CURRENT AFFAIRS
13 JULY 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Punjab farmers find a better way to grow paddy.
Labour shortage after the exodus of pandemic-struck migrant labourers forced Gurteg Singh in Punjab to plant paddy using the direct seeding of rice (DSR) technique in the kharif season, rather than do traditional transplanting. A month later, he is upbeat about his crop yield, and relieved at being spared of a major problem: handling crop residue after harvest. Farmers and agricultural experts say that large scale use of DSR to plant paddy could solve the staggering problem of stubble burning, a key cause of air pollution across the northern region. After harvest, the farmers usually burn the stubble to get rid of it. A short window of 20-25 days is the key reason for stubble burning, rather than opt for other ways of disposal. This year, the Punjab government relaxed sowing schedules, and many farmers chose direct seeding. Punjab could see paddy crop in 27 lakh hectares this season, with DSR used in about six lakh hectares, said K.S. Pannu, Agriculture Secretary. DSR was employed in some 60,000 hectares last year.
B) Pakistani militant among 3 killed in Kashmir.
Three militants were killed in a day-long operation in north Kashmir’s Baramulla on Sunday. Pakistani militant Usman of the Lashkar-e-Taiba was among the killed militants. He was involved in a recent attack at Sopore, in which one CRPF jawan and one civilian were killed. It’s a big success for police and the security forces. The gunfight between the hiding militants and the security forces erupted early Sunday morning when a team of the Army, the police and the CRPF cordoned off the Reban area of Sopore. The police said the hiding militants opened fire on the search party. While one militant was killed earlier in the day, two more were killed in the afternoon. A civilian’s house also got damaged during the operation. An Army spokesman said some militants attacked a Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) patrol on Sunday evening.
Terrorists made an abortive bid to attack CAPF around 4:45 p.m. at Chersoo, Awantipora [in south Kashmir]. Suspects moving on a bike threw two grenades on the CAPF. However, the grenades did not explode. Efforts are on to nab the terrorists. Over 127 militants have been killed in Kashmir in operations so far this year.
C) Disabled are entitled to same benefits as that of SC/ST quota: Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court, in a significant decision, confirmed that persons with disabilities are also socially backward and entitled to the same benefits of relaxation as Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates in public employment and education. A three-judge Bench led by Justice Rohinton Nariman upheld a 2012 judgment of the Delhi High Court in Anamol Bhandari (minor) through his father/Natural Guardian v. Delhi Technological University. “In Anamol Bhandari, the High Court has correctly held that people suffering from disabilities are also socially backward, and are therefore, at the very least, entitled to the same benefits as given to the Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe candidates,” the Supreme Court held in a judgment on July 8. The decision by the Justice Nariman Bench came on a petition by Aryan Raj, a special needs person represented by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, and advocate Rajan Mani, against the Government College of Arts, Chandigarh. The college denied Mr. Raj relaxation in minimum arks in the Painting and Applied Art course.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Xi’s mobilisation order, months of planning ahead of border moves.
China’s moves into the Galwan Valley, Pangong Lake area and several other spots along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), starting in early May, were likely planned for months and followed a new mobilization order issued by President Xi Jinping. Several Chinese incursions across the LAC took place almost simultaneously in locations several hundred kilometres apart — some even hours apart on the same day — leading to skirmishes in early and mid-May. The timing of the incidents suggested a high level of coordination and planning. In Galwan Valley and Pangong Lake, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) deployments appeared to have been aimed at pushing India back from the LAC and redrawing it to more closely align with China’s official borders. A buffer zone that both sides have temporarily agreed to in Galwan has, on China’s insistence, been structured around Beijing’s new LAC perception, shifting the line around 1 km west. In Pangong Lake, China has thinned its presence from its LAC perception at Finger 4 but moved only to Finger 5, still much deeper inside from the Indian claim line at Finger 8 which is about 8 km from Finger 4. Starting in late January and early February, the PLA began what was viewed as routine mobilisation for annual exercises in Xinjiang, which borders Ladakh. This year, however, in a major departure from the earlier annual exercises, PLA troops that used to train far inside their territory, while border frontier troops remained in forward areas, for the first time moved close to the border. Due to this, there was huge mobilisation since April and the move was very evident.
In January 2020, President Xi signed a new Training Mobilisation Order (TMO) for strengthening military training in real combat conditions and “to maintain a high level of readiness”. The new order updated the 2019 TMO, which was the first such order to be signed by Mr. Xi, and had called for implementing new military training guidelines announced by him in 2018 to improve combat readiness. While the announcement was seen as routine at the time, Indian officials believe it dramatically altered the pattern of annual exercises and China’s forward deployments, not just with India but also in other theatres, where tensions have flared this summer with Japan, Taiwan and in the South China Sea.
B) US Navy welcomes his first Black female Tactical Aircraft pilot.
The US Navy has welcomed his first Black female Tactical Aircraft pilot, Swegle. The Naval Air Training Command gave this information by tweeting that Swegle is the Navy’s first known Black female TACAIR pilot. Swegle belongs to Burke, Virginia, and she was graduated from the US Naval Academy in 2017. She was assigned the Redhawks of Training Squadron 21 in Kingsville, Texas. Swegle’s milestone comes after more than 45 years. Earlier Rosemary Mariner in 1974 became the first woman to fly a tactical fighter jet.
