Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE:14-02-16
S.NO. / NEWS ITEM / SYLLUBUS / ESSENCE OF THE ARTICLE1. / India calls US envoy, protests F-16 sale to Pak (Pages 1 and 12) / a) I.R / a) Angered by a US decision to sell eight more F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, India summoned US Ambassador Richard Varma to the External Affairs Ministry to express displeasure with the deal.
2. / Wanted to use Sena man for Mumbai attack, says Headley (Pages 1 and 13) / a) I.R / a) Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley has said that he had planned to use the head of public relations of Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray for the Mumbai terror attack in 2008 and forwarded an e-mail from the latter to the masterminds of the siege.
3. / Russia warns of new Cold War (Page 14) / a) International / a) As Moscow responded by accusing Kiev of violating a peace deal,international monitors warned thatviolence in eastern Ukraine is intensifying and Russian-backed rebels have moved heavy weaponry back to the front line.
4. / Pope, patriarch hold historic meeting (Page 14) / a) International / a) Pope Francis became the first pontiff to ever meet a patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, as the two Christian leaders set aside centuries of division in a historic encounter that was held in an unlikely setting: a room at the Havana airport.
5. / Reserve Bank cant drop guard on inflation (Page 15) / a) National
b) Economy / a) RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan may have raised a quiet toast with his colleagues after retail inflation data showed the central bank had met its Jan 2016 target of slowing the price gains to under 6 percent.
6. / Karnataka home to 406 tigers; half of them in Bandipur and Nagarahole (Page 8) / a) National
b) Geography / a) Just over half of Karnatakas tigers roam amid the woods and shrubs of Bandipur and Nagarahole. The tiger census report (released early last year) showed the State topping the charts with the presence of 406 tigers.
S.NO. / NEWS ITEM / SYLLUBUS / BACKGROUND / IMPORTANT POINTS
1. / India calls US envoy, protests F-16 sale to Pak (Pages 1 and 12) / a) I.R / a) India – USdefence ties
b) US – Pakistan relations
c) F-16 fighting Falcon
d) Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) / a) Angered by a US decision to sell eight more F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, India summoned US Ambassador Richard Varma to the External Affairs Ministry to express displeasure with the deal.
b) Experts say that the US decision to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan will not alter the military balance in the region, but it will reinforce the centrality of Pakistans Army.
c) The F-16 fighting Falcon is one of the most modern fourth generation aircraft in service, and over 4400 aircraft of the model have been produced so far and are in service with 25 countries.
d) The F-16 was in the race for the medium multi-role combat aircraft contract, but lost to the French Rafale. The US is still pitching the aircraft for the Indian Air Force under the Make in India initiative.
e) The Defence Security Cooperation Agency said the proposed sale improves Pakistans capability to meet current and future security threats and the fighter jets are specifically meant to enhance Pakistans ability to conduct counter-insurgency and counterterrorism operations.
2. / Wanted to use Sena man for Mumbai attack, says Headley (Pages 1 and 13) / a) I.R / a) India – Pakistan relations
b) Terrorism
c) Mumbai terror attacks 2008
d) Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)
e) National Investigation Agency / a) Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley has said that he had planned to use the head of public relations of Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray for the Mumbai terror attack in 2008 and forwarded an e-mail from the latter to the masterminds of the siege.
b) With the death sentence of Mohamad Ajmal Kasab (the lone LeT operative who was captured during the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack) having been carried out, Indias only hope to nail Syed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal was the Pakistani-American Lashkar operative David Coleman Headley, who was turned into an approver in the case and was made to depose via video conferencing before the court.
c) But after five days of deposition, the National Investigation Agency could not extract any information on Abu Jundal from Headley.
d) However, Headleyidentified the voices of LeT handler Abu Kahaffa and Abu Al Kama and LeT commander Sajid Mir. Jundal is a key arrest for India in its effort to establish the complicity of Pakistans involvement in funding terrorist organisations to carry out attacks in India.
3. / Russia warns of new Cold War (Page 14) / a) International / a) Russia – Ukraine relations
b) Cold War
c) Ukraine crisis
d) Crimea annexation
e) Syria crisis
f) Islamic State (IS) / a) As Moscow responded by accusing Kiev of violating a peace deal,international monitors warned thatviolence in eastern Ukraine is intensifying and Russian-backed rebels have moved heavy weaponry back to the front line.
b) In the latest sign that peace efforts have made scant progress almost two years since Moscow annexed Crimea, Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev described East-West relations as having fallen into a new Cold War and said NATO was hostile and closedtowards Russia.
c) Implementation of a deal agreed in Minsk a year ago, which would allow for the lifting of sanctions on Russia, and a lull in violence late last year raised hopes that the conflict that has killed more than 9000 people could be resolved quickly.
d) Turkey and Saudi Arabia could launch a ground operation against IS jihadists in Syria, while Riyadh is also sending war planes to a Turkish base to fight the extremists.
4. / Pope, patriarch hold historic meeting (Page 14) / a) International / a) Ukraine conflict
b) Syria crisis / a) Pope Francis became the first pontiff to ever meet a patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, as the two Christian leaders set aside centuries of division in a historic encounter that was held in an unlikely setting: a room at the Havana airport.
b) The meeting was richly symbolic: Pope Francis (leader of the worlds 1.2 billion Roman Catholics) stood with Patriarch Kirill (leader of the largest church in the Eastern Orthodox world) with an estimated 150 million followers.
c) But it was also about geopolitics, rivalries among Orthodox leaders and the manoeuvrings of President Vladimir Putin of Russia - who is closely aligned with the conservative Russian church.
d) For Pope Francis, the meeting was an ecumenical and diplomatic coup that eluded his predecessors but that also opened him to criticism that his embrace of the Russian patriarch would indirectly give a boost to Putin as he wages a war in Syria and continues to meddle in Ukraine.
e) Cuban setting was the result of months of negotiations, abetted by Castro. It met the demands of the Russian side for a neutral meeting place while dovetailing with Pope Francis trip to Mexico.
f) Analysts note that Putin could have blocked the meeting but apparently concluded that it could burnish his global standing and undermine Western efforts to isolate Russia with sanctions after the Ukraine conflict.
g) Putin has sought to portray Russia as a defender of beleaguered Christians in West Asia, including in Syria as he props up the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
5. / Reserve Bank cant drop guard on inflation (Page 15) / a) National
b) Economy / a) Monetary policy
b) Inflation
c) Retail inflation
d) Food inflation
e) RBI / a) RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan may have raised a quiet toast with his colleagues after retail inflation data showed the central bank had met its Jan 2016 target of slowing the price gains to under 6 percent.
b) The satisfaction would be understandable given that the RBI had less than a year ago (at the end of Feb 2015) entered into a historic agreement with the government on an inflation targeting monetary framework with clear and specified goals and timelines.
c) The first target of limiting retail inflation to 6 percent or below by January 2016 has now been met, with the government reporting CPI data that showed the headline number at 5.59 per cent. While the reading is a 17-month high, it has slowed considerably from the 11.15 per cent recorded in Nov 2013.
d) Its the journey ahead to the next milestone of 5 percent by March 2017 which is likely to challenge monetary policy makers. The target agreed by the govt and the central bank is for inflation of 4 percent, with a band of plus or minus 2 percent.
e) There are several factors that could contribute to roiling the RBIs inflation targeting plans. The first is the 7th pay commission proposals that have recommended a 23.5 percent increase in salary, allowances and pension for serving govt staff and pensioners.
f) The second is food inflation. Different food item prices in the inflation basket are showing varying trends.
g) The headline inflation numbers are also being impacted by services inflation, which has been sticky since Sept 2015 across housing, transport and communications, medical and other services.
6. / Karnataka home to 406 tigers; half of them in Bandipur and Nagarahole (Page 8) / a) National
b) Geography / a) Tiger population in India
b) Project Tiger
c) Bandipur Tiger Reserve (BTR)
d) Nagarahole Tiger Reserve / a) Just over half of Karnatakas tigers roam amid the woods and shrubs of Bandipur and Nagarahole. The tiger census report (released early last year) showed the State topping the charts with the presence of 406 tigers.
b) However, the yet-to-be-released reserve-wise list shows that 1517 sq km of forest patches of Bandipur (which now houses the second largest population of tigers in the world) and Nagarahole Tiger Reserve have 221 tigers in their confines.
c) In all, the enumeration of tigers in reserves where Project Tiger has been implemented shows that more than three-fourth of the States big cat population resides in the nearly 3500 sq km area encompassed by the five reserves.
d) Activists have pointed out that the encouraging tiger populations in BRT and other areas will need declaration of more tiger reserves to sustain the populations - primarily M.M. Hills, Cauvery Wildlife sanctuaries and Kudremukh.
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