DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS for UPSC by KASHMIR STUDENT
Dated : 23 July 2020
Topic Covered :
1. Commerce minister Piyush Goyal proposes ‘preferential trade agreement’ with the US.
2. India struggled to gain influence due to three foreign policy ‘burdens’: Jaishankar.
3. DRDO develops drone to monitor border areas
4. India’s high number of cases sparks debate about herd immunity
5. Rajasthan govt withdraws ‘general consent’ for CBI investigation amid political crisis
6. Kaziranga's Golden Tiger dilemma explained: Why the rare cat, inbreeding irk India's wildlife experts
7. China repeats claim on Bhutan’s east
8. Migrants need social security numbers.
COMMERCE MINISTER PIYUSH GOYAL PROPOSES ‘PREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENT’ WITH THE US
Why in news?
Commerce minister Piyush Goyal proposed a “preferential trade agreement” with the US covering a limited number of goods and services as the next step after the signing of a “quick” trade deal that was just a few phone “calls” away and before the conclusion of a more ambitious Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that could take years.
Highlights:
1. India and the United States have been working on a limited trade deal to expressly address the more urgent issues of concern to both sides and have said they planned to start negotiations on a broader Free Trade Agreement (FTA) later in the year, either before or after US elections in November.
2. The limited trade deal could include “may be 50, may be 100 products and services” where the two sides could engage with “mutual trust and open spirit” to “kickstart” the trade partnership, the minister added.
3. According to the same people familiar with the talks, the United States has pushed for greater market access in agriculture, dairy and medical devices sectors in the limited trade agreement being finalised.
4. India has sought restoration of preferential trade benefits under the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which were terminated by the Trump administration in summer of 2019 to force India’s hand.
5. President Donald Trump’s insistence on trade deficit reduction and reciprocity precipitated a trade crisis between the countries, bringing long simmering issues to a head.
6. He first slapped higher tariff on steel and aluminium imports from India and then evicted India from the GSP programme, which accounted for $6.3 billion worth of Indian exports to the United States in 2018, roughly 12% of total Indian goods exports to the United States.
Source : Hindustan Times
INDIA STRUGGLED TO GAIN INFLUENCE DUE TO 3 FOREIGN POLICY ‘BURDENS’: JAISHANKAR
Why in news?
The former diplomat makes these remarks in his new book “The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World”, which is scheduled for release on September 7.
Highlights:
1. India has had to struggle mightily to gain influence in a domain that could have come more easily earlier as its foreign policy carries “three major burdens” from its past –
a. Partition,
b. Delayed economic reforms and
c. Prolonged exercise of the nuclear option, says External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
2. With the period from the 2008 global financial crisis to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic seeing a real transformation of the world order, Jaishankar analyses the challenges India faces and spells out possible policy responses.
3. As India rises in the world order, it should not only visualise its interests with great clarity but also communicate them effectively, he writes in the book.
4. Impact of Partition :
a. It reduced the nation both demographically and politically.
b. An unintended consequence was to give China more strategic space in Asia.
5. Impact of Delayed Economic reforms : a. the delayed economic reforms that were undertaken a decade and a half after those of China … the 15-year gap continues to put India at a great disadvantage.
6. Impact of Prolonged exercise of the Nuclear option :
a. As a result, India has had to struggle mightily to gain influence in a domain that could have come so much more easily earlier...”
7. He terms his book an “effort to contribute to that endeavour, encouraging an honest conversation among Indians, without discouraging the world from eavesdropping”.
Source : Hindustan Times
DRDO develops drone to monitor border areas
Why in news?
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed an unmanned aerial vehicle for real-time surveillance of border areas and monitoring activities in difficult terrain.
Highlights:
1. It is first expected to be deployed with Army units along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh as the stand-off with China in eastern Ladakh continues and the disengagement of troops is facing hurdles.
2. The drone, christened ‘Bharat’, has been developed by DRDO’s Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), and is a further development of the drone that had been developed earlier by TBRL in response to the requirements for technologies to mitigate the COVID-19 threat.
3. The drone is capable of providing real-time video feed as well as still images to its operators and its controlling software has built-in artificial intelligence tools for analysis and decision-making.
4. Besides the armed forces, It also has the potential for being used by the Central Armed Police Forces and law enforcement agencies.
5. The design of the drone is said to incorporate low observable features to make its detection difficult by the adversary.
6. Projected to be among the world’s lightest and most agile and surveillance platforms, it has an operational range of a few kilometres and is meant for tactical intelligence gathering and surveillance in a localised area.
7. Bharat has been ruggedised to operate in high altitude areas and in extreme climatic conditions.
8. Its payload includes an array of sensors, including infrared and night vision equipment to operate in varied geographical environments.
9. The Army is also looking at employment of miniature drones to keep a watch on mountain passes during winters when high snow makes the movement of troops or manning forward outposts difficult.
Source : Tribune India
INDIA’S HIGH NUMBER OF CASES SPARKS DEBATE ABOUT HERD IMMUNITY
Why in news?
Covid-19 cases touched 1,132,475 and the toll reached 27,707 on Monday, intensifying the debate on herd immunity in the Indian population.
Highlights:
1. India is already in unlock 2.0 but the government is yet to signal whether to open schools, colleges and other facilities.
2. Community medicine experts say that India is likely to develop herd immunity only if the SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t mutate.
3. Herd immunity, which is a controversial idea, will be developed either through vaccines, if and when available, or by infection, which is spreading rapidly and without mutation.
4. The evidence suggests that we develop antibodies very fast to this virus, and majority of persons will recover.
5. To be sure, herd immunity has been rejected in the UK, for instance.
6. Another problem is that what works in low-population density societies of the West may not necessarily work in India.
7. Typically, in India grandparents, parents and children often live together under the same roof in conditions that can be overcrowded. Such conditions can expose older people to covid-19 should the children become infected at school.
8. Herd immunity is not a feasible idea in current situation because there is no concrete proof of efficacy.
9. Countries such as US have around 20% immunity but they have lost so many lives as well
Source : Livemint
RAJASTHAN GOVT WITHDRAWS ‘GENERAL CONSENT’ FOR CBI INVESTIGATION AMID POLITICAL CRISIS
Why in news?
The Rajasthan government has withdrawn its “general consent” to the CBI to conduct raids and investigations, and the agency will now need prior permission from the state, a development which comes amid a political crisis in Rajasthan.
Highlights:
1. The decision of the Ashok Gehlot government was taken a day after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs summoned the state government in the phone tapping case.
2. The state government issued a notification requiring the CBI to take prior consent of the state government for investigation of an offence under section three of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946.
3. According to the officials, the “general consent” of the state government will no longer be valid in the offences under this law. Consent will have to be taken on a case-by-case basis.
4. Officials confirmed that there was a fear factor ruling amongst Congress leaders that after the Income Tax and the ED, now the CBI can also be brought into the political war going on between two warring factions — one headed by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the other by former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot.
5. However, the notification is not a new thing as the state government had written to the central government in 1990, making it aware that in the cases involving CBI investigation, the state government will only give consent on a case to case basis.
6. The notification clearly states that if the CBI visits Rajasthan to investigate cases related to the IPC, then it must first get the consent of the state government.
7. However, in international, national and inter-state matters, the CBI is not required to get the consent of the state government.
Source : The Statesman
KAZIRANGA'S GOLDEN TIGER DILEMMA EXPLAINED: WHY THE RARE CAT, INBREEDING IRK INDIA'S WILDLIFE EXPERTS
Why in news?
From the flood-hit Kaziranga National Park appeared a tigress with golden fur. While the social media exploded over the big cat's majesty and rare look, experts weren't very happy about the celebration.
Highlights:
1. A golden tiger, also called tabby tiger or strawberry tiger, is a tiger with a colour variation caused by a recessive gene.
2. They characterise blonde or pale-golden colour and reddish stripes in place of black like in normal tigers.
3. Just like white tigers and black tigers, they aren't a separate subspecies of the tiger family as they look different only due to genetic reasons. Their rare skin tone is a result of excessive inbreeding.
4. Inbreeding is defined as the probability of two alleles in an individual being identical by descent, and is normally the result of mating related individuals, It can increase the chances of offspring being affected by deleterious or recessive traits.
5. The yellow skin of tigers is controlled by a set of ‘agouti genes’ while the black stripes are controlled by ‘tabby genes’ and their alleles. Suppression of any of these genes may lead to colour variation in a tiger.
6. Tigers resort to inbreeding when their population is almost islanded without connectivity to other landscapes, which is mainly caused by habitat loss and destruction of corridors.
7. A joint study by the National Centre for Biological Sciences and Cardiff University had flagged the concern that Indian tigers no longer possess 93% of their genetic variation
Source : New Indian Express
CHINA REPEATS CLAIM ON BHUTAN’S EAST
Why in news?
China said that it has offered Bhutan a “package solution” to its boundary dispute, reviving a reference to its 1996 proposal for a territory swap to give Bhutan the disputed areas in its north in exchange for the disputed western areas, including Doklam.
Highlights:
1. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) also repeated its claim on Bhutan’s eastern boundary at Sakteng, which experts warn, may be a new pressure tactic by Beijing to push Thimphu into concluding a boundary deal.
2. The boundary between China and Bhutan is yet to be demarcated, and the middle, eastern and western sections of the border are disputed.
3. Since 1984, when China and Bhutan began talks, the areas of dispute have only included Pasamlung and Jakarlung valleys to the north (what China calls middle) area, and Doklam and other pasturelands to the west. The eastern boundary of Bhutan, which borders Arunachal Pradesh, has never been in contention.
4. What is important to note is that according to Bhutan, the Sakteng area in the east was never brought up in the several rounds of border talks with China. So this is a new claim and a moving of the goalposts.
5. Doklam swap would give the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) access to the strategically sensitive “chicken neck” of the Siliguri corridor.
Source : Hindu
MIGRANTS NEED SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS
Why in news?
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour has recommended that the government introduce a social security number for migrant workers, especially those in unorganised sectors that are beyond the purview of labour laws.
Highlights:
1. The panel has suggested that such a number is essential to avert situations such as the one at the beginning of the lockdown when several lakh workers had to walk back to their villages from big cities as they were shut out of employment overnight.
2. The members felt that Aadhaar alone doesn’t work. A social security number will help in mapping the number of migrant workers and their migration patterns.
3. The Labour Ministry was unable to give any concrete figures on the number of migrant workers.
4. Quoting the Railway Ministry, officials said 1.08 crore migrant workers had travelled on Shramik Special trains started by the government to ferry migrant workers.
5. One of the panel members, according to sources, pointed out that students and family members of the workers too used these trains and thus the figure doesn’t accurate represent the number of migrant workers.
6. The panel has recommended that both the State of origin and State where the worker has migrated to should be recorded.
7. It also pointed out that the government’s Social Security Code Bill, 2019, which is under the committee’s consideration, provides for a social security fund.
8. But there are no specific details in the legislation as to who would contribute to the fund and how it would be utilised.
9. The migrant workers may or may not have access to the Internet, which is why we suggested that the smallest arm of administration — the gram sabhas — should be roped in. The same work can be done by municipality workers in urban areas.
Source : Hindu
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