Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 25-02-15

S.NO. / NEWS ITEM / SYLLUBUS / ESSENCE OF THE ARTICLE
1. / Jaishankar to begin SAARC Yatra from Bangladesh (Pages 1 and 10) / a) I.R / a) India-Pakistan Foreign Secretary-level talks will be resumed soon.
2. / Deadlock over Rafale persists (Page 11) / a) I.R / a) Visiting French official held talks with his Indian counterpart in an offer to break the deadlock over negotiations for 126 Rafale fighter aircraft worth over $20 billion.
3. / Maldives defends Nasheeds arrest amid global concerns (Page 12) / a) International / a) The Maldives govt defended the arrest of Mohammed Nasheed on terrorism charges and accused the former President of performing stunts to grab global attention after India and US voiced concern over his detention.
4. / Food insecurity and statistical fog (Page 8) / a) National / a) The implementation of the National Food Security Act is involved in indifference and confusion.
5. / A budget for women (Page 9) / a) National / a) The govts first full year budget is an excellent to recognize missed opportunities and take corrective action with regard to investing in addressing gender inequality.
6. / States share of Central tax kitty to see huge jump (Pages 1 and 10) / a) National
b) Economy / a) There is a shift from scheme and grant-based support from the Central govt to a devolution-based one. b) The higher devolution is in line with the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission.
7. / Corals feeding on plastic debris (Page 20) / a) S&T
b) Geography / a) Researchers found that Corals in the Great Barrier Reef are eating small plastic debris in the ocean.
8. / Mummified monk found inside Buddha statue (Page 20) / a) S&T
b) Geography / a) Researchers used radioactive isotopes of carbon to determine that the mummy likely lived during the 11th or 12th century.
S.NO. / NEWS ITEM / SYLLUBUS / BACKGROUND / IMPORTANT POINTS
1. / Jaishankar to begin SAARC Yatra from Bangladesh (Pages 1 and 10) / a) I.R / a) SAARC
b) Indo-Pak Foreign Secretary-level talks / a) Foreign Secretary will begin his SAARC Yatra with a visit to Dhaka on March 2, followed by a visit to Islamabad, where he will resume India-Pakistan Foreign Secretary-level talks cancelled last year.
b) Later in the month, he would visit Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
c) The PM is planning to visit Colombo on March 13. His planned visit to Male will depend on any changes due to the political crisis in the Maldives. The SAARC Yatra is Modis big outreach in the neighbourhood.
2. / Deadlock over Rafale persists (Page 11) / a) I.R / a) India – France relations
b) Defence deals
c) Dassault Rafale
d) Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA)
e) Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) / a) Visiting French Defence Minister held talks with his Indian counterpart in anoffer to break the deadlock over negotiations for 126 Rafale fighter aircraft worth over $20 billion.
b) Sources said that his visit is also intended to prepare the ground for the visit of PM Modi to France in April though they ruled out any connection between the deal and the visit.
c) Dassault Rafale was shortlisted as part of the MMRCA contest in 2012 after thorough evaluation but price negotiations have since been stuck.
d) The deal stipulates that of the 126 aircraft, 18 aircraft will come in fly away condition from the manufacturer while the remaining aircraft would be built by HAL in India under Transfer of Technology.
3. / Maldives defends Nasheeds arrest amid global concerns (Page 12) / a) International / a) Maldives political situation
b) Anti-terrorism laws
c) UN Secretary General / a) The Maldives defended the arrest of Mohamed Nasheed on terrorism charges and accused the former President of performing stunts to grab global attention after India and the US voiced concern over his detention.
b) He was arrested under anti-terrorism laws for allegedly ordering the arrest of a senior judge in 2012 that caused violence in the Indian Ocean island.
c) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moons spokesperson told reporters that the UN is aware of the arrest of the former President and is closely monitoring the situation in the Maldives.
4. / Food insecurity and statistical fog (Page 8) / a) National / a) National Food Security Act (NFSA)
b) PDS
c) Mid-day meal scheme
d) Integrated Child Development Services
e) Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC)
f) Shanta Kumar Committee recommendations
g) Poverty
h) BPL / a) Effective implementation of NFSA would make an important contribution to food security and improved nutrition.
b) Recent experience shows that a well-functioning PDS makes a big difference to people who live on the margin of subsistence.
c) The Act is also an opportunity to strengthen valuable child nutrition programmes such as school meals and the Integrated Child Development Services.
d) The Act provides for the PDS to cover 75 percent of the rural population and 50 percent of the urban population at the national level - the corresponding ratios are higher in the poorer States and lower in better-off States.
e) Every eligible household is allowed to 5 kg of foodgrain per person per month at a nominal price. This would mean that the PDS takes care of about half of the foodgrain consumption of eligible households.
f) This new PDS does not require any increase in public procurement of foodgrains, beyond the levels achieved in recent years. It is mainly a restructuring of the system, with broader coverage, lower issue prices and clear entitlements.
g) When the Act was being drafted, it was assumed that the identification process would be based on the SECC.The idea was to use simple and transparent exclusion criteria to sort out relatively well-off households.
h) In the absence of SECC data, some States have used to shortcuts such as expanding the old BPL list, instead of preparing a new list of eligible households.
i) The SECC approach is an opportunity to clean this disorder and prepare a single, transparent, logical, digitised list of eligible households.
j) There are inaccuracies in the SECC data but judging from a recent survey of 1000 households in four districts of Bihar, the errors are rarely such as to exclude a household that would otherwise be eligible under NFSA.
k) However, many other States are unable or unwilling to follow this lead due to delays or gaps in the SECC data.Rajasthan (the first State to implement NFSA) made a disorder by depending on an extension of the BPL list to identify eligible households.
l) Just to add to the confusion, the recent report of the Shanta Kumar committee recommends a reduction of the coverage of NFSA from 67 percent to 40 percent of the population.
m) On a more positive note, PDS reforms have made remarkable progress in many States (even Jharkhand) as they prepared for the Food Security Act.
n) A grave injustice is being done to millions of people who live on the margin of subsistence. It is not too late to remove the roadblocks but this requires a sense of urgency.
5. / A budget for women (Page 9) / a) National / a) Budget
b) NITI Aayog
c) Planning Commission
d) Gender inequality
e) Global Gender Gap Index 2014
f) Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB)
g) Gender Budget Statement (GBS)
h) Integrated Child Development Services Scheme
i) Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD)
j) UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
k) SAAHAS scheme
l) Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing+20)
m) Sustainable Development Goals / a) The coming Union budget is significant for two reasons.First, this will be the new govts first full year budget. Second, with the NITI Aayog replacing the Planning Commission, the govt is likely to stop the distinction between plan and non-plan budgets.
b) This years budget is also an opportunity for the govt to show its commitment to gender equality. Ensuring adequate allocations for policies and programmes for women will help translate those commitments into action.
c) Gender inequality poses a significant development challenge in India. The Global Gender Gap Index 2014 ranked India at 114 out of 142 countries.
d) The ranking is based on a countrys ability to reduce gender disparities in four areas - economic participation and opportunity, education, political empowerment, and health and survival.
e) As a response to these challenges, India adopted GRB in 2005. GRB is a method of planning, programming and budgeting that helps advance gender equality and womens rights. It also serves as an indicator of govts commitment to meeting those objectives.
f) The quantum of allocations for schemes relating to women can be assessed by examining the GBS which was first introduced in the 2005-06 budget.
g) With respect to Women Welfare, the allocations actually show a downward trend from approximately Rs. 930 crore in 2011-12 to around Rs. 920 crore in 2014-15.
h) And almost 87 percent of the 2014-15 budget of the MWCD was allocated for the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme, leaving only five percent for schemes exclusively meant for women.
i) The UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women has emphasised the need for increased investments for the MWCD and for gender budgets across Ministries.
j) In 2014, following its review of the fourth and fifth periodic reports submitted by the Govt of India, the Committee (which monitors States implementation of the UN CEDAW) also restated the need to strengthen institutions such as the National Commission for Women and the State commissions.
k) Schemes focussed exclusively on women either received reduced allocations or were not implemented, as seen from the revised estimates for 2013-14 vis-a-vis the budget estimates of the same year.The Domestic Violence Act is a case in point.Renamed SAAHAS, the scheme was allocated Rs. 50 crore last year.
l) The recent launch of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme by the new govt is commendable. Equal attention must now be paid to better implementation of laws and special measures for the most marginalised women.
m) It will also be important to ensure increased spending on all social sectors such as health, education and sanitation, given their impact on women.
n) In conclusion, the coming budget can serve as a timely course correction. The focus must be on the strengthening of key institutions, adequate investments for schemes that address gender concerns and the effective implementation of those schemes.
o) The coming months will see a greater focus on development issues in general and gender issues in particular, with the adoption of the post-2015 global development agenda and reviews of countries performance vis-a-vis the Beijing+20.
p) The stand-alone goal on gender equality and womens empowerment in the Sustainable Development Goals is an achievement for womens rights advocates across the globe.The governments first full year budget is an excellent chance to recognise missed opportunities and take corrective action.
6. / States share of Central tax kitty to see huge jump (Pages 1 and 10) / a) National
b) Economy / a) 14th Finance Commission (FFC) recommendations / a) The govt said the share of States in the Centres net tax receipts would go up by Rs. 1,78,000 crore in 2015-16. This will be 45 percent more than share for the current financial year.
b) The higher devolution is in line with the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission (FFC), for a 42 percent share to States in the divisible pool of Centres net taxes. The Union Cabinet accepted the recommendations.
c) The FFC has made a fundamental shift in the pattern of financing revenue expenditures. There is a shift from scheme and grant-based support from the Central government to a devolution-based one.
7. / Corals feeding on plastic debris (Page 20) / a) S&T
b) Geography / a) Coral reefs
b) Great Barrier Reef
c) United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
d) Climate change / a) Australian researchers said that corals in the Great Barrier Reef are eating small plastic debris in the ocean.
b) The scientists found the plastic deep inside the coral polyp covered in digestive tissue and expressed concern that the substance could then hurt the creatures ability to digest normal food.
c) Climate change, poor water quality from land-based run-offs, coastal developments and fishing all threaten the biodiversity site.
d) They found that as much as 88 percent of the open oceans surface contains plastic debris.
e) UNEP estimated in 2012 that around 13000 pieces of micro-plastic waste were found in every sqkm of sea.
8. / Mummified monk found inside Buddha statue (Page 20) / a) S&T
b) Geography / a) Monasteries
b) Radioactive isotopes of carbon / a) Scientists have found a gold-painted Chinese statue of a Buddha in sitting position hides the mummified remains of a high-status monk who lived nearly 1000 years ago.
b) A monastery in southeastern China might have been its home for centuries. It may have been smuggled from the country and was bought and sold in the Netherlands.
c) The mummy was sitting on a rolled textile carpet covered in Chinese text.
d) Researchers used radioactive isotopes of carbon to determine that the mummy likely lived during the 11th or 12th century, while the carpet was about 200 years older.

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