Tag: latest Current Affairs

CURRENT AFFAIRS
17 JULY 2020

NATIONAL NEWS:

A) Coronavirus cases reached 1 million tolls in India. 

On 16 July, the number of coronavirus cases reported from India crossed the million mark. The country also passed another grim milestone on the same day, with the number of deaths crossing 25,000. India has 3,31,146 active Covid-19 cases, which is around a third of the country’s total tally, which had risen to 10,01,449 with the death toll at 25,582. On 16 July, the country witnessed a single-day increase of 32,695 cases. The Ministry said that the recovery rate has risen to 50% mid-June and thereafter. There has also been a steady rise in recoveries and a decline in the number of active cases.

B) Contempt plea over the committee on 4G restrictions in Kashmir.

The Center has informed the Supreme Court that a special committee which is chaired by the Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla had met twice on the need to review the restrictions imposed on the 4G Internet connections in Jammu and Kashmir but postponed a decision on the issue due to the remarkable situation of continued terror attacks in the Valley. In an order issued on May 11, the Supreme Court had directed the Center to form a special committee to consider the restoration of 4G services in the Valley. This was meant to be a high-powered committee, different from a review committee. Both the Attorney General and the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the J&K administration, were responding to a contempt petition filed by the Forum for Media Professionals (FMP). The FMP argued that the Center had defied this SC order by failing to form this committee, and therefore must be held accountable for contempt of court. When Venugopal and Mehta informed the court that the committee had indeed been formed and had met twice, the court pointed out that the details of this committee were not in the pubic domain. 

C) No postal ballot facility for voters above 65 in Bihar elections: Election Commission. 

The Election Commission has decided not to extend the facility of postal ballot to voters above 65 years of age for the Bihar assembly elections and by-elections due in the near future, in view of logistical and manpower constraints, and Covid-19 safety protocols. It had earlier recommended extending optional postal ballot facilities to those above 65 years of age in order to minimize their vulnerability and exposure at polling stations.

D) Archer out of the second test for breaking protocol. 

On 16 July, England pacer Jofra Archer was released from the second Test against West Indies. This was done because he breaks the bio-security protocols of the team. He will now undergo two Covid-19 tests during a five-day isolation period. The series is being played amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the first Test in Southampton passed off without any incident of coronavirus. Jofra Archer apologized which was not written in the statement given by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Air bubbles for now.  

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that India has signed bilateral agreements with France and the US which will allow the airlines of each country to operate international flights starting Friday. He added that similar arrangements are being worked out with Germany and the UK as well. He said that American carrier United Airlines will be operating 18 flights between India and the U.S. from July 17 to July 31, and Air France, 28 flights between Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Paris from July 18 to August 1. 

B) High profile Twitter accounts hacked. A series of high-profile Twitter accounts were hijacked on 15 July, with some of the eminent personalities including U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden,  television show star Kim Kardashian, former U.S. President Barack Obama, billionaires Elon Musk, Amazon and Microsoft owner Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates respectively and rapper Kanye West, among many others used to solicit digital currency. As per Twitter,  it was a coordinated attack that targets its employees with access to internal systems and tools. In a number of tweets, the hackers used the access to take control of many highly-visible twitter accounts and they Tweeted on their behalf. Twitter was forced to take the extreme step of stopping many verified accounts from tweeting altogether.

C) Oli’s comment ‘outrageous’: former MP Karan Singh. 

Former MP Karan Singh has said in a personal statement that the Prime Minister of Nepal, K.P. Sharma Oli is trying to do everything to detach his country from India. Karan Singh, who is also related to the Nepal royals, said that the claim of Oli about the supposed origin of Lord Ram as  Nepalese was completely strange. This statement has hurt the sentiments of many Hindus across the world. Karan Singh also served as India’s envoy to Nepal. He also said that the statement given by PM Oli could have been dismissed as the gymnastics of a distorted mind, except that it comes fast on the heels of Oli’s unforeseen unilateral action regarding a territorial dispute with India.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
16 JULY 2020

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) I am not joining BJP, says Sachin Pilot.

 

Speaking exclusively, former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot categorically denied that he was going to join the BJP. The news that I am joining the BJP is absolutely false. He said that no, I am not joining the BJP. Pilot also confirmed that he had been in touch with party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra but those talks have not led to any resolution. He clarified that his grievances were not against the party but specifically against Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. He remains a Congress MLA from Tonk. In a related development, Rajasthan Speaker has issued notice to Pilot and other MLAs to initiate disqualification proceedings against them. The All India Congress Committee (AICC), however, has been sending mixed signals: it stated that the doors remained open for Pilot, but at the same time also dissolved all District Congress Committees that had his appointees. Gehlot, meanwhile, announced that the Congress had proof of the BJP’s attempts to poach its MLAs in Rajasthan ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, and that was why similar precautions (that is, MLAs being bundled off to a resort) were being taken. The Rajasthan CM also had scathing words for his former deputy. He said that speaking good English, giving good bytes, and being handsome was not everything in politics, What is inside your heart for the country, your ideology, policies, and commitment… Everything is considered.

 

 

B) Reliance’s 5G move; Google to invest ₹33,737 crore in Jio. 

 

Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani has announced that his group’s digital arm Jio is developing a home-grown 5G telecom solution. Reliance Jio has designed and developed a 5G solution from scratch. It will be available for trials as soon as 5G spectrum is available, and could be ready for field deployment next year. The larger context here is that China, and specifically the telecom giant Huawei, had very much been in the lead in establishing 5G networks across the world. The Chinese firm was also expected to be part of India’s 5G rollout plans, as it had earlier been permitted to participate in trials for the new technology.  Meanwhile, Google has said it is investing ₹33,737 crore in Jio Platforms for a 7.7% stake, adding to a slew of investments since April that has crossed ₹1.52 lakh crore. Google joins Facebook, which opened the investment cycle in various Platforms of Jio by picking up a 9.99% stake for ₹43,573.62 crore, as well as chipmaker Intel Corp and Qualcomm Inc.

 

 

C) Election Commissioner Lavasa appointed as ADB vice-president. 

 

On 15 July, the multilateral agency announced that Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa has been appointed as vice-president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Appointed as Election Commissioner in January 2018, Lavasa was set to succeed Sunil Arora as the next Chief Election Commissioner in April next year. He still has two years of his tenure left. If he takes up the ADB job, this will be only the second instance of an Election Commissioner’s premature exit in the poll body’s history. During the 2010 Lok Sabha campaign, Lavasa had prepared a dissenting note on the decisions taken by the poll panel on complaints against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The EC panel had given a clean chit to Modi on all complaints of Model Code of Conduct violations. Subsequently, Lavasa began to skip panel meetings by alleging that minority decisions were being suppressed in a manner contrary to well-established conventions observed by multi-member statutory bodies. Later the Income Tax department sent a notice to his wife Novel S Lavasa over alleged discrepancies in returns filings. The Enforcement Directorate also started investigating Lavasa’s son, Abir Lavasa, for allegedly violating foreign exchange laws.

 

 

D) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments

 

The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 9,66,048  with the death toll at 24,960. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, headed by Congress leader Anand Sharma, said at a meeting on 15 July that the government should set up a national database of migrant workers so that they do not fall out of the social security cover. Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal, along with others from his Ministry were also present at the meeting. The officials informed the panel that if a nationwide lockdown had not been imposed, the number of cases could have gone up to 50 lakh and we would have seen nearly 1.5 lakh deaths.

 

 

E) Supreme Court to hear appeals from Martha Quota. 

 

On a day-to-day basis, from July 27,the  Supreme Court of India will start hearing of a batch of appeals challenging a decision of the Bombay High Court upholding a State law providing reservation to Maratha community in education and government jobs in Maharashtra. On 15 July, a three-judge Bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao decided to hear the appeals via virtual court system. However, the court declined to pass any interim orders. Several appeals have been filed against the HC decision allowing 12-13% quota to the Maratha community under the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act. They have argued that the decision is erroneous as the State law has breached the 50% cap on reservation fixed by a Constitution Bench in the Indira Sawhney judgment.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

 

A) India and European Union push trade talks. 

 

India and the European Union (European Union) committed to a framework for strategic cooperation until 2025, and vowed to cooperate on their response to the coronavirus pandemic and at the United Nations Security Council. The assurances came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen via videoconference on 15 July. In a new initiative to revive talks on a free trade agreement that have been suspended since 2013, the two sides announced a “high-level dialogue” between Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan to try and take the Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) forward. PM Modi said that their partnership is important for global peace and stability, and this reality is clearer given the situation around the world. He also referred to shared “universal values” of democracy, pluralism, respect for international institutions and multilateralism between India and the EU. In particular, officials said the leaders discussed India’s tensions with China at the Line of Actual Control, the situation with Iran and concerns over cross-border terrorism from Pakistan. The EU leadership also raised concerns over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir as well as the Citizenship Amendment Act.

 

 

B) Government reviews the progress of disengagement talks at LAC. 

 

The fourth round of Corps Commander-level talks between India and China held on 14 July in Eastern Ladakh went on for 15 hours as both sides worked to finalise the the next phase of disengagement. Details of the talks are awaited. The focus of the talks was to work out the modalities of the second phase of disengagement from the standoff areas, and also the pullback of the massive deployment of troops of China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). In a separate development, the Defence Ministry on 15 July once again gave emergency powers to the armed forces to procure weapons systems costing upto ₹300 crores on an urgent basis.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
15 JULY 2020

NATIONAL NEWS:

A) Sachin Pilot sacked from all posts

There have been rapid developments in the Rajasthan story but the summing up is as follows :

Sachin Pilot, the rebel in this case, has been sacked as Deputy Chief Minister and as state party chief, offices that he had held simultaneously. The move came soon after he failed to attend a second meeting of party MLAs, to which he had been invited to make peace. Sachin Pilot is now scheduled to hold a press meet tomorrow at 10 am where he will presumably present his side of the story in more detail. Randeep Surjewala announced the decision to remove Sachin Pilot from party and Cabinet posts, in Jaipur.

Meanwhile, incumbent Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who seems to have, with great effort, foiled Pilot’s attempt to bring down his government, held a Cabinet meeting at his residence at 7.30 pm and a meeting of the Council of Ministers at 8 pm on July 14.

One complication is that Gehlot’s numbers are far from straightforward. After three MLAs decamped this morning, the Congress now has the support of 100 MLAs, which is the half-way mark in the 200-member assembly. Yesterday, Gehlot had claimed the support of 106 MLAs. The ball is now in the BJP’s court. Given the new numbers, the party has said that Gehlot must face a floor test. It has also sent a senior leader, Om Mathur, to Jaipur.

B) Centre limits duration of online school sessions. 

The Ministry of Human Resource Development on 14 July released guidelines that schools can hold live online classes for a maximum of 1.5 hours per day for Classes 1-8, and three hours per day for Classes 9-12. For kindergarten, nursery and preschool, the guidelines don’t recommend any screen time for children; they only recommend that teachers spend a maximum of 30 minutes per day to interact with parents and guide them. These guidelines, prepared by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), are only advisory in nature, and State governments have been asked to build on them and formulate their own rules based on local needs.

Over 25 crore students have been out of school since mid-March. The Pragyata guidelines acknowledge that these students live in households which fall into different categories: those having computers or smartphones with 4G, those with smartphones but limited or no internet access, those with TV with cable or DTH, those with a radio set or a basic phone with FM radio, and those with no communication devices at all.

Noting that members from different categories may be present in the same class, the guidelines advise schools to survey students before making decisions on the mode of teaching. The goal is NOT to try and recreate face-to-face classrooms over the internet. Schools should not assume that teaching-learning through synchronous communication is the only requirement or even desirable in order to support effective digital learning. Synchronous or real-time communication could be the Zoom classes that many private schools have begun, or other video or audio conferencing, allowing instant feedback. The guidelines said that children exposed to digital technologies or gadgets for a longer time are prone to severe health issues. 

C) Sattankulam deaths: CBI gets custody of accused.

The CBI has been granted custody of the five Sattankulam police man till 16 July who were involved in the custodial deaths of traders P. Jayaraj and J. Benicks. The five accused were produced before the Madurai Chief Judicial Magistrate on July 13. The CBI has to produce the accused before the court on July 16.

D) CBI indicates panel probe in Dubey’s case.

On 14 July, the Supreme Court hinted at the possibility of setting up a commission, headed by a retired judge, to probe the UP police’s encounter killing of history-sheeter Vikas Dubey and his associates last week, as well as the murder of eight police officers at Bikru village in Kanpur. Responding to the PILs seeking a court-monitored CBI or NIA probe into both the incidents, the Court gave the UP government time till 16 July to tell the court what kind of committee it wanted. The case will be taken up next on July 20.

E) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments. 

The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 9,32,445 till July 14 with the death toll at 24,271. With cases rising steadily, there is no bend in sight for the India’s new infections curve. The Union Health Ministry said today that recovery rates in 20 states is more than the national average of 63%. Of these, Uttar Pradesh has a recovery rate of 64%, Odisha 67%, Assam 65%, Gujarat 70%, and Tamil Nadu, 65%. The Ministry added that 86% of India’s active coronavirus cases are confined to 10 states. Meanwhile, the Bihar government announced that the complete lockdown in the state will be extended from July 16 to July 31.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Another round of LAC disengagement talks 

On 14 July, the military commanders of India and China began a crucial round of negotiations to finalize a time-bound disengagement process for friction points such as Pangong Tso and Depsang. The talks would also cover the modalities of pulling back a large number of troops and weapons from rear bases along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. Around 11:30 a.m., the fourth round of Lt General-level talks began. The meeting was held at a designated meeting point in Chushul on the Indian side of the LAC which is the de-facto border between both the countries. 

B) Britain bans Huawei from future role in 5G network 

On 14 July, the Britain government  backtracked on plans to give Chinese telecommunications company Huawei a limited role in the U.K.’s new high-speed mobile phone network in a decision with broad implications for relations between London and Beijing. Mr. Dowden conceded that this announcement means more Britons will have to wait longer to get full access to the speedy new network. 

The UK’s mobile service providers will not be allowed to buy new Huawei 5G equipment after 31 December, and they must also remove all of Huawei’s 5G kits from their networks by 2027. The decision gives British telecom operators until 2027 to remove Huawei equipment already in Britain’s 5G network.  The UK’s Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden made this announcement in the House of Commons. The move, coming on the heels of Washington’s security concerns over the Chinese’s firm’s 5G technology, could delay the roll-out of 5G in the UK by a year.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
14 JULY 2020

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) SC gives ex-royals right to manage deity’s property.

On July 13, the Supreme Court held that the erstwhile Travancore royal family is the human ministrant or the shebait (manager) of the properties belonging to Sree Padmanabha, chief deity of the famed and fabulously rich Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala. A Bench of Justices U.U. Lalit and Indu Malhotra, in a judgment, brought quietus to a dispute of over a decade on whether the temple and its considerable assets should devolve to the Kerala government following the death of Travancore ruler Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma in July 1991. Arguments were raised both to and fro — senior advocate Krishnan Venugopal for the royals and some devotees represented by a team of advocates of P.B. Suresh, Vipin Nair and Karthik Jayashankar — on whether the 26th Constitutional Amendment, which put an end to privy purses enjoyed by erstwhile rulers, would nudge the temple and properties into the hands of the State. In fact, the Kerala High Court, in 2011, directed the State to take over the temple and exhibit its treasures for public viewing in a museum.

Justice Lalit, who wrote the judgment, categorically held that the death of a ruler does not affect the royal family’s shebaitship of the temple. “ Shebaitship was always in the royal family and the Ruler represented the unbroken line of shebaits,” the judgment said. Shebaitship does not lapse in favour of the State by principle of escheat (reversion of property to the State). Accepting the royals’ submission that the temple is a public temple, the court issued a slew of directions for its transparent administration in the future. It directed the setting up of an administrative committee, with the Thiruvananthapuram district judge as its chairperson. The other members would be a nominee of the trustee (royal family), the chief thanthri of the temple, a nominee of the State and a member nominated by the Union Ministry of Culture. The panel would take care of the daily administration of the temple.

B) Will invest $10 billion in India, says Google chief. 

On July 13, CEO of google Mr. Sundar Pichai said that technology giant Google will invest $10 billion (₹75,000 crore) in India over the next five to seven years with a focus on digitizing the economy and building India-first products and services. Speaking at the company’s annual event, he also said that they will do this with the help of a mix of equity investments, partnerships and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments. Four major areas will be focused in the investments, First is  key to digitization by enabling affordable access and information for every Indian in their native language, building products and services that are deeply relevant to India’s unique needs, empowering businesses on their digital transformation journey, and leveraging technology and artificial intelligence for social good in areas such as health, education and agriculture. Mr. Pichai also spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi via videoconference early on Monday. Mr. Modi tweeted that the interaction was “extremely fruitful”.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Corps Commanders’ talks today at Chushul. 

India and China are scheduled to hold the fourth round of Corps Commanders talks at Chushul on July 13, in which the details of the second phase of disengagement along the border would be discussed. The focus of the talks, scheduled around 11.30 a.m, would also be on pulling back the massive deployment of troops and equipment along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). 

The troops of India and China have completed the first phase of disengagement from the stand-off areas in Galwan Valley, Hot Springs and Gogra and a partial disengagement from Pangong Tso last week.

B) Iran drops India from Chabahar rail project, cites funding delay. 

Four years after India and Iran signed an agreement to construct a rail line from Chabahar port to Zahedan, along the border with Afghanistan, the Iranian government has decided to proceed with the construction on its own, citing delays from the Indian side in funding and starting the project. Last week, Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami inaugurated the track-laying process for the 628 km Chabahar-Zahedan line, which will be extended to Zaranj across the border in Afghanistan. Officials told The Hindu that the entire project would be completed by March 2022, and that Iranian Railways will proceed without India’s assistance, using approximately $400 million from the Iranian National Development Fund. The development comes as China finalises a massive 25-year, $400 billion strategic partnership deal with Iran, which could cloud India’s plans.

The railway project, which was being discussed between the Iranian Railways and the state-owned Indian Railways Construction Ltd (IRCON), was meant to be part of India’s commitment to the trilateral agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan to build an alternate trade route to Afghanistan and Central Asia. In May 2016, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tehran to sign the Chabahar agreement with Iranian President Rouhani and Afghanistan President Ghani, IRCON had signed an MoU with the Iranian Rail Ministry.

C) Iran, China set to clinch 25-year deal

Iran and China are close to finalising a 25-year Strategic Partnership which will include Chinese involvement in Chabahar’s duty-free zone, an oil refinery nearby, and possibly a larger role in Chabahar port as well. According to leaked versions of the 18-page “Comprehensive Plan for Cooperation between Iran and China”, being finalised by officials in Tehran and Beijing, the cooperation will extend from investments in infrastructure, manufacturing and upgrading energy and transport facilities, to refurbishing ports, refineries and other installations, and will commit Iranian oil and gas supplies to China during that period.

The proposed tie-up comes even as Iran decided last week to go ahead on its own with the construction of a railway line from Chabahar port to Zahedan, in Afghanistan for which an MoU had been signed with the PSU Indian Railways Construction Ltd. (IRCON) four years ago. The MoU, signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tehran in 2016, was to construct the Chabahar-Zahedan railway as “part of transit and transportation corridor in trilateral agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan”. However, despite several site visits by IRCON engineers, and preparations by Iranian railways, India never began the work, ostensibly due to worries that these could attract U.S. sanctions. The U.S. had provided a sanctions waiver for the Chabahar port and the rail line to Zahedan, but it has been difficult to find equipment suppliers and partners due to worries they could be targeted by the U.S. The Ministry of External Affairs and IRCON declined to comment. However, asked if the MoU with IRCON had been cancelled, India could still join at a later date.

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.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
12 JULY 2020

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) Kashmiris pitch in to charter flights home from Dubai. 

While the Vande Bharat Mission has brought home thousands of people stranded abroad, the preference for the elderly, pregnant women and persons with medical emergencies meant that not everyone got a ticket to fly. Two government-run flights brought back many Kashmiris from Dubai to Srinagar on May 22 and June 11. However, over 800 stranded Kashmiris continued to suffer. Scores of companies stopped hiring and started thinning out staff in April, with many Kashmiris losing their jobs. The growing number of distress videos and appeals on social media platforms by jobless youth in Dubai and their families in Kashmir forced the community to work on a novel idea i.e. pooling money and arranging the logistics for charter flights with the financially less stressed buying their own ticket and others being fully or partially funded from the pool. Two such flights, one on June 25 and the other on July 3, have helped around 385 desperate youth and their families escape the Dubai lockdown and the growing unemployment there due to the economic slump induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. A third such flight is scheduled for next week, tentatively July 14. The entire initiative was the brainchild of six Dubai-based employees and businessmen — Kaiser Zargar, Alim Banday, Sajad Wani, Irfan Wani, Sadia Dehlvi and Mr. Peerzada. Their ‘Fly Kashmir Team’ collaborated with Miraj Islamic Art Centre, a carpet company, on the charter flights.

B) UGC to take action if States cancel exams. 

As Delhi became the latest State to cancel final year university examinations in defiance of UGC guidelines, both the Centre and the regulatory agency reiterated that guidelines were legally binding on the States and must be followed. As per the UGC Act, State governments cannot take the ln decision contrary to the decision of UGC. Unlike school education, which is on the State list, higher education is on the concurrent list. UGC and AICTE [All India Council for Technical Education] directives have to be implemented. It is not permissible for States to do like this. UGC have the power to take action against this.

C) We are still in a crisis and need a full reset of India-China relations.

On July 11, the former National Security Adviser of India, Shivshankar Menon said that India and China must fully reset ties. He said this by cautioning that any move to allow buffer zones mutual pull-outs and suspending patrols at the LAC sends out the wrong message that both the sides are equally responsible for the aggression. According to him, after this, India-China relations will be reset, as there is no going back on the situation before [the Ladakh stand-off]. What China did this time pressing forward on multiple points along the LAC, then changing the definition of LAC claims, the deaths for the first time since 1975 [in the June 15 Galwan clash] represents a significant change in Chinese behavior. This actually calls into question the whole structure of agreements and confidence building measures that were put in place since 1988, and with the 1993 agreement, which had kept the peace on the border for some time. But this is still a crisis. He is also sure that India-China relations will have to be reset after this. 

D) 2 armed infiltrators killed along LoC in Kupwara.

Major General Virender Vats, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Army’s Baramulla-based 19 Infantry Division told that the Army on Saturday killed two armed infiltrators along the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir’s Kupwara and warned that Pakistan was trying hard to push more and more militants into the Valley in an attempt to instigate people. Two heavily armed militants were killed in Nowgam sector in Kupwara, owing to the swift and appropriate response by our alert troops on the ground. These militants had used the route through Pakistan Army posts, which clearly indicates that Pakistan is pushing militants into India. The infiltrators were trying to cut the anti-infiltration fence and were dressed in combat fatigues. Two AK-47 rifles, 350 rounds and some electronic switches were spotted at the site. In addition to the food and medicines, around ₹1.5 lakh in Indian and Pakistani currency were also recovered. A search operation is still underway to sanitise the area. The Army did not rule out the possibility of the militants being on a suicide attack mission in the Valley. The counter-infiltration grid in Jammu and Kashmir was “spotting similar infiltration attempts in the Rajouri and Kupwara sectors in the recent past. Pakistan is trying hard to push more and more militants into the Valley, in an attempt to instigate the people, which they have failed to do for long now. Launchpads across the LoC are fully occupied by militants and around 250 to 300 militants are ready to infiltrate. Unlike south Kashmir, the militancy and their narratives were largely discarded by the people and have not got any sort of traction in north Kashmir. 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

A) Amazon revokes ‘ban’ on TikTok in five hours.

On July 11, a mail was sent to the employees of amazon telling them to delete tik tok application from their devices. Later approximately within five hours of this email, the online retailing giant called the ban a mistake. Amazon reported that the mail sent to some of our employees this morning was in error. Right now there is no change in our policies with regard to Tik Tok. The initial internal email, which was sent widely online, told the employees to delete TikTok. The email cited the app’s security risks. After Walmart, Jeff Bejos owned Amazon is the second-largest U.S. private employer. Banning TikTok by amazon could have escalated pressure on the app in a big way, particularly if other companies also did the same. The U.S. military already bans TikTok on the phones of their employees. Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State said  that the US government was certainly looking at banning the app by setting off confused posts as well as jokes by TikTok users.