be forgotten.
4. / Obama takes biggest step to tackle climate change (Page 14) / a) International / a) Climate change
b) Carbon emissions
c) Paris climate conference 2015 / a) Billed as the strongest action ever on climate change by a US President, hundreds of businesses including eBay, Nestle and General Mills have issued their support for Barack Obamas clean power plan.
b) The rules are designed to cut emissions from power plants and have been strengthened in terms of long-term ambition as originally proposed by the president last year, but slightly weakened in the short-term in a concession to states reliant on highly-polluting coal.
c) The final rules propose a 32 percent cut in carbon emissions from power plants by 2030 on 2005 levels, up from initial proposal of 30 percent. However, states will only have to comply by 2022 rather than 2020 as originally proposed, and will be able submit their plans on meeting the targets by 2018 instead of 2017.
5. / Afghan govt says it will not deal with Taliban separately (Page 14) / a) International / a) Taliban – Afghan government peace talks
b) Afghanistan situation
c) Taliban / a) Afghans govt has addressed the growing leadership crisis in the Taliban for the first time, saying it wont deal with the militant group separately from other armed opposition in the country. The statement from President Ghanis office also says it will not accept any parallel political structure opposed to the Afghan govt.
b) Emerging peace talks between the Taliban and the govt halted last week when officials announced Taliban figurehead Mullah Mohammad Omar had died in April 2013.
c) Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor took over as leader of the Taliban, but relatives of Mullah Omar have contested his appointment, demanding a full vote of the groups militants as their nearly 14-year insurgency continues.
6. / Major Sri Lankan parties reject TNAs demand for federalism (Page 14) / a) International / a) Sri Lankan internal issues
b) Federalism
c) 13th Constitutional Amendment
d) Tamil National Alliance (TNA) / a) Major political parties in Sri Lanka have flatly rejected the TNAs demand for federalism.They have said the demand(if accepted) would lead to division of the country.
b) The Sri Lanka Freedom Party-led United Peoples Freedom Alliance; United National Party-led United National Front for Good Governance and the Janatha Vimukthi Perumana, have saidthe demand (if accepted) would lead to division of the country.
c) The TNA has stated in its manifesto that power sharing arrangements must be established based on a federal structure, as they existed during the merger of Northern and Eastern Provinces.
d) The UNP manifesto has stated that devolution of powers can take place after taking the consent of all stakeholders.
7. / Centre inks peace accord with Naga insurgent outfit (Pages 1 and 12) / a) National / a) Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-NSCN (Isak-Muivah)
b) Naga issue
c) NSCN (Khaplang) / a) Govt signed a peace accord with NSCN-IM (one of largest insurgent outfits), which has been demanding a unified Naga identity and a separate Nagalim State for over six decades.They have signed a ceasefire agreement with the government till April 27 2016.
b) In March this year, the Khaplang faction (led by S.S. Khaplang) broke the ceasefire with India and is suspected to be behind a series of violent attacks in Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.
c) PM Modi said the Naga problem has taken so long to resolve because we did not understand each other. It is a legacy of the British rule. The colonial rulers had kept Nagas isolated and insulated. They propagated terrible myths about Nagas in the rest of the country. They also spread negative ideas about the rest of India among the Naga people. This was part of well-known policy of divide and rule of the colonial rulers.
d) The NSCN (I-M) has been fighting for an independent Nagaland, but later on demanded a Greater Nagaland by slicing off parts of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh to unite 1.2 million Nagas. The demand was opposed by the three States. In 2012, the UPA govt formulated an agreement to be signed with the Naga groups, but it was shot down by Manipur CM Okram Ibobi Singh of the Congress.
8. / Centre disowns Indian Financial Code draft (Pages 1 and 12) / a) National
b) Economy / a) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
b) Indian Financial Code (IFC)
c) Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC)
d) RBI / a) The Modi govt stepped back from the controversy surrounding the draft IFC that seeks to dilute the RBIs powers to regulate the foreign exchange and government bond markets and set monetary policy.
b) Union Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said the people of India own the draft not the Govt or the FSLRC. He said we only compiled the suggestions received on the FSLRC recommendations.
c) He was briefing reporters on the draft. The draft IFC proposes (among other regulatory changes) the setting up of a MPC that will set interest rates.
d) The draft says the Centre will appoint 4 out of 7 members of this proposed Committee that will take decisions by majority vote. The draft also proposes to strip the RBI Governors veto over monetary policy decisions. It also proposes to take away from RBI the role of regulation of the foreign exchange and the govt securities markets, which in turn will reduce its leeway in managing the impact of capital flows.
e) Further, the draft IFC also proposes to strip the RBI of its registry and depository functions for government bonds markets and also to dilute its powers to regulate the banking sector. These proposals have received sharp criticism from a range of former RBI officials and financial sector experts.
9. / A victims submission to sexual assault does not mean consent: SC (Page 13) / a) National
b) Polity / a) Human rights
b) Nirbhaya Act
c) Supreme Court / a) Noting that rape is basically an assault on human rights, the Supreme Court said submission to sexual assault should not be construed as consent by the victim, but immobility caused by sheer terror.
b) Quoting judicial precedents, a Bench said in a judgment that consent for sexual act required voluntary participation not only after the exercise of intelligence based on the knowledge of the significance and moral quality of the act but after having fully exercised the choice between resistance and assent.
c) It said whether there was consent or not should only be decided by courts after careful study of relevant circumstances in individual cases.
d) The apex court referred past rulings to restate that there was no straitjacket formula for determining whether consent given by a victim to sexual intercourse is voluntary, or whether it is given under a misconception of fact.
10. / Only 8.15 percent of Indians are graduates, Census data show (Pages 1 and 12) / a) National
b) Social issue / a) Literacy in India
b) Census of India 2011
c) Registrar-General of India / a) New Census data show that despite a big increase in college attendance (especially among women), fewer than one out of every 10 Indians is a graduate.
b) Over the weekend, the office of Census Commissioner and Registrar-General of India released new numbers on the level of education achieved by Indians as of 2011. They show that with 6.8 crore graduates and above, India still has more than 6 times as many illiterates.
c) While rural India accounts for only a third of all graduates, the rate of increase in graduates was faster in rural than in urban India over the last decade, and fastest of all among rural women. From 26 lakh graduates 10 years ago, nearly 67 lakh rural women are now graduates.
d) New Census data on the educational status of Indians show that the biggest increase is in number of people pursuing engineering and technology diplomas or technical degrees equivalent to a graduate or postgraduate degree.
e) The proportion of Indians with engineering and technology qualifications has nearly doubled over the last decade, while the proportion of women technology graduate equivalents has more than tripled.
f) Chandigarh and Delhi have highest proportion of graduates followed by Maharashtra among big States, while Bihar and Assam are worst off among big States. Across the country (with the notable exceptions of Chandigarh and Kerala) the proportion of male graduates is higher than that of women.

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