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CIVIL SERVICES MENTOR MAGAZINE

MARCH 2018

CONTENTS

Digital Gender Atlas 7
World Sustainable Development Summit 2018 11
India State of Forest Report 2017 15
All-India Tiger Estimation 2018 18
Integrated guided missile system 22
CURRENT AFFAIRS 25

National 25
INS KARANJ launched 25
Centre says India can’t be a refugee capital 26
Indus script ran towards the left : IMSc 26
Labourers denied pay, privileges under Minimum Wages Act : Railways 27
Budget 2018-19 : Mix of populism and prudence : 28
Key Amendments proposed in PMLA : Govt 28
Common Citizen & Eco-friendly Budget: Modi 29
Jallikattu – a cultural right? 29
Changes in FCRA 30
Mandatory Dust Mitigation Plan 31
Health scheme to be well funded 31
Northeastern states very important for India’s growth: Modi 32
Satellite phone for fishermen 32
Tibetan refugees regulations eased to travel and study abroad 33
No first attack, but limitless bullets to retaliate: Rajnath 34
Artefacts unearthed in Odisha 34
No third party interference in a free marriage 35
SC says vehicular pollution problem is very serious problem 36
Misuse is not a ground to strike down Aadhaar Act: SC 36
Indian Tiger census 37
Agni-1 successfully test-fired 37
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88 mining leases in Goa squashed: SC 38

CCEA approvals 38
UP pledge on Tobacco 39
Low water availability in Narmada may trigger severe crisis in Gujarat 40
We will handle Ayodhya title dispute as a Land issue only: SC 40
4 Weeks to UP for Taj protection plan: SC 41
In 6 months, fresh mining leases: Parrikar 42
Telangana to have 4 zones and 3 cadres: Panel 43
NITI Aayog Health Performance Index 43
Modi visits Ramallah 44
No fiscal incompetence 45
SC seeks help from AG on Live streaming Court sessions 45
Unbroken and Unwavering support to Palestine: Modi 46
Rs.1269 crore to AP for projects: Centre 46
Cautious on status of Jerusalem is Modi 47
UIDAI on Aadhaar benefits 48
SC on Implementation of Juvenile Justice Act and its rules 48
3 New species of EEL found in BOB 49
PM Modi visit to UAE 49
INS Chakra damages 50
Marginal increase in forest cover 51
Purity of election process at stake due to convict heading party: CJI 52
KMP & KGP expressways to be opened by Modi 53
NHRC on pesticide death 53
Colleges performing well will be empowered 54
Focus on cybersecurity 55
DAC approvals 55
PNB scam 56
PFI ban study by Centre 56
High quality residue-free coffee by tribals 57
Alarms to monitor wild elephants 58
Provide more security along border: Mizoram CM 58
Tiger Census in Odisha 59
Punjab and Income Tax 59
SC to give its verdict on Cauvery waters 60
We are an autonomous body: Prasar Bharati 60
SC on cauvery water dispute 61
CVC summoned top officials over PNB fraud 62

PM interacted with students on examination 62

PM Modi praises Solar Alliance 62
Asset worth ore than 500 crore seized by ED 63
Court made it mandatory to declare income before contesting elections 63
India & Iran on transit and trade: 64
Sex Ratio at birth: NITI Aayog Report 65
The India State Forest Report(SFR) 65
Dam on Twigem River in Mynamar 67
Navi Mumbai International Airport in Limbo 68
42 Indian Languages at extinction: UNESCO 69
Hopes still alive in nuclear deal with WH: NPCIL 69
CBI-Rotomac 70
Banking control & Rules: CEA 71
TB infections in adolescents can be treated with vaccine 72
Vision document on Nutrition- Rajasthan 72
Budget session curtailed in Goa 73
Private sector in Coal Mining 73
Kerala New Health Policy 74
Mahanadi tribunal by Centre 75
Olive ridley turtles gets protection from nature on Odisha Coast 75
TB, a National crisis: Experts 76
SC asks Centre’s stand on MP’s Salary revision 77
Saras fast-tracked 77
UP Investors Summit 78
New Delhi on Male’s move 79
New Law and past breaches 79
Mass Nesting begins 80
Canandian PM with Punjab CM 81
BioAsia 2018 focused on Life Sciences sector 81
SC on adult marriages 82
UIDAI says Biometrics in state hubs destroyed 83
Canadian PM on bilateral trade 83
PNB Scam 84
India-Canada-Khalistan 84
Pre-lake 2018 Conference 85
Meeting on Lokpal on March 1 85
Against Financial fraud: PM 86
Trudeau hints probe 87

PIB to have DD & AIR officials to work 87

2 Wheeler scheme launched by PM 88
Stability and ability of leadership at centre and AP state: Vice-Pres 88
Inadequate supervision: Jaitley on PNB scam 89
Uninterrupted power supply in Telangana 90
Ceasefire violation in Uri 90
International 92
Trump first State of the Union address 92
Afghan Intelligence with evidence about Kabul blast to Pakistan 93
India Budget 2018-19, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar 93
Genocide in Rakhine? 94
U.K on non-EU workers 95
Proof of militans submitted to Pakistan : Afghanistan 96
Male administration vs Supreme court of Maldives 96
INDIA-US have common interests: U.S.Air Force Chief 97
Crisis still persists in Male govt. 98
State of Emergency declared in Maldives 98
New Nuclear Policy by US 98
Palestine seeks more India’s interaction: Diplomatic adviser to Palestinian President 99
Amended order creates more problems in Maldives 100
No foreign meddling in Maldives: China 101
Defence forces on alert for Maldives 102
All-party talks: Maldives Govt. 103
MALDIVES-INDIA-CHINA-U.S 103
Wakhan Corridor 104
Invitation to S.Korean Pres. to visit North: Kim 105
Pakistan’s iron lady 106
Joint action to isolate terror: India-Oman 107
Lizards used to spy Iran 108
U.S. Senate debate 108
Iran President visit to India 109
Reconstruction of Iraq 110
Newly elected President to South Africa after Zuma quits 111
Iran President visits India 112
South Africa appoints a new President 113
Post-Brexit security deal with EU: May 113
Canadian PM to India 114
Iran Aviation hit by Sanctions 114

Khalistan-Trudeau visit 115

Maldives crisis 116
Bloodshed in Syria 117
Halt National Register Plan: Hasina 118
Maldives: Distorted facts by India 118
Trump at Survivors meet 118
New tariffs a concern: US official 119
Brexit: soft? Or hard? 120
India-China-SCO 121
Paris Accord is unfair: Trump 121
Business & Economy 122
PNB fraud raised problems for SBI as well 122
Know your employee back in focus after PNB fraud 123
RBI says PNB fraud is an internal failure 124
No Populist budget, focus on Direct taxes 124
Budget – Test to investor’s faith 124
U.S CIT cut – Global response 125
World’s largest Health care govt. programme : Jaitley 126
Budget 2018-19… A blessing for elders 126
Home Ministry allocations hiked in Budget 2018-19 127
e-way bill roll-out after 1st day 127
KUSUM to boost farmer’s solar power use 128
Jobs in leather sector to increase 128
National Health Scheme can benefit Tea industry 129
National Health Scheme can benefit Tea industry 130
ODI plan to help Indian firms turn to MNCs 131
Power to SEBI to impose monetary penalties 131
Services Sector fastest rise in activity : Survey 132
Procedural fairness in matters of public procurement: Jaitley 133
Cryptocurrency POS devices into India: Pundi X 133
FD 3.3% for current year needs work 134
Repo Rate may stay same 134
20-25% EV by 2025 is splendid job: Tata Motors CEO 135
5 Taxes on capital hinder investments: Urjit Patel 136
EV in spotlight for auto expo 136
180 days more to borrowers: RBI 137
IT dept. sends 1lakh notices to bitcoin investors 137
5900 tons of medical waste per annum from Delhi-NCR: ASSOCHAM 138

19.3% increase in DT by Jan2018 139

YES Bank-Fcci Report 139
Ministries to discuss Health plan shortly 140
Cryptocurrency issues 140
Sophisticated CVPS machines used for returned notes 141
Jute sector crisis 142
Government Saving Promotion act 143
India-UAE Energy security 143
Centre in search to save power 144
Review on Anti-Dumping Duty 144
Trade Deficit 145
CEA on PSBs 146
PSU banks behind audit firms 147
RBI-PNB-Other Banks 147
Financial Conditions Index 148
DMIC attracts 4 nations 149
FCCI on Privatisation of PSB 149
BBB uncertain future 150
A Centre Of Excellence (COE ) - TS & Nasscom 151
Nasscom on IT exports 151
Bankers and Auditors are to be blamed: Jaitley 152
RBI on inflation 153
Blockchain tech to prevent frauds 153
DoT strategic plan 154
Payment Bank norm will delay Jio Bank 155
Search for RBI Dy.Governor 156
US visa norms to increase paperwork burden 156
e-way bill to resume from April 1 158
Commercial coal mining to enhance energy security 158
Science & Tech 159
Link established between Akt and AMPK proteins in cancer metastasis 159
Sun-basking patterns of pythons altered due to tourists 160
VR to study insects 161
Moth-proofed woolen fabric 162
Floating Treatment Wetland in Hyderbad lake 162
Sanitation vs Stunting 163
Potential Biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease 164
Immigration in Biology 165

Reasons for same-sex behavior in Pigeons 166

Pure white light from Zinc 167
Ancient Climate Change vs Rare forest owlet 168
Air Pollution from Petroleum-based chemicals used in perfumes 168
New plant species found in West Bengal 170
Pattern of deforestration explained in Physics theory 170
3D scar tissue model 171
IMPORTANT ARTICLES 174

A new weapon in the carbon fight 174
Blue, white, maroon, and now orange 176
Capacity building for primary health care 176
The colour of inequity 178
Getting back on the democratic path 179
Banking on good faith 181
A vote for state funding 181
A path to executive power 184
Should India have simultaneous elections? 185
Forging a new nuclear deal 186


Digital Gender Atlas

India has achieved high enrolment rates for girls at primary and upper primary levels of schooling.
However, at the secondary level girls' enrolment remains low. Pockets of low performance persist
across the country in many states. That all girls are not in school yet, is amply reflected in the low
rural female literacy rates, the prevalence of Special Focus Districts (SFD) and Educationally
Backward Blocks (EBB), low attendance rates and the number and proportion of out of school
girls. What the data reveals about girls’ needs further analysis to identify the bottlenecks for
targeted planning, for effective implementation and monitoring.
In this scenario, a Gender Atlas for the country has been developed to highlight the issues,
geographies and social background of girls that are still a concern and require urgent attention.
The Gender Atlas is based on existing data and highlights problem areas to serve as pointers for
intervention priorities. It is seen as a management tool that can focus on 'demand' and 'supply'
side issues alike that impinge on girls' education.
Objectives of the Atlas
● To identify low performing geographic pockets for girls,particularly from marginalised
groups such as scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and Muslim minorities, on specific
gender related education indicators.
● To ensure equitable education with a focus on vulnerable girls, including girls with
disabilities, the Gender Atlas has been developed as a hands on management tool to enable
critical decisions and action in pockets where performance is below par.
Salient features
● The architecture of the Atlas enables dynamic navigation between geographical

representation and numeric data that presents State, District and Block level status on key

parameters for girls' education at primary, upper primary and secondary levels. Thus, upon
making a change in either the Search/Geo Search Tabs, the maps on the screen
automatically change.
● The Atlas provides a comparative composite index based on quartile ranking of gender
related indicators at National,State, District and Block levels.
● The Atlas enables a trend analysis and tracking of performance of individual gender related
parameters across periods of time.
● The Atlas is constructed on an open source platform with an in-built scope of updating data
by authorized persons to retain its dynamic character.

Data sources and analysis
● The Atlas is based primarily on District Information System for Education (DISE) and Unified
District Information System for Education (U-DISE) data (2011- 2014), the National
Education Management Information System (EMIS) for elementary and secondary
education.
● The Atlas draws on the Census of India 2011 for data on rural female literacy rates, working
children in the school going age group, and the District Level Household and Facility Survey
(DLHS) 2007-08 for data on age at marriage.
● No primary data has been generated for developing the Atlas.
● The analysis framework and formulae used in the EMIS has been used for data analysis and
indexing. See the web link provided in the Indicator menu for further details on formulae
used.
● The Atlas uses the quartile ranking method to provide a comparative picture of
performance on gender related education indicators within specific geographies. The
quartile method simply partitions the data into four groups.
● Quartile 1 or the lowest group contains the data points which accommodate the lowest 25%
of data and so on for each subsequent group of data.
● This is a broad segregation of the data for visualization and the variation of data range with
in the quartiles can be different from map to map.
● Thus, the data range for each quartile for an indicator is created on the basis of the lowest
and highest value of data for that particular indicator by dividing them into four parts.
Mapping and Visualizations

Visualization is based on the Map Management Information System (MMIS) technology that
enables innovative visualization of data on maps. MMIS technology enables visual analytics in
map mode that can be clustered to vulnerable geographic locations and helps users to remotely
monitor the situation/progress of ongoing programmes to identify areas that require special focus.

Digital Gender Atlas has been developed to identify the low performing geographic pockets for
girls, particularly from marginalized groups such as scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and
Muslim minorities, on specific gender related education indicators.

The Atlas is designed around the two broad areas of performance of girls' education and
vulnerabilities visualized in the following five sections:
1. .Comparative Composite Index based Quartile Ranking grouped under categories of access,
infrastructure, teachers and outcome indicators and based on 25 indicators pertaining to
primary, upper primary and secondary level which can be visualized at State, district and
block level.
2. A Trend Analysis of the performance status of 25 individual indicators can be visualised at
State, district and block levels over three years viz 2011-12, 2012-13 & 2013-14.
3. Spatial Distribution of Special Focus Districts. These are districts with a population of 25%
and above of people belonging to Schedule Tribes (109 districts), Schedule Castes (61
districts), Muslims (88 districts with a muslim population of more than 20%), minority
community (121 districts as identified by Ministry of Minority Affairs under PM’s 15 PPP),
Left Wing Extremist affected districts (88 districts identified by Ministry of Home Affairs),
Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) districts (161 districts) and Educationally Backward
Blocks (3479 blocks).
4. Vulnerability status of an area based on a composite index of 3 broad indicators (i) rural
female literacy (ii) percentage girls/boys married below the legal age of marriage and (iii)
working children can be visualized. Separate visualizations are given for working children
for the following sub-indicators: disaggregation by gender and age for the 5-9 years, 10-14
years and 15-19 years age groups as well as for marriage below the legal age. These maps
are available up to the district level.
5. Children with Disabilities: The performance status of six individual indicators can be
visualized at state and district level across three years i.e. 2011-12, 2012-13 and
2013-14.This Digital Gender Atlas can be accessed at website www.rmsaindia.gov.in
Gender Atlas.

All the states have been mapped in the Digital Gender Atlas. The states have been using it as a
planning tool to come up with strategies for inputs for the state SSA and RMSA annual plans.

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World Sustainable Development Summit 2018

The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that world primary energy demand between now
and 2030 will increase by 1.5% per year from just over 12,000 million tonnes of oil equivalent
(Mtoe) to 16,800 Mtoe- an overall increase of 40%. Developing Asian countries are the main drivers
of this growth, followed by Middle East. growth in per capita energy consumption over the last two
decades world-wide has taken place primarily on account of increased share of the transport
sector followed by the manufacturing sector. The exceptions to this trend are China and India
where the growth has taken place primarily in the manufacturing sector followed by the household
sector. Going forward, some of the trends in global energy consumption are highlighted below:

● Fossil fuels, especially coal, are expected to continue to provide the majority of the increase
in marketed energy use worldwide. Oil and other petroleum products are also expected to
continue to account for the largest share of world energy consumption, but their share is
likely to fall over the next couple of years mainly due to increasing world oil prices.
● Petroleum and other liquid fuels will remain the most important fuels for transportation in
the coming years as there are few alternatives that can be expected to compete widely with
petroleum-based liquids.
● The share of biofuels is also expected to increase in the coming years. However there is a
significant resource issue that will need to be addressed.
● The rising price of oil is expected to have an impact on usage and demand for natural gas
and non fossil fuel resources as well. Natural gas consumption is likely to go up in 2012 as
it will be used to displace the use of liquid fuels in the industrial and electric power sectors
in many parts of the world.

● Global coal consumption is expected to rise sharply because with oil and natural gas prices
expected to continue rising, coal will become appealing for nations with access to sufficient
coal resources. This is especially going to be true for China, India, and the United States.
● Natural gas and coal will continue to provide the massive shares of the total energy used
for electricity generation worldwide.
● Higher fossil fuel prices, energy security concerns, and environmental considerations are
expected to improve the prospects for new nuclear power capacity and other
grid-connected renewable energy sources in many parts of the world which is expected to
continue to expand over 2012.
● Rising fossil fuel costs, particularly for natural gas in the electric power sector, along with
government policies and programs to support renewable energy, will allow renewable fuels
to compete economically over time.

India’s substantial and sustained economic growth is placing enormous demand on its energy
resources. The demand and supply imbalance in energy sources is pervasive requiring serious
efforts by GoI to augment energy supplies. India imports about 80% of its oil. There is a threat of
these increasing further, creating serious problems for India’s future energy security. There is also
a significant risk of lesser thermal capacity being installed on account of lack of indigenous coal in
the coming years because of both production and logistic constraints, and increased dependence
on imported coal. Significant accretion of gas reserves and production in recent years is likely to
mitigate power needs only to a limited extent. Difficulties of large hydro are increasing and nuclear
power is also beset with problems. The country thus faces possible severe energy supply
constraints.
The World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS), TERI's flagship event, has been
conceptualized as a single platform to accelerate action towards sustainable development and
especially climate change. The WSDS series seeks to bring together the finest minds and leading
thinkers of the world to focus attention on the challenge of sustainable development and has
emerged as a landmark event addressing issues pertinent to the future of humanity.
The second edition of WSDS builds on the success and legacy of the Delhi Sustainable
Development Summit (DSDS) which was the leading forum for discussing sustainable
development issues. The DSDS held under the aegis of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and
Climate Change with support from the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India was an
epitome of Track 2 diplomacy .
With an aim of expanding the scope and reach of the Summit to the global community, DSDS
transitioned to WSDS in 2016.
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, inaugurated the 2018 edition of the World Sustainable
Development Summit (WSDS 2018) at VigyanBhawan. WSDS is the flagship forum of The Energy

and Resources Institute (TERI) and seeks to bring together on a common platform, global leaders
and thinkers in the fields of sustainable development, energy and environment sectors.
The theme of the Summit this year is ‘Partnerships for a Resilient Planet’, WSDS 2018 seeks to
create action frameworks to resolve some of the most urgent challenges facing developing
economies in the backdrop of climate change. The Summit will address a wide variety of issues,
including combating land degradation, effective waste management mechanisms to make cities
free of landfills free, combat air pollution effectively, measures to increase resource and energy
efficiency, facilitate transition to clean energy and create financial mechanisms to enable effective
climate change mitigation. The ‘Greenovation Exhibition’ at WSDS 2018 will showcase the latest
technological advancements to meet Sustainable Development Goals.
Over 2000 delegates are expected to participate in the summit, including policy makers,
researchers, think tanks, diplomats and corporates from around the world. Eminent international
speakers will address a variety of issues including reducing impact on land, air and water, as well
as look at ways and means to utilise energy and resources in a more efficient manner in the
plenary sessions. The thematic tracks at WSDS 2018 will include discussions on issues related to
sustainability, including carbon markets and pricing, sustainable transport, resilient cities, solar
energy and refrigerant technologies. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), is hosting the
2018 edition of its flagship forum, the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS 2018) in
New Delhi on February 15, 16 & 17.
Prime Minister said “Our development needs are enormous. Our poverty or prosperity will have
direct impact on global poverty or prosperity. People in India have waited too long for access to
modern amenities and means of development”. Prime Minister said, “Successful climate action
needs access to financial resources and technology. Technology can help countries like India
develop sustainably and enable the poor to benefit from it.”



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India State of Forest Report 2017

India ranks among the top ten countries of the world in terms of forest area, despite the fact that none of
the other 9 countries has a population density of more than 150 persons per sq km, compared to India,
which has a population density of 382 persons per sq km. India is ranked 10th in the world, with 24.4% of
land area under forest and tree cover, even though it accounts for 2.4 % of the world surface area and
sustains the needs of 17 % of human and 18 % livestock population. Despite such tremendous population
and pressures of livestock on our forests, India has been able to preserve and expand its forest wealth. As
per the latest FAO report, India is placed 8th in the list of Top Ten nations reporting the greatest annual net
gain in forest area.
Latest assessment shows that there is an increase of 8, 021 sq km (about 80.20 million hectare) in the total
forest and tree cover of the country, compared to the previous assessment in 2015. The increase in the
forest cover has been observed as 6,778 sq km and that of tree cover as 1, 243 sq km. The total forest and
tree cover is 24.39 per cent of the geographical area of the country, much of the increase in the forest cover
has been observed in Very Dense Forest (VDF), as VDF absorbs maximum carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere. The increase in forest cover in VDF is followed by increase in open forest.
Andhra Pradesh (2141 sq km), followed by Karnataka (1101 sq km) and Kerala (1043 sq km) have shown
the maximum increase in forest cover. Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover of 77,414 sq km in the
country in terms of area, followed by Arunachal Pradesh with 66,964 sq km and Chhattisgarh (55,547 sq
km). In terms of percentage of forest cover with respect to the total geographical area, Lakshadweep with
(90.33 per cent) has the highest forest cover, followed by Mizoram (86.27 per cent) and Andaman & Nicobar
Island (81.73 per cent). The value of forests is more for the people living in and around forests, hence the
most critical issue is for whom is this exercising being conducted. Forests do not exist in isolation and the
benefits of the forests must be transferred to the people. He stressed that issues related to agro-forestry
and degraded forests must be paid attention to.
The present assessment also reveals that 15 states/UT’s have above 33 per cent of the geographical area
under forest cover. Out of these States and Union Territories, seven States/UTs namely Mizoram,
Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Manipur have

more than 75 per cent forest cover, while 8 states - Tripura, Goa, Sikkim, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Dadra & Nagar
Haveli, Chhattisgarh and Assam have forest cover between 33 per cent to 75 per cent. About 40% per cent
of the country’s forest cover is present in 9 large contiguous patches of the size of 10, 000 sq.km, or more.
As per the ISFR 2017, the total mangrove cover stands at 4,921 sq km and has shown an increase of 181 sq
km. All the 12 mangrove states have shown a positive change in the mangrove cover, as compared to the
last assessment. Mangrove ecosystem is rich in biodiversity and provides a number of ecological services.
The total growing stock of India’s forest and trees outside forests is estimated as 5,822.377 million cum, of
which 4,218.380 million cum is inside the forests and 1,603.997 million cum outside. There is an increase
of 53.990 million cum of total growing stock, as compared to the previous assessment. Out of this the
increase in growing stock, there is an increase of 23.333 million cum inside the forest and 30.657 million
cum outside the forest area. The total carbon stock in the country’s forest is estimated to be 7,082 million
tonnes, which shows an increase of 38 million tonnes, as compared to the previous assessment.
The extent of bamboo-bearing area in the country has been estimated at 15.69 million ha. In comparison to
the last assessment done in 2011, there has been an increase of 1.73 million ha in bamboo area. The
growing stock of the bamboo in forest has been estimated to be 189 million tonnes. There is an increase of
19 million tonnes in the bamboo-growing stock as compared to the last assessment done in 2011. The
total annual potential production of timer from trees outside forest has been estimated at 74.51 million
cum. The Government has recently enacted a Bill in the Parliament for taking out bamboo from the tree
category, where it is grown outside forest areas. This will encourage people to grow bamboo on private
lands, which will be helpful in increasing the livelihood opportunities for farmers and also enhance the
green cover and carbon stock of the country.

BACKGROUND:

The information given in the report will serve as an important tool to monitor the country’s forest resources
and plan suitable scientific and policy interventions for its management. It will also serve as a useful source
of information for the policy makers, planners, State Forest Departments, line agencies involved in various
developmental works, academicians, civil society and others interested in natural resource conservation
and management.

The India State of Forest Report 2017 is 15th such report in the series. In line with the Government of India’s
vision of Digital India and the consequent need for integration of digital data sets, the Forest Survey of India
has adopted the vector boundary layers of various administrative units upto districts developed by Survey
of India along with digital open series toposheets, bringing about full compatibility with the geographical
areas as reported in Census, 2011. Forests play a vital role in water conservation and improve the water
regime in the area. Considering the importance of water bodies in forest, FSI has assessed water bodies in
forest cover for the decade 2005-2015. As per the assessment, there is an increase of 2,647 sq km in the
extent of water bodies inside forest cover between 2005 to 2015.

The report contains information on forest cover, tree cover, mangrove cover, growing stock inside and
outside the forest areas, carbon stock in India’s forests and forest cover in different patch size classes.
Special thematic information on forest cover such as hill, tribal districts, and north eastern region

has also been given separately in the report. The report for the first time contains information on
decadal change in water bodies in forest during 2005-2015, forest fire, production of timber from
outside forest, state wise carbon stock in different forest types and density classes.

The spatial information given in the report is based on interpretation of LISS-III data from Indian
Remote Sensing satellite data (Resourcesat-II) with a spatial resolution of 23.5 meters. Satellite
data for the entire country was procured from NRSC for the period October, 2015 – February, 2016.
The satellite data interpretation is followed by rigorous ground truthing. In addition extensive
ground data collected by field parties at more than 18000 points all over the country and
information from other collateral sources are also used to improve the accuracy of the interpreted
image.

Forest Survey of India (FSI) has been assessing the forest and tree resources of our country on a
biennial basis since 1987. The results of the assessment are published in its biennial report titled
“India State of Forest Report (ISFR)”.


All-India Tiger Estimation 2018

Tiger act as a symbol of the richness of the ecosystem, thus conservation of tigers is necessary to
to protect the wilderness of the entire ecosystem. Wilderness play an important role in providing
the life support system in any ecosystem. For the survival of the mankind it is necessary to
preserve the wilderness. Tigers constitute the topmost level in the heirarcy of the food chain and
they play a very important role in the ecosystem. Food chain are generally inverted so harm to the
topmost carnivores will adversely impact a large number of species in the lower level. All the
species in a food chain are interlinked cornivores help in maintain the population which help in
retaining the population of grass and trees and later are the primary source of food for entire food
chain. Thus every specy including tiger has importance in the ecosystem and importance of the
specy increases if it is in the higher trophic level.

There are various reasons which provides a threat of Tiger protection. Important among them are:

● Despite several measures taken by government poaching still continue.
● Due to continous reduction in forest land, habitat for Tiger has been reducing continously.
● Pray for the Tiger are also decreasing.
● Some of the Tigers live outside the protected area, there conservation is extremely difficult.

For the protection of Tigers, the Government of India has taken a pioneering initiative for
conserving its national animal, the tiger, by launching the ‘Project Tiger’ in 1973. AT the begining
Project Tiger covered only 8 Tiger reserves and it has now expanded to 47. The tiger coservation is
based upon a core and buffer area strategy. The core areas are given more protection from human
interference. They are also provided with the legal backing as national park or a sanctuary. The
buffer or peripheral areas have mixture of land which is forest as well as non forest. Important
points in Project Tiger are:

● The Project Tiger aims to foster an exclusive tiger agenda in the core areas of tiger
reserves, with an inclusive people oriented agenda in the buffer.
● Project Tiger is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and
Climate Change.
● The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has an overarching supervisory /
coordination role for Tiger conservation, performing functions as provided in the Wildlife
(Protection) Act, 1972.

The All-India Tiger Estimation, 2018 exercise promises not just to be hi-tech, but will also be far
more accurate and precise than ever before. The phone application automatically records the track
log of surveys and line transects, as well as authenticates the recorded data on signs and animal
sightings with geo-tagged photographs. With increased camera trap density and the use of
android technology, estimates arrived at are likely to be more robust – both in terms of accuracy
and precision. This becomes evident from the fact that compared to the exercise conducted in the
year 2006, when 9, 700 cameras were put up, the 2018 Estimation will use nearly 15, 000 cameras.
It was also pointed out that it is not possible to count the photograph of every tiger in the camera
trap.

The Tiger Estimation exercise is the world’s largest wildlife survey effort in terms of coverage,
intensity of sampling and quantum of camera trapping. An amount of Rs. 10.22 crore will be
invested by the Government in the fourth cycle of All India Tiger Estimation. Financial assistance
to the tune of Rs. 7 crore will be provided to the States through the ongoing Centrally Sponsored
Scheme of Project Tiger.

India conducts the All India Tiger Estimation every four years. Three cycles of the estimation have
already been completed in 2006, 2010 and 2014. These estimates showed estimates of 1, 411, 1,
706 and 2, 226 tigers respectively. The methodology has remained the same in the three cycles in
terms of concept, but latest scientific developments in the field of animal abundance estimation
have been incorporated and the best available science to evaluate tiger status has been used.

In 2014, over 70% of the estimated tiger population was through camera trapping, where 1686
photographs of individual tigers had been obtained. The remaining 30% of tigers were from areas
that had tigers, but had not been camera trapped and were estimated by using robust statistical
models, where ecological covariates of prey, habitat and human impact were used.

The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 was amended in the year 2006. Since then, the Government
has taken several initiatives in the field of tiger conservation. Tiger conservation was given
statutory backing. The newly-created NTCA was mandated to carry out estimation of population
of tiger and its natural prey species and assess status of their habitat.

The Tiger Task Force realized that a major lacuna in tiger conservation was the absence of a
credible, scientific national monitoring protocol that will inform policy-makers and wildlife
managers on –


● Spatial extent and the size of tiger population in India;

● Welfare factors in these and neighbouring habitat (prey status, human pressure, other
wildlife species, status and habitat conditions);
● Trends in the population and area occupied over time.

The national status assessment exercise provides details such as the size of tiger population,
extent, covariates of prey, co-predators, habitat and human impact. It has been observed that tiger
population in India has increased at an average rate of about 5.8 per cent since the year 2006.



http://iasexamportal.com/SK-200

Integrated guided missile system

The Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) was an Indian Ministry of Defence
programme for the research and development of the comprehensive range of missiles. The project
started in 1982–83 with popular political support from the successive governments and bestowed
under the leadership of Abdul Kalam who oversaw its ending in 2008 after these strategic missiles
were successfully developed. On 8 January 2008, the DRDO formally announced the successful
completion of the IGMDP.

Missiles developed under the programme are given below:

1. Prithvi
2. Agni
3. Trishul
4. Akash
5. Nag

The Prithvi missile is a family of tactical surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM)
and is India's first indigenously developed ballistic missile. Development of the Prithvi began in
1983, it has a range of up to 150 to 300 km. The land variant is called Prithvi while the naval
operational variant are named Dhanush. Both variants are used for surface targets. Prithvi Missile
is a Surface-to-Surface Battle field Missile. It uses a single state, twin-engine liquid propulsion
system and strap-down inertial guidance with real-time software incorporated in the onboard
computer to achieve the desired accuracy during impact. Prithvi has higher lethal effect compared
to any equivalent class of missiles in the world. Prithvi is a unique missile today having
manoeuverable trajectory and high level capability with field interchangeable warheads. Its

accuracy has been demonstrated in the development flight trials. Flight trails for Air force has been
completed. This system is now being configured for launching from ship, increasing its capability as a sea
mobile system.

Trishul is the name of a short range surface-to-air missile, it has a range of 12 km and is fitted with
a 5.5 kg warhead. Designed to be used against low-level (sea skimming) targets at short range, the
system has been developed to defend naval vessels against missiles and also as a short-range
surface-to-air missile on land. Trishul is a Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile. It can also be used
as an anti-sea skimmer from a ship against low flying attacking missiles. It employs dual thrust
propulsion stage using high-energy solid propellant in a maraging steel flow chamber, and is
operated on command guidance initially with ka-band gathering and then transferred to the
tracking radar. It has necessary electronic counter measures against all known aircraft jammers.

Trishul, with its quickest reaction time, high frequency operation, high maneuverability, high lethal
capability and multi-roles for three services, is state-of-the-art system providing considerable
advantage to the Armed forces. This system has gone through development flight trials for army
and sea skimmer trials for navy. The final evaluation is in progress before user trials.

Akash is a medium-range surface-to-air missile with an intercept range of 30 km. It has a launch
weight of 720 kg, a diameter of 35 cm and a length of 5.8 metres. Akash flies at supersonic speed,
reaching around Mach 2.5. Akash Missile is a medium range Surface to Air Missile with multitarget
engagement capability. It uses high-energy solid propellant for the booster and ram-rocket
propulsion for the sustainer phase. The propulsion system provides higher level of energy with
minimum mass, compared to conventional solid/liquid rocket motor, that has better performance
with minimum weight of the missile. It has a dual mode guidance, initially on command mode from
a phased array radar and later radar homing guidance with unique software developed for high
accuracy. The phased array radar provides capability for multiple target tracking and simultaneous
deployment of missiles to attack four targets at the same time, in each battery. Multiple batteries
constitute a group centre. The system is highly mobile and has gone through a number of flight
trials providing the command guidance.

Nag is India's third generation "Fire-and-forget" anti-tank missile. It is an all weather, top attack
missile with a range of 3 to 7 km. The missile uses an 8 kg tandem HEAT warhead capable of
defeating modern armour including ERA (Explosive Reactive Armour) and composite armour. Nag
uses Imaging Infrared (IIR) guidance with day and night capability. Mode of launch for the IIR

seeker is LOBL (Lock on Before Launch). Nag can be mounted on an infantry vehicle; a helicopter
launched version will also be available with integration work being carried out with the HAL Dhruv.

Agni 1 Missile is an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile. Agni-I used solid propulsion booster and
a liquid propulsion upper stage, derived from Prithvi, essentially to prove the re-entry structure,
control and guidance. The strap-down inertial navigation system adopts explicit guidance, which
has attempted for the first time in the world. It uses all carbon composite structure for protecting
payload during its re-entry phase. The first flight conducted in May 1989, established the re-entry
technology and precise guidance to reach the specific target. Agni-I flight trials having proved the
long-range technologies, an operational version of agni with solid-solid propulsion system was test
fired in April 1999, which is Agni-II with mobile capability.

Agni-V is an intercontinental ballistic missile developed by the Defence Research and Development
Organisation. The Agni-V is a three-stage solid fuelled missile with composite motor casing in the
second and third stage. The nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) has a strike
range of 5,000 km, which can cover most of China. The missile will eventually be inducted into the
tri-service, Strategic Forces Command, which manages India’s nuclear arsenal. With the Agni-5,
India will become part of a small group of countries having ICBMs (range of 5,000-5,500 km) —
only the US, China, Russia and France are known to have ICBMs.


CURRENT AFFAIRS
National
INS KARANJ launched

• The Navy’s third state-of-the-art Scorpene class submarine, INS Karanj , was launched.
• The new submarine is named after the earlier Kalvari class INS Karanj , which was decommissioned
in 2003.
• Six Scorpene class submarines are being built under Project 75 by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders
Limited (MDSL), Mumbai, under a $3.75 billion technology transfer signed in October 2005 with the Naval
Group of France.
• However, the programme has been delayed by four years due to construction delays.
• No more delays in the programme to launch the rest.
• The Scorpene class is the Navy’s first modern conventional submarine series in almost two
decades, since INS Sindhushastra was procured from Russia in July 2000.
• INS Karanj saw action in the 1971 War.
• Expecting the new Karanj to be commissioned by the end of the year.
• Wednesday’s launch follows the launch of the first two Scorpene submarines —INS Kalavari and INS
Khanderi .
• INS Kalvari , the first to be launched, was commissioned in December 2017 by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi.
• INS Khanderi , which was launched in January 2017, is currently undergoing deep dive trials and is
expected to be commissioned later this year, according to Navy officials .
• Admiral Lanba said he expected timely construction and speedy delivery of the remaining three
submarines — Vela , Vagir and Vagsheer .

• The three submarines are in various stages of outfitting. The entire project is expected to be
completed by 2020.
• The MDSL is in the process of upgrading and would soon have the capability to build and launch two
lines of submarines.
• INS Kalvari , manned by a team of eight officers and 35 sailors, carries sea-skimming SM39 Exocet
missiles and the heavyweight wire-guided Surface and Underwater Target (SUT) torpedoes. For
self-defence, it has mobile anti-torpedo decoys.
Centre says India can’t be a refugee capital

• We do not want India to become the refugee capital of the world,” the Centre told to Supreme court.
• The government was responding to a submission made by Rohingya refugees.
• The Border Security Force (BSF) at the borders was “pushing back” their compatriots fleeing
persecution in Myanmar with chilli spray and stun grenades.
• “People from every other country will flood our country,” Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta,
for the government, orally submitted before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.
• Mr. Mehta submitted that the government was in talks and should be allowed to take a decision.
• There was no contingency as of now and this was not a matter for the court to intervene.
• Mr. Mehta said he needed time to respond to the allegations made by the refugees, represented by
advocate Prashant Bhushan, about being driven back from the border.
• The court gave him time till March 7, the next date of hearing.
• At one point, Mr. Mehta said the government was “constitutionally obliged” to decide on the
Rohingya issue.
• He also submitted that “this is not a matter in which we can show any leniency.”
• Mr. Bhushan submitted that welcoming refugees, who had fled persecution, with violence was
against India’s international and humanitarian commitments.
• He pointed out that the Rohingya refugees in camps in India lived in abject poverty and squalor.
Indus script ran towards the left : IMSc

• Two scientists working at The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, (IMSc) have figured out
a way to computationally estimate whether a language is written from left to right or otherwise.
• Most interestingly, they have studied the Indus script and calculated that it must flow from right to
left.
• “The Indus script ran from right to left by observing how the writing got a little cramped as it ran
towards the left — suggesting that the writer started writing at the right end and ended up running out of
space as he or she reached the left end,” says Sitabhra Sinha of IMSc, one of the two scientists who carried
out the study.
• We know intuitively that in a language, some words are used more often than others.
• Similarly, some letters of the alphabet occur more at the start of words and others are more
common at the end of words.

• The variation faced by different letters may be measured using two independent statistical indices
— the Gini index and Shannon’s entropy.
• They have established that there is a difference between these measures when calculated for the
first letter and the last letter.
• This difference between start and end of a word makes it possible for them to identify whether the
word is written from left to right or the other way around.
• In most of the 24 languages studied, including Arabic, Chinese, Korean, and Sumerian, the two were
able to predict using their computation alone whether the words in that language were written left to right or
otherwise.
• In the hitherto undeciphered Indus script also, they predict that the words are written from right to
left.
Labourers denied pay, privileges under Minimum Wages Act : Railways

• The Ministry of Railways has exposed a scam where labourers who were engaged by private
contractors to execute projects across the country.
• They were denied of their rightful pay under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, and other dues
prescribed under the labour laws.
• The Railways engage private contractors to execute projects worth several thousands of crores of
rupees across the country.
• These contractors employ a large number of labourers, both skilled and unskilled, to carry out the
works that include construction of bridges, buildings, gauge conversion projects and maintenance of its
assets such as stations, coaching depots, locomotives, tracks, etc.
• The labourers employed have to be paid wages under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, and Minimum
Wages Rules, 1950, amended from time to time.
• Also, wherever applicable, they have to be protected under the provisions of the Employees
Provident Fund Scheme, 1952 and Employees State Insurance Act, 1948, among others.
• Violation of these labour legislations would entail criminal proceedings against the contractor as
well the principal employers.
• Some “unscrupulous” contractors were resorting to various strategies “to deceitfully deprive the
contract labour of their rightful wages”.
• Such unlawful practices deprives contract labourers of their just and legal rights and also leading to
violation of conditions of contract (exposing Principal Employer to the risk of proceedings under these
Acts).
• Any reluctance on the part of a contractor to award minimum wages to contract labour, for the
period during which he had admittedly worked, is violation of contract conditions, illegal, unfair and violates
the Fundamental right of the Right to Life.


Budget 2018-19 : Mix of populism and prudence :

• Arun Jaitley pulled out all the stops in Modi’s Govt. last full budget to promise a better deal for
farmers, boost the rural economy and make the poor less vulnerable to health exigencies.
• For Agriculture distress, a Minimum Support Price of 1.5 times expense borne by farmers of all
crops.
• In equity market, reintroduction of Long Term Capital Gains on equity shares @10% for all gains over
Rs.1 lakh.
• No indexation benefit will be granted and the securities transaction tax will continue.
• In Income tax, the individual business persons paid less average tax than salaried class.
• So a flat Rs.40,000 deduction from taxable income in lieu of transport allowance and medical
expenses.
• Take- Home salaries has been virtually offset by raising 3% education cess levied on personal
income tax and corporate tax. Now 4% education and healthcare cess will apply.
• No respite in Indirect taxes front with Customs Duty hike on a range of products including mobile
phones, wearable devices , TV display panels, furniture, diamonds, footwear, cosmetics and dental floss.
• A much anticipated rationalization of high Excise duties on petrol and diesel was carried out with a
Rs.8 reduction.
• But no respite to customers as a new road and infrastructure cess of Rs.8 per litre has been levied
to fund projects.
• Fiscal Deficit target of 3.2% could not be achieved and was revised to 3.5% for FY17-18. FD of 3.3%
for FY18-19. FD of 3% for FY20-21 was set.
• Focus of Budget on Farmers, rural india, healthcare and education for the poor, reflected Modi Govt.
emphasis on improving the ease of living for the common man.
• Key Points :
a) Housing Fund : A dedicated Affordable Housing Fund” to be funded from shortfall in priority sector.
b) Capital Gains : Tax on LTCG over Rs.1 lakh @10% without allowing indexation benefit.
c) Standard Deduction : Rs.40,000 in lieu of exemption for transport allowance and medical expenses.
d) Health Insurance: A National Health Protection Scheme(Rs.5 lakh coverage) for over 10 crore poor
families.
e) Agriculture: With 86% of farmers small and marginal, the Budget proposes to help facilitate market
access by upgrading 22,000 rural “haats” into Gramin Agricultural Markets.
Key Amendments proposed in PMLA : Govt

• The Central government has proposed changes to various provisions of the Prevention of Money
Laundering Act (PMLA) through the Finance Bill.
• Included a crucial amendment that empowers the Special Court to restore confiscated assets to the
rightful claimants even during the trial.
• Welcoming the decision, Enforcement Directorate chief Karnal Singh told that the amendments
would make the implementation of PMLA more effective.

• The amendment to Section 8(8) allows the Special Court, if it deems fit, to consider the claims for
the purposes of restoration of such properties also during the trial.
• Earlier, the assets could be restored only after completion of the trial.
• “It will help provide quick relief in cases involving public money, including Ponzi scams,” said a
senior official.
• The government has introduced a new Sub-Section (2) of Section 66, making it mandatory for the
ED to share relevant details with other agencies.
• “In case we come across any information that can be pursued by other agencies, it will have to be
shared with the agency concerned for necessary action,” said the official.
Common Citizen & Eco-friendly Budget: Modi

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the Union Budget 2018-19 as farmer-friendly, common
citizen-friendly and development-friendly.
• He said it focussed on the needs of rural areas and paid attention to all sectors, from agriculture to
infrastructure.
• “It will give pace to the development of the country...the government is focussed not just on ‘ease of
doing business’ but also on ‘ease of living’,” he said.
• Ayushman Bharat Yojana, aimed at giving the poor up to Rs. 5 lakh a year for treatment.
• “The scheme is a path-breaking initiative to provide quality and affordable health care. It will benefit
approximately 50 crore Indians. The scale of this scheme is unparalleled and it will bring a paradigm shift in
our health sector”, he said.
• “It will help them get rid of the worry of incurring cost to get quality treatment. It will help 10 crore
families (45-50 crore people),” he said.
• This would be the biggest government-funded health care scheme in the world.
• Mr. Modi said his government would soon announce measures to address non-performing assets
and the ‘stress account’ issues of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector.
• “For a long time, MSMEs faced a lot of burden on the tax front. In this budget, we have also reduced
the corporate taxes that MSMEs owe. Now, they have to pay only 25% tax instead of 30%,” he said.
• “This budget strengthens the hopes of 1.25 crore Indians... Our farmers have produced record
[amounts of] grains and vegetables. To strengthen farmers further, we have taken several important steps,”
he said.

Jallikattu – a cultural right?

• The Supreme Court on Friday referred to a Constitution Bench to decide whether the people of Tamil
Nadu can preserve jallikattu as their cultural heritage.
• To see it under Article 29 (1) of the Constitution and demand its protection.
• A Bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman referred to a
five-judge Bench a batch of petitions filed by People for Ethical Treatment of Animals and activists.

• They wanted to strike down the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act of
2017 and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Conduct of Jallikattu) Rules of 2017.
• They contended that the amended laws had opened the gates for the conduct of the popular
bull-taming sport in the name of culture and tradition
• In 2014 ban by the Supreme Court.
• It is for the first time the Supreme Court is considering the question of granting constitutional
protection to jallikattu as a collective cultural right under Article 29 (1), Article 29(1) is a fundamental right
guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution to protect the educational and cultural rights of citizens.
• Though commonly used to protect the interests of minorities, Article 29(1) mandates that “any
section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script
or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same”.
• “It has never been looked into whether a State can claim constitutional protection under Article 29
(1) for what it thinks is a cultural right,” Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had orally observed.
• The case reserved for final judgment in the previous hearing.
• The Constitution Bench would also look into whether the 2017 jallikattu and bullock-cart races laws
would actually sub-serve the objective of “prevention” of cruelty to animals under the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals Act of 1960.
• On the other hand, the apex court frames the question, “does it perpetuate cruelty to animals and
therefore, can it be said to be a means of cruelty to animals?”
Changes in FCRA
• The Union government has proposed to amend the repealed Foreign Contribution Regulation Act
(FCRA), 1976 retrospectively.
• This move that will benefit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress held guilty by the
Delhi High Court for receiving foreign funds from two subsidiaries of Vedanta, a
• U.K.-based company.
• The Representation of the People Act and the FCRA bar political parties from receiving foreign
funds.
• In 2016, the government amended the FCRA through the Finance Bill route, allowing foreign-origin
companies to finance non-governmental organisations and clearing the way for donations to political
parties by changing the definition of “foreign companies”.
• The amendment, though done retrospectively, only made valid the foreign donations received after
2010, the year when the 1976 Act was amended.
• The retrospective amendment did not apply to donations prior to 2010.
• In a move to extend relief to the two parties, the government has again proposed an amendment
through the Finance Bill, 2018.
• It says, “Clause 217 of the Bill seeks to amend Section 236 of the Finance Act, 2016 which relates to
amendment to sub-clause (vi) of clause (j) of sub-section (1) of Section 2 of the Foreign Contribution
(Regulation) Act, 2010 …. effect from the 5th August, 1976 the date of commencement of the FCRA, 1976,
which was repealed and re-enacted as the FCRA, 2010.”
• The Home Ministry had sought the Attorney-General’s opinion to amend the repealed Act.

• The original provision in the FCRA, which declared that any company with over 50% FDI was a
foreign entity, was inconsistent with the view of the Finance and the Commerce Ministries, which treated
companies based in India and having Indian directors and employees as Indian subsidiaries.
Mandatory Dust Mitigation Plan

• The Environment Ministry has made it mandatory for companies seeking environment clearance to
ensure that they put in place a dust mitigation plan.
• The requirements, specified in a gazette notification on January 25, say that roads leading to or at
construction sites must be paved and black-topped.
• There could be no soil excavation without adequate dust mitigation measures in place. No loose
soil, sand, construction waste could be left uncovered.
• A water sprinkling system was mandatory, and the measures taken should be prominently displayed
at the construction site.
• Moreover, the grinding and cutting of building materials in open area were prohibited and no
uncovered vehicles carrying construction material and waste would be permitted.
• The standards were developed by the Central Pollution Control Board as part of the National
Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), and will now empower the organisation to fine companies and
agencies for not complying with norms.
• A study by the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and commissioned by the Delhi government
reported, in 2015, that road dust and burning of biomass and municipal solid waste, constituted the lion’s
share of the city’s air pollution.
• Road dust contributed 56% of all PM10 pollution, while it was 38% for PM2.5.
• Another estimate by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune had different numbers but
still ranked dust as the major contributor — 52% — to the city’s PM10 load.
• Before PM2.5 became the focus of attention — for its role in lodging itself in the lungs and for being
a key component of diesel emissions — dust was the key villain for a long time.
• Dust is a generic term for a vast mix of metals and non-metals — silicon, aluminium, titanium,
manganese, copper, barium, antimony, selenium and zinc.
Health scheme to be well funded

• Calling it ‘historic’, ‘bold’ and ‘committed to the common man’, Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda
welcomed Budget 2018, which had seen an 11.5% increase in the allocation for the health sector.
• Stating that the Budget would change the socio-economic scenario of the country and aid in
increased productivity for the common man.
• The Minister told: “The Budget will spur growth and development. It is aimed towards all sections of
the country. This is a visionary and people-oriented budget.”
• The Minister spoke about the National Health Protection Scheme, which will cover 10 crore
households by providing an annual package of Rs. 5 lakh for hospitalisation needs.
• “This will change the face of health care in India and we will no longer have families breaking down
under the financial burden of medical care,” the Minister said.

• The government was working on the intricate details of the scheme and would come out with a
definite plan soon.
• “We are confident about the scheme. Finances will never be a problem. Details will be given out as
soon as we are ready to implement it,” he said.
• Asked who will pay the premium, Mr. Nadda said: “The government will pay the premium with the
States’ share. Rs. 2,000 crore has been kept for it as of now.”

Northeastern states very important for India’s growth: Modi

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India’s growth depends on how fast the eight-State northeast
grows.
• Addressing potential investors and industry captains at an international event, Advantage Assam,
Mr. Modi said the northeast was destined to take the centre stage of the Centre’s Act East Policy, which
aims at taking India’s trade and cultural ties with eastern neighbours and the ASEAN bloc to greater heights.
• Connectivity is key to developing the region, the reason why the government has adopted the motto
of “transformation by transportation” to change the face of the northeast, Mr. Modi said.
• “The mindset that nothing can change in India has changed, and this is showing in the speed of
work such as expansion of road and railway network,” the Prime Minister said.
• The Centre has sanctioned Rs. 47,000 crore for 115 new railway lines and Rs. 90,000 for rural roads
and National Highway projects in the region, he pointed out.
• Mr. Modi also made it clear that the future of the northeast lies in its trade and cultural ties with the
ASEAN, a group of countries with whom India has enjoyed thousands of years of relationship.
• “Formal India-ASEAN ties may be 25 years old, but our association has been there for ages. So have
been our ties with Bangladesh and Bhutan,” the Prime Minister said.
Satellite phone for fishermen

• When cyclone Ockhi was churning the sea last December, the fishermen in their boats had no means
to communicate with the world or figure out their exact location.
• It now appears that some good may well come from the tropical storm.
• The cyclone has speeded up the process of getting a reliable mode of communication on board the
fishing crafts, an alternative to the mobile phone, which only has coverage up to 12 nautical miles (one
nautical mile equals 2 km).
• The solution most fishermen prefer is a satellite phone.
• Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar, who recently witnessed a demonstration of a satellite
phone from BSNL, said they were mulling various options, including Medium Frequency-High Frequency
radio (costing upwards of Rs. 3 lakh) and satellite phones.
• In the wake of the cyclone, members of various fishermen associations have been demanding some
kind of communication equipment aboard fishing craft.
• The initial cost would be around Rs. 1.35 lakh, after which an annual payment was necessary for the
SIM card.

• Sources in the Fisheries Department explained that anyone using wireless equipment for
communication required a licence from the Wireless Planning Commission.
Tibetan refugees regulations eased to travel and study abroad

• In a move aimed at discouraging Tibetans from applying for Indian passports, the Centre has eased
the regulations for Tibetan refugees who wish to travel and study abroad.
• Travel regulations are also being simplified for relatives of Tibetans living in foreign countries to help
them make visits.
• According to the Home Ministry, there are approximately 1.10 lakh Tibetan refugees who live either
in 45 settlements spread in different parts of the country or in places outside.
• In 2017, the Delhi High Court ruled that Tibetans born in India between 1950 and 1987 were eligible
for Indian passports.
• The court ruling came on a petition filed by a journalist, Lobsang Wangyal. Following this, the
Regional Passport Office in Himachal Pradesh received a large number of applications from Tibetans for
Indian passports.
• The same year, the Ministry of External Affairs also notified rules that Tibetans seeking an Indian
passport would need to surrender the “Registration Certificates” issued to them.
• They have to leave the settlements and forfeit the privileges and benefits from the Central Tibetan
Administration (CTA) — the Tibetan government-in-exile headquartered at McLeodganj in Himachal
Pradesh.
• The rules were being changed for the first time since the Tibetan refugees began pouring into India
in the wake of the flight of the Dalai Lama from Tibet in 1959.
• The government had then decided to give them asylum as well as assistance towards temporary
settlement.
• Tibetans who wish to travel abroad are issued an Identity Certificate (IC) in place of a passport and
a Registration Certificate (RC) to allow their stay in India.
• In 2015, the NDA government for the first time sanctioned a scheme of providing grant-in-aid of Rs.
40 crore to the Dalai Lama’s Central Tibetan Relief Committee (CTRC) for five years.
• The Centre has released Rs. 16 crore in the past two years to meet the administrative and social
welfare activity expenses of 36 Tibetan settlement offices in different States.
• As per the present norms, foreigners who intend to visit Tibetan settlements and camps should seek
prior permission of the Home Ministry and procure Protected Area Permit (PAP) as per the provision of
Section 3 of the Foreigners Act, 1946 (31 of 1946).

No first attack, but limitless bullets to retaliate: Rajnath

• Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that Indian troops had instructions to “shoot limitless bullets to
retaliate to a single fire on our territory” from Pakistan.
• The Minister’s comments came even as ceasefire violations continued to rise with January
witnessing the most number since the 2003 ceasefire agreement.

• Speaking at an election meeting in Agartala, Mr. Singh said India wanted peaceful relations with
Pakistan, but would retaliate aggressively if provoked.
• “I have given standing orders to our forces to shoot limitless bullets to retaliate against a single fire
on our territory by the Pakistani forces,” he said.
• “We do not want to attack Pakistan first. We want to live with peace and harmony with our all
neighbours. But most unfortunately, Pakistan is trying to tear down Jammu and Kashmir and continue
attacks on our forces and Indian territory,” he said.
• Army sources said 2017 has turned out to be the most violent year along the India-Pakistan border
since the two sides entered into a ceasefire agreement in 2003.
• At least 860 incidents of ceasefire violations have been recorded in the past year.
• January 2018 recorded the highest number of ceasefire violations ever since the 2003 agreement
with 150 violations.
• In contrast, January 2017 saw just eight such instances.
• Ceasefire violations have been steadily rising over the past three years.
• In 2015 there were 387 violations, while in 2016 it was 271.
• Over the past few months, violations have been going up, with December 2017 recording 147
instances.
Artefacts unearthed in Odisha

• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has discovered pottery pieces, and tools made of stones
and bones believed to be of the pre-Christian era from a mound in Jalalpur village of Cuttack district.
• Discoveries of ancient artefacts indicated that a rural settlement might have thrived in that period.
• What is important in these latest discoveries is that we have found continuity in the progress of rural
culture from a pre-historic era.
• Excavation carried out on 12 acres of land in the Jalalpur village has unearthed remnants of axe,
adze, celts and thumbnail scrappers chiselled from stones, harpoons, point and stylus made of bones and
potteries with marks of paintings.
• The ASI teams have also come across a couple of circular wattle and daub structures, which were
predominantly used by people to take shelter during the pre-Christian era, in 12 trenches being dug
simultaneously.
• Will send carbon samples to the Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), New Delhi, and the
BirbalSahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, to ascertain their exact age.
• Once they get the exact age, it will be easier to analyse the rural settlement and its activities.
• The ASI researcher, however, said the people here could not have lived in isolation and they could
have had cultural and trade ties with other settlements in the Prachi Valley that had come up around the
Prachiriver, which gradually disappeared.
• Rich materials found from excavation sites indicate that the people had a subsistence economy and
they largely relied on agriculture, fishing and hunting.
• ASI researchers assumed that the bones found on the site belonged to deer species and bovidae.
• Discovery of tortoise shell, dolphin and shark teeth and fish bones indicated that the settlement
could have been closer to the sea coast.

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• Some rice grains have also been detected.

• Further excavation is expected to throw light on whether there was cultural link with other
settlements, what happened to settlements established around the Prachiriver, and how it declined.

No third party interference in a free marriage

• Two adults are free to marry and “no third party” has a right to harass or cause harm to them, said
Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, speaking against honour killings.
• When activist Madhu Kishwar brought up the issue of Ankit Saxena, a young man who was allegedly
murdered by his lover’s parents, Justice Misra said, “we are not into that. That is not before us.”
• Ms. Kishwar said “honour killing” was “too soft a word” for such crimes against young people. “They
should be called hate crimes,” she submitted.
• But the Chief Justice repeated that no one has any individual, group or collective right to harass a
couple.
• A senior counsel, who represented the khap panchayat, objected to the panchayats being portrayed
as “inciters” of honour killings.
• The counsel said such panchayats were age-old traditions and they do encourage inter-caste
marriages now.
• He argued that the objection of khaps to marriages between people from the same gotra was
upheld in Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955.
• The section said “ sapinda should be removed by five degrees from the father’s side and by three
degrees from the mother’s side.”
• He said only three per cent of honour killings were linked to gotra.
• The remaining 97% were due to religion and other reasons.
• Marriage within the same gotra led to genetic deformity in children, the counsel argued.
• “We encourage inter-caste marriages. In Haryana, because of the skewed gender ratio, we get
women from other States,” the counsel said.
• But the Chief Justice said the court was not concerned about khap panchayats either.
• “We are not writing an essay here on traditions, lineages, etc. We are only concerned with the
freedom of adults to marry and live together without facing harassment,” the Chief Justice said.
• The court is hearing a petition filed by Shakti Vahini, an NGO, to make honour killing a specific crime.
SC says vehicular pollution problem is very serious problem

• The Supreme Court described the issue of vehicular pollution as “very serious” and a “critical
problem” and observed that it would have an impact not only on this generation but also on the children yet
to be born.
• The apex court said the Government could not take the issue lightly and directed the Ministry of
Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) to file an affidavit indicating the position as regards the availability of
Bharat Stage (BS)-VI emission standard compliant fuel in Delhi.
• BS-VI emission standard is scheduled to come into force from April 1, 2020 across the country.

• A bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta asked the Ministry of Environment,
Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) whether any study was conducted on environmental pollution, its
effect on the health of people and the cost to deal with it.
• Additional Solicitor General A.N.S. Nadkarni, appearing for the MoEF&CC, said a study was
underway and that he would get back to the court with its details.
• To this, the bench said if the Government did not have any material of its own and claimed that a
scientific study carried out by any foreign scientist on the issue was useless, then it was creating a problem
for itself as well as the people.
• Advocate Aparajita Singh, assisting the court as an amicus curiae (friend of the court), told the
bench that the BS-VI norms should be made applicable in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) from
April 1, 2019 as the government itself had acknowledged that the people were suffering due to pollution.
• Referring to data, she said pollution would come down by around 80% in case of the BS-VI vehicles,
as compared to the BS-IV ones.

Misuse is not a ground to strike down Aadhaar Act: SC

• The mere possibility of misuse cannot be a ground for striking down the Aadhaar Act, Justice D.Y.
Chandrachud orally observed during a Constitution Bench hearing on the validity of the unique identity
scheme.
• “There has been a long list of judgments holding that a mere possibility of misuse will not lead to
the striking down of legislation.
• We have a little bit of a problem with that line of your argument,” Justice Chandrachud, a member of
the five-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, told the Aadhaar petitioners.
• To this, senior advocate Kapil Sibal said misuse has ceased to be a “possibility.”
• “Misuse is happening. Misuse exists. Personal data is already out in the public domain. Once a
genie is out of the bottle, it cannot be put back... So, if there is a consistent line of judgments, treat Aadhaar
as an exception,” Mr. Sibal, who opened his submissions for petitioners Raghav Tankha and former IAS
officer M.G. Devasahayam, submitted.
• Justice A.K. Sikri, on the Bench, at one point, observed that if the government wanted information
about a person it could access it even without the help of Aadhaar. “No, you cannot.
• The government needs a court order,” Mr. Sibal reacted. Justice Sikri responded that “surely there
were other ways...”
• “On that, less said the better,” Mr. Sibal answered.
• Noting that information is power in the digital world, Mr. Sibal said the “Right to Information Act of
2005 made the citizen more powerful, but the Aadhaar Act wants to make the state more powerful.”
Indian Tiger census

• India’s tiger census, which began late last year, will see coordination with Bhutan, Nepal and
Bangladesh in estimating the territorial spread of the animal in the subcontinent.

• While India has engaged with Nepal and Bangladesh in previous tiger counts, this is the first time all
countries are uniting in arriving at tiger numbers, particularly in regions with shared borders.
• “We’ve had officials from these countries come to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) for training,”
said Y. Jhala, senior scientist.
• “This time we hope it will be a simultaneous exercise and tigers aren’t double-counted.”
• Since 2006, the WII — a Union Environment Ministry-funded body — has been tasked with
coordinating the tiger estimation exercise.
• The once-in-four-years exercise calculated, in 2006, that India had only 1,411 tigers.
• This rose to 1,706 in 2010 and 2,226 in 2014 in later editions on the back of improved conservation
measures and new estimation methods.
• The survey — divided into four phases — began last winter and is expected to reveal its findings in
early 2019.
• Commissioned by the Union Environment Ministry’s National Tiger Conservation Authority, the Rs.
10 crore exercise this year involves 40,000 forest guards traversing 4,00,000 sq. km. of forests; wildlife
biologists independently assessing them; approximately a year’s duration of field work; 14,000 camera
traps; and coordination with 18 States.
• Along with tigers, the survey also collects information on the prey population of deer and other
animals.
• Forest guards have Android phones and an app to storedata.
• Officials said one challenge in past censuses was that a sighting, or traces of a tiger’s presence, had
to be manually logged in. This led to errors in location data.
Agni-1 successfully test-fired

• India successfully test-fired its short-range nuclear capable ballistic missile Agni-1 with a strike
range of over 700 km from a test range off the Odisha coast, Defence sources said.
• The indigenously developed surface-to-surface missile was launched as a part of a periodic training
activity by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Army to consolidate operational readiness, they
said.
• The state-of-the-art missile was launched around 8.30 a.m. from a mobile launcher at Pad 4 of the
Integrated Test Range (ITR) at the Dr. Abdul Kalam Island, formerly known as Wheeler Island, the sources
said.
• Describing the trial a “complete success”, they said that all the mission objectives were met during
the test.
• The sophisticated Agni-I missile is propelled by a solid rocket propellant system and is equipped
with a specialised navigation system that ensures it reaches the target with a high degree of precision, the
sources said.


88 mining leases in Goa squashed: SC

• The Supreme Court quashed all 88 mining leases renewed by the BJP government in Goa in 2015 to
“benefit private mining leaseholders.”
• The 102-page judgment of the apex court noted how these leases were hastily renewed by the State
in 2014 with retrospective effect from 2007, just before an amended Mines and Minerals (Development and
Regulation) Act made auction of leases mandatory for mining notified minerals like iron ore.
• The judgment by a Bench led by Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta traced the “rapacious
and rampant exploitation” of Goa’s fragile ecology by private mining lease holders, whose sole motive is to
make profits, for years.
• “The primary beneficiary was, of course, the mining lease holder, a private entity, and the price was
paid by the average Goan who had to suffer a polluted environment and witness the damage to the State’s
ecology,” the Supreme Court said, summing up Goa's mineral policy.
• The judgment narrated the role played by the Goa government in the loot of natural resources. It said
the State gave private entrepreneurs mining leases “virtually for a song.”
• “The State sacrificed maximising revenue for no apparent positive reason, virtually surrendering
itself to the commercial and profit-making motives of private entrepreneurs and ignoring the interests of
Goan society in general,” Justice Lokur, who authored the judgment, for the Bench wrote.
• The court found that some private miners owed the State “staggering” sums of up to Rs. 1,500 crore
“towards value of ore extracted in excess of the environmental clearance.”
• The State government, the court held, had made no “serious attempts to recover such huge
amounts.”
• The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests also “played ball” by giving environment clearances
to 72 of these mining leases, the court observed.
• “There was not a single environment related or mining related law or legal requirement that was not
violated by one or the other mining lease holder.
• Quite clearly, the rule of environmental law in Goa had gone with the wind,” the apex court quoted
from the Centre’s own Vishwanath Anand Environment Appraisal Committee set up in 2013 to probe mining
illegalities.
CCEA approvals
• The Union Cabinet approved the increase in the target for the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, meant
to provide cooking-gas connections to rural women, to eight crore from the earlier five crore.
• The deadline for achieving the target is 2020.The Cabinet also approved an additional allocation for
the scheme of Rs. 4,800 crore.The meeting took a slew of decisions across sectors
a) increasing the minimum support price for copra,
b) extending the Discovered Small Fields Policy to include more oil and gas fields,
c) approving several bilateral agreements signed by India,
d) and giving ex post facto approval to the changes made in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Bill.

• “The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval for increase in the minimum
support price for fair average quality (FAQ) of ‘milling copra’ to Rs. 7,500 a quintal for 2018 season from Rs.
6,500 per quintal in 2017,” the government said in a press statement.
• “The MSP for FAQ of ‘ball copra’ has been increased to Rs. 7,750 per quintal for the 2018 season
from Rs. 6,785 per quintal in 2017.”
• “The Union Cabinet has approved the incorporation of the official amendments to the Major Port
Authorities Bill 2016, which is pending in Parliament,” another release said.
• “The Cabinet has given its approval for extending the Discovered Small Field Policy notified on
October 14, 2015 to identified 60 discovered small fields/un-monetised discoveries for offer under the
Discovered Small Field Policy Bid Round-ll,” the government added.
• “Out of these, 22 fields/discoveries belong to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Limited, five
belong to Oil India Limited (OIL) and 12 are relinquished fields/discoveries from the New Exploration and
Licensing Policy (NELP) blocks.”
UP pledge on Tobacco
• A few days after the World Cancer Day, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has committed
himself to controlling tobacco in the State by signing a strongly-worded pledge.
• Uttar Pradesh alone accounts for one-fourth of the 10,00,000 new cancer cases seen every year in
India.
• Uttar Pradesh is the largest contributor of cancer cases in India. Nearly half of all cancers in the
State are caused by tobacco.
• Uttar Pradesh accounts for the most number of mouth cancer in men in the country and 4/5th in
women.
• Gutka and pan masala (which are used as chewing tobacco) originated in Uttar Pradesh.
• Chewing tobacco originated in the State and it has to first end here.
• The specifics to end the tobacco menace have to be worked out with different ministries.
• The Tata Memorial Hospital is setting up a 500-bed cancer centre at Varanasi. And the State
government is setting up a State Cancer Institute at Lucknow.
• Since 50% of cancer cases in Uttar Pradesh are attributable to tobacco, the Tata Memorial Centre
doctors are trying to reduce tobacco usage to address the source of the problem.
• Getting the Chief Minister to sign the pledge is an important step in that direction.
• The pledge reads: “The high consumption of tobacco products in India is very alarming. According
to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2017, nearly 28% of adults in India use tobacco in some form. And
one-third of these will die early due to tobacco related diseases.

Low water availability in Narmada may trigger severe crisis in Gujarat

• Despite heavy rainfall last year, Gujarat is set to face a severe water crisis because of the low water
availability in Narmada dam.

• It is the main source of water in the State — due to deficient rainfall in the Narmada catchment area
in Madhya Pradesh.
• As a result, the State government has repeatedly announced that it will not supply water for
irrigation.
• The entire stock will be reserved for drinking water in Saurashtra and North Gujarat regions, both
water starved provinces and highly dependent on water from Narmada canals.
• In a statement, the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) appealed to farmers not to sow a
summer crop unless they had a local water source which could irrigate their fields because in the Narmada
dam, the storage level was at 45% of the 15-year average.
• However, the government’s move to curtail supply has irked farmers as well as the Opposition party,
who allege mismanagement by the State authorities.
• According to Gujarat government officials, they had the inkling that this year Narmada water would
not be available for irrigation.
• However, due to the Assembly polls in November-December, the State government, instead of
making proper arrangements, did not even inform the farmers and the public of the likely shortfall.
• October 2017 onwards, it became evident that the availability of water from the Narmada dam
would be substantially lower than the State’s quota of 9 million acre feet (MAF) that it gets as per the
Narmada water sharing award.
• Now, Gujarat will get only 4.71 MAF. That is enough for drinking water but not for irrigating fields.
• Interestingly, when the State government was apparently aware of a sharp drop in water inflows in
the Narmada dam.
• It celebrated the Narmada Festival while Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended an event to
announce the completion of dam over the river.
• Gujarat’s Chief Secretary J.N. Singh told the media that the State government would ensure that
there was no drinking water crisis during summer.
We will handle Ayodhya title dispute as a Land issue only: SC

• The Supreme Court exhorted parties in the 70-year-old Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute
to treat it merely as a “land issue”.
• Indicating it would not be swayed by the history of religious conflict and violence associated with
the Ayodhya site, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra addressed a tense and crowded courtroom, saying,
“Please treat this as a land issue.”
• The Hindu parties and sects involved in the dispute believe Lord Ram was born on this land.
• Kar sevaks razed the 15th century Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992.
• In September 2010, a three-judge Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court directed a three-way
partition of the disputed site in Ayodhya.
• But this judgment led to appeals and cross-appeals filed by parties in the Supreme Court.
• The court warded off third-party intervenors, who said they wanted in as the Ayodhya appeals dealt
with an issue which impacted the nation.

• But the Bench, also comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and S. Abdul Nazeer, firmly told them that
these were appeals and cross-appeals filed in land suits, and parties concerned were quite capable of
arguing them without any third-party interventions.
4 Weeks to UP for Taj protection plan: SC

• The Supreme Court directed the Uttar Pradesh government to place before it a vision document on
protection and preservation of the Taj Mahal.
• It also asked why there was a “sudden flurry of activity” in the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ).
• The TTZ is an area of about 10,400 sq. km spread over the districts of Agra, Firozabad, Mathura,
Hathras and Etah in U.P. and Rajasthan.
• A Bench of justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta questioned Additional Solicitor General
Tushar Mehta, appearing for the U.P. government, on why leather industries and hotels were coming up in
the TTZ when such activities were stopped earlier.
• “There is a sudden flurry of activity in the TTZ. Is there any particular reason for that? Leather
industries and hotels are coming up there. Why? It should remain stopped. Why this activity is there in the
TTZ?” it asked.
• Mr. Mehta submitted that he would seek instructions on the issue and get back to the court.
• The Bench also asked the State government to file within four week a vision document on protection
and preservation of the 17th century mausoleum.
• The court had in December last year said that a detailed and comprehensive vision document and
plan with a futuristic perspective that could protect and preserve the iconic monument, its environs and the
TTZ for at least a few hundred years, should be prepared.
• During the hearing, the State government filed an application seeking the court’s permission to cut
234 trees in Agra for laying pipelines for water supply in the city.
• The counsel told the Bench that 122 km of pipelines out of the 130 km had already been laid and for
the remaining 8 km, the authorities need to cut 234 trees and the TTZ had granted permission for it.
• The court asked the State government to inform it within four weeks on where land to plant trees
was available in the area and also give details about the number of trees planted there.
• Environmentalist M. C. Mehta, who has filed a plea seeking protection of the Taj from the ill-effects
of polluting gases and deforestation in and around the area, told the Bench that he had attended a meeting
of the authorities concerned last month to discuss the issue related to protection of the monument.
• “In my view, no satisfactory discussion took place,” he said, adding that he had not yet received the
minutes of the meeting.
• To this, the ASG said that the minutes of the meeting have been prepared and as per the court’s
direction, members of civil societies had also attended the discussion.
• Meanwhile, advocates representing the leather and glass industries referred to separate
applications filed by them but the Bench said it would hear these matters after four weeks.
• The apex court would also take up during the next hearing another application seeking permission
to cut trees for widening of road near Govardhana Hill in Mathura.

• The TTZ had earlier told the court that a “no construction zone” was declared within a-500 metre
radius of the Taj and the State government had envisaged a comprehensive plan to ensure balance between
environment and development.
In 6 months, fresh mining leases: Parrikar

• Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has said that fresh mining leases could be issued tentatively
within six months with due process.
• The Chief Minister was addressing a press conference at the State Secretariat on Thursday, a day
after the Supreme Court cancelled all 88 ore mining leases citing irregularities in the second renewal
process.
• “Six months should be the target, from March, subject to no hurdles and problems in between. I have
told you that the State is examining all options,” Mr. Parrikar said.
• He added that the State would not face any financial setback due to the apex court’s decision.
• “The damage is temporary. There is not much of a loss to the government. As far as financial impact
on the State goes [it will be around] Rs. 300 to Rs. 400 crore. We can bear it. Next year income from [the
mining sector] will be Rs. 300 to Rs. 400 crore. There is material still available in balance from e-auctions.
We can auction that,” Mr. Parrikar said.
• He admitted, however, that there would definitely be an impact on those depending on the mining
industry, and said the government will work fast to start mining with proper procedure.
• Mr. Parrikar said the leases were renewed for a second time based on directions from the Bombay
High Court at Goa.
• “The Supreme Court has set aside that decision, saying that the High Court did not interpret their
judgement [of cancelling the leases] properly,” he said.
• Mr. Parrikar refused to confirm if the State government would auction the leases, saying that he
needs to study the legal aspects.
• He also said that as per the apex court’s order, while mining has been banned from March 15, there
was nothing to stop mining companies from exporting the ore already extracted, which is stacked on
transportation jetties and other plots outside the lease areas.
• “[The lease-holders] have been permitted to extract up to March 15. So obviously that ore will belong
to them, subject to the condition that they pay the royalty, District Mineral Fund, everything,” Mr. Parrikar
said.
• He said there is no ban on export.
• The Supreme Court order has also asked about recovery of State dues from miners.
• Mr. Parrikar said the State has already started the process to recover dues from mining companies
after exhaustive audit by chartered accountants.

Telangana to have 4 zones and 3 cadres: Panel

• The State will have four zones and three cadres in the government posts, if the recommendations
made by the high-level committee constituted to look into the issue are any indication.

• The committee is learnt to have submitted a detailed report with several recommendations to Chief
Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
• It did so after holding elaborate discussions with all stakeholders and obtained the legal view on the
issue.
• Accordingly, it has suggested certain amendments to the existing Presidential Orders for creating
four zones in place of the existing two.
• Currently, there are two zones in existence in the State as per the Presidential Orders.
• The erstwhile districts of Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam are under Zone V.
• While the Zone VI is comprised of Hyderabad and erstwhile districts of Ranga Reddy,
Mahabubnagar, Nizamabad, Medak and Nalgonda.
• The committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari is understood to have
recommended scrapping the multi-zonal system and pruning the State cadre posts.
• It has also recommended division of the posts into State, zonal and local cadre.
• The committee, sources said, is understood to have recommended that Secretariat and posts of
heads of departments be brought under the Presidential Orders so that equal opportunities are provided to
facilitate movement of employees working in zonal and district level posts to the State level and vice versa.
• The Chief Minister is expected to review the situation soon and take a call on the recommendations.
• The file would be sent to the President for his assent once the Chief Minister gives his consent to
the recommendations.
NITI Aayog Health Performance Index

• Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu were the top rankers in NITI Aayog’s latest Health Index report.
• For the first time index attempted to establish an annual systematic tool to measure and understand
the heterogeneity and complexity of the nation’s performance in the health sector.
• The document, developed by NITI Aayog with technical assistance from the World Bank and in
consultation with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• It indicates that Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh showed the maximum
improvement in indicators such as Neonatal Mortality Rate, Under-five Mortality Rate, full immunisation
coverage, institutional deliveries, and People Living with HIV (PLHIV) on Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART).
• The report was released on Friday by Amitabh Kant (CEO of NITI Aayog), Preeti Sudan (secretary,
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) and Junaid Ahmad (country director, World Bank).
• The next report will be released in June this year and district hospitals too would be ranked.
• It would rank 730 district hospitals based on their performance.
• It wants to encourage the good performers and name and shame those who aren’t.
• Manipur registered maximum incremental progress in indicators such as PLHIV on ART, first
trimester antenatal care registration, grading quality parameters of Community Health Centres, average
occupancy of key state-level officers and good reporting on the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme
(IDSP).
• Lakshadweep showed the highest improvement in indicators such as institutional deliveries, TB
treatment success rate, and transfer of National Health Mission funds from the state treasury to
implementation agency.

• Kerala ranks on top in terms of overall performance but sees the least incremental change as it had
already achieved low levels of Neonatal Mortality Rate, Under-five Mortality Rate and replacement level
fertility, leaving limited space for any further improvement.
• Common challenges for most States and Union Territories include the need to focus on a)
addressing vacancies in key staff,
b) establishment of functional district cardiac care units,
c) quality accreditation of public health facilities and
d) institutionalisation of human resources management information system.
• Additionally, all larger States need to focus on improving the Sex Ratio at Birth.
• This Index is expected to nudge States towards further achieving a rapid transformation of their
health systems and population health outcomes.
Modi visits Ramallah

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his three-nation West Asia tour with a stopover in the
Jordanian capital, Amman, where he met King Abdullah II.
• On Saturday, Mr. Modi will travel to Ramallah in the West Bank, the headquarters of the Palestinian
Authority, where he will hold talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
• Mr. Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Ramallah.
• Talks between the two sides covered the Palestinian cause, and Jordan’s role in protecting Islamic
and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, based on the Hashemite custodianship over the holy shrines.
• Later, Mr. Modi thanked the Jordanian King.
• In Ramallah, bilateral issues and the Israeli-Palestine peace process will be discussed by Mr. Modi
and Mr. Abbas, Palestinian officials in Ramallah said.
• Earlier in an interview, Mr. Abbas said they would discuss the possible role India could play in the
peace process.
• Will discuss the recent updates with Prime Minister Modi, and the recent developments in the peace
process, the bilateral relations, and the regional situations.
• And the possible role India can play in enhancing peace in the region, as well as discussing different
economical aspects beyond the existing ties we already possess.
• In Ramallah, the Prime Minister will lay a wreath on the tomb of late Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat, tour the Arafat museum (both are located on the Palestinian Presidential Secretariat premises), hold
bilateral discussions and have lunch with the Palestinian leader.
• The visit comes weeks after Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to New Delhi.
• In July last year, Mr. Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel.
• Indian diplomats say the visit to Ramallah through Jordan without crossing through any of the
Israeli checkpoints is consistent with India’s “de-hyphenation policy”.

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No fiscal incompetence
• Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley trashed the Opposition’s charge of fiscal mismanagement,
stating that the four-year-old NDA government’s journey was that from a state of policy paralysis to
structural reforms.
• Replying to the Budget debate in the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Jaitley expressed surprise over former
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s charge that by reducing corporate tax to 25% for companies with
turnover up to Rs. 250 crore, he had favoured the corporates.
• Mr. Jaitley said it was Mr. Chidambaram, who as then Finance Minister had drafted the Direct Tax
Code mooting the idea of 25% corporate tax.
• The NDA government is also considering a legislation changing it to the turnover criteria for
classification of industries.
• For medium scale industries, it would be Rs. 250 crore, he said.
• The Finance Minister said the idea behind lower tax was to enable MSMEs to invest more, which
would create more jobs.
• The same trend was noticed in the United States (with below 20% corporate tax) and other
competing economies.
• Owing to this, while covering 99% of industries, the revenue forgone would be Rs. 7,000 crore,
whereas implementing it across the board would have cost Rs. 40,000-50,000 crore.
• Mr. Jaitley said indications from the Agriculture Ministry were that the basis for calculations would
be actual paid out cost plus family labour.
• Mr. Jaitley also assured the House that the proposed health coverage plan for 10 crore families
would in all likelihood be implemented completely this year.
• On expenses, the Finance Minister said the basic principle was that the bigger the size of
population, the lower the per capita premium.
• He said it would be affordable, adding that the NITI Aayog had carried out an assessment.
SC seeks help from AG on Live streaming Court sessions

• The Supreme Court asked for the assistance of the Attorney-General on a plea to live-stream
proceedings of the Constitution Bench in nationally important cases.
• Those on Aadhaar and decriminalisation of gay sex, in the Supreme Court.
• A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra decided to seek K.K. Venugopal’s
opinion on a petition filed by senior advocate Indira Jaising in her personal capacity.
• Ms. Jaising said courts around the world allowed their proceedings to be recorded, though they
differed in their ways.
• She said some judges in the constitutional court in India had historically been reluctant about the
idea of recording court proceedings because it would “capture every sentence” in the banter between
judges and lawyers which were merely a way to elicit responses and not a sign of how the judge would
finally decide the case.

• Ms. Jaising, however, said there were different methods to resolve such reluctance and listed the
means adopted by courts globally.
• She said such apprehensions should not create a roadblock in the public’s right to information.
• The Supreme Court, in a bid to usher in transparency, had earlier allowed the installation of CCTV
video recording with audio in trial courts and tribunals.
• Ms. Jaising said citizens have the right to information and matters of constitutional and national
importance can be live-streamed.
• If live streaming of top court's proceedings is not possible, then alternately the video recording
should be allowed the senior lawyer had argued.

Unbroken and Unwavering support to Palestine: Modi

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi said support for the Palestinian cause is a continuing thread in India’s
foreign policy and hoped for an early realisation of a “sovereign, independent Palestine living in a peaceful
environment”.
• India’s support for Palestine is “unbroken and unwavering. That’s why I am here, in Ramallah,” Mr.
Modi said at the administrative headquarters of the Palestinian Authority.
• The first Indian Prime Minister to visit Palestine, Mr Modi was speaking after holding bilateral talks
with President Mahmoud Abbas.
• The Prime Minister, who arrived at Ramallah’s Presidential compound earlier in the day, laid a wreath
at the tomb of Yasser Arafat, the late Palestinian leader, whom he described as “a great leader... and a very
close friend of the Indian people”.
• Mr. Modi was accompanied by Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamadallah at the Arafat
mausoleum before he joined President Abbas to receive the guard of honour and hold talks.
• After bilateral talks, the two sides signed six agreements worth around $50 million, including one for
setting up a $30 million super speciality hospital in Beit Sahur.
• Agreements were also signed to build schools, a diplomatic training institute and a woman’s
empowerment and training centre.
• “We are committed to taking care of the cause and well-being of Palestinian people,” Mr. Modi said.
• “Friendship between India and Palestine has stood the test of time. The people of Palestine have
shown remarkable courage in the face of several challenges. India will always support Palestine’s
development journey,” he said.
Rs.1269 crore to AP for projects: Centre

• The Centre has released a sum of Rs. 1,269 crore to Andhra Pradesh under different heads in the
past few days.
• amid a strain in ties between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and its ally, the Telugu Desam
Party (TDP), over allocation given to the State in the Union Budget.
• The gross grant included Rs. 417.44 crore for the Polavaram multipurpose project, one of the issues
of contention between the allies, the TDP and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

• The release [of Rs. 417.44 crore] is towards the amount already utilised by the State against the
irrigation component [of Polavaram] after April 1, 2014.
• The Centre, through the Polavaram Project Authority, has so far released Rs. 4,329 crore for the
project, while the State government said it spent over Rs. 7,200 crore after it was declared a national
project.
• Memo to Jaitley
• Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu submitted a memorandum to the Union
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last month, stating that a sum of Rs. 3,217.63 crore, spent on Polavaram, was
yet to be reimbursed to the State.
• Of this, the Centre has now released Rs. 417.44 crore, an official of the Water Resources Department
here said.
• The Centre, meanwhile, also released Rs. 369.16 crore under post-devolution revenue deficit grant,
as per the recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission, to Andhra Pradesh.
Cautious on status of Jerusalem is Modi

• During his historic visit to Palestine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed India’s support for the
Palestinian cause, and called for dialogue to find a permanent solution to the crisis.
• But stopped short of saying anything on the contested issue of the status of Jerusalem.
• Traditionally, Indian statements of support for Palestine have said that India backs an independent,
sovereign state of Palestine within the 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital.
• Two years ago, when then President Pranab Mukherjee visited Jordan, Israel and Palestine, he said:
“I reiterated India’s principled support to the Palestinian cause and called for a negotiated solution resulting
in a sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living
within secure and recognised borders, side by side at peace with Israel as endorsed in the Quartet
Roadmap and relevant UNSC [United Nations Security Council] Resolutions.”
• The Quartet Roadmap he referred to is the two-state plan suggested by the U.S., the European Union,
Russia and the UN to resolve the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
• In November 2013, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued a statement on the occasion of the
International Solidarity Day with the Palestinian People, reiterating India’s position. “India supports a
negotiated resolution, resulting in a sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine with East
Jerusalem as its capital, living within secure and recognised borders side by side and at peace with
Israel...,” it read.
• However, in the statement issued by Prime Minister Modi after the India visit of Palestine President
Mahmoud Abbas in May 2017, there was no reference to Jerusalem.
• “[W]e hope to see the realisation of a sovereign, independent, united and viable Palestine, co-existing
peacefully with Israel. I have reaffirmed our position on this to President Abbas during our conversation
today,” the Prime Minister said on May 16, 2017.
• in Ramallah, Mr. Modi has reiterated this line, with no direct reference either to the borders or to
Jerusalem.
• The Prime Minister said India hoped to see an independent sovereign Palestine living in a peaceful
environment, whereas President Abbas, in his statement, stressed achieving the national goals of Palestine

“according to the two-state solution on the 1967 borders and the resolutions of international legitimacy.
And Israel in peace and security, with East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.”
• Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has triggered an
angry response from the Palestinians and criticisms from different parts of the world.
• India voted against Mr. Trump’s Jerusalem move in the UN General Assembly in December 2017.
After Mr. Trump’s move, the External Affairs Ministry issued a statement saying “India’s position on
Palestine is independent and consistent”, but again without any reference to Jerusalem.
• Mr. Modi said nothing on Israel while giving the press statement in Ramallah.
UIDAI on Aadhaar benefits

• Aadhaar-issuing authority UIDAI said that no essential service or benefit can be denied for want of
the biometric national ID.
• In a statement, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) asked Government Departments
and State administrations “to ensure that no essential service or benefit shall be denied to a genuine
beneficiary for the want of Aadhaar, whether it is medical help, hospitalisation, school admission or ration
through PDS.”
• “There are exceptions to the handling regulations issued by the UIDAI vide its circular dated 24th
October 2017, which must be followed to make sure that no beneficiary is denied benefits for want of
Aadhaar,” it said.
• The UIDAI said it has taken serious note of some of the reported cases where want of Aadhaar had
resulted in the denial of essential services like hospitalisation.
• “While the real facts behind such claims of denial are being investigated, strict action will be taken in
case denial has occurred,” it said.

SC on Implementation of Juvenile Justice Act and its rules

• The Supreme Court criticised the government for the “tardy, if not virtual non-implementation,” of
juvenile justice laws.
• Criticised for ignoring the plight of the “voiceless, if not silenced,” children of the nation.
• In a 62-page judgment, the Social Justice Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta
described the authorities’ negligence of children, including the pendency of cases of orphaned, abandoned
and surrendered children.
• The “uncomfortable” conditions of children in observation and care homes, the increasing number
of vacancies in juvenile justice institutions and the lack of initiatives by legal services authorities despite
the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, and its improved version passed in 2015.
• “No one has any doubt that it is time for the state to strongly and proactively acknowledge that even
children in our country have fundamental rights and human rights, and they need to be enforced equally
strongly,” observed Justice Lokur, who authored the judgment.

• To drive home its point, the court quoted from South African leader Nelson Mandela’s speech in
1997: “Our children are our greatest treasure. They are our future. Those who abuse them tear at the fabric
of our society and weaken our nation.”
3 New species of EEL found in BOB

• Scientists have discovered three new species of eel along the northern Bay of Bengal coast in the
past few months.
• Dark brown with white dots on the dorsal side, Gymnothorax pseudotile was discovered at the Digha
coast of the Bay of Bengal.
• The other two species,Gymnothorax visakhaensis (uniformly brown) and Enchelycore propinqua
(reddish brown body mottled with irregular creamy white spots), were discovered from the Visakhapatnam
coast of the Bay of Bengal.
• While Gymnothorax pseudotile is about 1 feet to 1.5 feet long, Gymnothorax visakhaensis is about a
foot long. Enchelycore propinqua is the smallest of them measuring less than a foot.
• A description of all the three new species was published in the journal Zootaxa .
• Anil Mohapatra, a Zoological Survey of India ( ZSI) scientist who is behind all the three discoveries,
said that while the specimens of the first two species can be found upon a considerable search, the third
one is relatively rare.
• Scientists and researchers David G. Smith, Subhrendu Sekhar Mishra , Swarup Ranjan Mohanty,
Dipanjan Ray and Prasad C. Tudu have contributed to these discoveries.
• Eels are found mostly at the bottom of rivers and seas.
• Across the world about 1,000 species of eels have been identified. In India, the number is around
125. For species belonging to the family Muraenidae , referred commonly as Moray eels, there are records
of about 200 species of which more than 30 species are found in India.
• With these new discoveries, the Bay of Bengal coast has yielded at least five new species of eel. In
2016, Mr. Mohapatra and his team identified Gymnothorax indicus , an edible species.
• In 2015, a short brown unpatterned moray eel, named Gymnothorax mishrai(Bengal moray eel), was
discovered from the coast of Bay of Bengal.
• The specimens of Gymnothorax pseudotile were collected in a trawl net by fishermen in the northern
Bay of Bengal.
PM Modi visit to UAE

• India and the UAE will hold a bilateral naval exercise, the External Affairs Ministry announced.
• The declaration came during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s discussion with the leadership of the
Gulf country with both sides agreeing to deepen the strategic partnership and counter terrorism in “all
forms”.
• The two leaders welcomed the decision taken during the latest round of JDCC [Joint Defence
Cooperation Committee] held in New Delhi in December 2017 to conduct the first bilateral Naval Exercise
during 2018.

• It explained that maritime security would be a crucial domain of India-UAE cooperation focussing on
the Indian Ocean and the Gulf region.
• The Hindu had earlier reported that the naval exercise, is likely to take place in March off the coast
of Abu Dhabi.
• Apart from the announcement for joint maritime cooperation, Prime Minister Modi and the Crown
Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, expressed joint commitment against tackling
terrorism and threats to stability in the region.
• Making common cause against international terrorism, a joint statement issued at the end of Mr.
Modi’s discussions with the hosts.
• It said, the two sides deplored the adoption of double standards in addressing the menace of
international terrorism and agreed to strengthen cooperation in combating terrorism both at the bilateral
level and within the multilateral system.
• The two sides resolved to continue working together towards the adoption of India’s proposed
Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the United Nations.
• Apart from a common intent to fight terrorism, both sides affirmed partnership on the cyber front
and declared that joint research and development centres of excellence to fight cyber threats will be
expedited.
• Both sides also reviewed contribution from UAE’s sovereign wealth fund ADIA (Abu Dhabi
Investment Authority).
• Prime Minister Modi welcomed ADIA’s participation in India’s National Infrastructure Investment
Fund as an anchor investor and welcomed DP World’s agreement with NIIF to create a joint investment
platform for ports, terminals, transportation and logistics businesses in India.

INS Chakra damages

• Russian authorities have demanded over $20 million for rectifying the damage suffered by nuclear
submarine INS Chakra , which was dry-docked, even as the government is seeking to fix responsibility for
the mishap.
• According to defence sources, Russia has quoted $20 million (approximately Rs. 125 crore) for
fixing the front portion, which was damaged while the submarine was entering the harbour in
Visakhapatnam.
• The accident details emerged in public in early October last year.
• The developments around INS Chakra come even as the indigenously built nuclear ballistic missile
submarine INS Arihant, which had suffered extensive damage because of human error over a year ago, is
yet to be back to active sailing.
• After extensive flushing and replacement of many of its pipes, Arihant was floated recently but
sailing it will take more time, the defence sources said.
• On INS Chakra , Russian officials have conveyed to India that they would be making all the
replacement panels in their own facility, and would not be using any Indian facilities.
• The almost 5x5 ft. panels of the sonar dome would be brought to Visakhapatnam and fitted on to
the leased submarine.

• In an interview to The Hindu last week, Russian Ambassador Nikolai Kudashev said he wasn’t aware
when the nuclear-powered submarine would sail again.
• Meanwhile, government sources indicate that they want responsibility fixed for the damage suffered
by INS Chakra .
• As part of the firm stand taken by the government, it is believed to have put on hold the proposal to
appoint Inspector General of Nuclear Safety Vice Admiral Srikant as the new Commandant of the New
Delhi-based National Defence College (NDC), until responsibility is fixed for the Chakra mishap.
• Vice Admiral Srikant is the senior most naval officer responsible for nuclear submarines. Lt. Gen.
YVK Mohan moved out as NDC commandant early in January to take over as the General Officer
Commanding IX Corps headquartered at Yol in Himachal Pradesh.
• Denying any specific knowledge of the Ministry’s move, Navy officials admitted that a series of
appointments in the Navy are currently waiting to be cleared by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and
Vice Admiral Srikant’s is also among them.
Marginal increase in forest cover

• India posted a marginal 0.21% rise in the area under forest between 2015 and 2017, according to the
biennial India State of Forest Report (SFR) 2017.
• The document says that India has about 7,08,273 square kilometres of forest, which is 21.53% of
the geographic area of the country (32,87,569 sq. km).
• Getting India to have at least 33% of its area under forest has been a long standing goal of the
government since 1988.
• However various editions of the SFR over the years, have reported the area under forests as
hovering around 21%.
• So the government also includes substantial patches of trees outside areas designated as forests —
such as plantations or greenlands — in its assessment.
• The total tree cover, according to this assessment, was 93,815 square kilometres or a 2% rise from
the approximately 92,500 square kilometres estimated in 2015.
• Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala topped the States that posted an increase in forest cover.
• Much of this increase can be attributed to plantation and conservation activities both within and
outside the Recorded Forest areas as well as an improvement in interpretation of satellite data.
• Currently, 15 States and union territories have 33% of their geographical area under forests.
• In India’s north-east however, forest cover showed a decrease; 1,71,306 square kilometres, or
65.34%, of the geographical area was under forest and this was a 630 square kilometre decline from the
2015 assessment.
• The category of ‘very dense forest’— defined as a canopy cover over 70% — and an indicator of the
quality of a forest, saw a dramatic rise from 85,904 square kilometres to 98,158 square kilometres this year
but the category of ‘moderately dense forest’ (40%-70%) saw a 7,056 square kilometre-decline from 2015.
• “In different categories of forests there may be fluctuations within categories.
• However we are soon coming up with a comprehensive policy to address this,” said Siddhanta Das,
Director General of Forests.
• Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan lauded the survey findings.

• India is ranked 10th in the world, with 24.4% of land area under forest and tree cover, even though it
accounts for 2.4% of the world surface area and sustains the needs of 17% of human and 18% livestock
population
• The forest survey for the first time mapped 633 districts and relied on satellite-mapping. Earlier this
year, the government ceased to define bamboo as a tree to promote economic activity among tribals.
• The survey found that India’s bamboo bearing area rose by 1.73 million hectares (2011) to 15.69
million hectares (2017).
Purity of election process at stake due to convict heading party: CJI

• Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra questioned the logic behind having a criminal and corrupt
person to head a political party, and said such a lapse was a huge blow to the purity of the election process.
• Far worse is the prospect of democracy when such a criminal has the power to choose candidates
for elections under his party’s banner, observed the CJI, heading a three-judge Bench.
• “This goes against our judgments that corruption in politics to be ostracised from the purity of
elections,” he orally observed, addressing the government and the Election Commission (EC).
• “So, is it that what you cannot do individually [that is to contest in elections], you can do collectively
through some of your agents,” he asked.
• “A man cannot directly contest in an election, so he constitutes a group of persons to form a
political party and contest in an election,” he said.
• People could form an “association to do philanthropic activities like having a hospital or a school”.
• “But when it comes to ... governance, it is different,” he said.
• Additional Solicitor-General Pinky Anand said the government needed time to file a response.
• The court said that banning convicted persons from becoming office-bearers of parties would be in
consonance with its past judgments against corrupt politics.
• It posted the case for two weeks later.
• Last December, the court agreed to examine whether the EC should be empowered to de-register a
party because a convicted person had formed it or was a crucial office-bearer.
• Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who filed the petition, reasoned that if a convicted person was
banned from elections, he or she should also be debarred from heading a party and controlling its other
elected members.
• The petition names leaders such as Lalu Prasad of the RJD, who was convicted in the fodder scam,
and O.P. Chautala of the INLD, who was found guilty in the junior teachers recruitment scam case.
• The petition had also sought to declare Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951,
“arbitrary, irrational and ultra vires the Constitution, and to authorise the Election Commission to register
and de-register parties as suggested by the Goswami Committee on Electoral Reform.”
• The petitioner, however, withdrew this prayer.
KMP & KGP expressways to be opened by Modi

• Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would
inaugurate the KMP and KGP expressways in March.

• He said that the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) and the Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal (KGP) expressways
are scheduled to be completed by March 31.
• The Chief Minister announced this after inspecting the intersection of KMP-KGP and National
Highway-1 at Rai in Sonipat district.
• Mr. Khattar said the construction work on these expressways would be completed within the
prescribed time frame and it would help in getting rid of traffic jams.
• Earlier, during a review, he had sought a report from the officers of the construction company, an
official release said here.
• Mr. Khattar also visited Badkhalsa in Sonipat where he said that under the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’
programme, the sex ratio in the State had improved, and now it was 914 girls per 1,000 boys.
• In Badkhalsa village, this figure has crossed the 1,000 mark, he said.
• “Welfare and upliftment of girls is necessary for building a strong and stable society,” Mr. Khattar
said, exhorting villagers to educate girls.
• “Sonipat is fast developing as an education hub and more reputed institutions will soon come up in
this area,” he added.

NHRC on pesticide death

• The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) sought an action taken report from the Tamil Nadu
government following a spate of pesticide poisoning deaths reported from the State in October and
November last year.
• Acting upon the complaint of an activist who was part of a fact-finding team that investigated into
the deaths and several instances of hospitalisations after exposure to pesticides in Perambalur, Ariyalur,
Salem and Cuddalore districts of Tamil Nadu.
• The Commission issued a notice last month demanding the State government to submit a report on
the actions undertaken to address the problem.
• However, response from the concerned authorities is still awaited as per the status displayed on the
NHRC website.
• In the NHRC complaint, activist V.M. Parthasarathy alleged that no concrete preventive measures
had been put in place by the government, and no ex-gratia relief provided to the affected.
• Earlier, the fact-finding team that had met with the affected families and concerned government
officials presented evidence to show that more than 500 hospitalisations and 9 deaths have taken place in
Tamil Nadu due to pesticide poisoning.
• “Subsequent to our fact-finding visit to meet affected families and other stakeholders last, there
have been further reports of poisonings. This is alarming,” Mr. Parthasarathy said.
• NHRC’s action comes at a time when the Punjab government has announced a ban on
monocrotophos as well as 19 other pesticides.
• The State government of Punjab has also put out orders to stop issuing fresh licenses for these
pesticides, since the State can only issue a ban for 60 days.

• “If Punjab, which has one of the most intensive use of pesticides in all of India, can take up such
progressive measures, there is no reason why Tamil Nadu government cannot issue similar orders”, said K.
Saravanan of PUCL.
• Responding to queries, V. Dhakshinamoorthy, Director of Agriculture, said that he was unaware of
the NHRC notice but his department had convened a meeting soon after the deaths were reported to give
detailed guidelines on do’s and don’ts of using pesticides to field-level agriculture officials.
• “We have also organised meetings with manufacturers and dealers of pesticides asking them not to
sell hazardous pesticides to farmers,” he said.
Colleges performing well will be empowered

• Colleges that perform well will now be able to apply for autonomous status, which will permit them
to start new courses and programmes, set syllabi and even “fix fees for courses at their own level”.
• The University Grants Commission has notified guidelines for this change.
• To be eligible for such autonomy, the colleges must have been given ‘A’ grade by the National
Assessment and Accreditation Council, which means a Cumulative Grade Points Average of at least 3 on a
scale of 4.
• Reservation policies will apply to these colleges too.
• However, the degrees, including PhDs, shall be awarded by the university with the name of the
college on the degree certificate.
• The colleges will continue to be affiliated to the university but will enjoy autonomy to take their own
decisions.
• Autonomous status will initially be granted for 10 years, but can be extended for five years at a time.
• Such colleges will also have the right to appoint their own faculty and principal as per existent UGC
regulations.
• “Colleges (of any discipline) whether aided, partially aided and unaided/self-financing are eligible
provided they are under Section 2(f) of the UGC Act. The college should have at least 10 years of existence,”
the notification says.
Focus on cybersecurity
• IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asked States to focus on strengthening the cybersecurity
ecosystem to push adoption of digital services in the country, a senior official said.
• The Minister met IT ministers and secretaries from almost all States during a two-day conference to
discuss the roadmap on making India a trillion-dollar digital economy by 2025.
“The Minister requested every State to continuously monitor the traffic of websites and set up cybersecurity
centres,” an official who attended the meeting.
• “It was also discussed that there should also be audit from time to time of sensitive centres such as
nuclear power stations, financial hubs and IT hubs,” another source said. The Centre will send officials for
such audits.

• According to the source, Mr. Prasad was informed that financial institutions and the government
were the targets for nearly 40% cyber attacks, including phishing, denial of services attacks and
ransomware.
• In addition, Mr. Prasad, who is also the Law Minister, asked the States to ensure that no one was
denied any benefits for not having an Aadhaar card.
DAC approvals
• The Defence Acquisition Council gave approval for a series of proposals to shore up the Army’s
infantry firepower and other deals, together estimated at Rs. 15,935 crore.
• The DAC accorded approval for procurement of 7.4 lakh assault rifles for the three Services.
• These rifles will be ‘Made in India’ under the categorisation of ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’, through both
the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and private industry at an estimated cost of Rs. 12,280 crore.
• The other proposals approved include procurement of 17,000 light machine guns for the three
Services through the fast-track procedure at over Rs. 1,819 crore and 5,719 sniper rifles for the Army and
the Air Force for about Rs. 982 crore.
• While the high-precision rifles will be bought in the ‘Buy Global’ category, the ammunition will be
initially procured and subsequently manufactured in India, the Ministry said.
• The assault rifles will be of 7.62mm calibre and the carbines of 5.56mm calibre. The Army has been
trying to replace the indigenous INSAS rifles.
• The approval is the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN), the first step of the Defence Procurement
Procedure.
• Despite desperate attempts by the Army, all these proposals had been repeatedly cancelled in the
past.
• To enhance the anti-submarine warfare capabilities of Naval Ships, the DAC approved the
procurement of the “Mareech” advanced torpedo decoy systems.
• The system has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation and has
successfully completed extensive trial evaluations.
• The systems will be produced by Bharat Electronics Ltd., Bengaluru, at an estimated cost of Rs. 850
crore.
• Last month, the DAC cleared a separate proposal for 72,400 assault rifles and 93,895 close quarter
battle (CQB) Carbines for Rs. 3,547 crore on a fast-track basis.

PNB scam
• In what could be one of the biggest frauds in the Indian banking system, state-run lender Punjab
National Bank (PNB) reported unauthorised transactions worth Rs. 11,500 crore in one of its branches in
south Mumbai.
• The Enforcement Directorate has registered a money laundering case in the matter, which involves
Mumbai-based billionaire diamond merchant Nirav Modi.

• A case has been registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation against him and his business
associates as well as a serving PNB official and a retired deputy manager of the bank.
• In a communication to the stock exchanges on Wednesday morning, the country’s second largest
lender said it had detected some unauthorised transactions in one of its branches for the benefit of a few
select account holders with their apparent ‘connivance’.
• “The quantum of such transactions is $1771.69 million. The matter is already referred to law
enforcement agencies to examine and book the culprits as per law of the land,” the communication said.
• The bank’s stock plunged almost 10% through the day and its market capitalisation eroded by nearly
Rs. 3,900 crore by the end of trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
• The government also swung into action with the Finance Ministry asking all the banks to carry out a
clean-up exercise.
• Financial Services Secretary Rajeev Kumar said the government will not tolerate ‘unclean banks’
while adding that the case dates back to 2011, when a fraudulent Letter of Undertaking (LoU) was
submitted to PNB.
• “However, the PNB case is an isolated one. The CBI is looking into the case, and 10 employees of
the bank have been suspended,” Mr. Kumar added.
PFI ban study by Centre

• Kerala has asked for a ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI), a Muslim organisation that is mainly
operating out of the State, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju has said.
• The issue was discussed at the annual DGP meet held in Madhya Pradesh’s Tekanpur in January,
where Kerala police chief Lokanath Behera gave a detailed presentation on the PFI’s growth and activities in
the State.
• The session was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other
senior officials in the security establishment.
• Kerala has pressed for a ban on the PFI and we are examining the case.
• Mr. Behera listed four cases where members of the PFI were involved in criminal activities, said a
senior Home Ministry official.
• The Centre will collect more facts and evidence about the activities of the outfit before declaring it
an “unlawful association”, the official added.
• Attempts to reach Mr. Behera for his comments were not successful.
• The DGP meet is an annual affair organised by the Intelligence Bureau where issues concerning
internal security are discussed.
• The National Investigation Agency had last year sent a detailed report to the Home Ministry and
mentioned four cases where cadres of the PFI had either been charge-sheeted or convicted.
High quality residue-free coffee by tribals

• With no financial or technical support from anybody, Paliyar tribals living at Korankombu have been
producing high quality, chemical and residue-free coffee using their traditional low-cost cultivation
methods.

• Poverty, no access to latest technologies and lack of funds to buy fertilizers and pesticides are a
blessing in disguise for these people as they have been adopting their traditional practices to grow coffee in
the reserve forest areas.
• They raise both Arabica and Robusta variety of coffee.
• While tall Robusta crops are grown near field bund, Arabica trees are planted inside the field. They
neither cut forest trees nor clean land to raise coffee.
• Natural coffee production does not affect the yield. They have harvested 600 kg of coffee in an acre.
• “We never pay wages to labourers for plucking fruits. Family members of one tribal planter work in
other’s farm. ‘Shram dhan’ is still in vogue among tribal planters for harvesting,” says G. Sankar, tribal
planter.
• The irony is that no coffee research station officials has visited the village so far. Forest officials and
Q branch police are the only visitors to the village.
• Collector T.G. Vinay was the first top-level officer who visited the village to take part in a mass
contact programme, he said.
• With no contact with outer world, they depend on big coffee estate owners to sell their high quality
produce.
• They hand over their entire produce to the estate owners and receive whatever they offer for their
survival. Even today, tuber available in the reserve forests is their only food.
• Impressed by their work culture, the Forest Department has come forward to legalise their rights to
use forest land for agriculture purpose under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
• More than 36 coffee planters’ families would benefit. Recognising their legal rights alone would not
bring any fortune to them.
• Direct marketing support with brand label for their produce is the need of the hour.
• The State and Central governments should recognise their product and popularise them throughout
the world.
Alarms to monitor wild elephants

• An advanced but cost-effective alarm system would soon be installed at four places at
Ennamangalam forest area in Erode Forest Division to detect the movement of wild elephants along forest
boundaries.
• I. Anwardeen, Chief Conservator of Forests, said that elephants raiding crops on agriculture lands
was a major cause of concern for those living near forest areas.
• Seven persons lost their life in man-animal conflicts near Ennamangalam forest area in 2017.
• Hence, the department had proposed to install alarm system in the area.
• When elephant crosses the boundary, the multiple passive infra-red sensor installed in the 500 m
stretch absorbs the body temperature of the elephant and sets in motion sensor cameras.
• Sensors and cameras can rotate 360 degrees, he said.
• The cameras, in turn, will capture the movement of elephants and images will be sent to authorities
concerned.
• An alarm will be sounded from the system installed on the top of a house in the nearby village.

• S. Anand, District Forest Officer, Erode Forest Division, told The Hindu that a light will flash to scare
away the elephant to the forest.
• He said that four spots were identified for the project and the system will be installed at a spot on a
study basis.
• On Saturday, Mr. Anand along with a team led by Jeyabarathi, a professor from SSN College,
Chennai, that designed the system, inspected the spot where it will be installed.
• The team was asked to work on providing sms alerts to villagers.
• The installation will be done by the end of the month, Mr. Anand said.
• The cost of the system is less than Rs. 1 lakh.
Provide more security along border: Mizoram CM

• Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla has urged Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to beef up
security along the border with Myanmar to prevent Rohingya Muslims from entering the Northeastern State.
• Mr. Lal Thanhawla had met Mr. Singh in Delhi and discussed wide-ranging security issues with him,
it said.
• The Chief Minister informed the Home Minister that the State could face serious problems if
Rohingya refugees and terrorists from the Rakhine state in Myanmar enter Mizoram.
• He also expressed concern over the recent clashes between the Myanmar Army and the Arakan
militants along the border on the Myanmar side, resulting in the entry of over thousands of refugees to
Mizoram, the statement said.
• Over 1,600 Myanmarese nationals have taken shelter in south Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district after the
Myanmar Army launched a massive crackdown on the Arakan militants since November 25 last.

Tiger Census in Odisha

• The Odisha government will employ 900 cameras during its week-long annual tiger census.
• Both direct and indirect methods will be used to ascertain the status of the big cats in the State.
• The week-long census that coincides with the national tiger census will be carried out in all forest
divisions.
• Field officials of all the divisions have been trained for the programme.
• After completion of the week-long census operation, the data will be shared with the Union Ministry
of Environment and Forest.
• Unlike earlier, the State government has brought the entire Similipal Tiger Reserve, which houses the
State’s largest tiger population, under the scope of the census.
• Of the State’s total population of 40 tigers, 29 are stated to be in Similipal.
• The State forest department officials are hoping for a rise in the tiger population count this year.
• Earlier on January 19, a dolphin census was conducted across six coastal divisions of the State.
• The Forest and Environment Department's wildlife wing pegged the number of endangered
Irrawaddy dolphins in the Chilika Lake at 114.
• The dolphin population in the State has now gone up to 469 compared with 450 in 2015.

• A total of 307 dolphins have been sighted in the Bhitarakanika National Park. Of these, 108 were
Indo-Pacific dolphins and 62 were Indian humpbacks.
Punjab and Income Tax

• Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and his Ministers announced that they would voluntarily pay
their own income tax, which at present is being given from the State exchequer.
• The development comes within days of Capt. Singh suggesting that elected representatives of the
State, including Ministers and MLAs, pay their own income tax.
• The announcement followed a personal appeal by the Chief Minister during a meeting of the State
Cabinet here, an official spokesperson said.
• With respect to MLAs, Capt. Singh had said that decision on their self-payment of income tax would
be taken after receiving their feedback on the proposal.
• The tax is currently being paid by the government and draining the exchequer, Capt. Singh had said.
• Punjab is probably the only State in the country where the government paid taxes for all Ministers
and MLAs, he had said.
• He had pointed out that the tax being paid by the State government in this regard stood at Rs. 11.08
crore. While Rs. 10.72 crore was being spent on payment of income tax of the MLAs, the remaining was for
the Ministers, Capt. Singh had said.
• The Chief Minister has also been appealing to members of the Congress in Punjab and rich farmers
to give up their power subsidy in the State’s larger interest.
SC to give its verdict on Cauvery waters

• A Special Bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, will on February 16
pronounce its verdict on appeals filed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala against the final award of the
Cauvery Tribunal in 2007 on the allocation of the river waters to the three States.
• Chief Justice Misra has authored the judgment.
• On September 20 last, the final day of the marathon hearings, Tamil Nadu made a fervent plea to the
Bench, also comprising Justices Amitava Roy and A.M. Khanwilkar, not to reduce the State to a beggar
before Karnataka.
• The Tamil Nadu government, represented by senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, urged the Supreme
Court to initiate a “fundamental change” in the water-sharing arrangement.
• “Several years have gone by... the river is perennial but the litigation should not be,” Mr. Naphade had
submitted.
• Tamil Nadu said it wanted a judicial order and did not want to depend on the Centre that took six
years to publish the Tribunal award in the gazette in 2013.
• In its turn, the Centre, represented by the then Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar, had tried to apprise the
Bench that it was Parliament’s call to finalise the water-sharing scheme under the Inter-State Water
Disputes Act, 1956.
• But the court remained firm, saying the judiciary had a role and the judgment in the appeals would
speak for itself.

We are an autonomous body: Prasar Bharati

• Aggressively defending its autonomy, public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has rejected a range of
“directives” coming from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
• They said it constituted “contempt” of the Prasar Bharati Act.
• Chairman A. Surya Prakash and members of the Prasar Bharati Board, at their meeting, took “strong
exception” to the “wording of a direction” to terminate the services of all contractual employees of Prasar
Bharati.
• A sizeable number of employees, both in Doordarshan and All India Radio, work on contract and
sacking them without arranging for an alternative would lead to the collapse of both organisations, Prasar
Bharati officials said.
• The Ministry’s proposal to hire two senior journalists, Siddharth Zarabi and Abhijit Majumdar, was
withdrawn as the board was not in favour of hiring media persons on exorbitant compensation packages.
• The Ministry had fixed an annual compensation of Rs. 1 crore for Mr. Zarabi and Rs. 75 lakh for Mr.
Majumdar.
• The members argued that the highest compensation paid to contractual employees in Prasar
Bharati was about Rs. 1.6 lakh a month and a jump to Rs. 1 crore a year cannot be justified.
• Another agenda item withdrawn during the board meeting was the appointment of a serving IAS
officer as Member (Personnel) on the Prasar Bharati Board.
• The chairman and members took strong exception to the wording of the resolution.
• They also said provisions of the PB Act would be violated and the office of Vice-President would be
denigrated.

SC on cauvery water dispute

• It only refers to the 2007 tribunal award which had vaguely dealt with the issue by saying that the
allocated shares of water would be “proportionately reduced” among Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and
Puducherry.
• The court gave the Centre six weeks’ time to frame a Cauvery water-sharing scheme under Section
6A of the ISWD Act of 1956. The scheme has to be in consonance with the CWDT’s award and the changes
introduced by the Supreme Court though this judgment.
• The Supreme Court gifted Karnataka 14.75 tmc (thousand million cubic feet) of Cauvery water from
Tamil Nadu’s share, reasoning that Karnataka has historically suffered “limited access to and use” of the
river water.
• A three-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, said there is “confirmatory empirical
data” that Tamil Nadu has 20 tmc groundwater available with it.
• The court asked Tamil Nadu to draw out at least 10 tmc groundwater instead of banking on Cauvery
water from Karnataka. In fact, the judgment even cites Karnataka’s submission that groundwater, if not
extracted regularly, would run waste.

• The remaining 4.75 tmc of the 14.75 tmc would be diverted to the people of Bengaluru for their
domestic and drinking purposes.
• The judgment said the drinking water needs of Karnataka, especially the burgeoning and global
Bengaluru city, was somehow “ignored” in the water-sharing agreement reached by the Cauvery Water
Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) in 2007.
• Compared to Tamil Nadu, the court found that Karnataka, despite being the upper riparian State on
the Cauvery basin, has 28 districts still reeling under drought.
• The 14.75 tmc for Karnataka would be taken from the 192 tmc Cauvery water supplied by Karnataka
from its Biligundlu site to Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu. This means that Karnataka would now supply 177.25
tmc.
• So, out of a total of 740 tmc available in the 802-km long Cauvery, the Supreme Court determined
that Karnataka would now get 284.75 (270 + 14.75) tmc, Tamil Nadu’s share has been reduced from 419
tmc to 404.25, while Kerala and Puducherry would continue to be allocated 30 tmc and seven tmc,
respectively.
• he court allowed Puducherry’s request to grow a second crop. However, cultivation should be limited
to 43,000 acres. The judgment rejected Kerala’s request for a diversion of the Cauvery water for its
hydro-power projects.
• The apex court also maintained the 10 tmc allocated for environmental protection and spared
another four tmc for “inevitable escapages” of Cauvery water into the sea.
• The judgment however does not provide for distress years when water in Cauvery basin depletes
from the 740 tmc available during a normal year.
CVC summoned top officials over PNB fraud

• The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC has summoned senior officials of the Reserve Bank of India
and the Finance Ministry, along with the Chief Vigilance Officer of PNB, early next week to assess how the
Rs. 11,500 crore fraud.
• An official aware of the development said the CVC would like to ascertain if there is a systemic
issue that needs to be corrected, as it isn’t convinced by the bank’s claims that junior employees colluded
with the fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi and other banks were to blame for not carrying out due
diligence on the LoUs.
• “Banks are audited at three levels — apart from an internal audit, there is an external auditor and a
statutory audit undertaken by the RBI.
• The CVC is keen to understand how none of these audits picked up a red flag on the letters of
undertaking that seem to have been issued bypassing the system,” said the official.
• The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate conducted searches on Mr. Modi’s firms and his
associates across the country. The External Affairs Ministry suspended his passports along with that of his
relative Mehul Choksi.
• The Ministry said it would revoke their passports if they failed to respond to the notice of
suspension within one week.

PM interacted with students on examination

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he focussed on his work for 125 crore Indians and believed
that election results were only by-products of it. And he believed the blessings of 125 crore Indians were
with him for his next examination.
• He was sharing his views on how to handle examinations with school students here and used the
simile in reply to a question by a Class 11 student, who reminded him that they were both going to face
“examinations” one year later.
• Telling the student that such a question suggested he should be a journalist, Mr. Modi said, “Focus
on your studies and work. Make it the dharma of your life. Exams and results should be by-products of that.
• I do the same in politics. For 125 crore Indians, I devote my time, energy and capability. Polls will
come and go: they are just by-products,” the Prime Minister told a gathering.
PM Modi praises Solar Alliance

• The biggest development on tackling climate change since the Paris Accord of 2015 has been the
International Solar Alliance, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inaugural session of the World
Sustainable Development Summit. “India and France initiated the International Solar Alliance.
• It already has 121 members [countries] and is perhaps the single most important global
achievement since the Paris Agreement of 2015,” he told a crowd of students, Ministers and delegates from
40 countries.
• “While the world was discussing Inconvenient Truth [a reference to the 2006 documentary on global
warming] we translated it into Convenient Action,” he added.
• The International Solar Alliance (ISA) that aims at increasing solar energy deployment in member
countries, came into legal, independent existence in December and is the first treaty-based international
intergovernmental organisation to be based out of India.
• The ISA aims to mobilise more than $1,000 billion in investments by 2030 for “massive deployment”
of solar energy, pave the way for future technologies adapted to the needs of moving to a fossil-free future
and keep global temperatures from rising above 2°C by the end of the century.
• India has committed itself to having 175,000 MW of renewed energy in the grid by 2022.
• As part of the agreement, India will contribute $27 million (Rs. 175.5 crore approximately) to the ISA
for creating corpus, building infrastructure and recurring expenditure over five years from 2016-17 to
2020-21.
• The ISA was launched on November 30, 2015 in Paris, on the sidelines of COP-21, the UN climate
conference.
Asset worth ore than 500 crore seized by ED

• The Enforcement Directorate on Friday seized assets worth Rs. 549 crore in the Punjab National
Bank’s fraudulent transactions case, taking the total amount of seizure to Rs. 5,649 crore. A money
laundering case was also registered against diamond merchant Nirav Modi’s uncle Mehul Choksi.

• The agency searched 35 locations across 11 States. “The searches were conducted in Goa,
Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Delhi, Patna, Lucknow, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Chennai,” said
a senior official.
• The Central Board of Direct Taxes has shared details of 29 properties linked to Mr. Modi in different
parts of the country. Besides, six more properties have been identified for further legal action.
• The Directorate, through Indian offices of Mr. Modi, has got messages sent to the overseas outlets
of the businessman in New York, London, Macao and Beijing, instructing them to stop all trade forthwith.
• “They have instructed that no article should be sold from those outlets,” said the official.The agency
plans to issue summonses to Mr. Modi and his relatives.
• Investigations have revealed that the bank had not only failed to detect the fraudulent transactions,
which were made without any entry into the Core Banking Software, it was also unaware of the delayed
repayments that were being received on account of the Letters of Undertaking (LoU) issued in favour of the
companies involved.
• Investigating agencies suspect that some officials of the overseas branches of other India-based
banks were also involved in concealing the alleged fraud.
Court made it mandatory to declare income before contesting elections

• The court made it mandatory for candidates contesting elections and their associates to declare
their assets and source of income at the time of nomination.
• The obligation of a candidate to disclose both his assets and the source of income is a part of the
fundamental right of citizen to know, under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution. The court said
enforcement of a citizen’s fundamental right needs no statutory sanction from the government or the
Parliament.
• “A candidate’s constitutional right to contest an election to the legislature should be subservient to
the voter’s fundamental right to know the relevant information regarding the candidate,” the court held.
• It held that “undue accretion of assets” is an independent ground for disqualifying an MP or an MLA.
Amassing wealth is a “culpable offence” by itself and a law maker can be prosecuted even without charging
him for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
• The court said the amassment of unaccounted wealth by lawmakers is the mark of a failing
democracy. “If left unattended it would inevitably lead to the destruction of democracy and pave the way for
the rule of mafia.”
• The court said India as a “socialist republic” believes in the distribution of material resources and
not in the concentration of wealth.
• If the assets of a legislator increase without bearing any relationship to their known sources of
income, the only logical inference that can be drawn is that there is some abuse. The court pointed out
about how legislators use their position to secure loans from nationalised banks which turn into NPAs.


India & Iran on transit and trade:

• Iran on Saturday joined hands with India to promote connectivity through the port of Chabahar and
asked the United States to respect territorial sovereignty.
• Welcoming the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged for closer
cooperation in the fields of energy, banking and countering terrorism.
• “On important bilateral and international issues, we have no divergence. We discussed our
agreements and the future course of action on Chabahar and India’s contribution to the Chabahar-Zahedan
railways,” said President Rouhani in his speech at the end of bilateral talks with Prime Minister Modi and
official delegates.
• Both sides agreed on making transit and trade the core of bilateral ties and emphasised the role of
Chabahar in serving as a door to the landlocked Afghanistan.
• Mr. Modi described Chabahar as the “golden gateway to Afghanistan and the Central Asian region.”
• Expressing a common resolve to go ahead with developing the area around the port of Chabahar, a
joint statement at the end of the visit said, “The Iranian side welcomed the investment of the Indian side in
setting up plants in sectors such as fertilizers, petrochemicals and metallurgy in the Chabahar FTZ.”
• “Might is not the criterion to be right as there are other criteria also. Our destiny was in the hands of
the U.S. for a long period of time,” said President Rouhani, addressing the Observer Research Foundation.
“The U.S. made a promise to us and they have broken it. If it violates this agreement (n-deal), you will see it
will regret it,” he added.
Sex Ratio at birth: NITI Aayog Report

• The sex ratio at birth (SRB) saw a decline in 17 out of 21 large states of the country.
• Gujarat recording an alarming dip of 53 points, a Niti Aayog report stated and stressed on the need
to check sex-selective abortion.
• According to the report, among the 17 states which recorded substantial drop of 10 points or more.
• In Gujarat the SRB fell to 854 females from 907 females per 1,000 males born registering a drop of
53 points from 2014-15 (base year) to 2015-16 (reference year).
• Gujarat is followed by Haryana, which registered a drop of 35 points, Rajasthan (32 points),
Uttarakhand (27 points), Maharashtra (18 points), Himachal Pradesh (14 points), Chhattisgarh (drop of 12
points), and Karnataka (11 points), theHealthy States, Progressive India report states.=
• “There is a clear need for States to effectively implement the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal
Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994 and take adequate measures to promote the value of the girl
child,” the report stated.
The India State Forest Report(SFR)

• The India State of Forest Report (SFR) 2017 published recently has revealed that the mangrove
cover in the country has increased by 181 sq. km.

• But the Indian Sundarbans that comprise almost 43% of total mangrove cover have shown only a
marginal rise of 8 sq. km., at 2,114 sq. km. from 2,106 sq.km. in the 2015 SFR report.
• This is in spite of large scale planting of mangroves by the State Forest department and NGOs over
many years.
• The latest figures raise the question of whether enhanced human pressures on the only mangrove
forest that harbours a healthy tiger population is affecting the ecosystem.
• Unlike the rest of the country, large areas of mangrove forest in the Indian Sundarbans fall under the
Sunderban Tiger Reserve where human activities are prohibited.
• The Indian part of the Sundarbans covers 4,263 sq. km.out of which 2,584 sq. km.is core and buffer
area of the tiger reserve.
• A detailed understanding of the threat to the mangroves of Indian Sundarbans has been highlighted
in a ‘State of Art Report on Biodiversity in Indian Sundarbans’ published by World Wide Fund for Nature,
India (WWF).
• The publication reveals that along with climate change, the mangroves are threatened by habitat
degradation due to industrial pollution and human disturbance, fuel-wood collection and lack of any high
elevation spaces for the mangrove species to regenerate and thrive.
• The report states that it is a matter of concern that if the present rates of change prevail, the
Sundarbans mangroves could disappear as the sea level rises.
• This is because the forest’s natural response to retreat further inland is blocked by geographical
features and man-made obstructions.
• Authors of the chapter on Mangroves & Associated Flora put the number of mangrove and
associated flora species in the region at 180.
• The authors have suggested a “rehabilitation of former mangrove areas and creation of new
mangrove habitations through intensified afforestation programmes.”
• Ratul Saha of the WWF, one of the authors of the publication, pointed out that the threat to each
mangrove species varies in magnitude and it is important to fill these knowledge gaps through more
research.
• Of the 180 mangrove and associated species or halophytes (plants adapted to growing in saline
conditions), 34 are true mangroves, of which 19 are major mangroves and 15, minor mangroves.
• The species diversity of halophytes of Indian Sundarbans is recorded as 71 mangrove associates,
30 back mangroves, six species of epiphytes and parasites, 23 grass and sedges, four ferns and 12
herbaceous plants.
• Mangroves are classified as plants having salt tolerance mechanisms like salt glands, aerial roots in
the form of pneumatophores and viviparous germination (germinating before detaching from parent).
• They grow mostly in the inter-tidal spaces and are dispersed by water buyout propagules (seeds or
spores).
• There are several prominent mangrove species.
• Heritiera fomes or Sundari trees from which the Sundarbans draws its name, has a very restricted
distribution in South Asia and is classified as Endangered in the IUCN Red list.
• The publication lists five species of mangroves whose status, as per the IUCN Red List, ranges from
Near Threatened to Critically Endangered.

• Sonneratia griffithii , one of the tallest trees of the Sundarbans referred to as Keora by locals is
critically endangered while Ceriops decandra (Goran) is Near Threatened.
• C. decandra and Avicennia (locally known as Bain) are gathered in violation of law for
supplementing fuel wood requirements by the residents.
• Species like Xylocarpus granatum , which has a traditional medicinal use in treatment of cholera,
diarrhoea and fever is also one of the species which faces threat due to illegal felling.
• Among the many associates of mangrove, which grow as climbers and shrubs, some are used for
firewood.
• The other category of flora, back mangroves, are not found in inter-tidal areas colonised by true
mangroves. Excoecaria agallocha , commonly called Goria found towards the mainland along the small
canal is one common example.
• Among the salt marshes of Sundarbans, Sesuvium portulacastrum, with thick, fleshy leaves borne
on succulent, reddish-green stems is a pioneer species. Salt marshes are found hosting the mangrove fern
Acrostichum aureum .
• The WWF publication points that among the twelve orchid species reported in the past from
Sundarbans, most can no longer be found.
• Climate change is being attributed to the decline of mangrove species worldwide.
• The authors emphasise the importance of involving the local population in conservation, keeping in
mind the limited livelihood options and the extreme climate events that they have to grapple with.
• The population density of the Indian Sundarbans outside the Tiger Reserve area is 1,000 people per
sq. km., and there is high malnourishment reported from here.
• Illegal clearing of forests for fisheries has turned out to be a major issue over the past few years.
• Nationally, the SFR 2017 report estimates the maximum increase of mangrove cover from three
States, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.
• While the maximum increase of 82 sq. km. has been recorded in Maharashtra, where Thane district
alone has witnessed an increase of 31 sq. km., Raigarh has 29 sq. km. and Mumbai Suburban, 16 sq. km..
• Andhra Pradesh has seen a rise of 37 sq. km. in the SFR survey, done every two years, with districts
like Guntur and Krishna contributing the most.
• Gujarat’s tally rose by 33 sq. km. in Bhavnagar, Junagarh, Kutch and Jamnagar districts.
• In all three States, the increase has been attributed to plantation and regeneration.
• Tamil Nadu found an increase of 2 sq. km. of mangroves, taking the extent of such forests to 49 sq
km, as recorded in the FSR report.
• Among the striking features of Tamil Nadu’s efforts is that Nagapattinam district recorded a
decrease of 16 sq. km.while Tiruvarur district posted a rise of 16 sq. km.
• Districts like Cuddalore, Pudukkottai and Thoothukudi also have recorded a small increase of 1 sq.
km. of mangrove cover each, compared to 2015.
• Ramanathapuram district found its cover decreasing by one sq. km.


Dam on Twigem River in Mynamar

• A dam being constructed by Myanmar across a river close to the boundary with India has stoked
fears of submergence and water scarcity among border villagers in Kengjoi subdivison of Manipur’s
Chandel district.
• Last week, residents of Khangtung village reported to district officials about the dam being built by
Myanmar authorities barely 100 metres from the zero line separating the two countries.
• International rules warrant border countries to check activities in No Man’s Land – a 150-metre strip
on either side of the boundary line.
• The dam, called Tuidimjang, is on the Twigem river flowing into Myanmar from Manipur. Khangtung,
inhabited by the Thadou tribe, is 137 km south of Manipur capital Imphal.
• Houkholen Haokip, secretary of the Chandel unit of the Thadou Students’ Association (TSA), did not
rule out the possibility of China assisting Myanmar in building the dam.
• The topography of the area is such that Khangtung and other Indian villages will be submerged if the
dam comes up.
• The villagers, dependent on the river, are already facing water scarcity.
• Efforts to get in touch with officials and contractors in Myanmar have been in vain.
• The TSA has written to Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren, requesting intervention.
• When the dam is completed, the entire Khangtung village will be inundated and the villagers will face
untold miseries and require relocation and rehabilitation.
• This project will have huge negative social, cultural and economic impact on the residents of
Khangtung and other Indian villages.
• Manipur has had issues with internal dams too.
• In June 2015, a tribal village named Chadong in Ukhrul district was submerged by the Mapithel dam
on river Thoubal.
• Construction of the Mapithel dam, initially known as Thoubal Multipurpose Project that aimed to
produce 7.5MW of power, irrigate 21,862 hectares of land and provide 10 million gallons of drinking water,
began in 1989 amid protests from people downstream.
• Elders of Chadong village had inked an understanding with the State government in 1996 for an
alternative settlement, but the 800-odd villagers stayed put during the submergence 19 years later as the
government had failed to provide a proper relocation site.
• The Khuga dam south of Manipur’s Churachandpur town has hit turbulence too.
• Taken up in 1980, the project lay dormant until 2002 leading to cost escalation from the initial Rs. 15
crore to Rs. 381.29 crore in 2009.
• The project sanction by the Planning Commission was said to have inherent flaws, as a result of
which the power component of 1.5MW incorporated in the initial design was scrapped despite
near-completion of a powerhouse.
• Controversy has also dogged Tipaimukh, the mega hydroelectric project proposed on river Barak in
Manipur 35 years ago. Dhaka is against the project, as Barak flows into Bangladesh from Manipur through
southern Assam and feeds the Surma and Kushiara rivers in the country.

• At least three anti-dam organisations in Manipur and downstream Assam have been protesting
against the Tipaimukh project to be built by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd. Apart from
large-scale submergence, they fear ecological degradation, if the dam is built.
Navi Mumbai International Airport in Limbo

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that projects worth Rs. 10 lakh crore were in a state
of limbo when he took office in May 2014 and his government had broken the impasse on such investments
during its tenure so far.
• On a day-long tour to Mumbai, Mr. Modi unveiled the foundation plaque at the ground breaking
ceremony for the Navi Mumbai International Airport.
• He dedicated the fourth container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) to the nation.
• Inaugurated the Magnetic Maharashtra investment summit.
• He also launched a new centre for artificial intelligence.
• “The first promise of this airport was made in 1997, during the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee
and since then there were only promises which remained on paper. When I took over, I went over the papers.
I took a detailed report of it and the work started. Now people will come to claim credit saying it was our
project, but you now know what has happened,” said Mr. Modi.
• The airport is likely to cost Rs. 16,704 crore and is estimated to attract at least 10 million
passengers per annum, once its first phase is operational.
• Since Independence, only 450 airplanes were in the sky including both from government and private
sectors, and now companies have ordered 900 planes in just one year, Mr. Modi said, highlighting the
growth that has taken place under his government’s watch.
42 Indian Languages at extinction: UNESCO

• More than 40 languages or dialects in India are considered to be endangered and are believed to be
heading towards extinction as only a few thousand people speak them, officials said.
• According to a report of the Census Directorate, there are 22 scheduled languages and 100
non-scheduled languages in the country, which are spoken by a large number of people — one lakh or more.
• However, there are 42 languages which are spoken by fewer than 10,000 people.
• These are considered endangered and may be heading towards extinction, a Home Ministry official
said.
• A list prepared by UNESCO has also mentioned about the 42 languages or dialects in India that are
endangered and they may be heading towards extinction, the official said.
• The languages or dialects which are considered endangered, include:
• a) 11 from Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Lamongse, Luro, Muot, Onge,
Pu, Sanenyo, Sentilese, Shompen and Takahanyilang),
b) seven from Manipur (Aimol, Aka, Koiren, Lamgang, Langrong, Purum and Tarao),
c) four from Himachal Pradesh (Baghati, Handuri, Pangvali and Sirmaudi).
• The other languages in the endangered category are Manda, Parji and Pengo (Odisha), Koraga and
Kuruba (Karnataka), Gadaba and Naiki (AP), Kota and Toda (Tamil Nadu), Mra and Na (Arunachal Pradesh),

Tai Nora and Tai Rong (Assam), Bangani (Uttarakhand), Birhor (Jharkhand), Nihali (Maharashtra), Ruga
(Meghalaya) and Toto (West Bengal).
• The Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, has been working for the protection and
preservation of endangered languages in the country, under a central scheme, another official said.
Hopes still alive in nuclear deal with WH: NPCIL

• India is confident of concluding the nuclear deal with reactor-maker Westinghouse Electric very
soon as it expects the company to come out of bankruptcy very soon, said Satish Sharma, Chairman and
Managing Director (CMD) of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL).
• “The discussions are happening and they are of a very complex nature. Any progress will happen
only after bankruptcy which is likely to happen very soon. That is why we are continuing the discussions,”
Mr. Sharma said.
• Some officials said they were hopeful that Toshiba, which had acquired the U.S.-based
Westinghouse in 2006, was too big to fail and would be bankrolled either by the Japanese government or
the Japanese Development Bank.
• Following the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, India has been in discussion with Westinghouse since 2005 to
build six AP1000 nuclear reactors.
• After protracted negotiations and concerns on the nuclear liability, NPCIL and Westinghouse had
agreed to “work toward finalising the contractual arrangements by June 2017.”
• However, the process was stalled after Toshiba Corp declared bankruptcy and decided to move out
of reactor-building business.
• Meanwhile, the second site for constructing additional Russian reactors in Andhra Pradesh is yet to
be finalised.
• Stating that the process is under way, the official said that various factors such as land type,
earthquake potential, availability of water should all be factored in.
New Weapons to fight poachers in Assam
• Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said for the first time in the country, 10 wildlife fast-track courts
have been set up to exclusively deal with poaching and other related crimes against wild animals.
• “We have put protection of wildlife in high priority. Accordingly, we have today launched a new
programme - modernisation of arms and equipment for protection, rescue and rehabilitation of rhinos,
tigers and other wildlife,” he said.
• According to the plan, forest guards were given 954 SLRs, 272 INSAS rifles, 133 rifles of .12 bore, 20
of 9 MM pistols and 91 Ghatak rifles.
• The Chief Minister said ever since the BJP came to power in Assam nearly two years ago, 197
poachers have been arrested and eight have been killed by security guards, while as many as 59 poachers
have been convicted for crimes against wildlife.
• Mr. Sonowal said wildlife fast-track courts have been set up in 10 districts and such courts have
been set up for the first time in the country.
• “We hope that speedy trial and conviction of poachers will go a long way in protecting wildlife in the
State,” he said.
• Assam has five national parks and 19 wildlife sanctuaries.

• It is home to more than 91% of Indian rhinos (2,431 rhinos as per 2015 census).
• It is also home to 167 tigers, 248 leopards, 1,169 swamp deer besides a large number of wild
buffaloes, different varieties of deer and other animals.
• According to an estimate tabled in the Assembly this month, altogether 74 rhinos have been killed
by poachers since 2015 and 316 poachers arrested during 2015-17.

CBI-Rotomac
• • The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked Kanpur-based firm Rotomac Global Private
Limited and its directors Vikram Kothari, his wife and son in an alleged Rs. 3,695 crore “wilful” loan default
case.
• • The Enforcement Directorate is also launching a money laundering probe into fund-diversion
charges against the accused.
• • While the Kotharis are being questioned, officials of the seven public sector banks that have lent to
the firm have also come under the scanner.
• • The FIR was registered days after alleged fraudulent transactions worth Rs. 11,500 crore were
detected in the Punjab National Bank.
• • The Rotomac pen case was registered late on Sunday night after the Bank of Baroda lodged a
complaint with the CBI alleging cheating, fraud and corruption.
• • The officials of the CBI raided the Kanpur premises of Mr. Kothari, his wife Sadhana and son Rahul
Kothari. The company’s Delhi office was sealed.
• • Since 2008-09, Rotomac and other associated companies had taken a loan of Rs. 2,919 crore from
a consortium of banks led by the Bank of India.
• • The other lenders are Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank, Union Bank of India, Allahabad Bank,
Bank of Maharashtra and the Oriental Bank of Commerce.
• • However, it is alleged that the directors cheated the banks by siphoning off the funds, in conspiracy
with certain bank officials.
• • The agency also alleged that the company had submitted forged and false documents to get the
credit facilities from banks.
Banking control & Rules: CEA

• • Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian said that there had been a breakdown of internal
controls and external regulatory systems in public sector banks, as had been evident in the latest Rs.
11,500-crore Punjab National Bank fraud.
• • “The problem has been festering for a long time and it is not just the PNB alone, there are issues
with the Bank of Baroda and State Bank of India, too. We have to look at how to improve internal controls
and consider whether it has anything to do with the ownership,” he said.
• • Scams “do not happen in public sector banks alone as most scams worldwide had happened in
what were considered the best of private sector banks, but here we have the PSBs,” he said, addressing a
gathering at a talk organised by Manthan, a public discourse forum.

• • Although he spoke mostly on the ‘universal basic income’ (UBI) idea which he had unveiled in the
last year’s Economic Survey, he did not hesitate to give his take on the raging controversy when a question
was posed to him on the PNB scam.
• • “It reflects very badly on the auditors and the CAs. Self-regulation, I think, is equal to self-praise,” he
said and questioned the role of the external regulator.
• • Mr. Subramanian was sure that the magnitude of bad assets (non-performing assets) of various
banks could easily be 25% to 35% more of what had been disclosed in public.
• • “External controls should be reviewed as the banking regulator has not been up to the job. We need
to assess how to go about it, all of them need to be reviewed,” he said.
• • At the same time, he said, a lot of progress had been made in recent years in coming to grips with
regard to NPAs, taking up recapitalisation, the Bankruptcy Act, and so on.
• • With regard to UBI, the CEA said he was glad that the governments of Telangana and Karnataka
had resolved to take up what he called a ‘quasi’ UBI of cash entitlements to farmers even though he had
propounded a basic income for all citizens.
TB infections in adolescents can be treated with vaccine

• • A clinical trial has provided encouraging new evidence that TB vaccines can prevent sustained
infections in high-risk adolescents.
• • The results will be announced at the 5th Global Forum on TB Vaccines in New Delhi.
• • In the Phase 2 trial conducted in South Africa, revaccination with the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG)
vaccine significantly reduced sustained TB infections in adolescents.
• • An experimental vaccine candidate, H4:IC31, also reduced sustained infections, although not at
statistically significant levels.
• • However, the trend observed for H4:IC31 is the first time a subunit vaccine has shown any
indication of ability to protect against TB infection.
• • The study was conducted to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine regimens, as
well as their ability to prevent initial and sustained TB infections among healthy adolescents in the Western
Cape Province of South Africa.
• • According to the World Health Organisation, about one-third of the world’s population has latent TB
infection, which means people have been infected by TB bacteria but are not (yet) ill with the disease and
cannot transmit the disease.
• • People infected with TB bacteria have a lifetime risk of falling ill with TB of 10%. People ill with TB
can infect 10-15 other people through close contact over the course of a year.
• • Without proper treatment, 45% of HIV-negative people with TB on average and nearly all
HIV-positive people with TB will die.
Vision document on Nutrition- Rajasthan

• • The NNM, approved by the Union Cabinet, will be implemented in 24 of the 33 districts in
Rajasthan.

• • A multi-sectoral State consultation, “Nourishing Rajasthan-2022”, here on Monday threw light on
the strategies for addressing the issue of undernutrition and stunting.
• • National Technical Board on Nutrition's member M.K. Bhan said the policies should be brought in
sync with the changing needs of the society, while a lot more needed to be done on the quality front.
• • “Women and children belonging to vulnerable sections need a direct intervention, for which new
strategies should be adopted under the NNM,” he said.
• • Rajasthan Chief Secretary N.C. Goel said the NNM framework would come handy for State officials
to ensure proper development of human capital, which was earlier considered a burden.
• • He laid emphasis on convergence among various departments, while affirming that the NNM's
guidelines would enable the functionaries to formulate plans of action.
• • More than 10 crore people in the country are expected to benefit from the NNM, which has set the
target to reduce stunting from 38.4% as per the National Family Health Survey-4 to 25% by 2022.
• • It will cover 235 districts in 2018-19 and the remaining districts in the next two years.
• • UNICEF-Rajasthan chief Isabelle Bardem said the UN body would extend help and render
assistance at all levels to make NNM a success.
• • The 24 districts in the State have been selected on the basis of their previous track record and a
number of indicators as well as empirical evidence which depicts a high degree of malnutrition among
women and children.
• • The nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions will be made in Rajasthan in the realms
of women and child development, health, food and public distribution, sanitation, drinking water, rural
development, livelihoods, education and agriculture.
• • State Women and Child Development Secretary Roli Singh said some of the key system-level
barriers in the State were lack of knowledge among the frontline health workers, poor use of
communication and counselling aids and limited efforts for complementary feeding to newborn babies.
Budget session curtailed in Goa

• • The scheduled 33-day budget session of the Goa Assembly has been curtailed to four days due to
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s ill health, Speaker of the Assembly Pramod Sawant announced
• • The Speaker made this announcement after a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee.
• • The leader of the alliance partner, three-member Maharastrawadi Gomantak Party and Minister for
Public Works Sudin Dhavalikar, has been chosen the leader of the House in the absence of the Chief
Minister, who is currently being treated in a Mumbai hospital for a pancreas-related ailment.
• • Mr. Dhavlikar later told the press that he would table the budget, but it would not be read.

• • He said the House would also take a vote-on- account to allow the government to spend money for
five months of the new fiscal. The budget would be passed in the monsoon session.
• • “Party MLA Francis D’Souza has been chosen leader of the BJP MLAs in Assembly,” State party
chief Vinay Tendulkar told presspersons on Monday after a BJP legislative party meeting.
• • The Congress, however, said that this amounts to derailment of public interest. “Government is a
continuous process. It is incorrect to curtail the session.
• • It is not the first time such a situation has arisen. Governments always run on alternative options.

• • We have full sympathies and concerns for health of Manohar Parrikar and sending good, healthy
vibes for a speedy recovery,” Congress spokesperson and AICC secretary Girish Chodankar tweeted.

Private sector in Coal Mining

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to Open up commercial coal mining for Indian and
foreign companies in the private sector.
• It approved the methodology for auction of coal mines/blocks for sale of the commodity.
• The government described the move as the most ambitious reform of the sector since its
nationalisation in 1973.
• Coal accounts for around 70% of the country’s power generation, and the move for energy security
through assured coal supply is expected to garner attention from majors including Rio Tinto, BHP, Vedanta,
Anglo American, Glencore and Adani Group.
• The private sector was permitted to mine the fossil fuel only for captive use.
Kerala New Health Policy

• Kerala’s new health policy focusses on improving and equipping the public health system to deliver
affordable, accessible and quality care to the public at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
• This will bring down the huge out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure on health in the State.
• It lays accent not just on increasing human resource (HR) in health but also improving the quality of
HR and steadily increasing the investment in public health on one hand.
• While at the same time aggressively reducing disease prevalence, morbidity and mortality amongst
the population.
• The government will thus aim at raising its current expenditure on health from the current 0.6% of
the Gross State Domestic Product to at least 5% and strive at increasing it by 1% every year.
• The draft of the new policy, brought out by a 17-member committee of doctors and public health
experts, with B. Ekbal, member of the State Planning Board, as chairperson, and K. P. Aravindan, public
health activist, as convener, was approved by the Cabinet.
• The policy document identifies the rapidly rising out-of-pocket expenditure, pushing people into
impoverishment, as the most important public health problem in the State .
• One of the main recommendations of the policy, of focussing on developing a comprehensive
primary care system and introducing the concept of family doctor through PHCs.
• This was already being implemented by the government through the Aardram Mission.
• Another major recommendation in the policy, that of regulating the private sector through a Clinical
Establishments Bill had also been initiated by the Government.
• The policy recommends that a three-tier policy be followed in the health system, maintaining
medical college hospitals strictly as referral centres.
• It also advocates “better organic linkages” between medical colleges and health services hospitals.

• It recommends the division of the Health Department into two streams, Director General of Health
(Modern Medicine) and Director General Health (Ayush) and the setting up of three directorates – Public
Health, Clinical Services and Medical Education – under the DGH (MM).
• A Public Health Cadre will be created in the Health Services by including doctors who have
qualifications in public health.
• A multidisciplinary working group will be constituted to estimate the State’s requirement of human
resource in health for the next 25 years and to prepare a roadmap to achieve the target.
• No new institution will be established in the government or private sector without assessment of
needs and formulation of an HR policy for the health sector.
• The policy recommends that full functional autonomy be given to government medical colleges to
improve the functional efficiency of these institutions.
• The Dr. Ekbal committee points out that constant transfers were discouraging doctors from taking
up a career in medical education and that it impeded long-term projects.
• The policy lays stress on the importance of vaccination.
• It recommends that every child be issued an immunisation card and that full vaccination status be
made mandatory for school admission.
Mahanadi tribunal by Centre

• The Union Cabinet approved the setting up of a tribunal to settle a row between Odisha and
Chhattisgarh on sharing the waters of the Mahanadi river.
• This is in keeping with a Supreme Court order last month directing the Centre to set up a tribunal in
response to a plea by the Odisha government to stop the Chhattisgarh government from constructing
several weirs on the river.
• The tribunal is expected to determine water sharing among basin States on the basis of the overall
availability of water in the complete Mahanadi basin.
• The contribution of each State, the present utilisation of water resource in each State and the
potential for future development, official sources said.
• The order on constituting a new tribunal comes even as the government plans to introduce a new
bill that would have a single tribunal to replace all existing water tribunals.
• The driving motive for such a tribunal was, according to senior official in the Water Ministry, that
tribunals had a decades-long history of being “extremely inefficient” at settling disputes quickly and fairly.
• The bill, called the Inter-State River Disputes (Amendment) Bill, was introduced in the Lok Sabha by
former Water Resources Minister, Uma Bharti, last March but is yet to be debated.
• It is expected to be placed in Parliament after it reconvenes after the recess of the Budget session.
• Were such a Bill to become law, it could affect the composition of the members of various tribunals.
Currently, all tribunals are staffed by members of the judiciary, nominated by the Chief Justice.
• The proposed Bill has provisions for members, even a chairperson, outside the judiciary.
• Over the last year, Uma Bharti as well as the incumbent Minister Nitin Gadkari had asked the
governments of Chhattisgarh and Odisha to settle their differences over water sharing and avoid the setting
up of a tribunal, a long-standing demand of the Odisha government.

• Odisha had moved the court in December, 2016, for an order asking Chhattisgarh to stop its
construction work in projects on the upstream of Mahanadi, saying it affected the river flow in the State.
• According to the provisions of the Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956, the tribunal is
required to submit its report and decision within a period of three years, which can be extended for a period
not exceeding two years.
• Only three out of eight tribunals have given awards accepted by the States.
• Tribunals for Cauvery and Ravi Beas have been in existence for several decades.
Olive ridley turtles gets protection from nature on Odisha Coast

• Sea waves and winds have widened a portion of the beach near Rushikulya rookery on Odisha coast,
boosting the prospects of increased mass nesting of the endangered olive ridley turtles this year.
• A sandbar near Podampeta village has been completely eroded and its sand has deposited on the
coast. Because of it, a stretch of the beach has widened and its height has also increased.
• “This will surely protect several nests and eggs of olive ridleys near the sea from getting destroyed
during high tides,” said Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer Ashis Behera.
• He termed it a “gift of mother nature” to the olive ridleys this year.
• Another sandbar at the meeting point of the river and the sea still exists. It would be the safest place
for nesting of the marine turtles as there would be no chance of intervention from predators or humans.
• Mass nesting of olive ridleys is expected to start in a day or two as thousands of them have
congregated in the sea near the rookery.
• Sporadic nesting of the turtles has already started at this major mass nesting site on the Indian
coast.
• According to forest officials, the number of turtles coming out to the coast to lay eggs during the
pre-mass nesting period has increased in the last three days.
• On February 17, nine olive ridleys had laid eggs on this coast.
• The number increased to 40 the next night and on February 19, 131 olive ridleys laid eggs on the
beach.
• Eggs from sporadic nesting sites are being brought to temporary hatcheries of the Forest
Department for monitored hatchings.
• All arrangements are in place for the protection of olive ridleys and their eggs during the 45-day-long
gestation period.
• The length of temporary fencing has been increased from 3.5 km to over 5 km to include areas
where the turtles had nested last year.
• Patrolling in the sea is continuing to check entry of fishing trawlers to the olive ridley congregation
zone where mechanised fishing is banned.
TB, a National crisis: Experts

• Stating that tuberculosis (TB) has become a national crisis in India, the Health Ministry assured the
TB community that eliminating the disease by 2025 had the ‘highest level of commitment from the Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s office.’

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• Senior Health Ministry official Sunil Khaparde, who heads the TB programme voiced the assurance
at the opening day of the 5th Global Forum on TB Vaccines in New Delhi.
• Nearly 4.2 lakh Indians die of TB every year.
• Out of the 10 million cases globally, India shoulders the maximum burden with 2.8 million cases.
• According to Health Ministry data, only 63% of the patients infected with the airborne disease are
currently under treatment.
• Further, 1,47,000 patients are resistant to first and second line TB medicines.
• At the current rate of progress, global targets to eliminate TB by 2030 will be missed by a 150 years.
• Against this backdrop, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, deputy director general of the World Health
Organisation (WHO) said that globally, governments need to invest more in TB research and development to
meet the global targets.
• WHO representative to India Hendrick Bekedam added that TB vaccine was a global public health
good, which meant governments need to invest if they want to own it later.
SC asks Centre’s stand on MP’s Salary revision

• The Supreme Court asked the Union government to take a “categorical stand” on establishing an
independent body to review the salaries and allowances of Members of Parliament and, possibly, scrap
their post-retirement benefits and perks.
• A Bench, led by Justice Jasti Chelameswar, said the time had come for the government to make
clear its position on the issue which had been publicly debated since 2006.
• The petition, filed by NGO Lok Prahari, said the pension and perks given to MPs, after they demitted
office, were contrary to Article 14 (right to equality) of the Constitution.
• It said Parliament had no power to provide benefits to lawmakers without making any law. It argued
that there were no guidelines for granting allowances.
• The NGO highlighted how a person in his mid-twenties, a one-time MP, was eligible for pension for
the rest of his life, and such an expenditure was a drain on the exchequer.
• Mr. Sinha sought a week to file a detailed response. In a preliminary submission, he said the
establishment of an independent commission to review the salaries and allowances of MPs was still under
consideration.
• “Irrespective of the government in power, this is a matter of concern. How long should it remain
pending?” the Bench observed.

Saras fast-tracked
• The government will fast-track the revived light transport plane Saras towards production.
• Will also begin the feasibility study for a 70-seater regional transport aircraft RTA-70, Science and
Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan said.
• The improved 19-seater would be first produced for the Indian Air Force by Hindustan Aeronautics
Ltd. The IAF has offered to buy 15 of them.

• A civil variant would be later manufactured by a private partner at 75% cost of similar imported
small planes.
• Saras would be a good fit for regional travel under the subsidised UDAN scheme, the Minister said.
“Its successful development will be one of the game changers in the history of civil aviation in India,” he told
a news conference.
• Dr. Vardhan said the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) has also begun a feasibility study for
the ambitious 70-seater regional transport aircraft RTA-70.
• It would be in a tie-up with a foreign manufacturer. In the morning, the modified PT1N version flew
for 20 minutes at the HAL airport and was witnessed by the Minister, CSIR Director-General Girish Sahni and
NAL Director Jitendra Jadhav and the developer team.
• Saras had been grounded in 2009 after an earlier prototype crashed and killed three crew members
near Bengaluru.
UP Investors Summit
• Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani pledged he would invest Rs. 10,000 crore in Uttar
Pradesh through his telecom venture Jio in the next three years.
• Jio would reach every village in the State by December 2018.
• Around two crore Jio smartphones would also be made available over the next two months on a
priority basis, said Mr. Ambani.
• Jio had already invested over Rs. 20,000 crore in U.P. providing “highest quality data and the lowest
price” to 2 crore citizens of the State.
• The two-day event, inaugurated by Mr. Modi, is being held to attract big investment to U.P. Around
5,000 delegates and over 100 speakers are slated to attend it.
• The focus areas of the State government at the summit are civil aviation, IT, dairy, tourism, electronic
manufacturing, films, MSME, textiles and handloom, agro and food processing and renewable energy.
• Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath informed that 100 ‘Fortune 500’ companies were present at the
summit and that 1,045 MoUs, worth Rs. 4.28 lakh crore, had already been signed.
• Like Mr. Ambani, many other top business houses of the country vowed to increase investment and
job creation in U.P.
• Chairman of the Adani Group, Gautam Adani, promised to invest Rs. 35,000 crore in the next five
years in a multi-modal logistics park, metro rail projects, food processing, power transmission, road
building, warehousing, cold storage and setting up a multidisciplinary university. “Your leadership style is
what U.P. needs today,” Mr. Adani said referring to the Chief Minister.
• Chairman of Aditya Birla Group, Kumar Mangalam Birla, said his company planned to invest Rs.
25,000 crore in the next five years covering sectors like cement, chemicals and telecom.
• N. Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, assured that Tata Consultancy Services would continue
to function out of Lucknow and that the company would expand operations in U.P. across sectors apart
from coming up with a new 30,000-capacity campus.
• Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra Group, promised to set up an electric vehicle
manufacturing plant in U.P. and also execute an MoU of Rs. 200 crore with the State government for setting
up a resort in Varanasi.

• Mr. Modi announced that one of the two defence industrial corridors mentioned in the Union Budget
would be set up in U.P.’s Bundelkhand region, bringing an investment of Rs. 20,000 crore and generating
employment opportunities for 2,50,000 people.
• The summit would be concluded by President Ram Nath Kovind.
New Delhi on Male’s move

• Expressing its disappointment over the Maldives government’s decision to extend the state of
Emergency for another month despite India’s objections, New Delhi issued another statement.
• It called the move unconstitutional, words that could lead to a face-off with the Yameen
government.
• “We are deeply dismayed that the government of Maldives has extended the state of Emergency for
a further 30 days. The manner in which the extension of the state of Emergency was approved by the Majlis
in contravention of the Constitution of Maldives is also a matter of concern,” the External Affairs Ministry
said in a statement.
• It referred to the passage of the Emergency extension resolution in Parliament on Tuesday despite
there not being the requisite quorum of 43 members.
• The Maldivian Ambassador to India, Mohamed Ahmed, denied the accusation that the move was
unconstitutional.
• Asked if the decision meant that ties between India and the Maldives had broken down, Mr. Ahmed
said, “Channels of communication” remained open and Indian Ambassador to Male Akhilesh Mishra met
with Maldivian Foreign Secretary Ahmed Sareer on Wednesday.
• A statement from the Maldivian Foreign Ministry said the two officials had “discussed the ongoing
political developments and reiterated the government of Maldives’s firm commitment to work with
international partners, including India.”
• The Ministry declined to comment on the meeting.
• India has issued a series of statements of concern over the Maldives Emergency declared by
President Yameen on February 5.
• Also after the Maldivian Supreme Court overturned the imprisonment of nine political rivals,
including former President Mohamed Nasheed.
• Since then, the Yameen government has put more leaders in prison and arrested the Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court and other judges. India rejected an offer by President Yameen to send an envoy to
explain the circumstances, saying that democracy must be restored first.
• In a significant move, the government allowed Mr. Nasheed to travel to India for a conference
organised by The Hindu last week, where he called for India to compel Mr. Yameen to reverse the
Emergency.
• However, India is yet to spell out what the consequences of not heeding its word will be to the
government in Male.
• In Washington, the U.S. State Department issued a statement of concern, while the European Union
is expected to hold a meeting of senior Ministers on Monday to discuss the situation in the Maldives.

New Law and past breaches

• Mere absence of a law can be cured by subsequently enacting one with a retroactive effect.
• But this new law cannot cure “breaches” that occurred prior to it, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud observed
orally during a Constitution Bench hearing in the Aadhaar challenge.
• The judge, who is a part of the Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, was referring to
the mass collection of personal data from citizens during the pre-Aadhaar Act years from 2009 to 2016.
• The Aadhaar law came into existence in 2016.
• The judge was responding to submissions made by senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, for
petitioners, that the subsequent enactment of Aadhaar Act in 2016 cannot cure the “complete invasion of
privacy” which occurred in the pre-statute years of the Aadhaar scheme.
• “There is no embargo on the government to cure the deficiency of absence of law by enacting a
legislation subsequently. A breach because of the absence of law can be cured by enacting a law. But, on
the other hand, if there are other breaches on fundamental rights, we have to see whether this curative law
(Aadhaar Act) can cure those breaches,” Justice Chandrachud addressed Mr. Subramanium.
• He said the abrogation of fundamental rights which occurred during the collection of personal
information during the pre-Aadhaar Act years was a “choate act” in itself.
• “There was no voluntariness on the part of the citizen in its true sense, all the purposes for the
collection and use of the personal information was not conveyed to him, the information was open to be
shared among other entities, including private parties. All this made the collection of data unlawful,” Mr.
Subramanium argued.
• He claimed that the Aadhaar Act itself was “violative of fundamental rights”. “No Act can
retroactively protect fundamental right.
• There cannot be a retroactive assertion of substantial and procedural reasonableness... That is, the
Act cannot ratify anything illegal,” Mr. Subramanium submitted.
• “The enactment of 2016 cannot cure the breaches that happened prior to it,” Justice Chandrachud
observed.
Mass Nesting begins

• Starting the mass nesting this year, more than 3,100 female olive ridley turtles came out of the sea
to the sandy beach of the Rushikulya rookery coast in Ganjam district of Odisha.
• The Rushikulya coast is considered to be a major nesting site in the world and lakhs of olive ridleys
come here every year to lay eggs.
• Congregation of mother turtles in sea near the rookery is quite high this year.
• In 2017, over 3,85,000 turtles had reached the Rushikulya rookery coast to lay eggs.
• The mass nesting process is expected to continue for around a week.
• The Forest Department has erected temporary fences on a stretch of 4.5 km to prevent predators
from damaging the nests and the eggs in them.
• To monitor the endangered marine reptiles, the department has established five control rooms near
the Rushikulya rookery.

• A data interpretation centre has also been started.
Canandian PM with Punjab CM

• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asserted that his country believed in a united India and
assured the Punjab government that it would not support any separatist movement in India.
• During the meeting, Capt. Singh sought the Canadian Prime Minister’s cooperation in cracking down
on separatism and hate crime by a fringe element, constituting a minuscule percentage of Canada’s
population.
• In response Mr. Trudeau assured Capt. Singh that “his country did not support any separatist
movement in India or elsewhere.”
• An official spokesperson said that while citing the separatist movement in Quebec, Mr. Trudeau said
he had dealt with such threats all his life and was fully aware of the dangers of violence, which he had
always pushed back with all his might.
• Capt. Singh handed over a list of nine Category ‘A’ Canada-based operatives alleged to be involved in
hate crimes in Punjab by financing and supplying weapons for terrorist activities, and also engaged in trying
to radicalise youth and children in Punjab.
• At the meeting, in which Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Punjab Local Government
Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu were also present.
• Capt. Singh also raised the issue of Indo-Canadians believed to be involved in targeted killings in
Punjab, urging him to initiate stern action against such elements.
• Earlier amid tight security, Mr. Trudeau, along with his wife and children, visited the Golden Temple.
• In the visitors’ book, Mr. Trudeau wrote: “What an honour to be well received at such a beautiful,
meaningful place. We are filled with grace and humility.”

BioAsia 2018 focused on Life Sciences sector

• BioAsia 2018, a part of the prestigious, annual series focused on life sciences sector, got under way.
• The Telangana government reaffirming its commitment to growth of the sector with multiple
initiatives, including expansion of Genome Valley, setting up an incubator focused on vaccine development
and activating an infrastructure fund.
• With 800 companies, the life sciences ecosystem is valued at $50 billion in the State.
• “Our aim is to double the figure to $100 billion in the next 10 years,” Industries and IT Minister
K.T.Rama Rao said, inaugurating the 3-day event.
• Sharing the State's vision, he said the goal is to leverage “our existing strength in Life science sector
and make it an economic growth engine to create 4 lakh jobs,” with most of them in manufacturing,” he
declared.
• A new Life Sciences policy, with the framework encouraging established companies to partner with
incubatees and help create an innovation exchange, is also on the anvil.
• On the Genome Valley Cluster, located on city outskirts and among the largest such in Asia, he said
the government would strengthen its dominant position.

• It would immediately initiate formulation of an integrated master plan for the cluster's expansion,
“marking the beginning of Genome Valley 2.0.”
• Noting that the State produced about 33% of global vaccines dosages, he said the government is
also committed to see at least one new vaccine being launched from companies in the State every year.
• To support this, “we are contemplating various initiatives and support infrastructure, including a first
of its kind incubator focused on vaccine development in Genome Valley.”
• Significant progress, he added, had been made on the Life Sciences Infrastructure Fund.
• The State government was keen to establish an institute focused on emerging areas like
Immunotherapy, personalised medicine and nanomedicine.
SC on adult marriages
• Courts cannot annul marriages between two consenting adults or resort to a “roving enquiry” on
whether the married relationship between a man and a woman is based on consent, the Supreme Court
said.
• A Bench, led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, defined the limits of the court’s jurisdiction in the Hadiya
case.
• Ms. Hadiya, a 26-year-old homoeopathy student, had converted to Islam and then married a Muslim.
• “Can a court say a marriage is not genuine or whether the relationship is not genuine? Can a court
say she [Hadiya] did not marry the right person? She came to us and told us that she married of her own
accord,” Justice D.Y. Chandrachud observed.
• The Kerala High Court had annulled Ms. Hadiya’s marriage to Shafin Jahan.
• Her father, Asokan K.M., alleged that she had been indoctrinated by a “well-oiled network,” involved
in recruiting Indian citizens and trafficking them abroad to strife-prone countries like Syria to work as “sex
slaves”.
• “She said on the telephone to her father that she wants to go to Syria to rear sheep. There may be
fathers who receive such news with calm and fortitude, but this father was alarmed,” senior advocate
Shyam Divan, for Asokan, addressed the Bench. Mr. Divan said Hadiya was a victim of an “enormous
trafficking exercise”.
• Justice D.Y. Chandrachud countered that if there was trafficking of citizens involved, the govt. had
the power to stop it on the basis of credible information.
• If citizens were travelling abroad to be part of a manifest illegality, then too, the government had the
authority to stop them.
• “But in personal law, we cannot annul marriages because she did not marry the right person,” he
asked Mr. Divan.
UIDAI says Biometrics in state hubs destroyed

• A statement was made in the Supreme Court on the instructions of the UIDAI chief that all
biometrics stored in State Resident Data Hubs have been “destroyed”.
• Appearing before a Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, senior advocate Rakesh
Dwivedi made the statement on behalf of the UIDAI’s top officer, who was present in the courtroom.

• Mr. Dwivedi submitted that biometrics were now stored in the Aadhaar central database or the
Central ID Repository.
• Mr. Dwivedi said the Aadhaar Act of 2016 does not allow biometrics to be stored with State-level
authorities. This is a precaution to prevent leakages, he said.
• Meanwhile, petitioners challenging the Aadhaar Act sought an extension of the deadline for Aadhaar
linkage from March 31.
• Senior advocate Gopal Subramanium and Shyam Divan said appropriate interim orders to extend the
deadline, considering the fact that the Supreme Court is still hearing the question of Aadhaar validity,
should be passed in order to avoid a “last-minute scramble”.
Canadian PM on bilateral trade

• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said while the focus of his country's relations with India
has shifted from aid in the 1950s to trade today.
• It was important to ensure that greater bilateral trade and investment benefits all, especially the
poor.
• Speaking at the India Canada Business Session organised by the industry body CII along with the
Canada-India Business Council and the Indo-Canadian Business Chamber, Mr. Trudeau pointed out that so
far “too many people” have not been beneficiaries of trade and investment.
• He emphasised that “economic growth must benefit all...trade and investment must benefit the
poor.”
• Terming democracy and diversity as common factors for India and Canada, he said, “If you want to
progress as a community, you should not just tolerate diversity but champion it.”
• “Diversity, including of religion and gender, enriches us, make our communities stronger and more
resilient,” he said, adding that diversity opens societies to new ways of thinking and spurs innovation.
• In this regard, the Prime Minister cited Toronto in Canada and Bengaluru in India as examples of
multi-cultural cities that are also hi-tech hubs.
• He said Canada and India need to capitalise on people-to-people ties, and leverage business and
knowledge networks.
• This week alone saw business deals of over $1billion between companies of both nations that will
in turn create many good jobs, he said.
• To improve business ties, he also referred to the benefits of Canada’s ‘startup visa program’ to start
businesses in Canada, and its ‘global skills strategy’ to help firms recruit and bring talent to Canada at short
notice.
PNB Scam
• The Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized property worth around Rs. 100 crore belonging to Nirav
Modi and Mehul Choksi in connection with the alleged Letter of Undertaking fraud unearthed in the Punjab
National Bank earlier this month.
• The ED had on February 14 registered an offence against diamond trader Mr. Modi, his wife Ami,
brother Nishal and uncle Mr. Choksi, along with two officials of the PNB.

• This happened after the CBI booked them for issuing fraudulent LoUs worth Rs. 280 crore.
• The value of the fraud, subsequent investigations revealed rose to Rs. 11,500 crore.
• The ED seized nine cars belonging to the Nirav Modi group, along with shares and mutual funds
owned by Mr. Modi and Mr .Choksi even as the CBI continued to question PNB officials in Mumbai and
Delhi.
• The ED has so far seized assets worth Rs. 5,716 crore from scores of properties owned by Mr. Modi
and Mr. Choksi’s firms.
• It has also started the process of tracing the trail of money involved in the case.
• Investigating officers said inquiries have indicated that Mr. Modi and Mr. Choksi availed of LoUs
from multiple banks to pay off previous liabilities.
• Income-Tax Department officials said property worth Rs. 1,200 crore of the Gitanjali Group located
in Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Hyderabad has been attached in a fresh action.
India-Canada-Khalistan
• Visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office and the Modi government faced a major
embarrassment after it emerged that a convicted terrorist and Khalistan activist from Canada.
• He had been part of the delegation’s events in Mumbai and was personally invited to a reception by
the Canadian High Commission in Delhi.
• At multiple events
• The controversy surfaced after photographs of the invitation to the event in honour of Mr. Trudeau at
“Canada House” in Delhi as well as the event in Mumbai appeared in Canadian media.
• The Canadian High Commission said it had “rescinded” the invitation to Jaspal Atwal, an
Indian-origin businessman, and former member of the banned International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF),
thought to be responsible, along with the Babbar Khalsa, for the 1985 mid-air bombing of Air India flight
182, killing 329 persons.
• Mr. Atwal was one of four men convicted for shooting Punjab Minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu in 1986
during a private visit to Canada.
• Though the verdict was overturned, Mr. Atwal admitted to the parole board that he was the shooter
that day, Canadian media reported.
• Calling the invitation a mistake, Mr. Trudeau said it had been sent by a member of the Canadian
parliament.
• The Ministry of External Affairs said it was inquiring into how the Indian High Commission in
Canada had issued Mr. Atwal a visa.

Pre-lake 2018 Conference

• An unplanned development path adopted by “unscrupulous decision-makers” is threatening the
ecologically sensitive regions in the Netravathi river basin in the State.
• This is according to a study report released by a team of researchers from the Indian Institute of
Science (IISc), Bengaluru.

• The report titled “Carrying capacity of Netravathi river basin based on the ecological sensitiveness”
was released by Energy and Wetlands Research Group (EWRG), Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), IISc,
at Alva’s College during the pre-lake 2018 conference jointly organised by the IISc and Alva’s Education
Foundation.
• It said that river diversions, hydro electric projects, coastal reservoirs, commercial plantations,
unscientific tourism, etc., would cause irreplaceable loss of rich biodiversity in the river basin.
• Referring to the river basin, it said that Netravathi having a catchment area of 4,409 sq km covers 11
taluks in Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.
• It originates in Bangrabalige valley, Yelaneeru Ghat of Kudremukh in Chikkamagaluru district.
• The basin is part of the ecologically fragile Western Ghats, one among the 35 global hotspots of
biodiversity.
• “It is the lifeline of Dakshina Kannada region supporting the enormous population with rich resource
base and diverse cultures,” it said.
• The 203-page report from T.V. Ramachandra, co-ordinator, EWRG-CES, Bharath Setturu and Vinay S.,
researchers, said that rivers/streams in the ecologically sensitive regions should not be diverted or
manipulated as that would affect the water retention capability of the catchment area and ground recharge
potential.
• It would affect the sustenance of water in the streams and affect the downstream users’ right to
adequate freshwater.
• The report assumes significance in view of the ongoing Yettinahole diversion project in the
Netravathi basin.
• Earlier, a group of researchers from IISc, led by Mr. Ramachandra, had, in a report, questioned the
State government’s estimation of the project yielding 24 tmcft of water for diversion to parched districts.
• The group said that only 0.85 tmcft of water could be diverted from the project.
• The group had warned that the project would lead to water scarcity in Hassan and Dakshina
Kannada and would not benefit Chikkaballapur, Kolar and Tumakuru districts.
Meeting on Lokpal on March 1

• In a turnaround from its earlier position, the government will invite the leader of the single largest
Opposition party to attend a meeting scheduled for March 1.
• It will discuss the long-pending appointments to the anti-corruption ombudsman, Lokpal.
• • At a brief hearing before a Bench led by Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal
said the meeting would have the Prime Minister, the Lok Sabha Speaker, the
• Chief Justice of India and the leader of the single largest Opposition party in attendance.
• Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner NGO Common Cause, said the single largest
Opposition party leader was attending as a “special invitee.”
• Justice Gogoi asked the government to update the court in an affidavit on March 5.
• This is a significant development as the government has for years taken the position that Lokpal
appointments could be made only after amending the law to replace the Leader of the Opposition with the
single largest party Opposition leader on the high-level selection committee.
• The Bench posted the next hearing for March 6.

• Under the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act of 2013, the high-level selection committee for appointments to
Lokpal comprises the Prime Minister, Lok Sabha Speaker, the LoP, the Chief Justice of India and an eminent
jurist chosen by them.
• The 16th Lok Sabha does not have an LoP as the Congress party failed to get the required 10 per
cent membership in the Lok Sabha post the 2014 parliamentary elections.
• However, an April 2017 judgment by the Supreme Court did not buy the government’s argument that
an amendment in the provisions to replace the LoP with the single largest Opposition party leader was
necessary to get on with the Lokpal appointments.
• The judgment authored by Justice Gogoi called the Lokpal Act of 2013 an “eminently workable
legislation” in its present form itself.
• He observed that the 2013 Act provided enough room for the appointment of Lokpal chairperson
and members even in the absence of a recognised LoP.\
Against Financial fraud: PM

• Breaking his silence over the Rs. 11,500-crore fraud at the country’s second-largest public sector
bank, Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned of stringent action against those involved in financial
irregularities and said
• Speaking at the Global Business Summit organised by a financial daily , Mr. Modi asked the
managements of financial institutions and supervisory bodies to do their job diligently to check such
frauds.
• “I want to make it clear that this government has been taking strict action against financial
irregularities and will continue to take strict action,” the Prime Minister said.
• Without naming the alleged kingpin of the fraud or the Punjab National Bank, the Prime Minister said
the managements of financial institutions, auditors and regulators should perform their duty earnestly.
• “I want to make an appeal to those who have been entrusted with the job of framing rules and
policies and maintaining ethics to do their job faithfully and diligently,” Mr. Modi said.
• He added this should specially be followed by those who have been given the responsibility of
supervision and monitoring.
• Mr. Modi lauded his government’s economic agenda which he said was “job-oriented” and aimed at
bringing “people-centric growth.”
• He also mentioned the announcements made in his government’s last full-year Budget, including
pro-agriculture steps such as paying farmers a price that is 50% more than the cost of production.
• “Some economists are speculating about price rise [because of this decision]. These economists
must also consider about our duty towards our annadata [referring to farmers],” he said.
• “I feel we should support every decision taken to increase farmer’s income.”
• Industry should contribute to the decisions taken by the government, Mr Modi said.
• ‘Speed, scale, and sensitivity’ were needed for policies to reach people, he said. “In the past four
years, the government has stressed job-centric, people-centric growth [and focussed on] an economy which
gives poor financial inclusion and takes care of middle-class aspirations.”

Trudeau hints probe

• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau indicated that he would hold officials accountable for the
embarrassment caused by the presence of an extremist Sikh sympathiser at events organised in his honour
in India.
• Addressing a select group of international media here, Mr. Trudeau said his meeting with Prime
Minister Narendra Modi was “great”, and said he had assured the Punjab government of security
cooperation.
• Jaspal Atwal, a Canadian businessman of Indian origin, known for his proximity to the separatist
International Sikh Youth Federation and arrested for an attack on a Punjab Minister in 1986.
• He has been part of Mr. Trudeau’s delegation at official events over the last couple of days.
• “Obviously, it was not acceptable to me that the concerned gentleman was present here. I will have a
conversation on this,” Mr. Trudeau said.
• This hinting that he might order an official inquiry into how Mr. Atwal attended events with him.
PIB to have DD & AIR officials to work

• In an unprecedented order, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry posted 15 officials from
Doordarshan and 16 from All India Radio (AIR) as publicity officers for various Ministries.
• The attempt is to strengthen the government’s severely short-staffed publicity arm, the Press
Information Bureau (PIB), say senior officials of the I&B Ministry.
• However, the latest reshuffle of the 31 Indian Information Service (IIS) officers from the state
broadcasters is likely to lead to confusion and a conflict of interest, sources said.
• Autonomy issue
• The officers’ primary charge will be to handle the publicity of the Ministries. They will, however,
additionally continue their work in Doordarshan and AIR.
• Prasar Bharati officials say the issue has not yet been discussed.
• The IIS officials say that more than a conflict of interest, the order is not workable.
• The nature of jobs are very different.
• Both DD and AIR follow a 24X7 cycle and a publicity official’s job can be equally tricky — he has to be
available at the beck and call of the Minister whenever required.
• The reason for such a mass reshuffle of the IIS officials, according to few PIB officials, can be traced
to an event last October.
• It is when Doordarshan missed reporting the upgrade of India’s position in the ease of doing
business rankings of the World Bank.
• Shortage of hands
• Ms. Irani called for a meeting of all publicity officials and pulled them up for not alerting the public
broadcaster.
• The publicity officials, in turn, told her of the severe manpower shortage in the PIB.
• To this, Ms. Irani is said to have promised to strengthen the ranks of the PIB.

• Recently, the association of IIS officers wrote to the Prime Minister’s Office, drawing attention to
mass transfers, which they alleged have been carried out in contravention of rules.

2 Wheeler scheme launched by PM

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi kickstarted the subsidised Amma two-wheeler scheme meant for
working women.
• This on the occasion of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s 70th birth anniversary.
• As part of the scheme, every beneficiary will be given 50% of the cost of a two- wheeler or a grant of
Rs. 25,000.
• Each year, one lakh working women would be covered.
• As a mark of the commencement of the scheme, five women were handed over keys to vehicles and
registration certificates by the Prime Minister.
• Greening drive
• In the presence of Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Deputy
Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, Union Minister of State for Shipping Pon. Radhakrishnan and Lok Sabha
Deputy Speaker M. Thambi Durai, the Prime Minister also inaugurated a programme to plant 70 lakh tree
saplings.
• In the last six years, 3.99 crore saplings were planted under a similar programme.
Stability and ability of leadership at centre and AP state: Vice-Pres

• Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu said Andhra Pradesh was emerging as a favourite destination for
investments due to the stability and the ability of the leadership at the Centre and in the State.
• He was speaking after inaugurating the three-day CII Partnership Summit and the Sunrise Andhra
Pradesh Investment Meet here at the sprawling APIIC grounds at the Harbour Park.
• This was the third summit being held in a row in the city.
• Lauding the visionary leadership of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Vice-President said
with enormous opportunities for investors with a 974-km long coastline, the second largest after Gujarat.
• There was plenty of scope for investment in agriculture, food processing industries, electronics,
seafood and infrastructure.
• Mr. Venkaiah Naidu said India had emerged as a strong economy due to the pro-active policies of
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said as per projections, the country was poised to become $10-trillion
economy with an average income of $5,000 in 10 to 15 years.
• Describing the demonetisation and the rolling out of the GST regime as revolutionary decisions, he
said now the bank lending rates had come down with substantial increase in the filing of the Income-Tax
returns.
• “All States including AP have extended their cooperation for implementation of these decisions.”
• Mr. Chandrababu Naidu gave details of the steps being taken for real-time governance and ease of
doing business to create conducive climate for investors.

• He said AP was poised to emerge among the top three performing States by 2022 and No. 1 State
by 2029 and the best investment destination by 2050.
• He said automobiles, textiles, healthcare, engineering, IT, food processing industries, aerospace and
defence had been identified as thrust areas.
• In his keynote address, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu said after the
difficulties faced due to the bifurcation, AP was performing very well on all fronts.
• It had emerged as the fastest growing State and in the New India campaign launched by the Prime
Minister, it would continue to have an important role to play.
• He said the vision adopted by the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister would make AP a “new and
vibrant State”.
• Saying exports and value addition of various products would generate a lot of revenue and jobs, he
advised AP to lay emphasis not only on production but also designing of various products.
• Union Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, CII president Shobana Kamineni, Director
General Chandrajit Banerjee, Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani and Department of Industrial Policy and
Promotion Secretary Ramesh Abhishek were present.
Inadequate supervision: Jaitley on PNB scam

• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley blamed “inadequate supervision” by auditors and regulators as well as
“indifference” and/or ignorance of top management for the banking frauds.
• It including the Letters of Undertaking scam at the state-owned Punjab National Bank.
• While hinting at a tightening of laws, he cited a lack of political consensus and ruled out
privatisation of public sector banks as a response to the scams.
• Mr. Jaitley, without naming any bank or those involved in the fraud, said it was “worrisome” that red
flags were not raised and that “top managements were indifferent to what was going on or were unaware of
what was going on.”
• Also of concern was that the “multiple layers of auditing system chose to either look the other way
or do a casual job,” the Minister said.
• “You had inadequate supervision... who did what, we will eventually find out in the course of
investigation.”
• “Regulators have a very important function... [of] deciding the rules of the game. Regulators should
have a third eye perpetually open. But unfortunately in the Indian system, we politicians are accountable, the
regulators are not.”
• The law would be tightened further, if necessary, to find out where the fraudsters were and what was
the action that the law permitted against such delinquent persons.
• Referring to ethical practices, he said it was a significant problem in India.
Uninterrupted power supply in Telangana

• The power utilities of Telangana met a record peak demand of 10,000 MW power on past two days
for the first time since formation of the State.

• The increase in the demand has been attributed mainly to the uninterrupted power supply to the
agriculture sector starting from January 1 this year.
• “We are expecting the demand to go up to 10,600 MW to 10,700 MW in the coming weeks but we
have tied up to meet the demand even up to 11,500 mw and the transmission and distribution networks are
in a position to handle a load over 15,000 MW,” Chairman and Managing Director of the Southern Power
Distribution Company G.
• Raghuma Reddy and CMD of the Northern PDC A. Gopal Rao said, on completion of 50 days of 24×7
power to the farm sector.
• Stating that it was a memorable occasion for the power utilities in the State.
• It is particularly with the background of their inability to meet uninterrupted supply even to the
domestic sector when Telangana came into being.
• The top executives of the two distribution companies said support from the government and hard
work of the employees for the last three years had been behind the success.
• Several States across the country were enquiring with the power utilities of Telangana how they
were providing uninterrupted supply to all categories of consumers without any trouble in the system.
• Some States were planning to replicate “our successful model”.
• They had fears of system breakdown before introducing 24×7 supply to agriculture but were
convinced of the system’s efficiency after the trial run conducted in the run-up to the launch of
uninterrupted supply to the farm sector, he said.
• Strengthening of T&D network had helped the utilities bring down the failure of distribution
transformers by about 50% this January compared to the same period last year, the two CMDs claimed.
• They stated that about Rs. 84,000 crore investment would be made in public sector power
generation and further improvement of T&D network in the next five years which included the expected
increase of load on the system from the ongoing lift irrigation projects.
• Timely repayment of loans taken from the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) by the State’s
power utilities had helped them get the corporation to reduce the interest rate to 9.65% from 12% and 13%.
Orders to the effect were expected in a few days.
• This would be a huge relief since the interest burden was expected to come down by almost 25% –
2.5% to 3% , Mr. Raghuma Reddy stated.
Ceasefire violation in Uri

• Over 1,000 civilians, including women and children, stranded due to the Pakistani shelling and firing,
were rescued in guarded ambulances in Baramulla’s Uri.
• The ceasefire agreement in force in the area since 2003 started to fall apart.
• The Pakistan Army asked locals on the Indian side to “empty the villages on the zero line using loud
speakers of their village mosques”.
• Pakistan has widened its firing target in Uri. There were announcements made on speakers.
• Around eight villages with a population of around 5,000 were affected due to the firing and the
shelling.
• Pakistan fired from two sides at Uri town, which is surrounded on three sides by Pakistan pickets.

• From Jammu’s Pir Panchal valley, “major ceasefire violations” started in the Kashmir valley since
February 22, the first since the Kargil war of 1999, and have displaced over 1,500 civilians so far.
• The trigger was the killing of a BSF jawan in Kupwara on February 20.
• The Indian Army in retaliation “destroyed” several pickets of the Pakistan Army in Uri Sector in the
past two days.
• The Army said Pakistan resorted to “unprovoked firing at 11:50 a.m. and the fire was retaliated
effectively”.
• The exchange of fire in Uri stopped by 7 p.m. It remained intense between 12 and 3 p.m. “No
casualties were reported”.
• Villagers of Uri’s Charunda, Tilawari, Thajal, Batgram, Hathinanga, Sahoora and Balkote in the Haji
Pir Sector said “they are reliving the pre-ceasefire agreement era again”.




International
Trump first State of the Union address

• U.S. President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address followed the script of his nationalist
politics on immigration, trade and the U.S.’s global ties, while offering conditional conciliation to his
domestic critics on issues.
• Called for
a) Unity,
b) repeated his long standing promises to rebuild infrastructure

c) overhaul the country’s immigration system

d) hailed “the extra ordinary success” of his administration.
• Foreign policy
a) Takes credit for liberating territories held by the IS
b) Russia and china “rivals”
c) Depraved North korea
d) Urge to address fundamental flaws in Iran nuclear deal
e) Admin. Imposed sanctions on the communist and socialist dictatorships in cuba and venezuela
• Plans and priorities
a) $1.5 trillion for infrastructure
b) Modernise and rebuild nuclear arsenal
c) Open detention at Guantanamo Bay
d) Foreign legislation aid always “serves American interests” and “only goes to American friends”
• Immigration reforms
a) Path to citizenship for 1.8 million illegal immigrants
b) Build southern wall
c) End visa lottery and push for Merit based immigration system
d) Protect nuclear family
Afghan Intelligence with evidence about Kabul blast to Pakistan

• A high-level Afghan delegation comprising the Interior Minister and the intelligence chief arrived in
Pakistan to hand over evidence related to the recent attacks in Kabul.
• The evidence will be shared with the Pakistan Army, the source claimed, without providing further
details.
• Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Muhammad Faisal said the Afghan team, comprising Interior
Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak and National Directorate of Security chief Masoom Stanekzai, visited
Islamabad with a message from President Ashraf Ghani.
• The visit comes amid anger in Afghanistan over an attack on a luxury hotel and a car bomb in the
capital, Kabul.
• It killed more than 120 people, which the government has blamed on Haqqani network militants
believed to operate out of Pakistan.
• Afghanistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Mahmoud Saikal on Monday accused Pakistan’s
spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), of training a terrorist involved in the attack on Kabul’s
Intercontinental Hotel.

India Budget 2018-19, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar

• India’s annual financial allocation to Nepal for 2018-19 has nearly doubled under the Union Budget
presented.

• The External Affairs Ministry has been allocated a total Rs. 15,011 crore, which indicates a marginal
increase of Rs. 1,321 crore over the previous year’s grant.
• For India’s development and diplomatic engagement under the ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, the
Budget has allocated Rs. 5545 crore.
• Bhutan is traditionally the largest recipient of Ministry’s allocation.
• It has maintained the same position even as the allocation increased by Rs. 71 crore to touch Rs.
2,650 crore.
• However, the giant leap in allocation was for Nepal, which received Rs. 650 crore from the Ministry.
• This year’s allocation is the third consecutive and the largest increase.
• In 2016-17, Nepal received Rs. 332.72 crore, which was increased to Rs. 375 crore last year. At Rs.
280 crore, Myanmar’s allocation too has improved from Rs. 220 crore of last year.
• Former Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae said the budgetary increase was a likely step ahead
from the Indian commitment to help Nepal recover from the 2015 earthquake.
• The budgetary increase indicates it is likely to cover the earthquake reconstruction fund that was in
the pipeline for some time and was discussed with the Nepalese leaders,” Mr. Rae said.
• A senior researcher from the Ministry’s think tank, Research and Information System for Developing
Countries (RIS), said on condition of anonymity that the Terai road network and railway connectivity plans
were also likely to get a part of the increased allocation.
• Large allocation has also been made for the prominent cultural arm of the Ministry, the Indian
Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), which has received an increased allocation of Rs. 20 crore to touch a
total Rs. 255 crore.
• However, the new initiatives for building infrastructure in Chabahar and the Seychelles have also
been granted allocations of Rs. 150 crore and Rs. 350 crore respectively.
• South Asia University, a major educational initiative for the South Asian region, has received Rs. 375
crore and the Nalanda University got Rs. 200 crore.
• Indicating the evolving policies of the government, the Ministry has made no allocation for the Haj.
• The government had allocated Rs. 12.13 crore in 2016-’17. There was no allocation for Haj last year
too.
Genocide in Rakhine?
• The faces of the men half-buried in the mass graves had been burned away by acid or blasted by
bullets.
• They are among more than five mass graves, all previously unreported, that have been confirmed by
The Associated Press through multiple interviews with more than two dozen survivors in Bangladesh
refugee camps and through time-stamped cellphone videos
• The Myanmar government regularly claims massacres like Gu Dar Pyin never happened, and has
acknowledged only one mass grave containing 10 “terrorists” in the village of Inn Din.
• The recent findings, however, suggest not only the military’s slaughter of civilians but the presence
of many more graves.
• The graves are the newest piece of evidence for what looks increasingly like a genocide in
Myanmar’s western Rakhine State against the Rohingya.

• Satellite images obtained by the Associated Press from DigitalGlobe show a village decimated.
• Community leaders have compiled a list of 75 dead so far, and villagers estimate the toll could be as
high as 400, based on testimony from relatives and the bodies they’ve seen in the graves and strewn about
the area.
• Almost every villager interviewed by the Associated Press saw three large mass graves at Gu Dar
Pyin’s northern entrance, near the main road, where witnesses say soldiers herded and killed most of the
Rohingya.
• Survivors said soldiers planned the August 27 attack, and tried to hide what they had done.
• Thousands of people from the area hid deep in the jungle, stranded without food except for the
leaves and trees they tried to eat.
• From about 10 miles away, another group of villagers watched from a mountain as Gu Dar Pyin
burned, the flames and smoke snaking up into the sky.
U.K on non-EU workers

• The British industry is calling on the government to raise the annual cap on the number of non-EU
workers able to gain work visas, as well as an end to the government’s migration target, after it emerged
that the cap had been hit two months in a row.
• Recent Home Office data revealed that the monthly limits in both December and January for the
number of Tier 2 visas available (the government has an annual cap of 20,700) had been reached for the
first time since October 2015.
• Despite a recent hike in the minimum salary for applicants.
• This had knock-on consequences for industry, including the National Health Service (NHS), with
several trusts reporting that they had been unable to recruit some of the doctors they had hoped to.
• “Hitting the cap and limiting skilled workers coming to work from across the globe damages U.K.
competitiveness,” warned Neil Carberry of the Confederation of British Industry.
Under the Tier 2 (general) system — the most commonly used work route for Indian workers into the U.K. —
once the monthly cap is reached, further certificates of sponsorship are allocated based on a points-based
system.
• It depending on whether work for an occupation on the official shortage list is being applied for,
whether the work is PhD level, and also on the basis of salary.
• The result is that those in non-shortage occupations need higher salaries — £55,000 in December,
and £46,000 in January.
• Applicants for Tier 2 visas must earn at least £30,000 under recent changes, and £20,800 for
graduate recruits or under 26s.

Proof of militans submitted to Pakistan : Afghanistan

• Afghanistan has given Pakistan confessions and other proof showing that the militants who carried
out a recent series of attacks were trained in Pakistan and that Taliban leaders there are allowed to roam
freely, Afghan officials said.

• Interior Minister Wais Ahmed Barmak told a news conference that the evidence was presented at a
meeting a day earlier in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
• Afghanistan’s spy chief, Masoom Stanekzai, also attended the meeting, along with senior Pakistani
military and intelligence officials.
• Mr. Stanekzai, addressing the same news conference, said Afghanistan laid out its proof and asked
Pakistan to take action to prevent further attacks.
• A Pakistani delegation is due in Kabul on Saturday, said Mr. Stanekzai.
Nearly 200 people have been killed over the past month in attacks claimed by the Taliban and a rival Islamic
State affiliate.
• “The Taliban, with these actions, cannot call themselves a political organisation,” Mr. Stanekzai said.
• “They are a terrorist organisation... We expect action, not just talk,” he added.
• The Afghan officials said some of the latest evidence came from confessions by captured militants.
• They said they told the Pakistani side that some of the militants had been trained at Islamic
seminaries in the Pakistani border town of Chaman.

Male administration vs Supreme court of Maldives

• The Maldives Supreme Court overturned the conviction of nine opposition leaders, including the
exiled former President, Mohamed Nasheed.
• The Male administration is yet to release them, raising domestic and international concern over the
delay.
• The authorities indefinitely postponed Monday’s Parliament session, citing “security reasons”.
• The government dismissed the acting police commissioner from the post, a day after it sacked the
police commissioner, following a tweet from the Maldives police saying it would uphold the Supreme Court
ruling.
• The Joint Opposition, including the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) led by Mr. Nasheed, has
expressed concern over President Abdulla Yameen’s “refusal” to abide by the ruling.
• “We are deeply fearful that the government’s refusal to implement the Supreme Court order could
escalate unrest and incite violence across the country,” it said in a statement.
• The government has maintained that it needed to “vet and clarify the order”.
• “No deadlines are being considered at this point — the focus is on , through consultations,
implementing the ruling in the swiftest manner possible within the proper rules of procedure,” Ibrahim
Hussain Shihab, the international spokesperson at the President’s office in Male.
• President Yameen has said he did not expect the ruling.
• The administration has neither released the nine persons, nor reinstated the 12 parliamentarians
expelled earlier for defecting, despite the order mandating both.
• If reinstated, the legislators would raise the Opposition number in Parliament to a majority. The
developments have sparked greater anxiety among locals critical of the Yameen administration.
• After the ruling, India, the U.S. and the EU, among others, have urged the government to respect the
order and ensure that democracy and rule of law prevail.

• Top UN officials and human rights watchdogs are also putting pressure on Male to comply with the
order.
• The UN Secretary-General even offered to facilitate all-party talks to find a solution to the “political
stalemate” in the Maldives.
• Following inaction for two days, countries, including the U.K., have issued travel advisories warning
visitors of possible violence in Male, given the mounting frustration among people awaiting government
action.

INDIA-US have common interests: U.S.Air Force Chief

• Chief of the U.S. Air Force General David L. Goldfein has said Indian and U.S. Air Forces will
significantly ramp up operational cooperation to complement the strategic interests of the two countries in
the Indo-Pacific region.
• The region where China has been expanding its military influence.
• Calling India a “central strategic partner” of the U.S. in the region, he said two of the world’s largest
Air Forces were going to shift the focus jointly on the Indo-Pacific region.
• He asserted that the rules-based order must be preserved in the critical sea lanes.
• Gen. Goldfein held extensive talks with Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa and the top brass in the
defence establishment during his three-day visit.
• He said the “Quadrilateral” coalition among the U.S., India, Japan and Australia would provide for
deeper cooperation between the Indian and American Air Forces.
• Asked if cooperation between the two forces would deepen in the wake of the four countries joining
hands to contain Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region, he replied, “I do [think so] and that is a big part
of my visit and in my discussions here.”
• “We have common interests in preserving the rules-based order. So while we look for opportunities
for partnerships, it is actually appropriate also for us to be critical of those who are trying to change,” he
said in an interview in New Delhi.
• Gen. Goldfein refused to commit when asked if the U.S. would increase its military presence in
South China Sea.
• “We want to be strategically predictable but operationally unpredictable. I am not going to share with
our adversaries what our intentions are. If we are to increase our presence or decrease our presence, that is
something we will do at our time and place of our choosing,” he said.
Crisis still persists in Male govt.

• The statement from the Attorney General also said that security forces had received information
that sometime, the Supreme Court may impeach President Yameen, justifying the government’s order to the
police and troops to resist such a move.
• According to local media, chiefs of the military and police said they would take orders only from
the Attorney General, implying they will not implement the SC ruling.

• Terming the Attorney General’s statement “tantamount to a coup” Mr. Nasheed, called for President
Yameen’s immediate resignation.
• In an interview to a private television channel from Sri Lanka on Sunday, Mr. Nasheed called for
protest.
• Breaking his silence, President Yameen said he had not expected such an order from the Supreme
Court.
• He was prepared to hold early elections.
• Responding, Mr. Nasheed said: “Pledging to hold an early election in a fixed term presidential
system as in the Maldives is ludicrous.”

State of Emergency declared in Maldives

• The Maldives government declared a state of emergency for 15 days, amid a spiralling political
crisis in the island nation following a Supreme Court order last week to release Opposition leaders from
prison.
• During this time, though certain rights will be restricted, general movements, services and
businesses will not be affected.
• The Government of Maldives also wishes to assure all Maldivians and the international community
that the safety of all Maldivians and foreigners living in and visiting the Maldives will be ensured.
• Sources said the state of emergency gives security officials extra powers to arrest suspects.
• The development comes five days after the Supreme Court ordered the immediate release of nine
Opposition leaders, including the exiled former President Mohamed Nasheed.
• It also ordered that 12 MPs expelled earlier be reinstated.
• Eva Abdulla, an MP and member of the Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party, said: “The
declaration of state of emergency is an indication of Mr. Yameen’s desperation. It only serves to show an
isolated man who no longer has the confidence of the people and independent institutions.”
New Nuclear Policy by US

• A treaty committing the U.S. and Russia to keep their long-range nuclear arsenals at the lowest
levels since early in the Cold War went into full effect.
• When it was signed eight years ago, President Barack Obama expressed hope that it would be a
small first step toward deeper reductions, and ultimately a world without nuclear weapons.
• Now, that optimism has been reversed.
• A new nuclear policy issued by the Trump administration, which vows to counter a rush by the
Russians to modernise their forces even while staying within the treaty limits, is touching off a new kind of
nuclear arms race.
• This one is based less on numbers of weapons and more on novel tactics and technologies, meant
to outwit and outmanoeuvre the other side.

• The Pentagon envisions a new age in which nuclear weapons are back in a big way — its strategy
bristles with plans for new low-yield nuclear weapons that advocates say are needed to match Russian
advances and critics warn will be too tempting for a President to use.
• The result is that the nuclear-arms limits that went into effect on Monday now look more like the
final stop after three decades of reductions than a way station to further cuts.
• Yet, when President Donald Trump called on Congress to “modernise and rebuild our nuclear
arsenal” in his State of the Union address last week, he did not mention his administration’s rationale.
• In contrast to Mr. Trump’s address, the report issued, known as the Nuclear Posture Review,
focussed intensely on Russia.
• It described Mr. Putin as forcing the U.S.’s hand to rebuild the nuclear force.
• The report contains a sharp warning about a new Russian-made autonomous nuclear torpedo that
appears designed to cross the Pacific undetected and release a deadly cloud of radioactivity that would
leave large parts of the West Coast uninhabitable.
• It also explicitly rejects Mr. Obama’s commitment to make nuclear weapons a diminishing part of
American defences.
• The limit on warheads — 1,500 deployable weapons — that went into effect expires in 2021, and the
nuclear review shows no enthusiasm about its chances for renewal.
• Even Mr. Trump’s harshest critics concede that the United States must take steps as Russia and
China have invested heavily in modernising their forces, making them more lethal.

Palestine seeks more India’s interaction: Diplomatic adviser to Palestinian

President
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Palestine this week is “historic” and will be important in the
West Asian peace process, says a key diplomatic official in Ramallah, indicating a greater role for India in
the political process with the decline of the U.S. role in mediation.
• “Mr. Modi is visiting us at an important juncture when Palestine needs India to interact much more
with the region,” Majdi El-Khaldi, the diplomatic adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
• “The U.S. can no longer be the only mediator,” he said, referring to the U.S.’s decision to recognise
Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
• “We are asking the European Union and EU countries to mediate, and we are inviting India, which will
be a strong leader in a multipolar world, to assist the process.”
• Mr. El-Khaldi’s words are significant as they come during a period of intensive engagement between
New Delhi and West Asia.
• After Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to India last month, the government is
pivoting its interests to Israel’s rivals: with the PM travelling to Jordan, Palestine, Oman and the UAE this
week, and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visiting Saudi Arabia.
• New Delhi is also preparing for three high-level visits, from the region’s most powerful leaders,
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Jordanian King Abdullah II in February, and Saudi King Salman later
this year.

• Calling the renewed engagement in West Asia as “smart diplomacy” by India, Mr. El-Khaldi said that
India was one of the “few countries in the world” that had no problems with most of the countries in the
region.
• Asked about Mr. Netanyahu’s statement during his visit to Delhi that one should “ally with the
strong”, not the weak, Mr. El-Khaldi said that while Palestine was the “weaker side” as it was “under
occupation”, and India had many technological requirements from Israel, it was wrong to believe that India
would “choose Israel over Palestine.”
• “When it comes to specific disputes, Palestinians are mindful of their position, and we don’t interfere
in domestic issues. When our Ambassador [to Pakistan] didn’t follow this policy, even if it was inadvertent,
we said it was a mistake and withdrew him immediately,” Mr. El-Khaldi said.
Amended order creates more problems in Maldives

• Exiled former President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed sought India’s military intervention in
the country to release dissidents in prison.
• “We would like the Indian government to send an envoy, backed by its military, to free the judges and
the political detainees, including former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, from their detention and to
bring them to their homes. We are asking for a physical presence,” he said in a statement.
• Mr. Nasheed’s appeal came a day after President Abdulla Yameen declared a state of emergency in
the Maldives, following a Supreme Court ruling last week that has put the Indian Ocean island back on the
boil.
• The apex court ordered the release of nine Opposition leaders, including Mr. Nasheed, and the
reinstatement of 12 expelled MPs.
• The turbulence in the country over the last few days prompted some countries to issue travel
advisories and security alerts citing potential violence.
• President Yameen told the nation in a televised address that there was no enforcement of a curfew,
and that neither general movements, services and businesses, nor travel in and out of or within the country
was affected.
• The government put out a detailed statement justifying the emergency rule, saying President
Yameen had “exhausted all venues available to him, legally and protocol wise.”
• On 6th of February, President Yameen also revised and issued a second amendment to the
Presidential decree concerning the state of emergency, lifting an Article in the Constitution that said: “the
Supreme Court shall be the final authority on the interpretation of the Constitution, the law, or any other
matter dealt with by a court of law.”
• “This is not a state of war, epidemic or natural disaster. This is something more dangerous,”
President Yameen said. “This is an obstruction of the very ability of the state to function.”
• The President added that the apex court overstepped its authority in ordering the politicians
released.
• “This state of emergency is the only way I can determine how deep this plot, this coup, goes,” Mr.
Yameen said.

• Accusing the President of declaring martial law illegally, Mr. Nasheed said: “We must remove him
from power. The people of the Maldives have a legitimate request to world governments, especially to India
and the U.S.,” calling on Washington to stop all financial transactions of regime leaders.
• Opposition MPs in Male said they feared being arrested, in the wake of the arrests of a former
President, the Chief Justice, and a Supreme Court judge, hours after the government declared emergency
on Monday.
• According to Husnu Suood, President of the Maldives Bar Association and a former
Attorney-General, President Yameen needs to send his reasons for declaring emergency within 48 hours to
Parliament for its approval.
• “If it is not approved by Parliament, the state of emergency will lapse. For that reason, [Opposition]
parliamentarians are expected to be arrested,” he told.
• The restoration of the 12 MPs into the body, as per the Supreme Court order, would effectively give
the Opposition a majority in Parliament.
• Attempts to obtain a comment from the President’s Office were unsuccessful.
• “There is an imminent threat [to us],” Opposition MP and lawyer Ali Hussain told The Hindu from
Male. “The military takeover of the Parliament house and the Supreme Court shows that the President may
order just anything he wants to be carried out.”
• Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on the government in Male to
lift the state of emergency and guarantee safety for its citizens, “including members of the judiciary”.
• Guterres "urges" the Maldivian government "to uphold the constitution and rule of law, lift the state
of emergency as soon as possible, and take all measures to ensure the safety and security of the people in
the country, including members of the judiciary," a statement from his spokesman Stephane Dujarric read.
No foreign meddling in Maldives: China

• Rejecting foreign meddling, China on Tuesday expressed confidence that the escalating political
crisis in the Maldives will find a home-grown solution.
• “We believe the Maldives government and political parties have the wisdom and the capability to
deal with the current situation on their own,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said
during his regular media briefing.
• “We hope relevant parties can properly resolve the differences through dialogue and consultation
and restore normal order as soon as possible and maintain national and social stability,” he added.
• China’s emphasis on seeking a domestically driven breakthrough follows a call by the former
Maldivian President, Mohamed Nasheed, for India’s support in the release of political prisoners.
• In view of the uncertain situation, Mr. Geng said the Chinese Foreign Ministry “had adjusted the
security alert level and asked the Chinese citizens to closely follow the local situation and not to travel to
Maldives”.
• “If theyhave plans to go to the Maldives we advise them to cancel it. The Chinese government
attaches great importance to the security of the Chinese citizens including the outbound tourists,” he said.
• China is the number-one source of tourists for the Maldives. Chinese tourists constitute about 30%
of the Maldives tourist arrivals.

Defence forces on alert for Maldives

• India issued another statement of concern over the growing crisis in the Maldives, but didn’t
respond to former President Mohamed Nasheed’s appeal for military intervention.
• “We are disturbed by the declaration of a state of emergency following the refusal of the
government to abide by the unanimous ruling of the full bench of the Supreme Court on February 1, and
also by the suspension of constitutional rights of the people of the Maldives,” the Ministry of External
Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
• The government also criticised the arrest of the Supreme Court Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and
former President Abdul Gayoom on Monday night as “reasons for concern”, adding that it “continues to
carefully monitor the situation”.
• However, the MEA refused to respond to questions about Mr. Nasheed’s call for international
intervention.
• Meanwhile defence sources said troops have been put on alert as the situation is still developing in
the Maldives.
• No order has been issued to move any troops or aircraft towards the country, they said. Resources
could be mobilised at a short notice, the sources added, but rejected the reports that India was preparing
for action.
• “Talk of any kind of intervention seems premature,” said former diplomat Rajiv Bhatia, advising
caution and restraint.
• “This is not the first time we have seen neighbouring countries move from democracy to
dictatorship, or carrying out policies inimical to India,” he added, saying New Delhi would have a reason to
move if Indians in Male face any direct threat.
• Former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran also said India’s options would be limited if it decided to “go
it alone” in the Maldives, even though President Yameen’s actions to contravene the Constitution could be
seen as a “challenge to international order”.
• Adding to the limitations is the fact that the Maldives has left the Commonwealth, and the SAARC
(South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) is not meeting.
• As New Delhi weighs its options, a former diplomat who was part of previous Indian interventions in
the Maldives, including in 1988, when Indian troops defeated a coup d’etat against then President Gayoom,
said it would be a mistake to see the situation there in isolation.
• “The Maldives is only one part of the troubled region, and a misstep here could become a trigger for
other problems for India in South Asia,” the retired official, who preferred not to be named.

All-party talks: Maldives Govt.

• The Maldivian government invited all political parties to re-convene talks.
• This happened days after it shut down Parliament and declared a state of emergency, drawing sharp
criticism at home and abroad.

• “In view of the existing situation in the country, and the importance of all-party talks for the welfare
of the people of the Maldives, the government has decided to reconvene all-party talks, and has issued
invitations to all parties to engage in dialogue with the government,” a statement from the President’s office
said.
• However, a top Opposition source told The Hindu that all-party talks were “absolutely out of the
question” in a situation where dissidents were arrested and “ill-treated”, and the President had effectively
“imposed martial law”.
• “There can be no negotiating with a dictator like this,” the source said, requesting anonymity.
• Meanwhile, a visiting delegation of Ambassadors from Colombo-based German, the U.K. and EU
missions — that flew to Male — on Thursday said its request to meet President Yameen was turned down.
• Following the government’s refusal to implement a surprise Supreme Court ruling last week, its
subsequent declaration of a state of emergency, and a series of high-profile arrests, the Maldives has
plunged into a political crisis.
• The arrests of the Chief Justice and another Supreme Court judge — part of the bench that ordered
the release of nine Opposition leaders including former President Mohamed Nasheed — escalated the
tension.
• Three other judges annulled part of the earlier ruling, effectively revoking the release order of jailed
dissidents.
• Lawyers of the Supreme Court judge said the Chief Justice was threatened that he would be “cut
into pieces unless he reversed the ruling”, in a statement.
• South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR), a regional network of human rights defenders, said it was
“deeply concerned” by the political crisis engulfing the Maldives, following President Abdulla Yameen’s
increasingly “authoritarian and undemocratic actions”.
• Observing that “President Yameen stands accused of multiple charges of corruption and human
rights violations” — allegations that he has denied in the past — the human rights organisation noted that
the strongman President has been “politically isolated”.

MALDIVES-INDIA-CHINA-U.S
• With the emergency in the Maldives still in place and worries about a constitutional crisis, New Delhi
is in touch with both Washington and Beijing over the situation, officials confirmed.
• U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on the telephone to discuss
the upcoming 2+2 ministerial- level meeting in Delhi, when the situation in the Maldives was discussed, the
White House said.
• “Both leaders expressed concern about the political crisis in the Maldives and the importance of
respect for democratic institutions and rule of law,” a readout from Mr. Trump’s office said, adding that they
had also discussed “working together to enhance security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.”
• However, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also cautioned the Maldives against any plan to
bring in Chinese naval or security reinforcements to Male.
• China has said that the Maldives government has the ability to protect the security of Chinese
personnel and institutions in the Maldives.

• All countries can play a constructive role in the Maldives, instead of doing the opposite.
• According to the readout, Mr. Trump and Mr. Modi also spoke of the situation in Myanmar, the
“plight of Rohingya refugees” and the “denuclearisation of North Korea.”
• The MEA, however, made no comment on the conversation, and the nature of cooperation India and
the U.S. would undertake in the Maldives.
• In Beijing, foreign ministry officials also confirmed that China was “in touch with India” and the U.S.
China was one of the three countries, including Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, that Mr. Yameen sent special
envoys to discuss reasons for his actions.
• India rejected the envoy’s visit.
Wakhan Corridor
• Afghanistan’s mountainous Wakhan Corridor, a region so remote that its residents are untouched by
the decades of conflict that have devastated their country.
• The frail-looking grandmother is a woman of the Wakhi, a tribe of roughly 12,000 nomadic people
who populate the area.
• Known to those who live there by its Persian name Bam-e-Dunya, or “roof of the world”.
• It is a narrow strip of inhospitable and barely accessible land in Afghanistan bordered by the
mountains of what is now Tajikistan and Pakistan, and extending all the way to China.
• Few venture out, even fewer venture in — but this isolation has kept the Wakhi sheltered from almost
forty years of the near constant fighting that has ravaged their fellow Afghans.
• “War, what war? There has never been a war,” Ms. Begium says, though she remembers people
speaking of Russian soldiers dispensing cigarettes on the border at the other end of the corridor.
• The civil war following the Russian invasion, in which tens of thousands more people were killed and
uprooted, and the rise of the extremist Taliban regime seem to them like folklore.
• There is little knowledge of the U.S. invasion or the bloody resurgence of the Taliban, and more
recently the emergence of the Islamic State group.
• Created in the 19th century as a Great Game buffer zone between tsarist Russia and British India,
the corridor has since remained untouched by any kind of government.
• It can be reached from surrounding countries, but only via treacherous journeys by horse, yak or on
foot through the “Pamir Knot”, where three of the highest mountain ranges in the world converge.
• Known in Afghanistan itself as Pamiris, the Wakhi form the bulk of the corridor’s population — the
nomadic Kyrgyz tribe, which numbers just 1,100 people, live separately at its northern end.
• Their life, largely free from crime and violence, revolves around yaks and cattle, which they barter for
food and clothes from the few traders who visit the remote region.
• But change may be coming: the Afghan government says it’s conducting aerial surveys to assess
potential routes to connect Wakhan to the rest of Badakhshan by road.
• If it all comes to fruition, it could bring more trade, tourism, and much-needed medical facilities.
• It could also spell the end of the Wakhi’s protection from the brutality of war.


Invitation to S.Korean Pres. to visit North: Kim

• North Korean leader Kim Jong-un invited the South’s President Moon Jae-in for a summit in
Pyongyang, Seoul said, even as the U.S. warned against falling for Pyongyang’s Olympic charm offensive.
• The invitation, delivered by Mr. Kim’s visiting sister Kim Yo-jong, said he was willing to meet the
South’s leader “at the earliest date possible”, said a spokesperson for the presidential Blue House.
• An inter-Korean summit would be the third of its kind, after Mr. Kim’s father and predecessor Kim
Jong-il met the South’s Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun in 2000 and 2007 respectively, both of them in
Pyongyang.
• Mr. Moon did not immediately accept the invitation. But the prospect could sow division between
the dovish leader, who has long argued for engagement with the nuclear-armed North to bring it to the
negotiating table, and U.S. President Donald Trump, who last year traded personal insults and threats of war
with Mr. Kim.
• Washington insists that Pyongyang — which is under multiple sets of UN Security Council sanctions
— must take concrete steps towards denuclearisation before any negotiations can happen.
• After months of silence on whether it would even take part in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in
the South, the Games have driven a rapprochement on the peninsula, while the North’s athletes, performers
and delegates have dominated the headlines.
• Mr. Moon met Ms. Kim Yo-jong — a close confidante of her brother and the first member of the
dynasty to set foot in the South since the Korean War — and the North’s ceremonial head of state Kim
Yong-nam at the Blue House in Seoul.
• “We want to see President Moon become a protagonist in opening a new chapter for reunification
and leave great footprints in history,” she said.
• The two Koreas have been divided since the conflict ended in a ceasefire in 1953, and the
democratic South has risen to become the world’s 11th-largest economy, while the North has stagnated
under the Kim family’s rule.
• The offer could put Mr. Moon in a delicate diplomatic quandary, but he avoided a direct response,
said his spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom, and called instead for efforts to “create the right conditions” for a
visit.
• Mr. Moon urged Pyongyang to actively seek an “absolutely necessary” dialogue with Washington, he
said.
• Tensions between the two soared last year as Pyongyang launched intercontinental ballistic
missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland and carried out by far its most powerful nuclear test to date.
• The North Korean delegation then took the bullet train to Gangneung, the venue of all ice
competitions, and attended a banquet hosted by the South’s Unification Minister Cho Myong-gyon.

Pakistan’s iron lady

• Noted Pakistani lawyer Asma Jehangir, who passed away on 11thfeb 2018, was the country’s
symbol of human rights and resistance and a fierce opponent of military dictators for over five decades.

• She was also a vocal advocate of India-Pakistan peace and was part of several ‘Track 2’ delegations
to India.
• Born in Lahore on January 27, 1952, Ms. Jehangir had a prominent career both as a lawyer and a
rights activist. After obtaining a law degree from the Punjab University in 1978, she started her career as an
advocate at the judiciary.
• She soon became a champion democracy activist and was subsequently imprisoned in 1983 for
participating in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy against the military rule of Zia-ul-Haq.
• She also served as chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and was widely
respected for her outspoken criticism of the country’s militant and extremist Islamist groups.
• Ms. Jehangir also served as president of the Supreme Court’s Bar Association and was a UN
rapporteur on human right and extrajudicial killings. She was once on Time magazine’s list of 100 most
influential women.
• She often defended minority Christians charged with blasphemy, an offence that under Pakistan’s
controversial law carries the death penalty.
• She was repeatedly threatened by the country’s militant religious right whom she criticised loudly
and often.
• Ms. Jehangir has also taken up cases of missing persons and fought in the courts for their recovery
free of cost.
• She played an active role in the famous lawyers’ movement in 2007 to restore Iftikhar Chaudhry as
the Chief Justice of Pakistan. The movement later brought the fall of then President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
• Of late, she had been critical of the Supreme Court for its ‘judicial activism’ and had also criticised
the apex court for disqualifying Nawaz Sharif from the office of Prime Minister in July last year.
• She won numerous national and international awards for her struggle for the oppressed including
the highest civilian honours Hilal-i-Imtiaz and Sitara-i-Imtiaz.
• Ms. Jehangir is survived by her businessman-husband, Tahir Jehangir, a son and two daughters.
• Condolences poured in from within and outside the country. Leaders of all political parties paid rich
tributes to her. President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi both expressed
grief and sorrow.
• The President, in his condolence message, said that Ms. Jahangir played an unforgettable role in the
upholding of democracy and human rights. Mr. Abbasi lauded Ms. Jahangir for her immense contribution
towards upholding rule of law, democracy and safeguarding human rights.
• He termed her demise as a great loss for legal fraternity.
• Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that Ms. Jahangir had always been in the forefront when it
came to confronting dictatorship in the country.
• Supreme Court Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and other judges of the apex court also expressed
deep sorrow and grief over the demise.

Joint action to isolate terror: India-Oman

• India and Oman have agreed to isolate the sponsors of international terrorism.

• The declaration on battling terrorism came at the end of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the
country during which both sides acknowledged that there was an “inter-linkage” between the stability of the
Gulf region and the Indian subcontinent.
• “The two sides also emphasised the need to isolate the sponsors and supporters of terrorism and
agreed that the international community should take urgent action against all such entities, which support
terrorism and use it as an instrument of policy,” a joint statement issued at the end of Mr. Modi’s visit
declared.
• The visit to the strategically located country is of special significance as the monarchy, led by Sultan
Qaboos bin Said for more than four decades, is soon likely to undergo a phase of succession.
• Indian officials last week thanked Oman for providing refuelling facilities to Indian ships and aircraft.
• The delegations declared that both sides recognise “the close inter-linkage of the stability and
security of the Gulf region with the Indian subcontinent”.
• Mr. Modi appreciated Oman’s help in dealing with “specific” security challenges, the joint statement
mentioned.
• Prime Minister Modi arrived in Oman on Sunday after visiting Jordan, Palestine and the UAE.
• He addressed a gathering of Indian workers and professionals during his stay in Muscat.
• Mr. Modi thanked Sultan Qaboos for “exceptional warmth” and said, “My visit to Oman (is) one of the
most memorable visits I have undertaken anywhere.”
• The Indian side thanked Omani side for facilitating operational visits by Indian Naval ships and
aircraft as well as Indian Air Force aircraft to various Omani ports and airports.
• The Omani side expressed appreciation of the training facilities provided to the Omani Royal Armed
Forces personnel by India.
• Mr. Modi also informed Oman’s ruler about the strategic oil reserve that India plans to build and
invited Oman to participate in the project.
• The Omani side briefed India about its own strategic oil reserve project in Ras Markaz near the port
of Duqm.
• A total of eight MoUs were signed on health, legal cooperation, tourism and military cooperation.
• Oman also expressed that it would like its scientists to be trained in Indian space research facilities.

Lizards used to spy Iran

• The former Chief of Staff of Iran’s armed forces said that Western spies had used lizards which
could “attract atomic waves” to spy on the country’s nuclear programme.
• Hassan Firuzabadi, senior military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was
responding to questions from local media on the recent arrest of environmentalists.
• He said he did not know the details of the cases, but that the West had often used tourists,
scientists and environmentalists to spy on Iran.
• “Several years ago, some individuals came to Iran to collect aid for Palestine... We were suspicious
of the route they chose,” he told the reformist ILNA news agency.
• “In their possessions were a variety of reptile desert species like lizards, chameleons... We found out
that their skin attracts atomic waves and that they were nuclear spies who wanted to find out where inside

the Islamic Republic of Iran we have uranium mines and where we are engaged in atomic activities,” he
said.
• His comments came after news that a leading Iranian-Canadian environmentalist, Kavous Seyed
Emami, had died in prison after he was arrested along with other members of his wildlife NGO last month.
• The deputy head of the Environmental Protection Organisation, Kaveh Madani, was also reportedly
detained temporarily over the weekend.
• Mr. Firuzabadi said Western spy agencies have “failed every time”.
• He said another espionage case involved a couple from Germany.
• “They got them on a fishing boat from Dubai and Kuwait and sent them to the Persian Gulf to
identify our defence systems,” he said.
• “But when we arrested them, they said they had come for fishing and were tourists.”
U.S. Senate debate

• The U.S. Senate started an open-ended debate on immigration, a highly divisive topic that has
eluded political consensus for years now.
• The debate, which may last the entire week, is not on any specific Bill. Rather, Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell has picked up a random Bill into which amendments that get the support of 60
Senators could be inserted.
• But getting 60 votes is not easy in the chamber, in which the Republicans have a narrow majority of
51-49.
• The most urgent immigration question relates to ‘Dreamers’, those who came to the country illegally
when they were children. President Donald Trump has announced the discontinuation, starting March 5, of
an amnesty given to nearly eight lakh such people.
• He has also linked the offering of a path to citizenship for ‘Dreamers’ to a severe curtailment in the
existing legal immigration regime.
• The Democrats are resisting the move, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday
called for a Bill that only deals with the question of ‘Dreamers’ for now.
• The Secure and Succeed Act, being championed by a group of Republican Senators, is closely
aligned to Mr. Trump’s views.
• It proposes family-linked visas only for spouses and minor children, an elimination of the diversity
visa lottery, and the construction of a border wall.
• It does not mention anything about skilled workers’ immigration.
• There are several Bills that deal with the H-1B programme but one being pushed by Republican Orrin
Hatch is in focus, given the Senator’s proximity to the President.
• Mr. Hatch’s Immigration Innovation Act proposes changes to the visa programme that will allow
higher wages and an easier route to permanent residency for skilled workers.
• The administration has not made its views known on this, and indications are that its immediate
priory lies in dealing with illegal immigration and border security.
• It was in 2013 that the Senate debated immigration the last time. It approved an overhaul of the
system but the House did not hold a vote, killing the proposal.

• However, the Republican Senators who argued for a path to citizenship for the country’s 11 million
undocumented residents found themselves in a spot in 2016 when Mr. Trump built his campaign on an
anti-immigration platform.
• • At present, Republican lawmakers have little appetite for any measure that does not find approval
by Mr. Trump and his base.

Iran President visit to India

• Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will visit India from February 15 to 17, exactly a month after Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Iran’s biggest rival, made a historic visit.
• Officials say Mr. Rouhani’s visit will send out a message that India aims for balance in its ties in the
neighbourhood.
• Mr. Rouhani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek to iron out issues on trade, connectivity,
banking and energy.
• During the forthcoming visit of the President of Iran, both sides would review the progress achieved
in bilateral relations and also exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.
• Since Mr. Netanyahu’s visit, Mr. Modi has visited Palestine, Jordan, the UAE and Oman.
• “Clearly, the government is trying to cover all bases,” former Ambassador to Iran K.C. Singh said.
• But it remains to be seen whether the Iranian establishment, including the clerics and the Iranian
Revolutionary Guards, are comfortable with India’s relations with all these other countries.
• Iran is after all, not just important for India’s energy needs but also its only route for access to
Central Asia.
• Among the subjects expected to be discussed are the progress of the $500-million Beheshti port
project in Chabahar, where India is expected to complete development of berths later this year.
• India is already routing a consignment of 1.1 million tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan through the
existing facilities at Chabahar.
• On bilateral trade, the biggest stumbling block is banking channels, say diplomats in Tehran and
Delhi.
• The two sides are now discussing the possibility of a “rupee-rial mechanism”, in addition to the
current channel through UCO Bank for rupee payments.
• However, European banks have refused to support the trade, given the uncertainty over fresh
sanctions from the U.S.
• Another issue is the pending negotiations over the Farzad-B gas and oil fields that India has
expressed its interest in.
• During Mr. Modi’s visit in 2016, the two sides had hoped to see an agreement signed quickly, but
according to officials dealing with the negotiations, the discussions had not made much progress because
of what they called “Iran’s shifting goalposts” on the bid for Farzad-B.
• Sources said even negotiations for India’s bid for Russian and UAE oilfields that started much later
had been concluded by now.
• Russia’s Gazprom has concluded deals for several oilfields and plans joint ventures with Iran’s
National Iranian Oil Company, much to India’s chagrin.

• However, officials believe that India’s oil imports from Iran, which had plummeted to new lows last
year, will go up this year, because of “better terms from Iran”, which is anticipating possible new sanctions
being imposed by the Trump administration.
• Iran is likely to seek India’s support at the upcoming meeting of the UN’s Financial Action Task
Force, where Tehran is hoping to exit a blacklist on money laundering and terror finance, even as India
hopes to see Pakistan put on a “grey-list” at the meeting.
• Mr. Rouhani will arrive in Delhi on February 17 after visiting Hyderabad, where he will address
students and religious scholars at a series of functions and the Friday congregation at the Makkah Masjid.
• He will be the first Iranian head of state to do so.
• On Saturday, he will be given an official welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan before he and Mr. Modi
sit down for bilateral talks.
• Mr. Rouhani is expected to return to Tehran the same evening, after delivering a special address at a
foreign policy think-tank.
Reconstruction of Iraq
• India has called for a comprehensive political settlement and reconciliation in Iraq at the
International Conference for Reconstruction of Iraq in Kuwait, where major world powers are meeting to
chalk out a plan of recovery for the country.
• Union Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar, who is leading the Indian delegation, has
announced that India will play its part in the reconstruction, and called for an end to global terrorism.
• We will play our part with project-specific proposals.
• We support the important role assigned to private sector investors in the rebuilding of the
terrorist-affected areas in Iraq.
• We are willing to play a substantive role in major projects in petrochemicals, health, education,
infrastructure and other sectors.
• We will also look at any specific requests for rehabilitation projects and essential supplies like
medicines, equipment, etc., as required for internally displaced persons as part of our assistance
programme, said Mr. Akbar indicating a collaborative approach to rebuilding the country, which has
witnessed war since the early 1980s.
• Mr. Akbar drew the attention of the conference towards India’s current campaign for a
comprehensive global convention against terrorism.
• “This is also the moment to remind the international community that an early adoption of the
Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, a draft of which was proposed by India as early as
1996...,” he said.
• During the visit of Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jaafari last year, India assured Baghdad of support
in the reconstruction of the country.
• Since the outbreak of the war in 2003, India had frequently responded to the humanitarian needs in
Iraq and contributed in several ways.
• Including providing $10 million in aid towards the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq
(IRFFI) for investments, reconstruction and development in Iraq.


Newly elected President to South Africa after Zuma quits

• Cyril Ramaphosa was elected South Africa’s President by the ruling party legislators on after the
resignation of Jacob Zuma.
• Zuma’s scandals brought the storied African National Congress (ANC) to its weakest point since
taking power at the end of apartheid.
• Mr. Ramaphosa was the only candidate nominated for election after two Opposition parties said
they would not participate.
• The two parties instead unsuccessfully called for the dissolution of the National Assembly and early
elections.
• Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng presided over the parliamentary election and congratulated Mr.
Ramaphosa, who was Mr. Zuma’s deputy and in December was narrowly elected leader of the ANC over Mr.
Zuma’s ex-wife.
• The ANC had instructed Mr. Zuma this week to step down or face a parliamentary motion of
no-confidence that he would almost certainly lose. Mr. Zuma denies any wrongdoing.
• Mr. Ramaphosa is South Africa’s fifth President since the end of the apartheid system in 1994.
• Cyril Ramaphosa, who has been elected as South Africa’s new President by legislators replacing the
scam-tainted Jacob Zuma, said on Thursday that fighting corruption is his priority.
• “I will try very hard not to disappoint the people of South Africa,” Mr. Ramaphosa said in ending his
speech to Parliament shortly after it elected him.
• He said the issue of corruption is on “our radar screen”.
• As some South Africans cheered the end to Mr. Zuma’s era, the rand currency strengthened against
the dollar in early trading on Thursday.
• Mr. Ramaphosa now is challenged with reviving the reputation of the ANC, Africa’s most prominent
liberation movement, which fought apartheid and has been in power since the first all-race elections in
1994.
• The party’s popularity fell as anger over corruption allegations grew and it suffered its worst
showing at the polls in municipal elections in 2016.
• The prospect of facing a possible coalition government for the first time helped push some ANC
leaders to decide that Mr. Zuma had to go.
• Mr. Zuma announced he had stepped down in a late-night television address.
• In a 30-minute speech, Mr. Zuma said he had “come to the decision to resign as President of the
republic with immediate effect”.
• On Thursday, the foundation of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first Black President, welcomed Mr.
Zuma’s departure but said the state must act against “networks of criminality” that have hurt the country’s
democracy.
• Meanwhile, South African police issued an arrest warrant for one of the brothers of the Gupta
business family, allies of Mr. Zuma.
India-Arunachal Pradesh-China
• China has slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, saying it was not
helpful in creating “enabling conditions” for boundary talks and improving Beijing-New Delhi ties.

• Xinhua news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang as saying on Thursday
that China was “firmly opposed” to Mr. Modi’s visit to the “disputed area.”
• “China’s position on the China-India boundary question is consistent and clear-cut,” Mr. Geng said.
• “The Chinese government has never recognised the so-called Arunachal Pradesh and is firmly
opposed to the Indian leader’s visit to the disputed area,” the spokesperson observed. “We will lodge stern
representations with the Indian side.”
• Mr. Geng said that China and India had reached “important consensus” on properly managing
disputes and the two sides were working to resolve territorial disputes through negotiation and
consultation.
• “The Chinese side urges the Indian side to honour its commitment and abide by the relevant
consensus, and refrain from taking any action that may complicate the boundary question.”
• He urged India to cherish “the hard-won momentum of improvements in bilateral relations and
create enabling conditions for the boundary talks and the development of bilateral relations.”
Iran President visits India

• Indian investment in Iran, including billions of dollars in connectivity, infrastructure and oil projects
topped the agenda as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrived for a three-day visit to India.
• “The two countries are on the same positive, right track,” Mr. Rouhani said, just before leaving for
Hyderabad.
• He told reporters that the Chabahar investment project is a “key objective” for Iran while several
MoUs would be signed after his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• The visit, which comes close on the heels of a decision by the Modi government to allow Indians to
invest in Iran in rupees signals an independent line from the United States.
• US is threatening new sanctions against Iran in the coming months.
• The rupee investment plan is expected to ease the path for businessmen wishing to circumvent
challenges posed by the current sanctions regime against Iran.
• Although many of the sanctions were officially lifted after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
on nuclear scrutiny was signed in 2015, the U.S.’s stern posture on Iran has meant that few international
banking and insurance companies are willing to assist investments there.
• The absence of banking and payment channels have been a challenge for Indian businessmen, and
we have been making special efforts to address those challenges.
• Officials also said the government was committed to “speeding up” work at the Chabahar Shahid
Beheshti Project, denying reports that there had been any “slowdown” due to pressure from the U.S.

South Africa appoints a new President

• South Africa’s newly-appointed President, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Friday hailed “a new dawn” for the
country in his first policy speech after Jacob Zuma’s bruising nine-year term came to an end.

• “We should put all the negativity that has dogged our country behind us because a new dawn is
upon us and a wonderful dawn has arrived,” Mr. Ramaphosa told Parliament in the annual State of the
Nation address.
• He vowed to revive South Africa’s stagnant economy, tackle the country’s dire unemployment rate
and control spiralling government debt.
• “Tough decisions have to be made to close our fiscal gap, stabilise our debt and restore our
state-owned enterprises to health,” he said.

Post-Brexit security deal with EU: May

• British Prime Minister Theresa May pleaded on Saturday for an urgent deal with the EU on
post-Brexit security cooperation, warning that citizens’ lives were at stake.
• In a speech at the Munich Security Conference, she acknowledged that no deal currently exists
between the EU and a third country “that captures the full depth and breadth of our existing relationship”.
• ‘Cannot delay’
• But she said there was no reason both sides could not come up with practical ways to create a
“deep and special partnership” on security.
• “We cannot delay discussions on this,” Ms. May said. She also warned European partners not to put
politics above cooperation against crime and terrorism.
• “This cannot be a time when any of us allow competition between partners, rigid institutional
restrictions or deep-seated ideology to inhibit our cooperation and jeopardise the security of our citizens,”
Ms. May told the audience.
• She cautioned that if there was no special deal on security by the time Britain leaves the bloc in
March 2019, speedy extraditions under the European Arrest Warrant “would cease”.
• And if the U.K. were no longer part of Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, information sharing
would be hampered — undermining the fight against terrorism, organised crime and cyberattacks.

Canadian PM to India
• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s much-anticipated trip to India began amid uncertainties
over his meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.
• Mr. Trudeau took his family to the Taj Mahal on Sunday and is scheduled to tour the Golden Temple
in Amritsar during the week-long visit.
• Asked about Mr. Trudeau’s meeting with Capt. Singh, a source familiar with the Canadian side, said
that “uncertainties prevail” on this.
• The Canadian leader’s problems with the Punjab Chief Minister stems from the latter’s criticism of
alleged pro-Khalistan sentiments of Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan.
• During the April 2017 India visit of Mr. Sajjan, a prominent Sikh member and Defence Minister of the
Canadian government, the Chief Minister described him and other Sikh Cabinet members of Canada as
sympathetic to Sikh separatist groups or the Khalistanis.

• Mr. Sajjan is accompanying Mr. Trudeau on this trip along with other Sikh Cabinet colleagues,
Amarjeet Sohi and Navdeep Singh Bains.
• On reaching India, in a social media message, the Canadian Defence Minister posted a photograph
of him with other Indian-origin Ministers and said, “Looking forward to spending the next few days here to
further strengthen Canada and India’s strong cultural and economic ties.”
• Problems over the meeting with the Chief Minister came while the External Affairs Ministry indicated
that “all issues of bilateral interest” would be discussed with Mr. Trudeau.
• In response to a question over the growing Khalistan-related activities in Canada, the External
Affairs Ministry spokesperson said, “I can tell you that all issues that are of interest to us, which are of
bilateral interest will be up on the agenda between the two sides.”
• Earlier, media reports from Canada had indicated that the Chief Minister was expected to
accompany Mr. Trudeau during his Amritsar trip, but the programme was not firmed up.
• The visit by Mr. Trudeau was anticipated since 2014 but did not materialise even though other
Cabinet colleagues had come here during the past four years.
Iran Aviation hit by Sanctions

• The Aseman Airlines-owned ATR-72 that crashed had been built in 1993, its CEO Ali Abedzadeh told
state TV.
• The airlines’s fleet includes at least three ATR-72s that date back to the early 1990s, according to
the IRNA news agency.
• Decades of international isolation have left Iran’s airlines with ageing fleets of planes which they
have struggled to maintain and modernise.
• Lifting sanctions on aviation purchases was a key clause in the nuclear deal Iran signed with world
powers in 2015.
• Following the deal, Aseman Airlines finalised an agreement to buy 30 Boeing 737 MAX jets for $3
billion last June, with an option to buy 30 more.
• However, the sale could be scuppered if U.S. President Donald Trump chooses to reimpose
sanctions.
• The U.S. Treasury Department, which must approve aviation sales to Iran, has done so for 80 Boeing
jets and 100 Airbus planes for Iran Air.
• The first few Airbus jets have already arrived in Tehran.
• Meanwhile, officials said rescue teams would work through the night, battling blizzard conditions to
find the plane that disappeared.
• Red Crescent said the search was being hampered by the weather.

Khalistan-Trudeau visit
• • Former diplomats say the seeds for the current tensions have been sown since Mr. Trudeau came
to power in 2015, receiving widespread support from some of the most extreme Khalistani political groups.

• • Has repeatedly failed to take into account the sensitivities in India over the past when Sikh terror
groups received support from elements in Canada.
• • A major breaking point came last April when Mr. Trudeau attended a “Khalsa day” parade
organised by one of the more radical gurudwaras in Toronto.
• • At the time, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) made it clear that India’s protest had been taken
up with the Canadian government.
• • Among other disturbing issues was the felicitation at the parade of a politician responsible for a
resolution in the Ontario assembly that accused India of “genocide” during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, a vote
that India had also protested strongly.
• • In addition, floats at the parade depicted Sikh militant leaders Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Amreek
Singh and former General Shahbeg Singh — who were killed in the siege of the Golden Temple and
Operation Bluestar in June 1984 — as heroes.
• • Issues over the growth of Sikh extremist groups, especially those seeking a “referendum 2020” for
the worldwide Sikh diaspora to vote on an “Independent Khalistan”, have been raised several times in the
past few years,officials told.
• • It,including when former Defence Minister Arun Jaitley met with Canadian Defence Minister Harjit
Singh Sajjan.
• • Mr. Modi is understood to have spoken to Mr. Trudeau on the issue when the leaders met at the
G-20 summit in Hamburg in July 2017, and in Manila on the sidelines of the East Asia summit.
• • To add to the tensions, 16 Canadian gurudwaras announced a “ban” last month on the entry of
Indian elected officials, consular officials, RSS and Shiv Sena members.
• • The Trudeau government took no action in response to the decision. When asked, officials cited
“freedom of expression” issues.
• • Another sore point on the current visit has been Mr. Trudeau’s insistence on including Ministers in
his cabinet accused of sympathising with the Khalistan movement — Mr. Sajjan and Navdeep Singh Bains —
on his visit to Amritsar.
• • Last year, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had refused to meet these ministers calling them
“Khalistanis”.

Maldives crisis
• The Maldives looked set for a collision course with India, as the Majlis (Parliament) cleared an
extension of the current state of emergency by 30 days, defying India’s expectation conveyed hours earlier.
• According to an official statement from President Abdulla Yameen’s office, the Parliament’s National
Security Committee approved the extension with additional amendments.
• These included one stating that the emergency rule would apply only to those “alleged to have
carried out illegal activities”, and not to “law abiding residents of, or visitors”.
• On February 5, Mr. Yameen declared a state of emergency for 15 days, citing threats to “national
security”.

• The move came after his government refused to implement a dramatic Supreme Court ruling
delivered on February 1, which ordered the release of nine jailed Opposition leaders, including exiled former
President Mohamed Nasheed, and the reinstatement of 12 expelled legislators.
• Releasing a statement earlier, the Ministry of External Affairs said: “It is our expectation that the
government of Maldives will not be seeking extension of the state of emergency so that the political
process in Maldives can resume with immediate effect.”
• The Opposition has termed the move illegal.
• Mr. Nasheed said the government cannot legally extend the state of emergency because it does not
have the 43 legislators in the Majlis that must vote in favour of it.
• “The Constitution states that 43 MPs must be present during a vote on a matter of public
compliance and a state of emergency is a matter of public compliance.”
• By implication, Mr. Nasheed said, the emergency, or any extension to it, is illegal.
• “It also means that any actions taken by the government or security forces using emergency powers
are illegal.
• “President Yameen is ruling down the barrel of a gun. There is zero legitimacy to anything he is
doing,” said Mr. Nasheed, who had earlier sought Indian military intervention to resolve the problem in Male.
• However, in an official tweet evening, the President’s office said: “It is unconstitutional to say that the
state of emergency cannot be declared.”
• While India is yet to indicate its strategy in responding to the ongoing political and constitutional
crisis in its neighbourhood.
• New Delhi reiterated its earlier position and urged the Maldives to implement the SC ruling.
• “It is important that Maldives quickly returns to the path of democracy and the rule of law so that the
aspirations of Maldivian people are met and the concerns of the international community are assuaged,” it
said in a statement.
• The UN, the U.S., the U.K., the European Union, Australia and Canada, among others, earlier asked
Mr. Yameen to comply with the ruling and ensure that rule of law prevails.
• Many nations have issued travel advisories directing citizens to avoid travelling to the Maldives.

Bloodshed in Syria
• Residents of Syria’s Eastern Ghouta district said they were waiting their “turn to die” on Wednesday,
amid one of the most intense bombardments of the war by pro-government forces on the besieged,
rebel-held enclave near Damascus.
• At least 38 people died on Wednesday. At least 310 people have been killed in the district since
Sunday night and more than 1,550 injured, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor
said.
• A massive escalation in bombardment, including rocket fire, shelling, air strikes and
helicopter-dropped barrel bombs, since Sunday has become one of the deadliest of the Syrian civil war, now
entering its eighth year.

• An air strike warning system run by the Syrian Civil Defence, a rescue service in opposition areas,
was by Wednesday afternoon sending alerts every few minutes, triggered when warplanes are spotted
taking off from air bases.
• The United Nations has denounced the bombardment, which has struck hospitals and other civilian
infrastructure, saying such attacks could be war crimes.
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed on Wednesday for an “immediate suspension of all
war activities in Eastern Ghouta”.
• Speaking to the UN Security Council Guterres said residents were living in “hell on earth”.
• Mr. Guterres expressed support for a Swedish and Kuwaiti push for the 15-member council to
demand a 30-day ceasefire in Syria.
• Diplomats said that the council could vote on a draft resolution in the coming days. But Mr. Assad’s
veto-wielding ally Russia has called the proposal “not realistic”.
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday described as “groundless” accusations that
Russia bears some of the blame for civilian deaths in Eastern Ghouta.
• A commander in the coalition fighting on behalf of Mr. Assad’s government said that the bombing
aims to prevent the rebels from targeting the eastern neighbourhoods of Damascus with mortars.
• It may be followed by a ground campaign.
Halt National Register Plan: Hasina

• The ongoing process of compiling the National Register of Citizens in Assam may trigger an exodus
of Bengalis.
• It will create one more Rohingya-like refugee crisis for Bangladesh, senior officials of Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina’s government said.
• Addressing visiting Indian journalists, they said the process in Assam is threatening
India-Bangladesh ties and will be exploited by anti-India elements and Islamic fundamentalists who are
challenging the Awami League rule.
• Bangladeshi policymakers are unanimous that the failure to conclude the Teesta water sharing
agreement between New Delhi and Dhaka has been disappointing and the ongoing process in Assam will
complicate the situation further.
• These observations have gained significance as a section of the ruling Awami League believes that
India has not reciprocated Ms. Hasina’s support on counter-insurgency steps in the northeastern states.

Maldives: Distorted facts by India

• India’s public statements regarding the suspension of democracy in the Maldives have ignored facts
and ground realities, the government of President Abdulla Yameen said.
• The statement, which came a day after India’s sharp comments against the extension of emergency
rule in the country, urged cooperation from the international community.
• “..the public statements issued by the Government of India.. ignore the facts and ground realities
with regard to the ongoing political developments in the Maldives. The assertion by India that the extension

of the state of Emergency by the People’s Majlis was unconstitutional is a clear distortion of facts which
ignore the Constitution and Laws of the Maldives,” stated a press release from Male.
• The Government of Maldives said the declaration of Emergency was backed by Article 253 of the
Constitution, which empowers the President of the nation to protect national security with suspension of
democracy.
• “The Supreme Court had cleared the validity of the Emergency in its ruling on 21 February, 2018,”
said the statement.
• The exchange comes days after former President Mohammed Nasheed called upon India to
intervene to restore democracy.
Trump at Survivors meet

• Spilling out wrenching tales of lost lives and stolen security, students and parents appealed to
President Donald Trump to set politics aside and protect America’s school children from the scourge of gun
violence.
• Mr. Trump listened intently to the raw emotion and pledged action, including the possibility of
arming teachers.
• Mr. Trump promised to be “very strong on background checks.”
• And he suggested he supported allowing some teachers and other school employees to carry
concealed weapons to be ready for intruders.
• But largely he listened on Wednesday, holding handwritten notes bearing his message to the
families. “I hear you” was written in black marker.
• The President had invited the teen survivors of school violence and parents of murdered children in
a show of his resolve against gun violence in the wake of last week’s shootings at Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
• Mr. Trump asked his guests to suggest solutions and solicited feedback.
• He did not fully endorse any specific policy solution, but pledged to take action. Besides, he said he
planned to go “very strongly into age, age of purchase.”
• And he said he was committed to improving background checks and working on mental health.
Most in the group were quiet and polite.

New tariffs a concern: US official

• The Donald Trump administration has moved the U.S. closer to India than any previous
administration on strategic issues, but disagreements on commercial issues remain challenging, according
to a senior administration official.
• The recent union budget might “make it more challenging”.
• The economic relationship has been a bit more difficult than the strategic area of the relationship.
• This administration is very interested in having fair and reciprocal trade relations with India.
• The President has committed to opening market access for U.S. companies, obviously India also
has investments in the U.S. We would like to see trade increase.

• Mr. Trump mentioned high tariffs on high-end motorcycles in India recently.

• Trade figures in the last quarters has reported a reduction in the imbalance, which is likely because
of the energy import by India from the U.S.
• The official said trade issues would be discussed during the trade policy forum in June between the
two countries.
• According to the official, these commercial disagreements are playing up at a time when the
strategic cooperation between the two countries has reached an unprecedented level.
• The official pointed out that no other country finds as many position mentions as India does in the
Trump administration’s National Security Strategy (NSS), on dealing with South Asia and Indo-Pacific.
• The official said the administration has taken a long-term view on China, and this will not be
susceptible to any short-term compromises.
• “The NSS is very clear on this administration’s view on China, which is a long-term view. It is clear
about how we assert values that we share with India — freedom of navigation, rule of law, transparency,
financing of infrastructure projects, resolution of disputes, etc. It is a long-term vision and the U.S. has been
forthright in asserting that vision,” the official said, noting that the recent revival of the Quad dialogue is a
tangle outcome of this approach.
• “The U.S. is very clear-eyed in dealing with China, and the U.S. sees India playing an important role in
that... this idea that the U.S. might be making any short-term changes to its strategy [is not true] — it is a
long-term vision.”
• Defence cooperation is a very important part of the relationship, and the administration is “looking
to move forward on Sea Guardian” drone negotiations, the official said. The U.S. is willing to do much more
with India on defence, the official said, seeking more cooperation from India. “….to do that we need India to
cooperate. Of course we have to protect our highest technologies. So there has to be a cooperative
arrangement between the two countries,” the official added
Brexit: soft? Or hard?

• Hopes that Britain could have a “softer” exit from the EU have risen this week, amid expectations
that the Labour Party will shift its policy stance and back remaining in a customs union.
• This after a Cabinet meeting, at which attempts to reconcile different positions within the ruling
Conservative Party, took place.
• British Prime Minister Theresa May is set to give another speech on the government’s Brexit
strategy next week.
• Officially the government remains committed to exiting the customs union — the system under
which the EU operates as a single trading bloc, with common external tariffs and customs barriers, and
must negotiate joint trade deals with non-EU states.
• In January last year, in a key speech at Lancaster House, Prime Minister May outlined the central
tenets of the government’s exit strategy which included leaving the customs union.
• Nevertheless, hopes remain high ahead of a key speech due to be given by Labour leader Jeremy
Corbyn in which he is expected to clarify the party’s stance on Brexit by pushing for Britain to remain in the
customs union.

• A change in the Labour stance could have a significant impact – allowing for the possibility of
pro-Brexit rebels with the Conservative party allying with the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats on key
legislation.
• Last month, Mr. Hammond faced anger from some within his party after telling delegates in Davos
that the government would pursue just “modest” changes to its relationship with Europe.
• Speaking on the BBC following the meeting, Mr. Hunt said Britain would be pushing to adhere to EU
rules and regulations on a “voluntary” basis, pointing to the auto industry, whose supply chain was heavily
integrated with Europe.
• However, the plan — which appears to have been thrashed out at the Cabinet meeting — is likely to
face a muted response in Brussels, which has repeatedly stressed that Britain would not be able to “cherry
pick’ the deal it struck with Europe.
• Business groups have also continued to lobby for customs union membership.
• A customs union was the “practical, real world answer” that solved some of the toughest questions,
including over the future of the Irish border, and challenges faced by business, Carolyn Fairbairn, head of the
Confederation of British Industry, said in January.
• Alongside the debate on the customs union, the question of a second referendum continues to
surface, with commentators across the political spectrum arguing that the hugely divergent positions on
the precise character of Brexit, necessitated a second vote.
• Best for Britain, an anti-Brexit campaign group has continued to build support, raising over £200,000,
with billionaire investor George Soros donating £400,000 to the group and pledging further matching
funding.
• It is set to roll out a campaign across the U.K. in coming weeks.

India-China-SCO
• Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale has held across-the-board talks with top Chinese officials on
advancing ties between India and China, which have encountered several points of friction.
• Mr. Gokhale’s visit is also seen as part of preparations for talks between Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and President Xi Jinping at the June summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the
Chinese coastal city of Qingdao.
• The Foreign Secretary met Politburo member and State Councilor Yang Jiechi, China’s top foreign
policy official, as well as Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice-Foreign Minister Mr. Kong Xuanyou.
• Last year, Prime Minister Modi and President Xi met in Xiamen on the sidelines of the BRICS summit
in September to revive ties that had been hit by the Doklam border crisis.
• As a follow-up to these talks, Mr. Yi and Mr. Yang visited New Delhi in December.
• During the consultations, the two sides reviewed recent developments in bilateral relations,
including high-level exchanges, and discussed the agenda for bilateral engagement in the coming months.
• India’s concerns regarding China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean have been rising, and have
peaked after the pro-China President of Maldives Abdulla Yameen declared a state of Emergency on
February 5 in the island nation.

• Without making any specific reference to the Maldives, the statement said the “two sides also
exchanged views on regional and international issues of common interest”.
• The statement noted the necessity of building on “convergences” between the two countries.
• It stressed that Beijing and New Delhi should “address differences on the basis of mutual respect
and sensitivity to each other’s concerns, interests and aspirations”.
• In the past, Indian officials have pointed to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which
passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as an infringement of India’s sovereignty.
• China’s decision to come in the way of a UN ban on Masood Azhar, head of the Pakistan-based
terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM), and Beijing’s objections to India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers
Group emerged as additional points of abrasion in ties.
Paris Accord is unfair: Trump

• U.S. President Donald Trump has again blamed India and China for his decision last year to
withdraw from the historic Paris climate accord.
• He said the agreement was unfair as it would have made the U.S. pay for nations which benefited
the most from the deal.
• Mr. Trump in June last year announced his decision to withdraw from the Paris deal, saying the
accord would have cost America trillions of dollars, killed jobs, and hindered the oil, gas, coal and
manufacturing industries.
• But he also, at the time, said he would be open to renegotiating the deal.
• Mr. Trump said, “You have a lot of oil and gas that we found — you know, technology has been
amazing. And we found things that we never knew. But we have massive energy reserves.”
• “And basically, they were saying, ‘Don’t use it. You can’t use it’ ,” he added.
• “And China — their agreement didn’t kick in until 2030. Right? Our agreement kicks in immediately,”
Mr. Trump said.
• Commenting on India and other countries, he said, Other countries, big countries — India and others
— we had to pay, because they considered them a growing country.

Business & Economy

PNB fraud raised problems for SBI as well

• State Bank of India (SBI) has an exposure of $212 million linked to the fraud at Punjab National Bank
(PNB), SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar said, adding that the exposure was mainly to PNB and that he did not
see any liabilities accruing to SBI as a consequence of the fraud.

• “We do not have exposure to (Nirav) Modi. My exposure is to PNB,” Mr. Kumar told mediapersons
before inaugurating the Global NRI Center at Kochi.
• “We are not worried... the regulator is there, judicial system is there... there is also a categorical
statement by the MD of PNB, that all bonafide transactions, they will honour. This is something which will
get sorted out between the banks.”
• PNB, India’s second-largest bank, was defrauded of Rs. 11,500 crore through letters of undertaking
(LoUs) in a scam whose dimensions are still unfolding.
• Speaking after the press meet, Mr. Kumar said of the SBI group’s $212 million exposure — relating to
the LoU transactions initiated on behalf of firms controlled by Nirav Modi — $90 million was made through
SBI’s Mauritius subsidiary.
• “There has been absolutely no slip up or lapse from our side. We have followed standard operating
procedure.” He added that the bank was “100% confident” of recovering the amount.
• Mr. Kumar separately said SBI had “a small exposure to Gitanjali Gems,” without giving any details
on the nature or extent of that exposure.
• The SBI chief observed that risk management in banks was a continuous process. “We have to keep
updating it. Operational risk is unknown, while credit risk is a calculated risk. In operational risk, what hits
and when, is unpredictable. The question is what to do when every level of security is breached.
• Asked about the impact of recent RBI norms to accelerate the recognition of bad loans and initiation
of insolvency proceedings, he said, “Guidelines have made it easier... there are two key elements to the new
norms: whatever the bank feels is sustainable debt needs a rating; two, unless you get back 20% in
payment, you can’t upgrade the asset.”
• Recognition of stressed loans at SBI was ‘almost over’, he said adding, “From next year onwards,
2018-19, we will enter into what I call the normal position. Normal for me is 2% or below on gross fresh
slippages.”
• SBI would also look to monetise some of its non-banking assets by FY20. “ FY20, we will go for IPO
[of some assets], because we believe we can add lot more value before going for IPO. Three companies are
prime candidates... SBI MF, SBI General, SBI Card.”
• The Global NRI Center will help SBI centralise NRI operations across the country. The centre will be a
single-point of contact for all NRI banking services. To enhance the experience for its 33 lakh NRI
customers, SBI introduced services including wealth management, SBI Intelligent Assist and a remittance
facility for U.S.-based customers.
Know your employee back in focus after PNB fraud

• The Rs. 11,500-crore fraud in the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) has brought back into focus
the importance of Know Your Employee (KYE) norms for banks, according to some experts.
• As early as 2005, when the banking sector was in the initial stages of adopting technology, Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) had highlighted the importance of banks enforcing KYE norms which would act as a
firewall against frauds committed in connivance with employees.
• The latest scam at PNB involves issuing unauthorised Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) in favour of
companies for availing buyers’ credit, allegedly in connivance with a former employee and a present
employee.

• In September 2005, the central bank had cited the recent cases of technological mishaps, resulting
in mainly employees or ex-employees of banks-induced financial losses which had also damaged the
lenders’ reputation.
• G Padmanabhan, the then chief general manager of RBI, had urged the banking community to
enforce KYE norms not only prior to staff recruitment but even more vigorously thereafter.
• There has been a rise in number of private sector banks and NBFCs that are not only conducting
background screening but are also doing regular credit checks on their employees who at the end of the day
handle large amounts of clients’ money,” Mr. Belwalkar said.
• Not only the banking regulator but the central vigilance commission (CVC) has also talked about the
importance of KYE recently.
• According to a vigilance manual released last year, CVC said that several frauds were insider jobs or
perpetrated with the help of insiders.
• It had asked banks to take extra care and have continuous vigil on their staff while highlighting the
need for KYE and Know Your Partner norms.
RBI says PNB fraud is an internal failure

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the failure of internal controls was the main reason for the Rs.
11,500 crore fraud that occurred in Punjab National Bank (PNB).
• The banking regulator, in its first reaction since the issue came to light on Wednesday, described the
fraud as a case of operational risk arising out of delinquent behaviour by the bank’s employees.
• “The fraud in PNB is a case of operational risk arising on account of delinquent behaviour by one or
more employees of the bank and failure of internal controls,” the central bank said.
• RBI said it was assessing the situation and would take appropriate supervisory action.
• “RBI has already undertaken a supervisory assessment of control systems in PNB and will take
appropriate supervisory action,” it said. RBI denied directing PNB to pay other banks.

No Populist budget, focus on Direct taxes

• There are unlikely to be any major changes in indirect tax as most of them are now under the
purview of the Goods and Services Tax Council, Budget 2018.
• Budget could have several positive changes on the direct tax side, according to analysts.
• Key consideration while reducing direct taxes, either for individuals or corporates, would be to
ensure that the changes don’t reduce government revenue too much.
• There is already the possibility of overshooting the fiscal deficit target.
• The other thing that could change is the medical reimbursement limit of Rs. 15,000, which is an
archaic limit. So that could go up.
• There is a chance the government may introduce a long term capital gains tax on equity shares, or
may remove the dividend distribution tax.
• There could be some changes on the corporate tax front as well, according to analysts, but they
added that the government will be careful with these in order to minimise the impact on the exchequer.

• The GST has subsumed most of the indirect taxes, and so there are very few avenues for changes.
• Against the backdrop of consistently rising oil prices, there has been an increasing demand for a cut
in the excise duty on fuel.
• However, indications from both the government and the private sector suggest that this will not
happen in this Budget.
Budget – Test to investor’s faith

• Since his election four years ago, Indian markets have welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
campaign to mend patchy public finances and develop new areas of growth in Asia’s third largest economy.
• To keep investors’ confidence, government will need to be seen containing the fiscal deficit.
• Also increasing spending in key areas of the slowing economy.
• Markets will be focused on how much India widens its fiscal deficit beyond the 3% of gross
domestic product projected for 2018/19.
• A Reuters poll showed most economists expect a 3.2% deficit as the government looks to increase
investments in key areas such as agriculture to bolster its re-election prospects in elections due by 2019.
• Gains could be more pronounced in stock market if India sticks to its 3% target.
• But a deficit above 3.2% could hit shares and send bond yields up by 20-25 basis points, depending
on the size of the blowout, on fears of populist policy ahead of next year’s elections.
• Annual economic survey on Monday suggested “a pause” in fiscal consolidation, sending bonds
plummeting.
U.S CIT cut – Global response

• The recent U.S. tax cuts and reforms are exerting a lot of pressure globally, with most countries now
looking at ways to enhance their tax competitiveness in order to attract investments and boost growth.
• Thereare expectations that the government may also usher in tax reforms in the Union Budget in line
with global trends.
• Every country around the world is now looking at their tax rates and how competitive they are
vis-a-vis the U.S.
• They are looking at ways to attract investments and raise revenue.
• So the US tax reforms are putting pressure globally.
• The reduction of Corporate Income Tax (CIT) in the U.S. from 35% to 21%.
• Suddenly, with just 21% CIT, companies [in the U.S.] will have more money.
• They are already giving bonuses to employees.
• Walmart announcing an increase in minimum wages for its employees.
• Companies such as Apple and Exxon Mobil are reported to have indicated plans to invest billions of
dollars in the U.S. following the tax cuts.
• The difference in CIT between the U.S. and India (where the rate is about 30%) as well as the
exchange rate risk, concerns being expressed whether the CIT cut in the U.S. would possibly lead to a
slowdown in investment into India by U.S.-based firms.

• India’s budget last year had an announcement on reduction of CIT to 25% in case of small
companies with annual turnover up to ₹50 crore.
• The Centre should similarly reduce CIT to 25% for large companies.
• Many Indian exporters — for whom the major market is the U.S. — are mulling shifting to the U.S. to
get the benefit of import tariff, reduction in CIT and 100% deduction on purchase of equipment.
• Indian leather exporters are also weighing the option of adding production in Bangladesh to take
advantage of the 15% cash support announced by that country, besides the import tariff gains of exporting
from a least developed country.

World’s largest Health care govt. programme : Jaitley

• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unveiled an ambitious plan to launch “the world’s largest
government-funded health care programme” that will benefit 10 crore households.
• The proposed National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) will provide coverage of up to Rs. 5 lakh
per family annually to take care of secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation costs.
• Mr. Jaitley reckoned that this will benefit around 50 crore people from poor and vulnerable families.
The Budget for 2016-17 had a similar announcement offering a Rs. 1 lakh cover for 8 crore families, but
that’s yet to take off.
• The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) now gives poor families an annual coverage of Rs.
30,000, while several State governments have implemented their own health insurance schemes with
varying coverage levels.
• “My government has now decided to take health protection to a more aspirational level,” Mr. Jaitley
said.
• “We have provided Rs. 2,000 crore for the next financial year under this scheme,” Expenditure
Secretary Ajay Narayan Jha said at a press conference after the Budget.
• “Once the contours take shape, the details will be worked out,” Mr. Jha said. “The present RSBY
scheme will be modified for this,” he said.
Budget 2018-19… A blessing for elders

• The salaried class may feel hard done by and the young may not see a swift surge in employment
opportunities as a result of the Budget proposals.
• However, the Modi government, which will face elections next year, has made sure it will have the
blessings of elders.
• “A life with dignity is a right of every individual, in general, more so for the senior citizens,” Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley said in his Budget speech.
• “To take care of those who cared for us is one of the highest honours,” he stressed, before laying out
a series of steps to give them a ‘dignified life.’
• Mr. Jaitley made an effort to ease the cash flows of senior citizens that are largely dependent on
interest income.

• • The exemption limit on interest income on bank and post office deposits has been raised from Rs.
10,000 to Rs. 50,000 a year.
• The deduction available for health insurance premium and medical expenditure has been raised
from Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 50,000.
• Deductions for medical expenditure on certain critical illnesses have been hiked to Rs. 1 lakh for all
senior citizens, up from the prevailing levels of Rs. 60,000 for senior citizens and Rs. 80,000 for very senior
citizens.
• While these concessions are worth Rs. 4,000 crore, the government also extended the Pradhan
Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana up to March 2020, which assures an 8% return, and raised the investment cap
from Rs. 7.5 lakh to Rs. 15 lakh.
Home Ministry allocations hiked in Budget 2018-19

• The Union Home Ministry has been allocated Rs. 92,679.86 crore, an increase of 10.5% over that of
2017-18, with a special emphasis on improving infrastructure of the police forces.
• The Delhi police, which maintain law and order in the national capital, has been allocated Rs.
6,946.28 crore. A sum of Rs. 1,750 crore has been allocated for the development of border infrastructure.
• During 2017-18, the Home Ministry got Rs. 83,823.30 crore, according to the Budget papers.
• The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which is engaged in anti-militancy operations in Jammu
and Kashmir and the northeastern States and often deployed on internal security duties, has been allocated
Rs. 20,268 crore as against Rs. 18,720.08 crore in 2017-18.
• The Border Security Force (BSF), which guards the borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh, has been
allocated Rs. 17,118.64 crore, as against Rs. 16,188.74 crore in 2017-18.
• The total allocation to the Central Armed Police Forces, including the CRPF, the BSF, the Indo-Tibetan
Border Police, the Central Industrial Security Force, Sashastra Seema Bal, Assam Rifles and the National
Security Guard, is Rs. 62,741.31 crore, compared with Rs. 58,148.80 crore in 2017-18.
• The Intelligence Bureau, responsible for gathering internal intelligence, has been allocated Rs.
1,876.44 crore, Rs. 6.26 crore less than the sum given last fiscal.
• The Special Protection Group, responsible for the security of the Prime Minister and the former
Prime Ministers and their family members, has been allocated Rs. 385 crore as against Rs. 389.5 crore in
2017-18.
• A sum of Rs. 4,289.05 crore has been allocated for the development of police infrastructure,
including the construction of barracks and residential quarters and the purchase of vehicles and arms and
ammunition.
• A total of Rs. 100 crore has been earmarked for Nirbhaya Fund to protect the safety of women, while
Rs. 81.75 crore has been allocated for the National Emergency Response System and prevention of
cybercrimes against women and children.
• For the modernisation of the police force, Rs. 897.29 crore has been earmarked, and Rs. 864.10
crore has been allocated for the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).


e-way bill roll-out after 1st day

• A day after the Centre deferred February 1 rollout of the e-way bill in the wake of ‘technological
glitches’ that left trucks stranded for hours across the country, transporters urged the Centre to fix all issues
before introducing the measure.
• The e-way bill portal had crashed on 1st day leaving transporters waiting in vain for hours to
generate the bills.
• “Today things are back to normal,” said Ramesh Agarwal, Chairman, Agarwal Movers Group.
• “Government took a wise decision to put it [ rollout] on hold. Otherwise by Saturday lots of factories
would have closed down,” he said.
• The Centre’s use of twitter to announce the decision added to the confusion.
• “It will take time in India to accept information disseminated through twitter,” said Devendra Patne,
CEO, DTIX.org, a transport industry initiative.
• “Lots of people did not give credence to it and waited for logging into the portal.”
• S.R. Hatti, VP of VRL Logistics in Bengaluru, said the firm had started moving goods from Friday
morning with normal invoices as all States were accepting them.
• Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia told PTI the measure would be reintroduced in the “next few
weeks” after the system was fully ready.
KUSUM to boost farmer’s solar power use

• The Centre has announced a Rs. 1.4 lakh-crore scheme for promoting decentralised solar power
production of up to 28,250 MW to help farmers.
• The Centre will spend Rs. 48,000 crore on the ten-year scheme which was announced in the Union
Budget 2018-19.
• Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahaabhiyan or KUSUM scheme would provide extra income to
farmers, by giving them an option to sell additional power to the grid through solar power projects set up on
their barren lands, the Minister said.
• It would help in de-dieselising the sector as also the DISCOMS, he said.
• India had about 30 million farm pumps that include 10 million pumps running on diesel.
• The Minister said the positive outcomes that are expected when the scheme is fully implemented
across the country include promotion of decentralised solar power production, reduction of transmission
losses as well as providing support to the financial health of DISCOMs by reducing the subsidy burden to
the agriculture sector.
• The scheme would also promote energy efficiency and water conservation and provide water
security to farmers.
• The components of the scheme include building 10,000 MW solar plants on barren lands.
• And providing sops to DISCOMS to purchase the electricity produced, ‘solarising’ existing pumps of
7250 MW as well as government tube wells with a capacity of 8250 MW and distributing 17.5 lakh solar
pumps.

• The 60% subsidy on the solar pumps provided to farmers will be shared between the Centre and the
States while 30% would be provided through bank loans.
• The balance cost has to be borne by the farmers.
Jobs in leather sector to increase

• The leather industry has welcomed the Budget proposal to cut the minimum period of employment.
• The new norms mandate 150 days as the minimum period of employment in the footwear and
leather industry, as has been the case for the apparel sector. Earlier, it was 240 days.
• The move is aimed at creating new employment opportunities, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
said in his Budget speech.
• The Centre has made these changes along with certain amendments to Employment Provident Fund
Act to encourage employment of more women.
• Earlier, this relaxation was available to the textile sector and the anomaly has been set right.
• Panaruna Aqeel, vice chairman, Council for Leather Exports, said, “The extension of 25% reduced
corporate tax to [firms] having turnover of up to Rs. 250 crore in FY17 will be immensely beneficial to the
leather and footwear industry as about 90% of the industry is concentrated in the MSME segment.”

National Health Scheme can benefit Tea industry

• There is some scope for the tea industry to cheer through the many social sector schemes
announced in the Union Budget, according to officials.
• This despite the fact there were no industry-specific announcements in the Budget and its pleas on
various issues had gone unheeded.
• There is also a hope of benefits accruing through the lowering of corporate tax rates for MSMEs
with a turnover of up to Rs. 250 crore.
• The organised tea industry in India feels burdened by the social costs that it has to bear through
legal frameworks like the Plantation Labour Act.
• Which mandates it to provide the plantation workers facilities towards medical care, housing,
subsidised rations and water supply.
• Industry pegs this to be at about 10% of its production cost.
• It is now having some cause for cheer in the National Health Protection Scheme announced in the
Budget.
• The scheme envisages providing a health insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakh per ‘poor’ family. This would
include secondary and tertiary health care. The scheme is expected to benefit 50 crore people.
• Similarly, the extension of the Swachh Bharat campaign to construct two crore toilets.
• And establishment of Eklavya schools for scheduled tribes population could include a sizeable
number of scheduled tribe populations of the tea Industry .
• However on AMRUT scheme, the tea industry felt that a similar initiative on augmenting water
supply in rural sector would have benefited the tea gardens, which are predominantly located in rural areas
and exist in difficult terrain.

• Sources at the Tea Board were, however, of the view that often industry made it difficult for inclusion
of its workers in government schemes by failing to create an enabling atmosphere for dovetailing
government schemes with its own.
• As for the West Bengal Budget, the industry is already relieved over the exemption granted in respect
of agricultural income tax .
• Industry said this exemption was being given by the State Government on a year-to-year basis for
the last few years.
• The industry pays a total of 12 paise per kg of tea on these two counts.
• The government’s thrust on farm sector could be utilised.
• The tea industry had sought support for tackling climate change besides seeking customs duty
relief.
• Strangely, neither the State government nor the Centre made any mention of the Darjeeling tea
industry in their annual financial statements although the industry suffered major losses during last year’s
separatist agitation.

National Health Scheme can benefit Tea industry

• There is some scope for the tea industry to cheer through the many social sector schemes
announced in the Union Budget, according to officials.
• This despite the fact there were no industry-specific announcements in the Budget and its pleas on
various issues had gone unheeded.
• There is also a hope of benefits accruing through the lowering of corporate tax rates for MSMEs
with a turnover of up to Rs. 250 crore.
• The organised tea industry in India feels burdened by the social costs that it has to bear through
legal frameworks like the Plantation Labour Act.
• Which mandates it to provide the plantation workers facilities towards medical care, housing,
subsidised rations and water supply.
• Industry pegs this to be at about 10% of its production cost.
• It is now having some cause for cheer in the National Health Protection Scheme announced in the
Budget.
• The scheme envisages providing a health insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakh per ‘poor’ family. This would
include secondary and tertiary health care. The scheme is expected to benefit 50 crore people.
• Similarly, the extension of the Swachh Bharat campaign to construct two crore toilets.
• And establishment of Eklavya schools for scheduled tribes population could include a sizeable
number of scheduled tribe populations of the tea Industry .
• However on AMRUT scheme, the tea industry felt that a similar initiative on augmenting water
supply in rural sector would have benefited the tea gardens, which are predominantly located in rural areas
and exist in difficult terrain.
• Sources at the Tea Board were, however, of the view that often industry made it difficult for inclusion
of its workers in government schemes by failing to create an enabling atmosphere for dovetailing
government schemes with its own.

• As for the West Bengal Budget, the industry is already relieved over the exemption granted in respect
of agricultural income tax .
• Industry said this exemption was being given by the State Government on a year-to-year basis for
the last few years.
• The industry pays a total of 12 paise per kg of tea on these two counts.
• The government’s thrust on farm sector could be utilised.
• The tea industry had sought support for tackling climate change besides seeking customs duty
relief.
• Strangely, neither the State government nor the Centre made any mention of the Darjeeling tea
industry in their annual financial statements although the industry suffered major losses during last year’s
separatist agitation.

ODI plan to help Indian firms turn to MNCs

• The proposed Outward Direct Investment (ODI) policy may contain provisions to make it easy for
many Indian firms, envisioning ambitious plans to transform themselves into multi-national companies
(MNC), to go global and expand.
• Approval requirements and other norms would be simplified in a manner that would encourage
‘internationalisation’ of Indian companies.
• However the ODI policy was expected to tighten regulations to prevent round-tripping structures.
• Regulations where funds are routed by India-based companies into a newly formed or existing
overseas subsidiary and then brought back to India to circumvent regulations here.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Finance Ministry (tax department) were concerned about
such structures.
• In his 2018-19 Budget speech, Finance Minister ArunJaitley said, “The government will review
existing guidelines and processes and bring out a coherent and integrated ODI policy.”
• Currently, the jurisdiction over ODI is mainly with the RBI, and the concerned law here is the Foreign
Exchange Management Act.
• There are some irritants in the current (ODI) norms.
• As per Finance Ministry data, India’s ODI rose 56.1% year-on-year from $6.8 billion in 2014-15 to
$10.6 billion in 2015-16, and further up by 39.37% to $14.8 billion in 2016-17.
• Top ten ODI destination countries in FY’15, FY’16 and FY’17 included Mauritius, Singapore, the U.S.,
the UAE and the Netherlands.
• The IBEF said ODI is being channelled into Mauritius, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, and the
Netherlands mainly because these countries provide higher tax benefits.
• Interestingly, this composition of ODI destination countries more or less mirrored the top sources of
foreign direct investment inflows into India in the same period including, Mauritius, Singapore, the U.S., the
UAE and the Netherlands.
• The IBEF said ODI is being channelled into Mauritius, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, and the
Netherlands mainly because these countries provide higher tax benefits.

• Interestingly, this composition of ODI destination countries more or less mirrored the top sources of
foreign direct investment inflows into India in the same period including, Mauritius, Singapore, the U.S., the
UAE and the Netherlands.
Power to SEBI to impose monetary penalties

• As part of the proposed amendments in the Finance Bill 2018, the government has given more
power to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to impose monetary penalties on important
market intermediaries.
• Such as stock exchanges and clearing corporations and also act against newer categories of
participants likes investment advisers, research analysts, real estate investment trusts (REITs) and
infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs).
• The proposed amendments to the SEBI Act and the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act now allow
the capital markets regulator to impose a monetary penalty of at least Rs. 5 crore.
• The penalty on stock exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories for non-compliance with
regulatory norms.
• The penalty can go up to Rs. 25 crore or three times the amount of gains made out of such failure or
non-compliance.
• Hitherto, SEBI only had the power to censure or warn against any form of failure.
• Incidentally, the new powers come at a time when the National Stock Exchange is under the SEBI
scanner in the co-location matter, with regard to which it has been alleged that a certain set of brokers were
given preferential access allowing them to make undue gains.
• The amendments also allow SEBI to act against entities that furnish false or incomplete information
to the regulator.
• Earlier, it could act only if the entity did not furnish any information.
• The whole-time members of SEBI have also been given additional powers to act against
wrongdoers.
• This is not the first time that the government has used the Union Budget to empower the capital
market regulator.
• While presenting the Budget for 2015-16, finance minister ArunJaitley proposed the merger of the
then commodity market regulator Forward Markets Commission with SEBI.
• This followed the Rs. 5,600 crore settlement scam at the National Spot Exchange Ltd., which came
out in the open in July 2013.
• Incidentally, REITs and InvITs along with research analysts and investment advisers, will have to be
more careful now as the Finance Bill allows SEBI to impose a penalty of up to Rs. 1 lakh per day for the
period of non-compliance.
• Interestingly, the government has also allowed the regulator to pursue cases against the legal
representatives of defaulters if in case a defaulter passes away during the course of regulatory
proceedings.
• “Provided that, in case of any penalty payable under this Act, a legal representative shall be liable
only in case the penalty has been imposed before the death of the deceased person,” the Finance Bill
states.

Services Sector fastest rise in activity : Survey

• The Indian services sector remained in expansion mode in January, registering the fastest rise in
activity in three months driven by a renewed increase in new business orders, says a survey.
• Even though growth rates for activity and employment accelerated since December, it remained
weaker than their respective long-run survey averages.
• The seasonally-adjusted Nikkei Services Business Activity Index improved to 51.7 in January, up
from 50.9 in December, signalling a faster expansion.
• The index remained above the neutral mark of 50 in January, that separates growth from contraction
for the second consecutive month.
• In November, the index stood at 48.5.
• The recovery across India’s service sector continued during January, with growth in output picking
up to the joint-strongest since June 2017 as underlying demand conditions improved.
• Indian service providers addressed new business inflows and rising backlogs by expanding
workforces for the fifth consecutive month in January.
• Moreover, the rate of job creation was the fastest since last September.
Procedural fairness in matters of public procurement: Jaitley

• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Centre would have to ensure procedural fairness in matters of
public procurement as well as in award of contracts.
• Warned that a ‘pick-and-choose’ system in commercial activities of the State would lead to
allegations of corruption and nepotism.
• Transparency and fairness enable a State to act in the best interest of its citizens in terms of price,
quality and service delivery and help avoid elements of nepotism and corruption in public procurement.
• The introduction of the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) for online purchases of common use
items, he said in addition to having its own rules and regulations relating to public procurement, the layers
of accountability at various levels in the government had also been tightened.
• The conference aims to help South Asian Governments to consider enhancements and innovations
in their public procurement systems and enable efficient utilisation of public resources, ensuring quality and
timeliness in delivery of services.
Cryptocurrency POS devices into India: Pundi X

• The Jakarta-based Pundi X is planning to bring cryptocurrency Point of Sale (POS) devices into
India.
• This is significant given that the government, in its Budget last week, had made it clear that
cryptocurrencies were not legal tender in India.
• The company has developed a POS device that store owners can use. The device interacts with a
‘pass card’ that customers hold, similar to a debit card but only for cryptocurrencies.

• The key in all of this is the fact that the actual transactions will be conducted in rupees, whereas the
asset being exchanged would be bitcoins.
• Both the Reserve Bank of India and the government have repeatedly said that cryptocurrencies do
not qualify as legal tender and hence cannot be used to conduct transactions.
• Mr. Cheah said his technology helps store owners “convert a crypto currency to a local currency, so
all the transactions that we do are in the local currency.
• What will be exchanged is the bitcoin, but the actual mode of exchange will take place in rupees.”
• The idea, he said, was to change the way we use cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, moving their use
value away from simple storage of value, to a real-world everyday use.
• The Pundi X devices will support all major cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, litecoin and etherium,
and the company aims to roll out 100,000 devices across the world in the next three years. India will play a
large part in this, and the roll out is set to begin soon, he said.
FD 3.3% for current year needs work

• The budgeted fiscal deficit for India is in line with expectations but there are some risks of slippage
in financial year 2018-19, unless economic activities formalise at a rapid pace, said a Goldman Sachs
report.
• While the budgeted deficit is in line with expectations, the revenue targets are on the optimistic side,
particularly on recently-introduced GST tax revenue growth.
• “We estimate a 20 basis point upside risk to the fiscal deficit in 2018-19, unless economic activities
formalise at a rapid pace over the coming year to generate the necessary buoyancy in revenues,” Goldman
Sachs said in a research note.
• The government outlined a fiscal deficit target of 3.3% of GDP in 2018-19 as against a revised
estimate of 3.5% in 2017-18, indicating some fiscal consolidation, albeit at a slower pace than that
recommended under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) framework.
• According to Goldman Sachs, risks tilted towards a higher fiscal deficit for 2018-19.
• Lower indirect tax revenue collections may outweigh any upside risks from higher nominal GDP
growth, non-tax revenue and direct tax collection.
• The government is unlikely to cut spending considerably next year, even if revenues undershoot the
budgeted amount, in order to support growth ahead of the elections.
• “This could take the fiscal deficit to 3.5% of GDP versus the 3.3% budgeted,” it noted.
• Moreover, higher oil prices could exert additional pressure on the fiscal deficit.
• Based on the overall oil subsidy estimate in the Budget, the government appears to have assumed
oil prices to average between $60-65/bbl, about $10-15/bbl lower than the Goldman Sachs’ oil price
forecast.
• “We estimate that every $10/bbl increase in oil prices could increase the fiscal deficit by 0.3
[percentage point] of GDP if the government absorbs the entire shock,” it said.


Repo Rate may stay same

• The six-member monetary policy committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is meeting for the
last time in this financial year.
• It is expected to maintain the status quo for the third straight review meeting as retail inflation is
hovering close to the central bank’s upper tolerance limit.
• Consumer price index-based inflation or retail inflation — the central bank’s primary yardstick for
setting interest rates — was 5.21% in December, just below the 6% upper band mandate of RBI.
• Rising food prices was one of the main factors behind the 17- month-high retail inflation.
• Economists said there could be further pressure on inflation with rising oil prices and higher
minimum support prices for farmers, as promised in the Union Budget last week.
• All this would mean the RBI would hold the repo rate, the key policy rate at 6%, accompanied by
‘hawkish’ tone, though the stance of the policy would likely continue to stay neutral.
• “RBI is likely to stay on hold on policy rates tomorrow, but expect a hawkish commentary,” said
Abheek Barua, chief economist, HDFC Bank.
• “Rising oil prices, higher MSPs announced in the Budget and slight deviation in the fiscal
consolidation path have increased the probability of higher rates in 2018-19.
• Bond yields are expected to remain around current levels in the near term but trend towards 7.75%
by September 2018.”
• Bond yields have been rising since the Budget was presented, and after the government missed the
fiscal deficit target and pushed back the glide path of attaining the fiscal deficit target of 3% to 2020-21
from 2018-19.
• Next year’s fiscal deficit target of 3.3% is also under a cloud as revenue projections are seen as
optimistic.
• It added that the RBI would flag the projected fiscal slippage, higher oil, and MSPs as risks to future
inflation, but not as factors that would warrant an imminent tightening.
20-25% EV by 2025 is splendid job: Tata Motors CEO

• If electric vehicles stood at about 20-25% of the total vehicles registered in 2025, India could
consider that it had done a “splendid job,” the CEO of Tata Motors, Guenter Butschek.
• The Centre has proposed moving to 100% electric vehicles by 2030, though the auto industry has
recommended that the country should target 40% of personal vehicles and 100% of public transport
vehicles to turn electric by then.
• It has suggested 2047 as the target for all-electric passenger vehicles.
• Mr. Butschek stated that strong growth in the electric vehicle segment would also lead to the
automatic promotion of fuel cell vehicles as well.
• In a presentation, the CEO claimed that India could be the world’s third largest auto market by 2026,
with a revenue of $300 billion.
• The auto industry was looking at growth of 10-15% for the next five years.

• He claimed that all industry players did not have a “level playing field” as they moved to implement
BS-VI standards by April 1, 2020.
• Mr. Butschek said that some of Tata Motors’ competitors already had off-the-shelf technology in
other parts of the world, which they could bring to India.
• In response to another question, Mr. Butshchek denied that Tata Motors was asking for any kind of
“protection”.
• Repeatedly stressing in his comments that “smart mobility” was linked to “smart cities”, he argued
that a new kind of ecosystem was required for the promotion and use of electric vehicles.
• According to the Tata Motors CEO, a different standard of infrastructure and a new kind of service
station would be required to cater to electric vehicles.
• “These vehicles will be an extension of your digital space,” Mr. Butschek said.
• India, he stated, needed solid competency in the manufacturing of electric vehicles. For instance,
countries like South Korea and China had already established competencies in this field.

5 Taxes on capital hinder investments: Urjit Patel

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel expressed concern over the government’s move to
impose long-term capital gains tax on equities.
• He stressed that India’s investment to GDP ratio was not adequate and the fact that capital in the
country was taxed at five different stages, hindered investments.
• The Budget had brought back the long-term capital gains tax which disappointed investors.
• “...we need to keep in mind the taxation on capital in India is from several sources and I think, at the
marginal rate, it adds up … so from back of the envelope, you have a corporate tax rate, you have a dividend
distribution tax rate, for dividend income above Rs. 10 lakh you have the marginal tax rate, you have a
securities transaction tax and a capital gains tax.
• So, you have five taxes on capital. And you know that would have an impact on investment and
savings decision.
• The Budget proposed that long-term investment gains of more than Rs. 1 lakh, beginning February 1,
2018 would attract long-term capital gains tax at 10%.
• The Economic Survey, released last week, also pointed out that the overall savings and investment
rate scenario in the economy was not ‘heartening’.
• According to the survey, while investment rate as a share of GDP in the economy declined by almost
5.6 percentage points between 2011-12 and 2015-16, savings rate declined by two and half percentage
points between 2011-12 and 2013-14 and remained range-bound thereafter.
• “India’s investment, savings slowdown is unusual, never happened like this before,” said Arvind
Subramanian, chief economic adviser.
• The ratio of gross fixed capital formation to GDP rose from 26.5% in 2003, reached a peak of 35.6%
in 2007 and then, slid to 26.4% in 2017.
• Dr. Patel said the country should expect its investment to GDP ratio to improve as there were early
signs that credit growth was picking up.
• Year-on-year credit growth was 10.6% in January as compared with 4.7% a year ago.

EV in spotlight for auto expo

• Electric vehicles stole the limelight at the Auto Expo this year, with almost all automakers unveiling a
slew of vehicles that are likely to hit the Indian roads over the next two to three years.
• However, the industry still sees the government’s proposal to move to 100% electric vehicles (EVs)
by 2030 as a “big challenge” amid lack of charging infrastructure and clear policy norms, besides the high
prices of EVs.
• More than half of the 65 vehicles unveiled at the exposition this year were EVs and hybrid concepts
put up by car manufacturers.
• Maruti Suzuki, which aims to roll out an EV in 2020, showcased e-Survivor.
• Honda earlier unveiled its Sports EV concept and NeuV EV concept.
• Considering India’s expanse, it would take time to establish charging a network.
• India a price-sensitive market and EVs currently cost at least twice as much as a comparable
internal combustion engine (ICE) model.
• There also needs to be a testing facility to test the road-worthiness… a mechanism needs to be
worked out to safely dispose or recycle the battery after its life is over.
• Hyundai plans to get ahead of Maruti by introducing its EV in 2019.
• EV growth in the country was inevitable in future but what was needed at present was greater clarity
from the government in terms of policies and infrastructure, said Sumit Sawhney, country CEO and MD,
Renault India Operations.
• Renault showcased several cars, including TREZOR, an all-electric Grand Tourer concept car.
• Globally many countries have fixed targets for completely doing away with fossil fuel vehicles.
• The U.K. has announced a ban on sales of new gasoline and diesel cars starting 2040.
• By 2050, all cars on the country’s road will have zero emissions.
• Paris has also planned to do away with petrol and diesel-fuelled cars, while China plans to cap its
automobile carbon emissions by 2030.
180 days more to borrowers: RBI

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), whose
cash flow was hit due to implementation of Goods and Service Tax (GST), additional time to pay their dues
to banks and non-banking finance companies.
• MSMEs with exposure of less than Rs. 25 crore, would get additional 180 days to pay their dues,
provided the borrower is registered under the GST regime and the borrower account was standard as on
August 31, 2017.
• “The amount from the borrower overdue as on September 1, 2017 and payments from the borrower
due between September 1, 2017 and January 31, 2018 are paid not later than 180 days from their
respective original due dates,” RBI said, stipulating a condition.
• At present, banks and NBFCs classify a loan account as non-performing asset (NPA) if payment is
due for more than 90 days and 120 days respectively.

• “The provision in respect of the account may be reversed as and when no amount is overdue beyond
the 90/120-day norm,” the banking regulator said.

IT dept. sends 1lakh notices to bitcoin investors

• The Income Tax Department has issued one lakh tax notices to people who have invested in
cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Sushil Chandra said.
• The tax department had conducted a nationwide survey which showed $3.5 billion worth of
transactions on various cryptocurrency exchanges across India over a period of 17 months.
• People who have made investments [in cryptocurrency] and have not declared income while filing
taxes and have not paid tax on the profit earned by investing, we are sending them notices as we feel that it
is all taxable.
• They found out that there is no clarity on investments made by many people which means that they
have not declared it properly.
• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had, in his Budget speech last week, stressed that cryptocurrencies
were not legal tender.
• The government would clamp down on any such illegal transactions, he had said at the time.
• However, industry players said the action taken by the Income Tax Department still did not mean
that holding cryptocurrencies was illegal.
• “You see, the Finance Minister and the RBI have both clarified that cryptocurrencies are not legal
tender,” the CEO of one of India’s cryptocurrency exchanges said on the condition of anonymity.
• “This means that you cannot use it in place of the rupee. But he did not say anything about investing
in it as an asset. This action by the tax department is only against those who made investments but did not
declare it in their returns. It would have been the same if they had invested in any other asset and didn’t
declare it.”
• India is a very attractive market for cryptocurrency companies, both domestic and international.
• A worldwide study of the market by Malaysian firm Pundi X, which is looking to enter the Indian
market, found that India accounted for 10% of the global trade in cryptocurrencies.
• Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, saw its value soaring 1,700% over the course of 2017 to
settle at about $20,000.
• It has, however, fallen sharply in 2018 on concerns about a global regulatory clampdown.
5900 tons of medical waste per annum from Delhi-NCR: ASSOCHAM

• The lack of proper disposal of hospital trash can pose a serious risk to the health of people and the
environment.
• Delhi-National Capital Region generates over 5,900 tons of medical waste annually — most of which
remains untreated and is dumped along with municipal waste.
• ASSOCHAM’s latest findings state that the Capital alone generates around 2,200 tons of biomedical
waste.
• The study also looked at Gurugram, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad.

• India has seen unprecedented growth in the number of hospitals across the country.
• Non-treated hospital waste always causes public health risks, including AIDS, Hepatitis B and C,
gastroenteric infections, respiratory infections, bloodstream infections, skin infections, effects of
radioactive substances and intoxication.
• “We have to ensure that waste disposal is done as per policy guidelines framed by the State
government,” said ASSOCHAM secretary-general D. S. Rawat.
• Segregation and collection facilities for medical and clinical waste need improvement not only in
Delhi-NCR but in cities like Meerut, Loni, Bulandshahr, Ludhiana and Jalandhar, said the paper.
• About 65% of hospital waste is non-hazardous and mixing of hazardous trash with general waste
leads to contamination.
• This leads to risk of infections and diseases in anyone coming in contact with such items.
• Waste pickers often come in contact with piles of waste, which may have syringes or bandages with
blood on them.
• These are potential sources of infections and diseases.
• Proper segregation of waste — be it at a healthcare facility or at home — is important to ensure that
waste pickers do not face such risks.
• ASSOCHAM added that centralised biomedical treatment plants should be put up in series as
growing economies like India have huge prospects for future healthcare facilities.
• No sooner than that happens, the identified cities need to be equipped with disposal facilities to
protect public safety, health, environment and ecology from degradation.

19.3% increase in DT by Jan2018

• Net direct tax collections up to January 2018 grew 19.3% to Rs. 6.95 lakh crore compared with the
same period of the previous financial year, according to official data released .
• The net direct tax collections represent 69.2% of the Revised Estimates of direct taxes for FY
2017-18 [Rs. 10.05 lakh crore].
• Gross collections (before adjusting for refunds) have increased by 13.3% to Rs. 8.21 lakh crore
during April 2017 to January 2018.
• The government said it had issued refunds amounting to Rs. 1.26 lakh crore during April 2017 to
January 2018.
• Within direct taxes, net corporate tax collections grew 19.2% and net personal income tax
collections grew 18.6%.
• This jump can be attributed to the massive information collected by the tax officers through data
analytics post cash deposits post demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency notes.
• They followed up on this information with tax payers. This can also be attributed to the roll-out of
GST.
• GST registration by small enterprises became beneficial to them, especially when they are providing
goods and services to large organisations which insist on GST registration.

YES Bank-Fcci Report

• To encourage long-term growth of start-ups in the food sector, the government could consider
exempting incubators from taxes and customs duty levied on the goods they import.
• This is according to a joint report by industry body Ficci and YES Bank.
• Incubators offer hand-holding to start-ups in their developmental phase.
• The report titled ‘Start-Ups: Transforming India’s Food Processing Economy’ — released by
commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu on the occasion of ‘FICCI Foodworld India 2018’.
• It also suggested that there should be tax breaks for start-ups procuring items essential for
businesses like hardware, software and communication equipment.
• Besides, it recommended that “given their role in mentoring and connecting innovators to business
growth opportunities, funds contributed to incubators should be treated at par with investments in
Research and Development activities for businesses.
• And proportionally the entities that contribute funds to incubators should also be eligible for the
200% tax benefit currently applicable to R&D investments.
• A streamlined tax regime can remove hurdles which impact start-ups, the report said.
• Speaking on the theme ‘capitalising food processing in the digital era’, Mr. Prabhu said the
government was working on an agriculture export strategy that would give primacy to value addition and
job creation.
• Referring to the potential of marine products exports, he said the emphasis is on value-added
exports.
• According to the report, there are close to 200 start-ups in the food processing and allied
ecosystem.
• The food processing sector, valued at $260 billion, and food services and retail, valued at $400
billion, provide ‘immense opportunities for enterprising start-ups to address the challenges and fill in the
gaps existing in the food value chain’.
• They would hence help develop robust, scalable and replicable models that can transform India’s
food processing economy, it said.

Ministries to discuss Health plan shortly

• The Ministries of Finance and Health will hold the first meeting on the National Health Protection
Scheme (NHPS) to discuss the modalities of its implementation, including whether to rope in insurance
firms or set up a trust to settle claims.
• The scheme, which would be the world’s largest government healthcare programme, was
announced in the 2018-19 Budget for providing medical cover of up to Rs. 5 lakh to more than 10 crore poor
and vulnerable families, constituting 40% of India’s population.
• “It would be deliberated on whether National Health Protection Scheme will be run through a
trust-based model or through general insurance companies,” an official said.
• Certain States are already successfully running healthcare schemes using the trust-based model.

• Under this model, a trust will be set up by the government with funds being contributed by the
Centre and States, which will settle hospital claims of beneficiaries, instead of insurers settling them.
• The Health Ministry will draft the scheme, which is likely to be unveiled either on August 15 or
October 2, after consultations with the States.
• There are States which run schemes for specific illnesses and discussions would include ways to
streamline those with NHPS.
• The Health Ministry would discuss with States on how to go about with the existing state-run
schemes once the NHPS is implemented.
• At the central level, the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana would be subsumed within NHPS.
Cryptocurrency issues
• Last October, the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)
discussed the growing usage of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) to raise capital as an area of concern.
• “There are clear risks associated with these offerings,” IOSCO had warned all nations in a statement
after the discussions.
• The world body also said that ICOs are highly speculative investments in which investors were
putting their entire invested capital at risk.
• To be fair, some operators provide legitimate investment opportunities to fund projects or
businesses.
• But, the increased targeting of retail investors through online distribution channels by parties often
located outside an investor’s home jurisdiction — which may not be subject to regulation or may violate
laws — “raises investor protection concerns.”
• In Budget 2018, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government did not consider
cryptocurrencies legal tender and would aim to eliminate their use in financing illegitimate activities.
• Many regulatory and self-regulatory authorities globally have cautioned investors on ICOs.
• ICOs, also known as token sales or coin sales, typically involve the creation of digital tokens — using
distributed ledger technology — and their sale to investors in return for a cryptocurrency such as bitcoin or
ether.
• A survey by the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) of state and
provincial securities regulators showed 94% believed there was a “high risk of fraud” involving
cryptocurrencies.
• Regulators also were unanimous in their view that more regulation was needed for cryptocurrency to
provide greater investor protection.
• Cryptocurrencies and investments tied to them are high-risk products with an unproven track record
and high price volatility.
• Combined with a high risk of fraud, investing in cryptocurrencies is not for the faint of heart.
• German regulator Federal Financial Supervisory Authority said the acquisition of cryptocurrency
coins may result in substantial risks for investors.
• As ICOs are a highly speculative form of investment, investors should be preparedfor the possibility
of losing their investment completely.

• It also said that the term ICO, stems from “initial public offering” (IPO), i.e. a floatation on a stock
exchange.
• The apparent similarity of the terms gives the impression that ICOs are comparable to the issuance
of shares.
• This is not the case, either technically or legally.
• In a recent interview published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, its economists Michael
Lee and Antoine Martin raised the issue of the trustworthiness of such currencies.
• They highlighted the “trustless” nature as virtual currencies are “not backed by anything real” such
as gold. “Trust is implicit for practically any means of payment,” they added.
Sophisticated CVPS machines used for returned notes

• The RBI has said that Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes, returned to banks when the government
demonetised high value currency 15-months ago, are still being “processed for their arithmetical accuracy
and genuineness.”
• This is being done in an “expedited manner,” the central bank said.
• “Specific bank notes are being processed for their arithmetical accuracy and genuineness and the
reconciliation for the same is ongoing. This information can, therefore, be shared on completion of the
process and reconciliation,” the RBI said in reply to an RTI application.
• As on date, 59 sophisticated currency verification and processing (CVPS) machines are in operation
in RBI for the purpose, it said. The reply did not specify the location of the machines.
• The RBI will also soon have greater flexibility in terms of managing its liquidity operations with the
addition of one more tool ‘Standing Deposit Facility Scheme’ to its kit.
• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in his Budget, had proposed to amend the RBI Act to empower the
central bank to come up with an additional instrument for liquidity management.
• The proposal forms part of the Finance Bill 2018 which is scheduled to be approved by Parliament
by March 31.
• “That is to provide one more tool for liquidity management. There is no more MSS (market
stabilisation scheme),” Economic Affairs Secretary S. C. Garg told PTI.
• The RBI proposed in November 2015 the introduction of the SDF by suitably amending the RBI Act.
• This would provide the RBI a new tool for liquidity management, particularly in times when the
money market liquidity is in excess to deal with post-demonetisation like scenario.
• Post-demonetisation, the RBI ran out of securities to offer as collateral and had to temporarily hike
its cash reserve ratio (CRR) to force banks to park extra deposits with it.
• The CRR is the portion of deposits that banks have to compulsorily park with the RBI. Currently, the
CRR is pegged at 4%.
• When the liquidity position under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) is outside comfort zone, the
RBI uses an array of instruments to absorb/inject durable liquidity from/into the financial system.


Jute sector crisis

• The jute industry has sought the intervention of the Textiles Minister to stem the decline in raw jute
prices.
• In a letter to Smriti Irani, Manish Podddar, chairman of the apex industry body, the Indian Jute Mills
Association (IJMA) said a crisis was prevailing in raw jute with prices ruling at several notches below the
minimum support price.
• In the letter, dated February 8, IJMA said for the TD 5 variety, the price was lower by about Rs. 7,000
per tonne, and by Rs. 10,290 per tonne for the TD 6 variety.
• “This is almost 20% and 35% below the MSP for TD5 and TD6 respectively,” it said, adding the total
loss to jute farmers had been estimated at about Rs. 1,000 crore.
• Raw jute is produced mostly in West Bengal (74%) followed by Bihar and Assam.
• The industry sought Ms. Irani’s intervention to raise purchases by the Jute Corporation of India as an
immediate measure.
• The Centre is gearing up to announce the MSP for FY19. Government documents indicate the price
would be about 5% higher than this year’s MSP.
• Data also showed that between FY13 and FY18, area under jute cultivation shrank to 6,84,3000
hectares from 7,56,000 hectares. Raw jute output fell to 98.3 lakh bales from 110 lakh bales.

Government Saving Promotion act

• In a bid to consolidate the legislations pertaining to small savings schemes, the government is
proposing a merger of the various laws into a Government Savings Promotion Act.
• “The government gives highest priority to the interest of small savers, especially savings for the
benefit of the girl child, senior citizens and regular savers who form the backbone of our country’s savings
architecture,” the government said in a release.
• In order to remove existing ambiguities due to multiple Acts and rules for small saving scheme the
government has proposed merger of Government Savings Certificates Act, 1959 and Public Provident Fund
Act, 1968 with the Government Savings Banks Act, 1873.
• All existing protections have been retained while consolidating PPF Act under the proposed
Government Savings Promotion Act.
• No existing benefits to depositors are proposed to be taken away through this process.
• The main objective in proposing a common Act is to make implementation easier for the depositors
as they need not go through different rules and Acts.
India-UAE Energy security

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent trip to the UAE has resulted in two agreements being signed
that will strengthen India’s energy security, said Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

• Two highlights of the PM’s visit were the signing of the Concession Agreement between an Indian
consortium and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company for award of 10% stake in Lower Zakum Offshore oil field.
• And an agreement between Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves (ISPRL) and ADNOC to
operationalise the filling up of a strategic petroleum reserve cavern in Mangalore.
• The Lower Zakum oil field is coming up for rebidding for 40% of its capacity, of which 10% had been
awarded to India.
• The second agreement allowed ADNOC to invest in the strategic crude oil storage facility in
Mangaluru.
• ADNOC will invest about $400 million [for] storing crude in one ISPRL underground rock cavern... of
capacity 5.86 million barrels.

Centre in search to save power

• The Centre, through its company Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), is planning to replicate
its success in the LED space in the commercial sector by creating a market for low-cost, energy-efficient
motors, a senior official said.
• A large chunk of energy consumption goes to industry.
• About 30-34% of the total energy consumption goes to the industrial sector, which is a substantial
amount.
• And out of that, about 70% is electrical energy consumption.
• Most of this electricity consumption is due to the use of motor-driven systems.
• Using a combination of economies of scale and design efficiencies, Mr. Garnaik said EESL had so
far been able to create motors in the capacity range of 1.1 KW to 22 KW that are 30% cheaper and result in
an average of 15% lower electricity usage.
• Apart from the price benefit, one of the other levers to create demand is the fact that the
Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion has issued a quality assurance guidance that says that
manufacturers will have to supply a minimum energy performance standard adhering to the ‘International
Efficiency-2’ (IE-2) level.
• The EESL motors are of the IE-3 level, which save between 7% to 23% of electricity compared with
the current industry standard, depending on the application.
• The present practice is of using non-IE motors. About 99% of the motors being used are IE-1 or
non-IE.
• Phase 1 of the nation-wide programme, to be unveiled by Power Minister R.K. Singh, would seek to
replace 1.2 lakh motors of the capacity of 1.1-22 KW, which would save 175 million units of electricity.
• In the second phase, two lakh motors would be replaced, including those of a capacity higher than
22 KW.
• There are in total about 11 million motors that can be replaced, which works out to about 15 billion
units of electricity being saved.
• This can lead to 6,000 MW of capacity reduction. But 11 million cannot be done overnight.

Review on Anti-Dumping Duty

• India has initiated a review of anti-dumping duty on flat base steel wheels from China to take a call
on “the need for continued imposition of the duties in force.”
• The Directorate General of Anti-dumping and allied Duties (DGAD) has initiated the review
investigation “to examine whether the expiry of such duty (on imports of flat base steel wheels from China).
• It is likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping and injury to the domestic (Indian)
industry.
• The move comes in the backdrop of India’s huge trade deficit with China ($51.1 billion in FY’17).
• They have sought a review and continuation of the anti-dumping duties, imposed on such imports.
• The Authority (DGAD) has considered the period of October, 2016 to September, 2017 as the period
of investigation.
• The injury investigation period has however, been considered as the period 2014-15, 2015-16,
2016-17 and the period of investigation.
• India had in 2013 imposed duty up to $613 per tonne on import of the product from China for five
years.
• As per the World Trade Organisation, if a company exports a product at a price lower than the price
it normally charges on its own home market, it is said to be “dumping” the product.
• The global body has also said that the WTO agreement allows governments to act against dumping
where there is genuine (“material”) injury to the competing domestic industry.

Trade Deficit
• The country’s goods trade deficit widened to $16.30 billion in January 2018 from $9.9 billion in the
same month a year earlier and $14.88 billion in the previous month owing to imports outpacing exports,
data released by the Commerce Ministry.
• The January trade deficit is a more than three-year high. It was $16.86 billion in November 2014.
• Exports for January went up by 9.07% year-on-year to $24.38 billion.
• However, goods imports rose 26.1% to $40.68 billion.
• According to G.K. Gupta, president, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), though exports
in January 2018 witnessed positive growth for third time in a row, the rate of growth is declining on a
month-on-month basis.
• Besides, export growth of about 9%, more than 6% has been contributed by petroleum products
alone.
• Labour-intensive sectors like garments, carpets, handicrafts, man-made textiles are exhibiting
negative growth primarily due to liquidity crunch emanating from blocking of funds in GST, Mr. Gupta said in
a statement.
FIEO estimates that the trade deficit in this fiscal will touch about $150 billion.
• During the April-January 2017-18 period, trade deficit was $131.15 billion.

• Exports during April-January 2017-18 increased by 11.75% to $247.89 billion, while imports during
the 10-month period of the current fiscal registered a 22.21% growth to $379.05 billion.
• FIEO wants the government to look into the refund issues by undertaking a clearance drive so as to
clear all cases by March 31, 2018.
• Alternatively, banks may be asked to finance exporters against the pending GST refund claims with
interest to be borne by the government, it said.
• Shipments of chemicals, engineering goods and petroleum products grew by 33%, 15.77% and
39.5% in January, while gold imports shrunk 22% to $1.59 billion.
• Shipments of ready-made garments declined by 8.38% to $1.39 billion last month.
• Oil and non-oil imports during January jumped by 42.64% and 20.49% to $11.65 billion and $29
billion, respectively.
• During April-January 2017-18, oil imports increased by 26.35% to $87.80.billion. Meanwhile, data put
out by the Reserve Bank showed that the exports in services in December 2017 were valued at $16 billion.
The imports stood at $9.85 billion.

CEA on PSBs
• Strong cases have emerged to seek increased regulation and private sector participation in public
sector banks in the wake of recent episodes, including the Punjab National Bank scam, said Chief
Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian.
• Citing recent incidents in the Indian banking system such as the Punjab National Bank loan fraud,
Bank of Baroda’s South Africa exit plan and SBI’s higher provisioning for bad debts.
• Mr. Subramanian said that the key was how to take advantage of these events and make policies to
ensure that these did not happen again.
• Mr. Subramanian was delivering the inaugural address at the Madras Management Association
Annual convention 2018.
• Mr. Subramanian said that the possibility of allowing a much greater majority private sector
participation in the public sector banks must be seriously considered.
• Taxpayers’ money was used to recapitalise the public sector banks, which had been facing the high
non- performing assets problem.
• “The question is, are we getting enough value for this taxpayer money and will this taxpayer money
be better protected in the current government ownership structure or will it require a different policy
structure?” Mr. Subramanian said.
• “The government also realises that some banks are unviable and need to be shrunk. There are three
strong cases which have emerged for private participation in public sector banks. I am not saying all public
sector banks should be privatised,” he said.
• The CEA said some people had suggested that the public sector banks’ governance practices
should be reformed first before looking at private participation.
• “But we have been at it for 30-40 years. What is the guarantee that what is recommended now will
be implemented more effectively than in the past?” he asked.

• One of the strong cases for private participation in public sector banks was that they were
“handicapped” in terms of recruitment procedures and HR procedures due to their ownership, when
compared with their private sector peers.
• Decision making in the Indian government was paralysed by the fear of four Cs — Court, CBI, CVC
and CAG, he said.
• “These are four overhanging fruits over honest decision making, affected by the government
structure,” the CEA said.
• One of the problems was that during the boom period it was PSBs that had financed the
infrastructure sector and got into trouble. They are now finding it difficult to get out of the situation, he
added.
PSU banks behind audit firms

• Public sector banks (PSBs) are aggressively reaching out to the big four audit firms to get their
systems assessed for risk in the wake of the fraud committed at the Punjab National Bank (PNB),
according to audit professionals at these firms.
• While PSBs often tended to keep away from broadening forensic data analytical capabilities beyond
traditional anti-fraud and compliance functions, they were now preparing to scale up risk management
capabilities, they said.
• Audit professionals at the big four (Deloitte, KPMG, PwC and EY) said in the past, they tried reaching
out to PSBs, including the PNB but faced a rigid approach when convincing bank officials of possible
system anomalies.
• PSBs are always restricted by either budgetary constraints or a mindset for keeping control physical
and not fixing responsibility for compliance, they said.
• Now, as many as four PSBs had enquired with KPMG this week alone to enlist their audit and
advisory services. These banks were the same entities that had featured in the ongoing crisis at the PNB.
• The PNB had invited a Request for Proposal (RFP) to carry out the forensic auditing of their systems
in 2016 but did not show interest in spending more than ₹15 lakh for the work.
• Most of these firms had opted out of participating at such a cost, the professionals said.
• Security experts, who had done digital forensic testing for PSBs, said these banks were far too
lethargic in decision-making and suffered from a general fatigue.
• “The risk officer in a PSU bank is convinced he will not be thrown out if something goes wrong in the
system,” said Sachin Dedhia of Skynet Secure Solutions which does digital forensic testing for PSBs in
Mumbai.

RBI-PNB-Other Banks
• Banks are planning to approach the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to break the impasse with the
fraud-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB).
• The PNB is declining to pay them the dues till investigations into the Rs. 11,500-crore LoU scam are
completed, according to an official who attended a meeting of major lenders on the issue.

• The banks have decided to approach the central bank through the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).
• The state-run lender informed the stock exchanges about the detection of $1.77 billion (Rs. 11,500
crore)-worth unauthorised transactions where fraudulent letters of undertaking (LoUs) were issued from a
branch in Mumbai to secure overseas credit.
• Bankers, at the meeting, pointed out that LoUs were issued by PNB for buyers’ credit.
• Since the other banks had extended loans to PNB (the amount was credited to PNB’s NOSTRO
account) which, in turn, gave the funds to firms involved in the fraud, the state-run lender was liable to pay
the other lenders.
• Allahabad Bank, for example, had an exposure of $366.87 million and State Bank of India $212
million to PNB.
• If PNB did not pay them, these lenders would have to classify the loans (given to PNB) as NPAs.
• In that case, the total loan impairment arising out of this particular case could rise to Rs. 20,000
crore, banking industry sources said.
• Public sector banks, already reeling under huge non-performing assets (NPAs), do not want to their
books to be impaired further by this issue which, they said they believed, is not of their making.
• As a result, they now want the regulator to break the deadlock as soon as possible.
• “They (RBI) have already issued a guideline in 2015 for similar kinds of cases. They have to just
reiterate the guideline which covers all these kinds of scenarios,” said another banker.
• RBI had pointed out to the failure of internal control of PNB as being the main reason for the fraud
taking place.
• It said it was assessing the situation and would take appropriate supervisory action.
• It may be reaclled that the banking regulator had already undertaken a supervisory assessment of
control systems in PNB.\
• Some of the banks that had exposure to the companies of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi — the main
accused in this fraud — said their loans were backed by the assets of companies such as Gitanjali Gems.
• The Enforcement Directorate had conducted searches at several properties belonging to Mr. Modi
and reportedly seized diamond and gold jewellery worth more than Rs. 5,000 crore.
Financial Conditions Index

• The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) Financial Conditions
Index, a key indicator in assessing short-term financial conditions in the Indian economy.
• The ongoing fourth quarter of 2017-18 registered 53.2, an improvement of five points year-on-year.
• However, it marked a significant fall of 12.1 over the third quarter of this fiscal.
• There has been also been a major compression in two sub-indices — the Cost of Funds Index (22.8
in Q4 FY’18 versus 55.6 in Q3 FY’18) and Funding Liquidity Index (60.3 in Q4 versus 85.9 in Q3).
• Two other sub-indices, viz. the External Financial Linkages Index (67.2 in Q4 versus 64.5 in Q3) and
Economic Activity Index (62.5 in Q4 versus 55.2 in Q3) have shown an improvement in the Q4 FY2017-18
quarter vis-à -vis the last quarter.
• “Industrial activity and consequent linkages to financial sector are contingent on intervention in
fiscal, sectoral and monetary policy space,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general, CII.

• “There is a clear acknowledgement of actions that have been taken by the government in fiscal and
sectoral space,” the director general said.

DMIC attracts 4 nations

• • The Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), a mega infrastructure project with an estimated
investment of $100 billion, has attracted interest from companies based out of Canada, the U.S., Singapore
and Taiwan.
• • Representatives of Canadian Commercial Corporation, GIC Singapore, Taiwanese securities
industry major Yuanta Securities, as well as executives of some American firms, held talks separately with
officials of the DMIC Development Corporation, according to official sources.
• • Canadian Commercial Corporation is a Canada government corporation that aims to boost
Canadian trade by helping exporters from that country access government procurement markets in other
nations via government-to-government contracting, while GIC Singapore is the Singapore government’s
sovereign wealth fund with assets of around $360 billion.
• • The DMIC Development Corporation is a special purpose company incorporated for the
development of the DMIC project.
• • The focus areas included defence as well as Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO).
Discussions also revolved around proposals to set up units to manufacture aerospace and defence
equipment in DMIC smart cities.
• • It is learnt that Singapore-based water companies are keen on participating in the DMIC project
and one such firm had even held discussions on taking up a feasibility study regarding water supply in the
Manesar-Bawal Investment Region (MBIR).
• • The first phase of the DMIC Project will cover five Investment Regions and three Industrial Areas.
• • As per the government, the Investment Regions include the Ahmedabad–Dholera Special IR in
Gujarat, Dadri-Noida-Ghaziabad IR in Uttar Pradesh, MBIR in Haryana Khushkhera-Bhiwadi-Neemrana IR in
Rajasthan and Pitampur-Dhar-Mhow IR in Madhya Pradesh.
• • The IAs include Shendra-Bidkin IA in Maharashtra, Dighi Port IA in Maharashtra and
Jodhpur-Pali-Marwar IA in Rajasthan.
• • South Korean industrial conglomerate Hyosung Corporation is reportedly set to invest about Rs.
3,400 crore to establish a textile manufacturing facility in the Shendra-Bidkin IA.
• • Meanwhile, talks are on to develop the Ahmedabad–Dholera Special IR into an MRO hub for
aerospace and defence firms.
FCCI on Privatisation of PSB

• • Industry body FICCI has called for privatisation of public sector banks (PSBs), saying that the
recapitalisation efforts by the government have had little effect on improving their health.
• • “Given the continuous pressure on the government finances on account of the weak performance
of the banks, the government should consider privatisation of PSBs,” FICCI president Rashesh Shah said in
a statement.

• • This would reduce the drain on the exchequer and the money saved could be used for
developmental schemes and programmes of the government.”
• • “A dynamic banking sector is the need of the hour and we should examine if there is at all a case
for public sector domination in the banking sector,” he added.
• • “FICCI firmly believes that the recapitalisation of PSBs alone is not a permanent solution and will
not be effective unless the inherent issues related to governance, productivity, risk management, talent,
customer service, etc. are resolved.”
• • Mr. Shah’s statement follows the government announcement last October of a Rs. 2.11 lakh crore
recapitalisation plan for PSBs, of which Rs. 88,000 crore is scheduled for this financial year.
• • Of this, Rs. 80,000 crore is to come through bonds and a little more than Rs. 8,000 crore through
budgetary support this financial year.
BBB uncertain future

• • The Banks Board Bureau (BBB) is facing an uncertain future with the tenure of its members
coming to an end on March 31, 2018.
• • “The term of all the members will come to end on 31 March. The government is yet to
communicate if the terms will be extended or a new board will be formed,” said a person familiar with the
development.
• • The BBB was set up under the government’s Indradanush programme to reform public sector
banks. It started operations in April 2016.
• • The BBB was conceived by the PJ Nayak committee and was seen as a step taken towards
reforming the boards of public sector banks.
• • The committee, in its report, had recommended that the government should distance itself from
the appointment process of top management and board members of PSBs — a function that could be
performed by the BBB.
• • However, in practise it never happened. While the BBB was involved in shortlisting and interviewing
candidates — the final appointment was always made by the government.
• • There were instances of delays in appointment by the government despite the BBB recommending
it.
• • The issue of governance and role of the board in public sector banks came to the fore again after
the Rs. 11,500 crore PNB scam broke out last week.
• • “As part of its mandate, and guided by a spirit of collaboration, the bureau is engaging with various
stakeholders.
• • The objective of such engagement being to help prepare the banks in the public sector universe to
take on the competition…
• • The bureau is also engaging with the public sector banks (PSBs) to help build capacity to attract,
retain and nurture both talent and technology — the two key differentiators of business competencies in the
days to come,” the BBB said on its website, referring to its task.
• • Headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai, BBB has representatives from
government and RBI apart from independent banking professionals.


A Centre Of Excellence (COE ) - TS & Nasscom

• A Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence to support product
development, research in the areas as well as mine tonnes of government data to aid in policy making will
come up in the city soon.
• One of its kind, the facility on a public-private partnership model took the first step towards
becoming a reality with Telangana government and the National Association of Software & Services
Companies (Nasscom) signing an MoU for it.
• Nasscom president R. Chandrashekhar, who exchanged the documents with IT Secretary Jayesh
Ranjan in the presence of IT Minister K.T.Rama Rao, said the CoE – DS & AI would promote growth of
start-ups and encourage more entrepreneurs to build products and solutions using these technologies.
• The idea is to support them through mentorship, access to funding, international connects and
connections with large companies.
• The CoE, which he expected would be established within a couple of months, would also connect
with various resources, be it academic or research institutions.
• The initial, joint investment is to be Rs. 40 crore.
• Mr.Ranjan, who described the MoU as a milestone, said initially the facility is to be based out of
IIIT-Hyderabad. Eventually, it would be shifted to the upcoming IT park in Budhwel that the government is
developing.
• The MoU was signed on the sidelines of Nasscom India Leadership Forum being held in the city.
• Data science and AI industry in India is estimated to be $16 billion by 2025, said Mr. Rama Rao. A
release from Nasscom said it is likely to spur an additional employment of 150,000 professionals in the
country.
• Mr.Chandrashekhar said Nasscom is also looking at Hyderabad for the proposed CoE on Cyber
Security.
• The immediate task of the CoE – DS & AI promoters would be identify a CEO for the facility.
Nasscom on IT exports
• Software and services exports, the mainstay of the Indian IT industry, will grow 7-9%, according to a
key projection by Nasscom for 2018-19.
• This comes in the backdrop of continuing turbulence for the industry.
• A trajectory not entirely different from the 7.8% export revenue growth estimated in the current
fiscal.
• The industry body’s projection recognises the up tick in the global economy and technology spend,
as well as the challenges impacting the overall positive sentiment.
• In FY16 and FY-17, the exports were $108 billion and $116 billion.
• The industry, as per Nasscom guidance, will further expand its digital footprint with a growth of 7-9%
for technology services and 10-12% for domestic technology.

• The current outlook, Mr. Chandrashekhar added, was one of cautious optimism, given that 2017
started in the backdrop of uncertainties across protectionism, Brexit and slowdown in technology spend
decision making.
• Mr. Chandrashekhar and Nasscom leaders in Hyderabad, where the World Congress on IT and
Nasscom India Leadership Forum are underway, said that the IT industry export revenues would be about
$135-137 billion in FY-19 as against $126 billion in current fiscal.
• Domestic revenues were projected to grow 10-12% to $28-29 billion ($26 billion).
• Overall, the industry is expected to add $14-16 billion in revenue next fiscal.
• Beginning on a muted note, 2017-18 was driven by a better growth in the second half and expected
to clock revenues of $167 billion.
• On the hiring front, he said the industry would add 1,00,000 new jobs next fiscal, something similar
to FY 2018.
• Technology jobs in non-technology sectors are expected to grow faster.
• Overall, the economic growth, rapid technology adoption and progressive policies would remain the
key to accelerate job creation in the country.
• Chairman Raman Roy said that the software and services sector had crossed $ 150 billion, thereby
tripling in size in less than a decade.
Bankers and Auditors are to be blamed: Jaitley

• Breaking his silence on the Rs. 11,500-crore fraud at Punjab National Bank (PNB), Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley squarely laid the blame on the country’s bankers and auditors, observing that they had both
abdicated their responsibilities.
• “The Prime Minister himself had announced that we want you [public sector banks] to be
autonomous,” Mr. Jaitley said, addressing a meeting of the Association of Development Financing
Institutions in Asia and the Pacific.
• “None of us is going to call you up and therefore [you] take your own decisions. When authority is
given to the managements, you are expected to use that authority effectively and in the right manner.
• “Therefore a question for the management is, were they found lacking? And on the face of it the
answer seems ‘yes’ they were,” Mr. Jaitley added.
• “They were also found lacking in being able to check who among them were the delinquents.”
• The Finance Minister also took financial auditors to task, suggesting that the regulatory body for
chartered accountants should introspect on what possible action could be taken in the wake of the fraud.
• “What are our auditors doing? Both internal and external auditors have either looked the other way or
failed to detect,” Mr. Jaitley said.
• “I am sure the profession of chartered accountants and those who control the discipline of the
profession will start introspecting and see what are the legitimate actions which are to be taken.”
• The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India last week said it would review the fraud to probe
whether there were lapses on the part of auditors and has sought information from investigation agencies
as well as from the markets regulator SEBI.

• “And, of course, there is also an important challenge where the supervisory agencies have now to
introspect what are the additional mechanisms they have to put in place to make sure that stray cases don’t
become a pattern and it is nipped in the bud,” he added.
• Mr. Jaitley said that these kinds of developments have a cost to the country and to the tax payers.
• “It has a direct cost and it has an indirect cost, which impinges upon the bank’s capacity as a
lending institution, and therefore it obviously impinges upon development finance,” he said.
• On perpetrators, Mr. Jaitley asserted: “With regard to lack of ethics that a faction of Indian business
follows, it is incumbent on us as a state, till the last legitimate capacity of the state, to chase these people
to the last possible conclusion to make sure that the country is not cheated.”

RBI on inflation
• The Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could shift from its current
‘neutral’ policy stance to a ‘withdrawal of accommodation’ stance.
• This may happen if headline inflation projection for the year ahead remained well above the target,
the minutes of the central bank’s interest rate setting panel’s last meeting show.
• RBI, which has a mandate with keep retail inflation between 2% and 6%, decided at its sixth
bimonthly policy review on February 7 to keep interest rates unchanged, while maintaining a neutral stance.
• While five MPC members voted to preserve the status quo, one of them recommended a 25 basis
points rate increase.
• RBI Governor Urjit Patel observed that consumer price inflation — the main yardstick to determine
policy rates — had accelerated for a six consecutive month in December and said inflation was getting
generalised with rising input prices.
• Dr. Patel also said that since the economic recovery was at a nascent stage, a cautious approach
was needed at this juncture.
Blockchain tech to prevent frauds

• The adoption of blockchain by India’s banks could help avert frauds such as the one at Punjab
National Bank.
• The disaggregated and transparent nature of the technology, which updates information across all
users simultaneously, would have ensured that various officials would have instantly been alerted to the
creation of the letters of undertaking (LoUs), according to bankers and blockchain specialists.
• Blockchain, a distributed ledger technology originally developed as an accounting system for the
cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
• It is being researched across the banking and financial services industries for the potential benefits
it may offer in an increasingly digitised business environment.
• Central banks including the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Reserve Bank of India have been
examining the technology to understand the regulatory challenges it may pose.

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• SBI was convinced of blockchain’s utility, especially its potential to improve internal fraud
monitoring, and had already implemented it in its reconciliation systems and in several cross-country
payment gateways, according to Mr. Mahapatra.
• “In blockchain, from the source system it will try to match the transactions, so one can immediately
verify any transaction using blockchain.”
• However, Mr. Mahapatra pointed out that simply depending on technology to prevent frauds is
fraught, since they take place at the human level, where an official with the correct authentication can
misuse the system.
• “The modus operandi of the fraud as it appears right now is that somebody used all the
authentication methods and it was compromised at the user level,” Mr. Mahapatra said.
• “If that is the case, then any technology can be hoodwinked. Here, what was given into the system is
not in doubt, the one who gave it into the system is in doubt.”
• Still, blockchain’s technology is such that even human error can be greatly mitigated, Kartik
Mandaville, CEO of SpringRole, a blockchain solutions company said. “Blockchain can fix this by having
everything linked to the same database.”

DoT strategic plan

• The government unveiled a ‘strategic plan’ to enable seven state-owned companies under the
Department of Telecom (DoT) to work closely with an aim of promoting greater operational synergy among
them.
• It includes pooling in of resources and effective utilisation of human resources as well as land and
buildings.
• The action plan covers MTNL, BSNL, Indian Telephone Industries (ITI), Centre for Development of
Telematics (CDOT), Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd. (TCIL), Testing and Certification of
Telecom Equipments (TEC) and BharatNet (BBNL).
• “Under the plan, we have identified specific areas where our teams will work on including manpower,
settlement of legal issues and utilisation of vacant space,” Telecom Minster Manoj Sinha said.
• He, however, added there were no plans to merge BSNL and MTNL for now.
• Work for the strategic plan began in January 2016 when a core committee of senior officers was
formed to look into “the whole issue of synergy in totality and prepare a comprehensive plan covering
various issues affecting the functioning of different organisations.”
• The strategic plan, finalised after several discussions between all stakeholders, entails effective
utilisation of human resources, optimum use of vacant space and promoting ‘Make in India’, among other
things.
• Some units have excess manpower whereas others face a shortage, the minister explained.
• Under the plan, the Centre intended to train and redeploy manpower, he said.
• Also, telecom PSUs will refrain from going to court against one another and, instead, first approach
DoT for resolution of disputes.
• The strategic roadmap will also cover other areas such as standards and certification, and preparing
to tap opportunities in areas like 5G and Internet of Things.

Payment Bank norm will delay Jio Bank

• Reliance Jio, which was planning to unveil a payments bank, would have to wait following a new
diktat by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• It said the know your customer (KYC) process would have to be done by third party entities and not
by telecommunication firms.
• “Telecom companies, being not included in the ‘reporting entities’ in terms of the PML (Prevention of
Money Laundering) Act, are not subject to requirements of the said Act,” the
• RBI said in a letter to the chief executive officers of payments banks
• “Therefore, reliance on KYC done by telecom companies is not permissible,” it said in the letter, a
copy of which was made available.
• According to RBI’s operating guidelines, payments banks have to complete KYC verification
independently through third parties.
• The move would also impact Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone payments banks as well.
• Reliance Jio, which was planning to unveil a payments bank in association with India’s largest
lender, State Bank of India (SBI), was banking on the e-kyc done using Aadhar for enrolling Jio customers
for the new entity.
• “We want to ensure that everything is in place before we launch our payments bank,” a senior
Reliance Jio official said during the announcement of results.
• Reliance Jio has more than 160 million customers as on December 31, 2017.
• A mail sent to Reliance Jio seeking response remained unanswered till the time of going to print.
Bharti Airtel unveiled its payments bank in November 2016.
• It has more than 25 million customers out of its 280 million subscribers. When asked for comments,
Bharti Airtel Payments Bank spokesperson told The Hindu , “whatever the changes in guidelines are, we will
fully comply.
• Meanwhile, Jio Money said it would suspend all personal and bank transfers for its customers from
wallet from 27 February.
• As per RBI guidelines, personal and bank transfers from wallet will be suspended from 27.02.2018.
• To address the inconvenience, a one-time bank transfer without any charges is permitted till
26.02.2018.
• Reliance Jio is in process of seeking its customers’ consent to move them from Jio Money to the
proposed Jio Payments Bank in existing capacity, it said.

Search for RBI Dy.Governor

• The Centre has resumed the process of looking for a suitable candidate to appoint as the fourth
deputy governor at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) — a post which has been lying vacant for almost seven
months now.
• Deputy Governor S.S. Mundra, who was looking after banking supervision, retired on July 31.

• Though the Centre had initiated the search for a replacement in May last year, the process appeared
to have stalled for unknown reasons.
• The Finance Ministry issued a fresh newspaper advertisement inviting applications for the central
bank deputy governor’s post.
• The latest move comes in the wake of the Rs. 11,500-crore fraud at Punjab National Bank, which has
thrown the spotlight on internal oversight failures at the state-owned bank and drawn criticism about
possible audit and regulatory lapses.
• The latest advertisement specifies the eligibility criteria for candidates — these include a minimum
15 years of experience in banking and financial sector with an understanding of supervision and
compliance.
• A candidate’s age should not exceed 60 years as on July 31, 2017, the ministry said, adding the
criteria could, however, be relaxed for deserving candidates.
• The tenure of appointment would be three years and could be extended.
• Similar to last time, the post is open to candidates from the private sector.
• Also, the criterion that a candidate must have served as a bank CEO has been dropped and anyone
with board experience is eligible to apply.
• Out of the four Deputy Governors, two are promoted from within the RBI and one is an economist.
• The fourth is typically a commercial banker.
• In the past, only the CEO of a public sector bank — like Mr. Mundra of Bank of Baroda or his
predecessor K.C. Chakrabarty of Punjab National Bank — was selected as Deputy Governor.
• Candidates who had applied in response to the earlier advertisement in May would not need to
apply afresh.
• The last date for submitting applications is March 14, 2018.
• The Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Search Committee (FSRASC) would shortlist and
interview the candidates.
• However, the FSRASC can recommend a candidate’s name even if he/she had not applied.
• The FSRASC “is free to identify and recommend any other person also, based on merit,” the ministry
said.
US visa norms to increase paperwork burden

• A decision by the U.S. government to curb H-1B visas to protect the interests of American workers is
at odds with the administration’s bid to cut regulation and red tape, according to Nasscom, India’s top
software body.
• Nasscom is assessing the potential impact and will have more to say as we gather more
information.
• However, initial perusal suggests that it applies to all third-party placements and not just those
involving Indian or dependent companies.
• Nasscom member companies are in the business of providing solutions to client companies and
have demonstrated time and time again in routine audits that as sponsoring employers.
• They clearly maintain control over and relationship with their visa holders, and that the person
remains a specialty occupation worker as is routinely demonstrated by the fact that extensions are granted.

• Ultimately, this action seems to be at odds with the administration’s effort to reduce regulation and
red tape.
• Indian firms such as Infosys, Wipro and Cognizant rely on H-1B visas to get third-party work done at
on-shore sites.
• As per the new policy, companies will have to prove that their H-1B employee at a third-party site has
specific and non-qualifying speculative assignments in a speciality occupation.
• Now on, H-1B visas would be valid only for the period for which the employee has work at a
third-party site.
• Earlier, it was valid for three years at a time and this move comes ahead of H-1B visa filing, which
starts on April 2.
• Companies would have to submit evidence of actual work assignments, technical documentation,
marketing analysis, funding documents, and cost-benefit analysis.
• Information on specialised duties which the employee will perform, the employees’ qualifications,
and who their supervisor is also needs to be filed, according to a statement on the United States Citizenship
and Immigration Services (USCIS) website.
• It added the new guidance “aligns with President Trump’s Buy American and Hire American
Executive Order and the directive to protect the interests of U.S. workers.”
• Infosys spokeswomen did not reply to an e-mail seeking comment.
• Phone calls to a Wipro spokesperson went unanswered. Mindtree, Cognizant and Tech Mahindra
declined to comment.
• Apurva Prasad, analyst at HDFC Securities, who tracks IT stocks, said many onsite workers who
apply for H-1B visa “were task- and project-specific.”
• “I do not think it will have a significant impact. Also, the bench strength in the U.S. is not high. The
overall H-1B count has come down by about 50-60% over the last three years,” he said.
• Vivek Tandon, founder and CEO, EB5 BRICS, said the new norms would directly impact business
models of Indian IT services firms.
• Without a trade pact between India and the U.S., he said the best option for Indian firms was to
“strongly lobby U.S. lawmakers to influence USCIS so that their policies are more business- and
trade-friendly while at the same time promote the... agenda of ‘Buy American and Hire American’.
• Rogelio Caceres, co-founder and chief commercial officer, LCR Capital Partners, said, “Indian IT
firms could rely on the L-1A and L-1B visas.
• Given the Trump administration’s focus on American jobs, even the L-visa program is under
scrutiny.”

e-way bill to resume from April 1

• A group of State finance ministers (GoM), led by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi,
mooted the implementation of the provision for electronic-waybill generation for inter-State movement of
goods from April 1, under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.
• The e-waybill is generated on the GST-Network — a common and shared information technology (IT)
infrastructure between the Centre and States.

• Following a GoM meeting here on issues including IT-related challenges in the GST regime, Mr. Modi
said the e-waybill requirement for inter-state movement of goods worth more than Rs. 50,000 would be
introduced in phases after looking into the response to the same.
• The GoM’s suggestion would be taken up by the GST Council at its meeting on March 10.
• The e-waybill provision — meant to eliminate tax evasion and increase revenues by about 20% —
was introduced on February 1, but had to be put on hold following glitches in the system
• The GST Council should ensure that all the States introduced this mechanism from the same date
and that the current practice, wherein different systems are followed in different States, was discontinued.
Commercial coal mining to enhance energy security

• The success of commercial mining will hinge on the size of mines being offered, their reserve price,
and the norms pertaining to the auction of mines.
• But the ensuing competition would enhance India’s energy security, according to industry insiders.
• Opening up commercial coal mining for Indian and foreign companies in the private sector, the
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, on February 20, approved the methodology for auction of coal
mines/blocks for sale of the commodity.
• A key feature of the proposal is allowing 100% FDI in commercial mining as well as coal export.
• “Coal production is likely to increase in future, transforming into a competitive scenario,” said
Subhashri Chaudhuri, secretary general of the Coal Consumers Association of India.
• Mr. Bhattacharyya said proven mining experience and core competence should get more weightage
in bidder evaluation rather than mere revenue maximisation.
• Revenue maximisation should not be the only focus of the auction methodology.
• Moreover, it was also important to offer larger coal blocks, say about 50 million tonnes of annual
capacity, for about 25 to 30 years.
• Offering smaller mines will not attract either the right type of companies or adequate investment —
it may rather defeat the very purpose of this reform if a small mine of 2 to 5 million tonne capacity is to be
offered.
• .On the competition likely to be faced by CIL, Mr. Bhattacharya, under whose charge CIL’s listing took
place in 2010, CIL was unlikely to suffer beyond facing a competitive pressure as its prices had always been
at a discount to import prices and it did not utilise its position to raise prices.


Science & Tech
Link established between Akt and AMPK proteins in cancer metastasis

• Researchers at Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have uncovered a novel molecular
mechanism by which cancer cells survive during the time they are in circulation after detaching from the
primary cancer site.
• And before they could attach to the extracellular matrix at a different site and restart cell division,
thus causing cancer metastasis.
• In the process identified two potential drug targets to prevent metastasis.
• The results were published in the journal Cancer Research.
• Prof. Rangarajan’s team had a decade ago found that a particular protein called the AMP-activated
protein kinase (AMPK) gets activated when cancer cells detach from the extracellular matrix.
• Now, the team got headlong into researching its connection with another protein kinase called Akt
(protein kinase B) as other cancer researchers had all along highlighted how critical Akt was for cancer
cells to survive.
• It was always thought that the AMPK protein suppresses tumour growth while Akt behaves as a
promoter.
• The AMPK-mediated Akt inhibition is necessary for cancer cells to survive during circulation.
• The AMPK that gets activated in circulating cancer cells keeps them alive at the cost of cell division.
• Once the circulating cancer cells reattach to the extracellular matrix at a distant site from the
primary tumour, Akt gets reactivated and AMPK gets inhibited.
• The protein Akt is required for cell growth and proliferation while AMPK is needed for growth
suppression.
• The study based on breast cancer cells has refuted the 20-year-old dogma that Akt is vital for the
survival of circulating cancer cells.
• They have established that there is a role-reversal of Akt and AMPK proteins in breast cancer
progression.
• No link between Akt and AMPK proteins in cancer metastasis was known till now.
• The results of the latest study, therefore, become all the more important.
• The AMPK-mediated inhibition of Akt is through increased levels of a phosphatase (PHLPP2), which
removes the phosphate group from Akt.
• They used mouse models to support our findings from cancer cell lines.
• Since there are no chemicals available to inhibit PHLPP2, we used a RNA interference strategy to
reduce PHLPP2 levels.
• This resulted in impairment of the metastatic potential of cancer cells.
• Their work focuses mainly on breast cancer cells as the first observation of AMPK-Akt crosstalk
was made in these cells in our laboratory.
• However, results on mechanistic details of the inverse crosstalk are expected to hold true in other
cancer cells. But more research is needed to confirm this.

• The diabetic drug metformin has been repurposed as an anticancer agent.

• Since metformin activates AMPK, treatment using this drug may actually promote metastasis. So
metformin should not be used for cancer treatment without fully understanding its side-effects.
Sun-basking patterns of pythons altered due to tourists

• It is something they really need to do, but these rock pythons aren't soaking up the sun like they
should.
• Scientists find that tourists in Rajasthan are venturing close to these cold-blooded reptiles and
altering their sun-basking behaviour by forcing them to retreat to their burrows often.
• This could affect their physiology and lower breeding rates in a region home to the highest number
of rock pythons in India.
• Snakes and other cold-blooded animals have to regulate their body temperatures behaviourally, by
living in burrows or basking in the Sun.
• To study how Indian rock pythons adapt to extreme weather conditions in Keoladeo National Park
(where temperatures range between 0.5 and 50 degrees Celsius), scientists at the Salim Ali Centre for
Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) and Manipal University (MU) monitored up to 47 burrows for three
years (2013-2016).
• Each burrow housed up to three pythons; in their paper published in Global Ecology and
Conservation, the team estimate the python population in the 29-sq-km Park to be around 80.
• To monitor the snakes’ basking patterns, the scientists installed camera traps at six burrows from
October 2015 to May 2016.
• The pythons were most active during February; they usually emerged out of their burrows between 9
and 10 a.m. and retreated between 5 and 6 p.m, basking continuously for 4-5 hours a day with their mean
basking time peaking at noon.
• To check if the Park’s high tourist inflow affects the pythons’ basking patterns, the team also
installed one camera trap each near a disturbed, semi-disturbed and undisturbed burrow (classified based
on tourist footfall).
• With the cameras deployed across 182 days, the team finds that pythons in undisturbed burrows
basked for an average of 60 minutes per day.
• In disturbed burrows, however, pythons retreated just after noon and spent only around 36 minutes
basking.
• Tourists repeatedly approached specific burrows to less than 10 metres, forcing pythons to retreat
and emerge more frequently.
VR to study insects
• At Shannon Olsson’s lab at National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, the emphasis
is to get into the mind of insects to study how they perceive various stimuli even though they have brains
the size of pinheads.
• And one way they plan to do this is by building up a virtual reality system that is guided by the study
subjects – the insects themselves!

• The insect being studied, in this case the apple fly, is tethered to a holder by means of a very fine
string so that it cannot move away.
• The only thing it can do is flutter its wings and “tend” to move in some direction.
• This insect is placed at the centre of a semi-circular assembly of monitors on which a landscape is
shown.
• The virtual landscape may contain a meadow, trees with various fruit on them, the sky, shrubs etc.
• In addition, through tiny perforations, wind can be blown on the fly to simulate the breeze. This may
come mixed with various volatiles (smells) of fruit, grass etc.
• Two cameras observe the reactions of the insect and feed this into the computer that discerns the
trajectory, or intended direction of motion, of the insect.
• Accordingly, the computer adjusts the landscape shown on the monitors.
• So that if the fly tries to move towards a tree, that portion zooms and the rest shrink, so that it
appears to the fly as if it has gone close to the tree.
• It reacts to this and the cameras feed this back into the computer which once again adjusts the
landscape and so it goes.
• The question the researchers are trying to understand by building this experiment is – how can an
insect differentiate between various stimuli it sees, hears and smells.
• For instance, what makes the insect drift towards a particular flower or fruit?
• This system was built and calibrated over the past two years by Pavan Kumar Kaushik of NCBS for
his dissertation work.
• The graphical interface was built in Germany and inputs for the design came from collaborators in
the U.K.
• Calibration was performed by directly testing the insect itself.
• The success of this instrument lies in our chosen system — nearly 50 years of research on the
behaviour and ecology of the apple fly have provided with a large body of knowledge about how they
behave in the natural world.
• The team aims to unravel how insects find their food and what stimulates their movements.
Moth-proofed woolen fabric

• Using a cheap and easily available natural mineral, scientists from Central Sheep and Wool Research
Institute (ICAR-CSWRI), Rajasthan have now moth-proofed woollen fabric. The moths did not consume the
woollen fabric when treated with 1% nano kaolinite (an aluminium silicate clay mineral).
• The mineral costs just Rs 95/ kg while the existing anti-moth chemical (Eulan), which is imported,
costs Rs 2,000/kg.
• The results were published in The Journal of the Textile Institute.
• A moth feeds on a protein present in the woollen fabric; a moth larva can consume about 40 mg of
wool in a month.
• The researchers treated wool with different concentrations of nano-kaolinite solution and found just
1% was sufficient to protect the fabric.
• They adopted two different methods of wool treatments.

• One method was addition of kaolinite (dispersed in water) to fabric, followed by heating at 80
degree C for 30 minutes before water rinsing it.
• In the second method, fabric was dipped in the kaolinite dispersion for 30 minutes, squeezed and
kept for 24 hours at room temperature and then water rinsed.
• The second longer treatment for 24 hours gave better moth repellence with lesser fabric damage.
• To test the effectiveness of moth-proofing, the treated wool was placed in a Petri dish along with 10
adult moths for 15 days in a dark chamber.
• They also conducted the same test with wool treated with a commercially available agent.
• The natural mineral treated wool showed a weight loss of just 1.5% while untreated one was 12.85%.
• It was 0.5% in the case of fabric treated with the imported agent (Eulan).
• The researchers applied different concentrations of natural nano kaolinite and commercial
anti-moth agent directly on the moth to study contact toxicity. Just 0.05% of the chemical killed the moth
within a short span of time while the natural solution caused no or less toxic effect upon direct contact.
• It only stopped the moth from eating the wool and starved it to death.
• They think that the bitter taste of the natural mineral, triggered the deterrent receptor in the insects
brain and signalled not to eat the wool.
• The nano-kaolinite is ecofriendly and causes no harm to humans and aquatic environment when the
treated woolen fabric is washed.
•

Floating Treatment Wetland in Hyderbad lake

• Gently floating on the surface is an artificial ‘island’ made of meticulously chosen plant species,
inthe Neknampur Lake in Hyderabad city.
• The island is a floating treatment wetland (FTW).
• Several plants on this FTW help clean the lake by absorbing nutrients such as excess nitrates and
oxygen present in the water.
• They thus reduce the content of these chemicals.
• The FTW on Neknampur Lake was inaugurated on February 2, World Wetlands Day. Measuring 3,000
sq. ft., the FTW is a joint effort of Dhruvansh, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority, the Ranga
Reddy district administration and other organisations.
• It has already been recognised by the India Book of Records as the largest FTW in the country.
• Based on the soil-less hydroponics technique, the FTW comprises four layers. Floatable bamboo
forms its base, over which styrofoam cubicles are placed.
• The third layer consists of gunny bags. The final layer is of gravel.
• Hydroponics permits plants to grow only on sunlight and water. There is no need of soil.
• There are small holes at the bottom, which facilitate the flow of nutrients from the water to the
plants (biological uptake process), which are held upright by the gravel layer.
• Cleaning agents planted on the FTW include vetivers, canna, cattalis, bulrush, citronella, hibiscus,
fountain grass, flowering herbs, tulsi and ashvagandha.

• Micro-organisms growing on the FTW and plant root systems break down and consume the organic
matter in the water through microbial decomposition. The root systems filter out sediments and pollutants.
• FTW is strong and can hold the weight of as many as four people. Compared to sewage treatment
plants, this method is much cheaper.
• Periodic biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) readings are taken from the Pollution Control Board.
When the project began, the BOD was 27 mg/l.
• Hoping that in four to six months there will be a fundamental change because of the FTW.
Sanitation vs Stunting
• Stunting among children, or low height for age, is common in developing countries with poor
sanitation.
• Scientists hypothesise that this is because open defecation and unclean water expose children to
faecal bugs.
• Even if these pathogens do not cause diarrhoea, they inflame a child’s gut and hamper the food
absorption
• However, two studies from Bangladesh and Kenya show that this hypothesis may need a rethink.
• The studies, which targeted over 13,000 families, showed that water purification, sanitary latrines
and hand-washing (WASH) interventions in select households were not enough to prevent stunting in those
households.
• The findings, published inThe Lancet Global Healthon January 29, mean one of two things.
• First, WASH interventions may need to be very widespread to make a difference.
• Second, factors other than WASH may be critical to stunting.
• The two studies, to test whether WASH interventions could reduce gut-inflammation, and
consequently, stunting, began in 2012.
• One group, led by Stephen Luby of US’s Stanford WOODS Institute of Environment, enrolled 5,551
pregnant women from around Dhaka, and divided their families into seven groups.
• Three groups received the three individual WASH interventions, while a fourth received nutritional
counselling and dietary supplements for children.
• The fifth group received all three WASH interventions, the sixth received WASH as well as nutrition,
while a seventh served as a control.
• Once the pregnant women gave birth, stunting, diarrhoea and mortality rates were tracked among
their children for two years.
• Another research group, led by Clair Null, a child-health researcher at USA’s Mathematica Policy
Research, carried out a similar experiment on 8,246 pregnant women in Kenya.
• After two years, the Bangladeshi study found children in the WASH groups to be no taller than
controls.
• Improved diet did not make a big difference either – it corrected only a sixth of the height deficit in
the nutrition groups. The Kenyan study reported similar findings.
• The findings were a surprise to Luby, because previous research supports the link between hygiene
and stunting.

• But Luby cautions that it is too early to dismiss the link, because the WASH interventions may have
failed at fully cutting exposure to faecal bugs and gut-inflammation.
• Such exposure could occur in several ways. While the interventions were restricted to household
compounds and human faeces, children also come in contact with the outside environment and animal
faeces.
• Plus, while chlorine is a good disinfectant, it may not work against protozoa like Giardia lamblia.
• Governments must still focus on WASH because it is a basic human right. But should we expect
sanitation to solve stunting? It will not.::

Potential Biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease

• Researchers at Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have identified a potential biomarker for
Alzheimer’s disease.
• The biomarker shows up very early in the disease process and well before clinical and even
pathological manifestation of the disease.
• They also found that it is possible to reverse the disease process if identified early.
• Loss of dendritic spines from the surface of a nerve cell is already recognised as an early feature of
Alzheimer’s. But the underlying mechanism behind this loss was not known.
• Now, a team led by Vijayalakshmi Ravindranath from the Centre for Neuroscience at IISc has
deciphered it. The results were published inJournal of Neuroscience.
• Projections on the dendrites called spines grow or shrink in response to activity-dependent
modification and correlates with normal memory or memory deficit in animal models.
• Filamentous actin (F-actin) is a cytoskeletal protein which is responsible for maintaining the shape
of the spines.
• While F-actin is formed by polymerisation of monomeric globular-actin (G-actin), depolymerisation
leads to loss of F-actin and, in turn, the loss of spines. F-actin is crucial for memory consolidation.
• In mice that are genetically altered to have Alzheimer’s, there was decreased F-actin protein level
and increased G-actin protein level in animals as young as one month.
• The change in the ratio of F-actin and G-actin led to loss of spines.
• The decrease in F-actin level and loss of spine thereof translated into memory deficit when the
animals turned two months old.
• In contrast, the first signs of memory deficit in mice with Alzheimer’s is typically seen only when the
animals are seven-eight months old.
• This is because the formation of protein clumps called amyloid plaques, which is one of the earliest
clinical symptoms, happens at this stage.
• To test the role of F-actin in behaviour response, two-month-old mice were exposed to mild foot
shocks when kept in a conditioning chamber to bring about contextual fear conditioning.
• While normal mice placed in the chamber the next day they tend to freeze in anticipation of a shock,
mice with Alzheimer’s did not exhibit this behaviour.
• To test if decrease in F-actin protein and, in turn, the spine was responsible for deficit in memory a
chemical was injected into Alzheimer mice to stabilise the level of F-actin.

• The researchers went a step further to test the role of F-actin level in behaviour response by
injecting a chemical into four-month-old normal mice.
• Since the chemical inhibits actin polymerisation, there was a decrease in the F-actin level. And the
mice, though healthy, displayed significant decrease in freezing response, just like Alzheimer’s mice would
behave.
• The team checked the level of F-actin levels in cortical brain tissue samples of human subjects who
had Alzheimer’s, mild cognitive impairment and normal cognition.
• There was “graded lowering” of F-actin levels from normal to mild cognitive to Alzheimer’s tissue
samples.
• The correlation seen between mouse model and human disease indicates the potential to use
F-actin levels as a biomarker.
Immigration in Biology
• In biology, this process has been on even at the single-cellular levels, over 2.5 to 3 billion years ago
— and continues even today.
• Leave alone infection by pathogens; there have been helpful ones too.
• Two outstanding examples of helpful immigration that happened during those early years are
chloroplasts and mitochondria.
• The chloroplasts are neatly packaged mini-cells which come with their own genetic make- up, and
they have the ability to absorb sunlight and use it to convert atmospheric carbon dioxide and water to
produce the sugar glucose and the gas oxygen.
• They appear to have arisen from even more ancient cells called ‘cyanobacteria’ (3.5 billion years
ago), and have migrated from there to plant cells.
• This immigration led to what is called the ‘oxygen revolution’, through which the air surrounding the
earth became over 20% rich in oxygen ( pranavayu - a gas without which we cannot live).
• At about the same time, or a bit later, another ancient life form, derived from ‘the purple bacterium’,
migrated to both plant and animal cells.
• This is the mitochondrion. Mitochondria do the reverse; they use oxygen and enhance the metabolic
energy production of their ‘host’ cells by as much as tenfold.
• Mitochondria are thus power houses in cells, as chloroplasts are solar panels of energy in plants.
• Cellular immigrants such as these two are welcome in cells and have been given permanent
residence permits therein.
• But they bring their own genomes through which they produce progeny, and live in ghettos called
organelles in the cells, offering power and prosperity to their hosts.
• All animals, plants and fungi have accommodated mitochondria in their cells.
• The number of mitochondria in a cell varies depending on the role of the cell.
• Muscle cells, which have high energy needs have large numbers of mitochondria in them, while red
blood cells whose job is just to transport oxygen have none.
• Given all this importance of mitochondria, it comes as a surprise to learn that we humans inherit our
mitochondria only from the mother and none at all from the father. In other words, it is the mother who
provides her progeny the Power-Pack that her children’s body cells need.

• So it is in plants too; it is the female that provides the chloroplasts.

• This too is a process that has been conserved evolutionarily from worms, fruit flies, animals and
humans, and is referred to as ‘uniparental inheritance’.
• But how and why does this happen? After all the egg cell is fertilized by the sperm cell, and both of
them carry their own mitochondria.
• And as the sperm cell enters the egg cell, its mitochondria are eliminated, and why? This is a puzzle
that has bothered scientists, and several suggestions have come about recently.
• Some have proposed that mitochondrial DNA is inherently more prone to damage than nuclear DNA,
and that if the introduced mitochondria are avoided or deleted, one can make do with the maternal
mitochondria, which can be multiplied as the embryo forms and develops.
Reasons for same-sex behavior in Pigeons

• It’s all about making the best of a bad job: if there is a paucity of males, female rock pigeons can
form long-lasting, same-sex relationships to bring up their chicks, find scientists.
• Such female pairs fare no differently than female–male pairs, and better than single females, in
bringing up their brood.
• Numerous records of same-sex sexual behaviour exist in the natural world and more than 130 bird
species have been recorded displaying such behaviour, ranging from courtship displays and copulation to
establishing nesting territories.
• Theories put forward to explain this include ‘social glue’ (where engaging in same-sex bonds
establishes strong social relationships), ‘alloparenting’ (that females have a fluid sexuality that helps them
form same-sex bonds if their partners die or leave, which is useful to bring up offspring) and the ‘prison
effect’ (removing one sex causes the rest to engage sexually with members of its own sex).
• A team of scientists from Poland tested what would happen if males or females are removed from
populations of rock (feral) pigeons, a monogamous species (which has only one mate at a time) that is also
found in India.
• In their study published in Scientific Reports, the scientists detail how they established three feral
pigeon colonies between 2007 and 2009.
• From the first colony, they removed several males that had already paired with females.
• This skewed the sex ratio towards females, creating not just the existing female–male (f–m) pairs
but also five female–female (f–f) pairs and 14 single females.
• Males from the f–m pairs fertilised the single females and those in the f–f pairs.
• The team found that egg incubation time, development of chicks and numbers of hatchlings of f–f
pairs was almost the same as f–m pairs, while single females did not do as well.
• The removal of females from the second colony created only two short and unstable male–male
pairs, which did not build nests or adopt offered eggs.
• From the third colony, when the team removed females whose fledglings were growing, males
displayed mating behaviour towards their offspring.

Pure white light from Zinc

• Now, pure white light can be produced using zinc, which is usually used to protect iron from rusting
and in making brass.
• The most commonly used method of producing white light is by mixing three primary
colour–emitting phosphors in a proportionate composition.
• The existing methods of white-light production are energy-intensive and involve a long process.
• But the new LED device requires only a single active layer of zinc-based metal–organic framework
to get perfect white light under UV-excitation.
• And synthesis of the zinc framework is easy and highly stable and is not energy-intensive.
• Scientists from Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata, synthesised the
zinc-framework and the results were published inJournal of Materials Chemistry C.
• For the LED fabrication, indium tin oxide–coated glass was used as anode and vacuum evaporated
aluminium as cathode.
• The zinc-based framework is used as the active layer in which electrons are recombined to produce
white light.
• The precursor materials used to make the LED are easily available and very much cost effective.
• By checking with the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) standards, the researchers
found that the emission was very close to that of ideal white light.
• While commercially available white LEDs show slightly higher blue emission when compared with
two other primary colours, the new white LED emits three primary colours proportionally to get perfect
white light.

Ancient Climate Change vs Rare forest owlet

• Between four and six million years ago, long before humans evolved, drastic climatic changes in the
Indian subcontinent led to the evolution of a new bird: central India’s now-endangered and rare forest owlet.
• Scientists have also found that it belongs to the same genus as the commonly-seen spotted owlet,
finally settling a century-old debate on its genetic relationship with other Indian owlets.
• The taxonomy of the forest owlet (Heteroglaux blewetti), which resembles the spotted owlet Athene
brama, has always been a mystery.
• Taxonomists placed it in a separate genus Heteroglaux and sometimes in Athene; others saw it as
more closely related to another species, the jungle owlet.
• For the first time, a team of scientists obtained permits to carefully take some feathers from forest,
spotted and jungle owlets in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh.
• From the feathers, they extracted DNA (of five genes, both mitochondrial and nuclear) and built a
genetic tree to reveal the relationship between the birds.
• Their results show that the forest owlet belongs to the same genus (Athene) as the spotted owlet,
thus settling a century-old debate about its taxonomy.
• According to their paper published inPLoS ONE, the bird can now be known as Athene blewetti.

• Using dated fossil records of ancient owls on this genetic tree, the team estimated the time at which
the forest owlet diverged from its nearest relatives, the process by which new species evolve.
• Their results show that the forest and spotted owlets split as different species between 4.3 and 5.7
million years ago, when drastic climatic changes occurred in the Indian subcontinent.
• “Multiple cycles of wet and dry climes characterised the Indian subcontinent then,” says lead author
Pankaj Koparde (Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History). “Independent research shows that
this period, the Plio-Pleistocene, also saw the speciation of several other high-altitude birds in the Western
Ghats.”
• This means that climate played a major role in the speciation of the owlets, says Koparde. With
climate change being a concern now, it would be important to study how new weather events affect the
forest owlet, he adds.
• This would be crucial to conserve the species, which is rare and found in a severely fragmented
habitat threatened by the activities of humans, a species that came into being a few million years after they
did.
Air Pollution from Petroleum-based chemicals used in perfumes

• The deodorants, perfumes and soaps that keep us smelling good are fouling the air with a harmful
type of pollution — at levels as high as emissions from today’s cars and trucks.
• That’s the surprising finding of a study published last week in the journalScience.
• Researchers found that petroleum-based chemicals used in perfumes, paints and other consumer
products can, taken together, emit as much air pollution in the form of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs,
as motor vehicles do.
• The VOCs interact with other particles in the air to create the building blocks of smog, namely
ozone, which can trigger asthma and permanently scar the lungs, and another type of pollution known as
PM2.5, fine particles that are linked to heart attacks, strokes and lung cancer.
• Smog is generally associated with cars, but since the 1970s regulators have pushed automakers to
invest in technologies that have substantially reduced VOC emissions from automobiles.
• So the rising share of air pollution caused by things like pesticides and hair products is partly an
effect of cars getting cleaner.
• But that breathing room has helped scientists see the invisible pollutants that arise from a spray of
deodorant or a dollop of body lotion.
• The researchers said their study was inspired by earlier measurements of VOCs in Los Angeles that
showed concentrations of petroleum-based compounds at levels higher than could be predicted from
fossil-fuel sources alone. Concentrations of ethanol, for example, were some five times higher than
expected. And those levels were increasing over time.
• Those carbon dioxide emissions are not smog-forming VOCs, though they are a major driver of
human-caused climate change.
• Forty per cent of the chemicals added to consumer products wind up in the air, the researchers
found.

• To make their calculations, the study’s authors constructed a computer model that simulated air
quality in Los Angeles, weaving in data from the chemical composition of consumer goods and tailpipe
emissions.
• Using the model, they could see the fingerprints of the chemical compounds coming from personal
care products and also estimate how many VOCs from paints and finishes inside buildings were being
released to the outside world.
• Roughly half of the VOCs in Los Angeles air could be attributed to consumer products, the authors
found.
• Concerned consumers may be tempted to turn to “natural” products, though the researchers say
that isn’t a cure-all. For example, one class of compounds called terpenes gives many cleaning products a
pine or citrus smell.
• These terpenes can be produced synthetically, or naturally from oranges.
• Galina Churkina, a research fellow at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies who
was not involved in the study, noted that the study did not consider emissions related to biological sources
like trees and animals.
• But the authors said their study was not the end of this line of research.
• There are tens of thousands of chemicals in consumer products, and researchers have not yet
pinpointed which chemicals are most likely to form ozone or PM2.5 particles.
• Notably, some of the VOCs used in consumer products were replacements for chlorofluorocarbons,
or CFCs.
• Those chemicals were phased out beginning in the 1980s because they thinned the Earth’s ozone
layer.
• For consumers looking for a greener solution, McDonald offered some advice. “Use as little of the
product as you can to get the job done,” he said.NY Times

New plant species found in West Bengal

• Scientists from the Botanical Survey of India have identified a new plant species from two protected
National Parks in West Bengal.
• Named Drypetes kalamii, it is a small shrub found to be shorter version of its close relative Drypetes
ellisii.This adds to the rich floral wealth of India.
• Standing just 1 metre tall, the newly described plant is unisexual in nature, which means they have
separate male and female plants.
• During the survey and documentation of the flora of Buxa National Park, West Bengal (core area of
Buxa Tiger Reserve), in 2011, came across these plants, but could not identify them.
• Another author of the paper had collected a new female plant with fruits from Jaldapara National
Park, West Bengal.
• The fruiting specimen can be easily identified in Drypetes . We later found that both the plants
belonged to the same species.
• Further consultations with plant biologists from India and abroad helped us confirm its new identity.

• The researchers compared the new plant with other Drypetes species and found differences in the
leaf, flower and fruit structures. There are about 220 species of Drypetes identified across the globe of
which 20 have been reported from India.
• The new species is a close relative of a medicinal plant known in Sanskrit asPutrajivah.
• NASA had recently named a new bacterium after Dr Kalam.
• The new species is found in wet, shaded areas of subtropical moist semi-evergreen forests, at a
height ranging 50-100 metres.
• With pale yellow flowers in clusters and bright orange to red fruits, the plant is exclusive to the two
national parks.
• By following the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) rules, the scientists have
provisionally assessed the plant to be “Critically Endangered”.
• The report states forest fires and grazing as two plausible threats to the new species.
Pattern of deforestration explained in Physics theory

• Predicting rising numbers is usually good news in ecology, but not if they refer to forest fragments.
• Current rates of deforestation could cause a 33-fold increase in forest fragments over the next 50
years, shows a study published inNature.
• Deforestation, fuelled by factors including habitat conversion and timber production, causes
fragmentation.
• As large forests are cut into pieces, biodiversity suffers and carbon is also lost.
• To study patterns of tropical forest fragmentation, scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research (Germany) used remotely-sensed images to map more than 130 million forest
fragments across 427 million hectares in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Australia.
• They found that fragment sizes in three continents followed similar frequency distributions.
• The number of forest fragments smaller than 10,000 hectares, for instance, is similar in Central and
South America (11.2%), Africa (9.9%) and Southeast Asia (9.2%).
• The theory (which has been used to explain phenomena including the trickling of water through soil
and patterns of forest fires) states that in a certain phase of deforestation, the forest landscape exhibits
structures that can be found repeatedly.
• The scientists found that forest fragmentation is currently close to a critical point beyond which
fragment number will strongly increase.
• Using this to predict future patterns of forest fragmentation, the team found that any additional
forest loss can decrease fragment size and cause a 33-fold increase in the number of forest fragments over
50 years.
• Though their models show that this could be partly mitigated by reforestation and forest protection,
there will be repercussions for countries that fall in these zones, including India.
• More fragments mean more edges which are highly disturbance-prone and decrease habitat quality
for wildlife.

3D scar tissue model

• Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi have for the first time developed a 3D
scar-tissue model through tissue engineering.
• Drugs currently available to reduce scarring in the case of deep wounds that affect all the layers of
the skin have limitations owing to poor understanding of scar tissue formation and the signalling pathways
responsible for its development.
• This is particularly so as results of scar tissue models created in animals have limitations when
extrapolated to humans.
• Also, the European Union directive to find alternatives to animals testing makes Prof. Ghosh’s
relatively simple in vitro scar-tissue model ideal for drug testing.
• The researchers first encapsulated fibroblasts from healthy human skin within the collagen gel.
• Three days after an optimised cocktail of three cytokines were added to the media, differentiation of
dermal fibroblasts into myofibroblasts was triggered.
• Myofibroblasts are bigger in size than fibroblasts and have greater contractile power, something that
is essential to close the wound.
• Scar-specific proteins are expressed by myofibroblasts.
• In addition to the differentiation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts, the researchers witnessed other
typical features that cause scar formation.
• For instance, during the wound-healing process, excessive fibrous extracellular matrix is produced.
• While there is excessive production of extracellular matrix proteins, the secretion of matrix
metalloproteinase, whose role is to degrade certain proteins such as ECM, is reduced.
• As a result, the tightly regulated balance between synthesis and degradation of matrix components
get disturbed, and the skin gets thicker and stiffer.
• There was also increased expression of alpha smooth muscle actin, a cytoskeleton protein, in the in
vitro scar model.
• Creating scar tissue in the lab has great implications for the pharmaceutical industry.
• The cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries, which are developing anti-fibrosis or anti-scar
medicines, need not have to test them on animals.
• They can use our tissue-engineered model instead.
• The team is now using selective peptide domains and a 3D bioprinting strategy to develop
progressively more complex in vitro scar tissue, which would recapitulate more hallmark features that are
critical for tissue fibrosis.





IMPORTANT ARTICLES
A new weapon in the carbon fight

It is not usual to think of soils in the context of climate change. Policy is usually focussed on reducing
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the electricity sector, transport and industry. There has, however,
been a renewed interest in understanding how soils can serve as a sink for carbon dioxide since
atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have crossed 410 parts per million and oceans are already
turning acidic. Besides, increasing soil carbon offers a range of co-benefits and this would buy us time
before other technologies can help us transition to a zero-carbon lifestyle.
Significant carbon pools on earth are found in the earth’s crust, oceans, atmosphere and land-based
ecosystems. Soils contain roughly 2,344 Gt (1 gigatonne = 1 billion tonnes) of organic carbon, making this
the largest terrestrial pool. Soil organic carbon (SOC) comes from plants, animals, microbes, leaves and
wood, mostly found in the first metre or so. There are many conditions and processes that determine
changes to SOC content including temperature, rainfall, vegetation, soil management and land-use change.
Increasing SOC through various methods can improve soil health, agricultural yield, food security, water
quality, and reduce the need for chemicals. Changing agricultural practices to make them more sustainable
would not just address carbon mitigation but also improve other planetary boundaries in peril such as fresh
water, biodiversity, land use and nitrogen use.
Currently, the world is on a path to be about 3ºC warmer than pre-Industrial times even if there was follow
through on all the commitments made at the Paris climate conference in 2015. The aim of the global
community is to try and stay below 1.5ºC, which is a very tall order since current average temperatures are
already about a degree higher.
Approaches to increase SOC include reducing soil erosion, no-till-farming, use of cover crops, nutrient
management, applying manure and sludge, water harvesting and conservation, and agroforestry practices.
Rattan Lal from Ohio State University estimates that an increase of just 1 tonne of soil carbon pool of
degraded cropland soils can increase crop yield by several kilograms per hectare. Moreover, carbon

sequestration in soils has the potential to offset GHG emissions from fossil fuels by up to 15% annually. In
contrast, it has been estimated that SOC in India has reduced from 30% to 60% in cultivated soils compared
with soils that are not disturbed.
After the changes undertaken as part of the Green Revolution, crop yields increased for several decades,
but there has also been a dramatic increase in the use of chemicals — pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.
Still, agricultural yields have begun to drop in many places for a variety of reasons primarily related to
degraded soils. Industrial changes to agriculture have led to a range of adverse effects: loss of biodiversity,
elimination of beneficial microbes and insects, reduction in yield, contamination of water bodies and soils,
and increasing toxicity and deaths from chemical use in farm households.
India has a large number of successful sustainable agricultural practices that are consistent with ecological
principles. These include natural farming (or as the Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka calls it,
‘do-nothing farming’), permaculture and organic farming. Personal and online reports indicate that the
improvements to soil health and profits occur rapidly. But the knowledge and innovations of farmers who
have successfully experimented with these methods must be considered in research and policy.
The number of farmers in organic farming has been increasing steadily, but many are simply deploying
regular agriculture with natural substitutes for chemicals. Up to a third of rainfed farmers simply do not
have the means to add chemicals, and are organic by default. Many States have some sustainable farming,
with Madhya Pradesh reportedly having the highest acreage.
Many of these practices have come into their own over several decades — through the efforts of farmers
and sometimes with support from local groups — and the time is long past where these are regarded as
outlandish alternative methods. Given that these techniques can contribute to relieving a range of
challenges, State-level policy makers need to understand better the successes on the ground in India’s
different agro-climatic zones
They also need to identify what kinds of support are needed by farmers with small holdings to transition
from existing practices. Not paying attention to the successes of our own farmers has partly contributed to
the agrarian crisis the country now faces.
India’s population will continue to increase through at least the middle of the century and we need to be
able to grow more food, grown in less land and in more severe weather conditions. We ignore our own
farmers’ successes at our own peril.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture in its 2016 report in fact recommended “revision of
the existing fertiliser subsidy policy and promotion of organic fertilizers”. The government has been
promoting a Soil Health Card scheme to measure the health of the soils in different parts of the country and
in each farm. There is little policy support for natural farming and the alternatives. The fertilizer lobby,
extension services, and the many agricultural scientists — unschooled in agroforestry and ecological
methods — would oppose changes but these practices that integrate good management of soil, water and
land provide a host of benefits. The ability of soils to sequester carbon is a win-win strategy for farmers,
people and for climate change and it is time we stopped ignoring these at the policy levels.


Blue, white, maroon, and now orange

Citizens who fall under the Emigration Check Required (ECR) category will soon have passports with orange
jackets, instead of the dark blue that has so far been the colour of all passports under the ECR and non-ECR
categories. ECR passports are mainly given to non-matriculate workers who wish to work in the Gulf
countries and in Southeast Asia.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has been taking measures to improve passport services over the last
decade. The previous government prioritised quick passport delivery. The present government, apart from
opening new passport centres, is streamlining the process for passport application and delivery. The MEA
was also wondering how to make passports more gender-just, especially after a few cases of single
mothers applying for their children’s passports came to the Ministry (the address on the last page includes
the father’s/ legal guardian’s name). The MEA has done away with the last page to be printed in “due
course”. It was while initiating a change in passports that the decision to introduce orange passports for
the ECR category was taken.
Passport holders under the ECR category have faced exploitation, especially in West Asia. Protecting their
human rights has become a priority, as the government is reaching out to diaspora Indians and Indians
working abroad. ECR passport holders are being serviced by the Protector General of Emigrants so that
their human rights are safeguarded abroad. It is expected that with an orange passport, ECR passport
holders will stand out in difficult situations and their passports will allow for quick processing of their
documents. However, critics say this could render migrant workers “second-class citizens”.
When the India Security Press, Nashik, is ready. Till then, blue passports with the last page for both ECR and
non-ECR categories will remain in circulation. Apart from blue and orange, what other colours of passports
exist? White for government officials and maroon for diplomats.

Capacity building for primary health care

A contentious element of the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill 2017 — an attempt to revamp the
medical education system in India to ensure an adequate supply of quality medical professionals — has
been Section 49, Subsection 4 that proposes a joint sitting of the Commission, the Central Council of
Homoeopathy and the Central Council of Indian Medicine. This sitting, referred to in Subsection 1, may
“decide on approving specific bridge course that may be introduced for the practitioners of Homoeopathy
and of Indian Systems of Medicine to enable them to prescribe such modern medicines at such level as
may be prescribed.”
The debates around this issue have been ranging from writing-off the ability of Ayurveda, yoga and
naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and homoeopathy (AYUSH) practitioners to cross-practise to highlighting current
restrictions on allopathic practitioners from practising higher levels of caregiving. However, these debates
miss the reality: which is a primary health system that is struggling with a below-par national
physician-patient ratio (0.76 per 1,000 population, amongst the lowest in the world) due to a paucity of
MBBS-trained primary-care physicians and the unwillingness of existing MBBS-trained physicians to serve

remote/rural populations. Urban-rural disparities in physician availability in the face of an increasing burden
of chronic diseases make health care in India both inequitable and expensive.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for a trained cadre to provide accessible primary-care services that cover
minor ailments, health promotion services, risk screening for early disease detection and appropriate
referral linkages, and ensure that people receive care at a community level when they need it.
The issue of AYUSH cross-prescription has been a part of public health and policy discourse for over a
decade, with the National Health Policy (NHP) 2017 calling for multi-dimensional mainstreaming of AYUSH
physicians. There were 7.7 lakh registered AYUSH practitioners in 2016, according to National Health Profile
2017 data. Their current academic training also includes a conventional biomedical syllabus covering
anatomy, physiology, pathology and biochemistry. Efforts to gather evidence on the capacity of licensed
and bridge-trained AYUSH physicians to function as primary-care physicians have been under way in diverse
field settings, and the call for a structured, capacity-building mechanism is merely the next logical step.
The 4th Common Review Mission Report 2010 of the National Health Mission reports the utilisation of
AYUSH physicians as medical officers in primary health centres (PHCs) in Assam, Chhattisgarh,
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand as a human resource rationalisation strategy. In some
cases, it was noted that while the supply of AYUSH physicians was high, a lack of appropriate training in
allopathic drug dispensation was a deterrent to their utilisation in primary-care settings. Similarly, the 2013
Shailaja Chandra report on the status of Indian medicine and folk healing, commissioned by the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare, noted several instances in States where National Rural Health Mission-recruited
AYUSH physicians were the sole care providers in PHCs and called for the appropriate skilling of this cadre
to meet the demand for acute and emergency care at the primary level.
Our own experience at the IKP Centre for Technologies in Public Health shows that there is hope. Here, the
focus has been on deploying a capacity-building strategy using AYUSH physicians upskilled through a
bridge-training programme, and the use of evidence-based protocols, supported by technology, to deliver
quality, standardised primary health care to rural populations. Protocols cover minor acute ailments such as
fever, upper respiratory tract infections, gastrointestinal conditions (diarrhoea, acidity), urological
conditions, as well as proactive risk-screening. The Maharashtra government has led the way in
implementing bridge training for capacity-building of licensed homoeopathy practitioners to
cross-prescribe.
As anchors
Capacity-building of licensed AYUSH practitioners through bridge training to meet India’s primary care
needs is only one of the multi-pronged efforts required to meet the objective of achieving universal health
coverage set out in NHP 2017. Current capacity-building efforts include other non-MBBS personnel such as
nurses, auxiliary nurse midwives and rural medical assistants, thereby creating a cadre of mid-level service
providers as anchors for the provision of comprehensive primary-care services at the proposed health and
wellness centres. Further, the existing practice of using AYUSH physicians as medical officers in
guideline-based national health programmes, a location-specific availability of this cadre to ensure
uninterrupted care provision in certain resource-limited settings, as well as their current academic training
that has primed them for cross-disciplinary learning hold promise. These provide a sufficient basis to
explore the proposal of bridging their training to “enable them to prescribe such modern medicines at such
level as may be prescribed”.

Ensuing discussions will be well served to focus on substantive aspects of this solution: design and scope
of the programme, implementation, monitoring and audit mechanisms, technology support, and the legal
and regulatory framework. In the long run, a pluralistic and integrated medical system for India remains a
solution worth exploring for both effective primary-care delivery and prevention of chronic and infectious
diseases.

The colour of inequity

The government announced that citizens whose passports carry the stamp ‘Emigration Check Required’
(ECR) will hold orange passports, while those who don’t require emigration checks will carry dark blue
passports. It also introduced another change. Over the past few years, certain sections of women, and
children with single parents, have made a strong case against the name of the spouse/father being
mentioned in the passport. In response, the Ministry of External Affairs has decided that it will no longer be
printing the name of the spouse/father/legal guardian on the last page of passports. In fact, the last page
will be left blank. While the government’s decision addresses the concerns raised by these women and
children, it will have devastating consequences for others.
ECR passport-holders are those who, among other things, have not passed their matriculation examination
or are not income tax payees. Data from the Protectorate General of Emigrants shows that a majority are
likely to belong to a minority or marginalised community from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. To prevent the
exploitation of such unskilled workers when they are employed in certain parts of the world, an ECR stamp
is made on their passports. Now that the last page is going to be left blank, the government, in an apparent
attempt to improve efficiency at airports, has decided that it will issue an orange passport for them.
By failing to use technology-led solutions to identify ECR passport-holders quickly, and issuing orange
passports only to poor and marginalised migrant workers, the administration is creating a situation where
some citizens will proudly carry the dark blue document while others will carry one that is an evidence of
the failure of the state to provide education and income opportunities to all. While it is no one’s case that
the government intended to create a citizenship document that will visibly identify some as members of
economically and socially marginalised or minority communities, unfortunately that’s how it will play out.
For, every time the orange passport will be used at airports around the world, it will not only shout out that
Indians have reneged on a core promise laid out in the Preamble of the Constitution — “to secure to all its
citizens equality of status and of opportunity” — but will also separate and stigmatise a set of citizens for
their poverty.
History is replete with odious instances of countries that have differentiated between citizens in the past —
be it the Judenstempel or the big red “J” that was stamped on passports held by German Jews in the
1940s, or the Dompas, a pass book that had to be carried by some South Africans to declare their
qualifications to seek work in specific areas. Each of these serves as a reminder for everything that a
democracy like ours cannot have any space for. Can the world’s largest democracy allow a document,
issued in the name of its President, to divide it on the basis of economic or social capital?


Getting back on the democratic path

Howsoever anniversary stock-takings assess pluses and minuses, one conclusion is surely inescapable:
India remains woefully short of its potential. Whatever our excuses, one cause is equally fundamental: the
decisions shaping our destiny are themselves shaped by considerations increasingly unworthy of a serious
nation. Yes, we are a difficult country to govern, none ever coped with so many competing diversities, rights
and claims, in such huge proportions — and through democracy. This makes it all the more necessary to
employ common sense, vision and judgment, balance and largeness, and above all reason. The less these
matter to us, the farther back must we fall.
Our social tensions need sensitive healing, but suffer ever harsher divisiveness; our political institutions and
processes need to address rising challenges but sink ever deeper in backwardness; our administrative
machinery desperately needs efficiency but corrodes into dysfunctionality; we live in a turbulent, dangerous
world but have neither time nor expertise to attend to it. Our security challenges become more complex
while both our conceptual and procedural drawbacks retard our response-capabilities.
India is not alone in such difficulties. Countries worldwide find existing governmental systems unable to
cope with contemporary challenges or people’s expectations, some even with basic needs. Particularly
alarming is the condition in democracies, where the ideals and concepts, the very essence of their being,
are threatened. Widely idolised till now, with even those trampling it claiming to uphold it, democracy has
never had many practitioners. A few North Atlantic states apart, most even in Europe, claiming to be
exemplars, actually became democracies after India. Almost all colonised states started as democracies,
almost all turned rapidly into autocracies. We Indians could long claim shining exception, but the ease with
which the Emergency could be imposed is warning enough how fragile our version is.
Democracy depends on the Enlightenment’s ideals — the ceaseless expansion of liberty and equality, the
impartial functioning of impersonal law and institutions, the reconciliation of society’s differences by
accommodative compromise, above all the primacy of reason. India’s democracy, howsoever imperfect,
worked awhile because those who led us into Independence had imbibed these ideas. Always hugely
disproportionate to their tiny size, their influence is finished; Enlightenment teachings no longer resonate
with electorates in which group obsessions stultify basic national interest. Most stunningly is this manifest
today in the U.S.; ugly forces prevail there periodically, somehow the humanist Enlightenment principles
come back. The world needs that to happen there again, but our active concern must be at home.
That our democracy is seriously ailing is so obvious, one wonders why our political parties are so oblivious.
The party claiming, not unjustifiably, to have led us to freedom seems devoid of ideas — offering no vision,
no version of our future, which could possibly inspire anybody. And others are worse. The greatest success
story of our times, the astonishing speed and extent of China’s rise, surely shows that the decisive cause is
that a directing mind chose specific objectives and worked for them with determination. Authoritarianism
doubtless made possible advances open societies cannot match, but dictatorships abound which keep
their countries backward, whereas there are serious democracies seriously striving for betterment.
Originally denoting differences in economic levels and ideologies, ‘Third World’ also represents backward, if
not chaotic, ways of governance — selfish, often barbaric despotisms ruling by whim over peoples
depressed and oppressed. The key difference that separates properly run states lies in seriousness of
decent purpose. We Indians lose our way in tangents: Third World conditions beckon.

China’s record over the last century is hardly edifying — revolutions, civil war, famines, war-lords, etc.
Corruption is rampant, sloth and incompetence hardly unknown, but things get done because there is a
directing force which devises and executes forward-looking plans for national greatness. How many
shaping our destinies have any real sense of national, as distinct from personal or sectional, purpose, leave
alone greatness? China is both a yardstick and a warning: fall behind and we fall under. We have no option
but to make our system functional and to the right purposes. We gave ourselves a great system but have
not known how to keep it up to standard. Currently resurrected, Alexander Hamilton is appropriate: “A
government must be fitted to a nation as much as a coat to the Individual… what may be good at
Philadelphia may be bad at Paris and ridiculous at Petersburg.” People end up with governments
functioning like themselves, and we have transmogrified our original system through our own weaknesses.
The dispersion of power between executive, legislature and judiciary is undermined by both our traditional
acceptance of personal rule and the appalling incompetence of each branch. Our political executives are
self-seeking while the permanent branches are dysfunctional; our legislatures hardly meet and when they
do there is bedlam; our judiciary, the last remaining estate to retain some public respect, has discarded it
along with the decorum of self-respect; and the Fourth Estate, so essential a safeguard, competes in
descent. That we blithely carry on as though it will all come out in the wash is as incredible as it is fatal. We
must realise what we have done to our system and repair it urgently.
Diagnoses upon diagnoses, what is the cure? It is hard not to conclude there is none: some problems have
no solutions, one can only manage things as best one can. In 150 years of modernising influences we never
grew out of our old ways. Enormous reforms we need we reject: how can any society advance when
saddling itself with khap panchayats, disgraceful dowry systems, blatant practice of untouchability,
acceptance of castration and other primitivisms? Ways of thinking and behaving are universally intractable.
Claiming Europeanism, and with generations of modernising after Kemal Ataturk, Turkey clings to old
tendencies. For all its astonishing progress, China practises female infanticide. One Western humanist state
after another is rocked by tribalism. But civilisation evolves through efforts to change, even if change itself
keeps resisting, but the effort must be forward-looking, not regressive.
We need a planned, determined push to make our system work and modernise. Only an organised body
with such a purpose can do anything. Despite the obstructionism we have made our norm, this government
is positioned to get things done — if it only will; no other force seems at all likely. This Prime Minister,
particularly, has built a personal position of great possibilities, and his international approaches show the
imagination and dexterity needed for national greatness. His party’s electoral calculations present our
greatest obstacle: of course, elections need winning ways, but at what cost? The furtherance and
exploitation of obscurantism and regression will only help our enemies, denying us the progress essential
for handling modern challenges. Can (re)building legendary temples help us handle a China already
reaching the forefront of technological innovation?
“Forget the excuse that politics is the art of the possible, remember leadership is the art of making even the
impossible possible.” My father Girija Shankar Bajpai’s observation points to the prime necessity: the will to
succeed, a carefully thought out plan, a commitment to fulfilment, obviously not to reviving a past irrelevant
to today, if indeed it ever existed, but to a state and society adapted to our times. We the people are
ultimately responsible but political leaders have to lead. We can only appeal to them to do so — or meander
into the anarchy we seem most at home in, or authoritarianism — or both.

Banking on good faith

About Rs. 1 lakh crore is expected to be pumped into India’s 21 public sector banks by March, which the
Centre hopes will enable them to extend fresh credit lines worth over Rs. 5 lakh crore to spur economic
activity. Of the capital injection — the first half of an ambitious Rs. 2.11-lakh crore recapitalisation
programme for ailing public sector banks announced last October — about Rs. 8,100 crore is from the
government’s budgetary resources. Banks are expected to tap the markets for Rs. 10,300 crore, while
recapitalisation bonds worth Rs. 80,000 crore are to be issued to finance the rest. Leaving aside the
market-raising efforts by banks, over half the fresh capital of over Rs. 52,000 crore is being directed to the
11 public sector banks that the Reserve Bank of India has placed under the prompt corrective action, or
PCA, framework. The RBI deploys the PCA to monitor the operation of weaker banks more closely to
encourage them to conserve capital and avoid risks. For these entities, this capital offers a fresh lease of
life as it will help meet regulatory requirements under the Basel-III regime as well as cushion them to an
extent from possible haircuts on stressed loans that are going through the insolvency resolution process.
State Bank of India, the country’s largest, and the nine others that are out of the RBI’s PCA net will receive
nearly Rs. 36,000 crore in order to strengthen their lending capacity.
While announcing this package, the government has described each of the banks as “an article of faith”. Its
assertion that no public sector bank will fail and that depositors’ money will remain safe should allay
customers’ worry about the safety of their savings under the proposed Financial Resolution and Deposit
Insurance legislation. Rating agencies have given the move the thumbs up, but remain unimpressed about
governance reforms packaged with it. These include tweaks to existing systems for closer monitoring of
big-ticket loans, identifying niche areas where a bank has strengths, restricting corporate exposure to 25%,
and a new performance management system. Actual capital inflows will depend on their performance on
these fronts and their ability to meet the government’s service priorities, including smoother credit flows to
small businesses. More structural reforms may well be on the anvil in the second half of this recap plan,
which RBI Governor Urjit Patel had described as providing a real chance to meet the banking sector’s
challenges for the first time in a decade. Yet, the absence of any reference to consolidation through
mergers is glaring. Moreover, while the government has repeatedly ruled out privatisation of these banks,
the only one where it intended to offload its majority stake, IDBI Bank, has got the largest allocation of Rs.
10,610 crore. At best, this sends out mixed signals.
A vote for state funding

Indian elections are the world’s biggest exercise in democracy but also among the most expensive. India’s
campaign spend is only rivalled by the American presidential race, the world’s most expensive election.
Parties and candidates need large sums of money for voter mobilisation, advertising, consulting, transport,
propaganda and printing of campaign materials to reach voters in constituencies. Corporate donations
constitute the main source of election funding in India which is awash with black money, with business and
corporate donations to political parties commonly taking this form. The public disclosure system that
exists is limited. Only in 2008, using the provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Central

Information Commission allowed disclosure of income tax returns of political parties, though it is an open
secret that actual expenditure is much, much higher than what is disclosed.
Best practices elsewhere
India’s privately funded election campaign stands in contrast to the trend in most countries, which have
partial or full public funding or transparent regulation and financial accountability of political finance as in
the U.S. Corruption in election finance and the flawed party funding system drive political parties to misuse
government’s discretionary powers to raise funds for election campaigns. The combined effect is the
absence of a level playing field which has reduced the effectiveness of our democracy.
In his 2017 Budget speech, while emphasising the absence of transparency in funding, Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley noted that even 70 years after Independence the country had not been able to evolve a
transparent method of funding political parties which is vital to the system of free and fair elections. But the
concern for transparency in political funding is at complete odds with the electoral bonds scheme notified
by the government this month to clean election finance. Simply put, anybody can buy electoral bonds in the
form of bearer bonds from specified branches of the State Bank of India and donate it anonymously to a
political party of their choice; the party must cash the bonds within 14 days. All donations given to a party
will be accounted for in the balance sheets but without exposing the donor details to the public. Donors
continue to prize anonymity as they fear disclosure could invite adverse consequences from political
opponents. As a result, the Election Commission (EC), the Income Tax department and the voter would
remain in the dark about it. However, the ruling dispensation at the Centre, if it wants, can ferret out
information on who’s funding whom from banking authorities on some pretext or the other.
The most significant aspect of the electoral bonds scheme is that it will not carry the name of the payee as
there is reluctance to donate to parties through bank instruments citing loss of anonymity. Bonds will allow
corporate houses to make anonymous donations through banking channels to the party of their choice.
This would lead to further opacity in the funding process and further limit oversight and accountability.
Transparency is a global norm while opacity of election funding is an area of existential concern for
democracies. Subversion that such anonymity affords is perhaps one of the biggest threats to our
democracy today; it is the very wellspring of institutionalised corruption.
Far from reducing the large-scale corporate funding of elections, the introduction of electoral bonds does
not even address this issue. The government’s principal aim is to reduce the role of unaccounted cash in
the electoral process and not the corporate control of politics. Sure enough, the bonds scheme imposes no
restrictions on the quantum of corporate donations. Consequently, electoral bonds cannot address the
problems that arise from the corporate control over politics and corporate capture of government policies
and decisions. Rather, electoral bonds will result in unlimited and undeclared funds going to certain political
parties which will be shielded from public scrutiny as the balance sheets will not show which party has
been the beneficiary of this largesse.
Three steps back
Electoral bonds must be seen in conjunction with: (1) lifting of the maximum limit of 7.5% on the proportion
of the profits a company can donate to a political party, thus opening up the possibility of shell companies
being set up specifically to fund parties; (2) amendment of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA)
opening the floodgates of foreign funding to political parties, especially those which have a foreign support
base; and (3) the refusal of political parties to come under the RTI Act in order to conceal their sources of
funding. These three things will end up strengthening the business-politics nexus. It goes against the

position taken by various electoral reform committees that the existing pattern of political funding
encourages lobbying and capture of the government by big donors. Far from making the funding process
transparent, the bond scheme could provide a backdoor to corporates and other lobbies for shaping public
policy to benefit their interests. There is thus a legitimate fear that policy decisions of political parties and
politicians after being elected may be biased in favour of groups that fund them.
Moreover, these bonds are likely to reverse the small steps towards transparency of political finance that
came as a result of RTI-driven public disclosure of income tax returns of political parties arguing that these
disclosures were a matter of public interest and should be available to citizens. Furthermore, all registered
parties were required to disclose to the EC the identity of individuals and private entities donating more
than Rs. 20,000 every year. Proposed amendments to the Income Tax Act and the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) Act will exempt parties from keeping records of donations made through bonds. However, the
decision to reduce cash contributions from Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 2,000 is a step in the right direction, but the
net effect is debatable, since it could prompt parties to take smaller cash donations, and therefore not
declare their source. This would not decrease the drift towards non-transparent funding reported by the
Association for Democratic Reforms which found that nearly 70% of party funding over an 11-year period
came from unknown sources; nearly Rs. 7,900 crore donations came from unknown sources in 2015-2016.
Electoral bonds will not change this. In fact, political parties don’t need to reveal the donor’s name for a
contributions above Rs. 20,000 provided these are in the form of electoral bonds.
Elections that work well are essential for democracy; conversely, money power can corrode the entire
process. A major concern associated with the high cost of elections is that it prevents political parties and
candidates with modest financial resources from being competitive in elections. Whilst the bond scheme
can be an attempt to burnish the anti-corruption credentials of the Narendra Modi government ahead of the
2019 general election, it is clearly a regressive and flawed move. A number of government committees have
outlined reform proposals to contain the negative effects of the high cost of elections. These include strong
disclosure norms, strict statutory limits on election expenses and ceiling on corporate donations to political
parties. The rules to limit and restrict the campaign expenditure of parties are largely inoperative because it
is easy to circumvent them.
Staring at the solution
State funding of elections (in various forms) is a potential solution to this problem. The Indrajit Gupta
Committee on State Funding of Elections had endorsed partial state funding of recognised political parties
and their candidates in elections way back in 1998, but the lack of political will has prevented any serious
discussion on this. The mechanics of this process need to be carefully worked out to establish the
allocation of money to national parties, State parties and independent candidates, and to check candidate’s
own expenditure over and above that which is provided by the state. Based on the experience of countries
that have total or partial state funding of elections, it will not be difficult to work out a formula that is both
efficient and equitable to ensure that democracy works for everyone and not just for the wealthy few.
A path to executive power

On January 21, President Ram Nath Kovind approved the recommendation of the Election Commission (EC)
to disqualify 20 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). They were
deemed to have been holding offices of profit as they were parliamentary secretaries to ministers in the

Delhi government. The party protested the move saying the EC had acted in a unilateral manner as its MLAs
had not been given a hearing.
There is a lot at stake here since disqualification necessitates by-elections. However, due to the
comfortable majority the AAP enjoys, the move will not bring down the Delhi government.
Office of profit debate
There are multiple questions this issue raises. Did the EC act in a fair manner and was its decision to
disqualify the MLAs legally sound? The appointment of parliamentary secretaries also raises broader
concerns about the nature of executive power in a parliamentary system.
The concept of office of profit originates from Britain where, during the conflicts between the Crown and the
Parliament in the 16th century, the House of Commons disqualified members from holding executive
appointments under the Monarch. The underlying principle behind this is the doctrine of separation of
powers. The office of profit rule seeks to ensure that legislators act independently and are not lured by
offers from the executive. India’s Constitution makers adopted this idea under Articles 102(1)(a) and
191(1)(a) which state that a lawmaker will be disqualified if he or she occupies “any office of profit” under
the Central or State governments, other than those offices exempted by law. While the term “office of profit”
is not defined in the Constitution, the Supreme Court, in multiple decisions, has laid out its contours.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had appointed 21 MLAs as parliamentary secretaries soon after the AAP
government assumed office in 2015. When this decision was challenged before the High Court, the Delhi
government sought to retrospectively amend the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of
Disqualification) Act, 1997 to exempt parliamentary secretaries from the definition of “office of profit”.
However, the Lieutenant Governor reserved the matter for the President, who refused to give his assent to
the Bill. Thus the position of the parliamentary secretaries became precarious.
The Delhi High Court, in September 2016, set aside the appointment of parliamentary secretaries since it
lacked the approval of the Lieutenant Governor. Citing this, the AAP claimed that since the appointment was
anyway void, the MLAs could not be said to have been occupying an office of profit. However, the EC said
that the MLAs “de facto” held the office of parliamentary secretaries. The AAP now alleges that the EC is
acting in a partisan manner, as in other States, the striking down of the office of parliamentary secretaries
has not resulted in the disqualification of MLAs. While the legality of the decision in the instance in Delhi
will be decided in court, it is also critical to examine what the practice of appointing parliamentary
secretaries reveals.
So why do State governments create such posts in the first place? Such posts are mainly to reward MLAs
who do find a place in the cabinet. One of the major constraints in cabinet formation is Article 164 (1-A) of
the Constitution which limits the number of Ministers in State cabinets — including the Chief Minister — to
15% of the total number of MLAs of the State; for Delhi it is 10% of the total seats. It is to get round this
constitutional cap that State governments create such posts.
Article 164 (1-A) was inserted by the 91st Constitutional Amendment in 2003 on the recommendation of
the M.N. Venkatachaliah-headed National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution. While it
can be debated whether the prescribed cap is too harsh, constitutional constraints and office of profit
restrictions seek to prevent the creation of multiple executive posts to reward loyal legislators.
In India’s parliamentary system, contesting elections to the legislature is primarily seen as a path to
exercise executive power. It is often ignored that holding the government to account is not only the

Opposition’s role but also that of the entire legislature. Rewarding MLAs with executive posts can restrict
them from performing their primary role.
The creation of such posts can also be attributed to the larger institutional malaise facing the legislatures.
Lawmakers have been enfeebled over the years through measures such as binding party whips and a purely
executive-driven legislative agenda. In such an institutional milieu, lawmakers increasingly seek positions
with perks to exercise influence. Unless legislatures are truly strengthened and the disproportionate power
of the executive in the legislature curtailed, the demand for creating such posts will continue to persist.
Should India have simultaneous elections?

Free and fair elections are integral to democracy. Continuity, consistency and governance are also integral
to democracy. And democracy, to my mind, also implies good governance. To achieve this, elections are
held. But if the means (elections) become the goal, this will not serve democracy well. Holding
simultaneous elections will ensure consistency, continuity and governance, and elections then will only be
the means to achieve this and not an end in themselves.
Implementing simultaneous polls would require a substantial shift from the status quo and would involve
amendments to the Constitution and election-related laws. However, does that mean we stop this
much-needed reform? Certainly not.
Earlier, tax collections were separate for the Centre and the States. We introduced the Goods and Services
Tax Council through a constitutional amendment and changed the pattern of taxation between the Centre
and the States. If the purpose of amendments is to strengthen democracy and governance, they should be
brought in. The Constitution has been amended in the past to achieve this goal.
Let us look at the stumbling blocks in the current system of holding elections. In terms of governance and
implementation of development programmes, enforcing the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is detrimental.
If we are preoccupied with local body elections and Assembly elections throughout the year, where is the
time for developmental work? A system must therefore be evolved to give a period of five years to the
incumbent government to focus on governance. Five years mean five years of stable governance. If we are
occupied with Vidhan Sabha elections, Zilla Parishad elections, Panchayat elections, and municipal
elections throughout the year, where is the time for developmental work, with the MCC kicking in every time
these elections are held?
Simultaneous elections can also be a means to curb corruption and build a more conducive
socio-economic ecosystem. While the Election Commission’s efforts to curb illicit finances are laudable,
elections continue to be a conduit for black money and corruption. Frequent electoral cycles disrupt normal
public life by impacting the delivery of essential services. They also provide opportunities to unscrupulous
elements to create tears in the social fabric of society.
Then there is the administrative machinery to be taken into account and the expenses incurred. Frequent
elections pose a huge burden on resources — both manpower and financial. Security personnel and
government officials are effectively put on election duty for many months in a year. A case in point is the
recurring engagement of teachers for election duty, as a result of which students suffer. The cost of
elections runs into thousands of crores and has been rising steadily. The opportunity cost of these lost
resources is too high to ignore as India is a resource-constrained developing economy. Simultaneous
elections can bring the much-needed operational efficiency in this exercise.

Holding simultaneous elections is not merely about elections; it is about stable governance. Such a
sensitive and far-reaching reform requires unanimous support from all political parties. Parliamentary
Committee reports have proposed implementable roadmaps for simultaneous elections.

Forging a new nuclear deal

Watching the Republic Day parade, where 10 ASEAN leaders were chief guests, it was easy to miss the fact
that the dates of their visit also marked the anniversary of another big visit three years ago: the visit by then
U.S. President Barack Obama, when he announced a “breakthrough” in the India-U.S. civil nuclear deal, to
finally pave the way for a commercial contract. “The deal is done,” Sujatha Singh, who was Foreign
Secretary at the time, said as the government issued papers and held briefings describing the nature of the
agreement between India and the U.S. on supplier liability and tracking requirements, which would enable
American companies to build nuclear power reactors in India.
Toshiba-Westinghouse then carried the baton to actualise the India-U.S. civil nuclear deal, but ran into a
different storm as both Toshiba and Westinghouse had major financial troubles last year. After a
near-bankruptcy, Toshiba jettisoned Westinghouse for just $4.6 billion to a Canadian consortium, a deal that
is now expected to be cleared by the end of 2018.
As the U.S. sends Westinghouse officials to India next week to reopen negotiations, the government must
consider all that has changed before deciding to go ahead with the commercial contract. With shifts in
global politics, renewable energy technology, the U.S.’s commitment to India, and the supplier’s capacity and
ability, it would be ridiculous if India remained steadfast to a deal envisaged a decade ago under very
different circumstances.
To begin with, there are changes in the deal itself. The financial crisis was set off because Westinghouse
went into major cost overruns, possibly worth more than $15 billion, in building four AP1000 reactors at two
projects in the U.S., the same reactors as the ones meant for India. When work was halted on the
Westinghouse projects in South Carolina, the construction was already five years over schedule. India’s past
record with Russian projects (the only foreign collaboration operational so far) puts the mean time to
construct a reactor here at nine years. This would mean that even if an India-U.S. techno-commercial
contract is finally readied in 2019, and the ground breaking begins immediately, it may not see fruition until
2029, a good 20 years after the nuclear agreement was signed. Westinghouse’s new buyers have already
pared the business, will not construct the nuclear power project in India, and will only supply reactors and
components. In the terrible scenario of a Fukushima-type nuclear accident in India, this further dilutes the
liability that U.S. companies would carry. This was certainly not the future envisioned by those who first
negotiated the India-U.S. civil nuclear agreement, and it calls into question whether the agreement, as it
stood in January 2015 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Obama made that announcement, is
even valid.
Second, Donald Trump’s presidency has taken a very sharp turn away from renewable energy, and even the
promise of nuclear dollars have dimmed in comparison to the lucre of fossil fuels in America. In his State of
the Union address last week, Mr. Trump said that the U.S. has “ended the war on beautiful, clean coal,” and
will now mine, export and push oil, gas, coal and shale trade into its foreign outreach. A case in point is the
big pitch Mr. Trump made during his meeting with Mr. Modi in Washington last June, which led to Indian

orders for both oil and gas shipped from America. As a result, New Delhi may not get the support that the
Obama administration had promised both on financing renewable energy projects and in facilitating
India-U.S. civil nuclear power deals.
India has already received a rude shock with the U.S. pulling out of the Paris climate change accord, and
from Mr. Trump’s singling out India as a “leading polluter” during his announcement of that decision last
year. This, after the Obama administration had browbeaten India into acceding to the Paris accord two
months ahead of deadline, by promising to help India reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.
Third, India’s own requirements from the India-U.S. civil nuclear deal have changed considerably. In May
2017, the Cabinet approved a $11 billion, 7,000 MW construction plan for 10 Indian-made pressurised heavy
water reactors (PHWRs). With existing constructions and the current capacity of 6,780 MW, India hopes to
have 14,600 MW of nuclear power online by 2024. Even as it makes a push for indigenous nuclear power
plants, the Department of Atomic Energy is also advocating PHWRs in more inland sites in Rajasthan,
Haryana, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, with concerns about too many nuclear projects dotting the
southern coastline which lies along tsunami and earthquake fault lines, as the U.S. and French projects are.
India has also found much more comfort in its existing agreement with Russia’s Atomstroyexport, that
began with the Intergovernmental Agreement for Kudankulam 1 and 2 in 1988, and has kept a slow but
steady pace in delivering reactors and operationalising power projects. When asked about India’s new focus
for other foreign collaborations, the long-serving Russian Ambassador Alexander Kadakin, who passed
away last year, used to reply, “When you see the first nail in the first beam of the first power project built by
anyone other than us (Russia), ask me the question again.”
Another issue relates to the cost that India is prepared to pay for nuclear energy through foreign
collaborations. Indo-French negotiations for six 1,650 MW European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) in
Maharashtra’s Jaitapur have dragged on for a decade on this count, with the Department of Atomic Energy
announcing in 2013 that the cost “cannot go above” Rs. 6.50 per unit, and the French company Areva (the
project has now been handed to EDF) clearly seeking more.
Finally, shifts in the world nuclear industry must be studied closely before heading back into negotiations
with new companies. As the pressure to lower nuclear power tariffs increases, nuclear safety requirements
have become more stringent, putting intense strain on all those in the business. Ironically, while French
President Emmanuel Macron visits India for the International Solar Alliance this March, much of his bilateral
negotiations will focus on getting a better deal in Jaitapur for EDF, which is counting on the nuclear project
for its own financial future. Most nuclear companies globally are staring at major losses over their nuclear
businesses, and this too must be factored into India’s negotiations. More countries now see nuclear power
as a “base-load” option, to be kept as back-up for the unstable, but infinitely less costly and eco-friendly
solar and hydroelectric power options. That is, nuclear power is losing its primacy in the energy mix. In
2016, for example, global wind power output grew by 16%, solar by 30%, but nuclear energy only by 1.4%.
As a result of all these changes, the India-U.S. civil nuclear agreement for commercial projects, as it was
completed all those years ago, is now obsolete and reviving it will require a different template that takes
into account India and the new global realities. The deal that was “done” is now dead. Long live a new deal.



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Online Course for IAS PRE Exam

CIVIL SERVICES MENTOR MAGAZINE

Digital Gender Atlas 7

World Sustainable Development Summit 2018 11

India State of Forest Report 2017 15

All-India Tiger Estimation 2018 18

Integrated guided missile system 22

CURRENT AFFAIRS 25

www.IASEXAMPORTAL.COM MARCH 2018 0

88 mining leases in Goa squashed: SC 38

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PM interacted with students on examination 62

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PIB to have DD & AIR oﬃcials to work 87

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Khalistan-Trudeau visit 115

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19.3% increase in DT by Jan2018 139

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Reasons for same-sex behavior in Pigeons 166

IMPORTANT ARTICLES 174

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Digital Gender Atlas

Objectives of the Atlas

● The architecture of the Atlas enables dynamic navigation between geographical

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Mapping and Visualizations

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What you will get:

● IAS Planner With Syllabus Book

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अ भुगतान िवक (Oﬄine Payment Options)

www.IASEXAMPORTAL.COM MARCH 2018 10

World Sustainable Development Summit 2018

www.IASEXAMPORTAL.COM MARCH 2018 11

www.IASEXAMPORTAL.COM MARCH 2018 12

www.IASEXAMPORTAL.COM MARCH 2018 13

www.IASEXAMPORTAL.COM MARCH 2018 14

India State of Forest Report 2017

www.IASEXAMPORTAL.COM MARCH 2018 15

www.IASEXAMPORTAL.COM MARCH 2018 16

www.IASEXAMPORTAL.COM MARCH 2018 17

All-India Tiger Estimation 2018

www.IASEXAMPORTAL.COM MARCH 2018 18

www.IASEXAMPORTAL.COM MARCH 2018 19

● Spatial extent and the size of tiger population in India;

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Integrated guided missile system

www.IASEXAMPORTAL.COM MARCH 2018 22

www.IASEXAMPORTAL.COM MARCH 2018 23

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INS KARANJ launched

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Centre says India can’t be a refugee capital

Indus script ran towards the left : IMSc

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Labourers denied pay, privileges under Minimum Wages Act : Railways

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Budget 2018-19 : Mix of populism and prudence :