CURRENT AFFAIRS 25 SEPTEMBER 2019

CURRENT AFFAIRS

25 SEPTEMBER 2019

BY SUMIT BHARDWAJ

1.UNDERSTANDING Generalized System of Preferences (GSP),U.S. Trade Representative (USTR),Special 301 Report.

CONTEXT: India, U.S. trade deal falls through(GS-2,3)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Donald Trump during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, in New York on September 24, 2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Donald Trump talk trade and terror.

Despite Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s presence in New York to conclude a trade package with U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer, the two sides failed to bridge the gap in their positions.

Generalized System of Preferences (GSP):

The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is a U.S. trade program designed to promote economic growth in the developing world by providing preferential duty-free entry for up to 4,800 products from 129 designated beneficiary countries and territories.

What is the objective of GSP?

The objective of GSP was to give development support to poor countries by promoting exports from them into the developed countries. GSP promotes sustainable development in beneficiary countries by helping these countries to increase and diversify their trade with the United States. GSP provide opportunities for many of the world’s poorest countries to use trade to grow their economies and climb out of poverty.

Benefits of GSP:

Indian exporters benefit indirectly – through the benefit that accrues to the importer by way of reduced tariff or duty free entry of eligible Indian products.

Reduction or removal of import duty on an Indian product makes it more competitive to the importer – other things (e.g. quality) being equal.

This tariff preference helps new exporters to penetrate a market and established exporters to increase their market share and to improve upon the profit margins, in the donor country.

What is the difference between GSP and the usual trade arrangement under WTO?

Under the normal trade laws, the WTO members must give equal preferences to trade partners. There should not be any discrimination between countries. This trade rule under the WTO is called the Most Favored Nation (MFN) clause.

The MFN instructs non-discrimination that any favorable treatment to a particular country. At the same time, the WTO allows members to give special and differential treatment to from developing countries (like zero tariff imports). This is an exemption for MFN. The MSP given by developed countries including the US is an exception to MFN.

What is the impact of GSP withdrawal on India?

India exports nearly 50 products of the 94 products on which GSP benefits are stopped. The GSP removal will leave a reasonable impact on India as the country enjoyed preferential tariff on exports worth of nearly $ 5. 6 billion under the GSP route out of the total exports of $48 bn in 2017-18. In total India exports nearly 1,937 products to the US under GSP.

Removal of GSP indicate a tough trade position by the US; especially for countries like India who benefited much from the scheme. India is the 11th largest trade surplus country for the US and India enjoyed an annual trade surplus of $ 21 bn in 2017-18.

United States Trade Representative (USTR)

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is the United States government agency responsible for developing and recommending United States trade policy to the president of the United States, conducting trade negotiations at bilateral and multilateral levels, and coordinating trade policy within the government through the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) and Trade Policy Review Group (TPRG).

Established as the Office of the Special Trade Representative (STR) under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the USTR is part of the Executive Office of the President. With over 200 employees, the USTR has offices in Geneva, Switzerland, and Brussels, Belgium. The current U.S. trade representative is Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer, who was announced by President-Elect Donald J. Trump on January 3, 2017.Lighthizer was confirmed by the Senate on May 11, 2017, by a vote of 82–14

Special 301 Report:

(Priority Watch List)

The Special 301 Report is prepared annually by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) that identifies trade barriers to United States companies and products due to the intellectual property laws, such as copyright, patents and trademarks, in other countries. By April 30 of each year, the USTR must identify countries which do not provide "adequate and effective" protection of intellectual property rights or "fair and equitable market access to United States persons that rely upon intellectual property rights".

The Special 301 Report is published pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 as amended by Section 1303 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988.The Special 301 Report was first published in 1989.

By statute, the annual Special 301 Report includes a list of "Priority Foreign Countries", that are judged to have inadequate intellectual property laws; these countries may be subject to sanctions. In addition, the report contains a "Priority Watch List" and a "Watch List", containing countries whose intellectual property regimes are deemed of concern.

2.UNDERSTANDING Earthquake, Earthquake-prone zones in India, US Geological Survey,(GS-1,3)

CONTEXT:26 dead, 300 injured as quake jolts Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

An Earthquake is a tectonic movement caused by endogenetic (originating within the earth) thermal conditions inside earth's interior which is transmitted through the surface layer of the earth.

What is an Earthquake?

It is shaking or trembling of the earth surface causing energy to release suddenly. An earthquake can range from a faint tremor to a wild motion capable of shaking building apart. Minor tremors caused by gentle waves of vibration within the earth s crust occur every few minutes. Major earthquakes, usually caused by movement along faults, can be very disastrous particularly in a densely populated area.

Earthquakes themselves may cause only restricted damage in the regions of occurrence, but their aftershocks can be very catastrophic.An aftershock is an earthquake of the smaller magnitude that occurs after the main shock. They are also known to cause Tsunami waves.

Nearly 54% of land area in India is prone to earthquakes. Earthquakes are by far the most unpredictable and highly destructive of all the natural disasters. It not only damages and destroys the settlements, infrastructure etc. but also result in loss of lives of men and animals.

Focus and epicentre of an earthquake

Focus - The point within the earth s crust where an earthquake originates is called the focus. It is also referred as seismic focus or hypocenter. It generally lies within the depth of 60 kilometres in the earth crust.

Epicentre - The point vertically above the focus on the earth s surface is known as epicenter . Earthquake travel in the form of the longitudinal wave from the focus to epicentre. The intensity is the highest at the epicentre. That is why the maximum destruction occurs at and around the epicentre. The intensity of vibrations decreases as one moves away from the epicentre.

Causes of earthquakes:

Plate Movements

Folding, faulting and displacement of rock strata, upwarping and downwarping of crust are some of the main causes of earthquakes. Some examples of this type of earthquakes are the San Francisco earthquakes of California in 1906, the Assam earthquakes of 1951, the Bihar earthquakes of 1935

Volcanic eruptions

The violent volcanic eruptions put even the solid rocks under great stress. It causes vibrations in the earth s crust. But, these earthquakes are limited to the areas of volcanic activity such as the circum-pacific ring of fire and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. An important example of this type of earthquake includes the earthquake preceding the eruption of Mauna Loa volcano of Hawaii Island in 1868.

Forces within the earth

Gaseous expansion and contraction within the earth can cause stress in strata which build up over time and is released suddenly in the form of earthquakes.

Exogenic forces

An earthquake may also be caused due to landslide and collapse of cave or mines etc. which can cause a sudden release in energy.

Man-made causes

These may range from dam building, mining, dredging, road building, drilling etc.

Types of earthquakes

Tectonic earthquakes - The most common ones are the tectonic earthquakes. These are generated due to sliding of rocks along a fault plane.

Volcanic Earthquakes - A special class of tectonic earthquake is sometimes recognised as a volcanic earthquake. They are generated due to violent volcanic eruptions. However, these are confined to areas of active volcanoes.

Collapse Earthquakes - In the areas of intense mining activity, sometimes the roofs of underground mines collapse causing minor tremors. These are called collapse earthquakes.

Explosion Earthquakes - Ground shaking may also occur due to the explosion of chemical or nuclear devices. Such tremors are called explosion earthquakes.

Reservoir-induced Earthquakes - The earthquakes that occur in the areas of large reservoirs are referred to as reservoir-induced earthquakes.

On the basis of focus, earthquakes can be classified as a shallow focus ( focus located at depth of up to 50 km), intermediate focus ( 50 - 250 km depth) and deep focus earthquakes (foci depth of up to 700 km).

Earthquake-prone zones in India

Over 55% of the land area in India is vulnerable to earthquakes. Some of the most vulnerable states are Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and the Darjiling and subdivision of West Bengal and all the seven states of the northeast.

Apart from these regions, the central-western parts of India, particularly Gujarat and Maharashtra have also experienced some severe earthquakes.

Bureau of Indian Standards, based on the past seismic history, grouped the country into four seismic zones, viz. Zone II, III, IV and V. Of these, Zone V is the most seismically active region, while zone II is the least. The current division of India into earthquake-prone zones does not use Zone I.

Areas covered under different Seismic Zones

Zone - V covers 10.79% area of the country. It comprises entire northeastern India, parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, part of North Bihar and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Zone - IV covers 17.49% area of the country. It comprises remaining parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, Sikkim, Northern Parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, parts of Gujarat and small portions of Maharashtra near the west coast and Rajasthan.

Zone III covers 30.79% area of the country. It comprises Kerala, Goa, Lakshadweep islands, remaining parts of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal, Parts of Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Zone - II covers 40.93% area of the country. It comprises major parts of peninsular region. Karnataka Plateau falls in this zone.

US Geological Survey:

The United States Geological Survey (USGS, formerly simply Geological Survey) is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility.

3.UNDERSTANDING UNSC,FATF, The G4 Bloc(GS-2,3)

CONTEXT:PM pushes to strengthen FATF as Imran calls blacklist part of India’s ‘agenda’

Institutional mechanisms against terrorism like UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) listings must not be “politicised”, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a special session on extremism and terrorism at the world body, in comments that appeared to be aimed at China and Pakistan.

UNSC:

he United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security.

Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action through Security Council resolutions; it is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states.

Members: The Security Council consists of fifteen members. Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, and the United States—serve as the body’s five permanent members. These permanent members can veto any substantive Security Council resolution, including those on the admission of new member states or candidates for Secretary-General.

The Security Council also has 10 non-permanent members, elected on a regional basis to serve two-year terms. The body’s presidency rotates monthly among its members.

The G4 Bloc: Group of 4 countries , (Germany ,Japan , Brazil ,India) bidding for permanent seats in the UN Security Council.

The Coffee Club or Uniting for Consensus: Group of countries opposed to the G4. They favoured the expansion of the non-permanent category of seats with members to be elected on a regional basis

Italy, Spain, Argentina, Canada, Mexico, South Korea and Pakistan.

How are non- permanent members elected?

Each year, the General Assembly elects five non-permanent members out of a total of 10, for a two-year term.

Distribution of seats: These 10 seats are distributed among the regions thus: five for African and Asian countries; one for Eastern European countries; two for Latin American and Caribbean countries; two for Western European and other countries.

Of the five seats for Africa and Asia, three are for Africa and two for Asia; there is an informal understanding between the two groups to reserve one for an Arab country. The Africa and Asia Pacific group takes turns every two years to put up an Arab candidate.

Elections for terms beginning in even-numbered years select two African members, and one each within Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Terms beginning in odd-numbered years consist of two Western European and Other members, and one each from Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Votes: Irrespective of whether a country is a “clean slate” candidate and has been endorsed by its group, it needs to secure the votes of two-thirds of the members present and voting at the General Assembly session (a minimum of 129 votes if all 193 member states participate). When contested, the elections for non-permanent seats can be fraught and can go on for several rounds, In 1975, there was a contest between India and Pakistan, which went to eight rounds. Pakistan won the seat that year. In 1996, India lost a contest to Japan.

FATF:

What is it? The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 on the initiative of the G7. It is a “policy-making body” which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in various areas. The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.

Objectives: The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

Functions: The FATF monitors the progress of its members in implementing necessary measures, reviews money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and counter-measures and promotes the adoption and implementation of appropriate measures globally. In collaboration with other international stakeholders, the FATF works to identify national-level vulnerabilities with the aim of protecting the international financial system from misuse.

What is blacklist and grey list?

FATF maintains two different lists of countries: those that have deficiencies in their AML/CTF regimes, but they commit to an action plan to address these loopholes, and those that do not end up doing enough. The former is commonly known as grey list and latter as blacklist.

Once a country is blacklisted, FATF calls on other countries to apply enhanced due diligence and counter measures, increasing the cost of doing business with the country and in some cases severing it altogether. As of now there are only two countries in the blacklist — Iran and North Korea — and seven on the grey list, including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria and Yemen

4.Gandhi @150: Modi delivers speech at U.N

(GS-1,2)

CONTEXT:Speaking on Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi in the Contemporary World, he said the platform was a living example that Gandhi was from India but did not belong only to India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared his thoughts on Mahatma Gandhi at a programme hosted by India at the United Nations (UN) here on Wednesday.

Speaking on “Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi in the Contemporary World”, he said the platform was a living example that Gandhi was from India but did not belong only to India.

In a series of tweets in Hindi, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said Mr. Modi also requested the UN to issue a commemorative stamp on the occasion of Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary.

‘Gandhi brought change within’

Gandhiji had pledged to build a society that was not dependent on the government, the Prime Minister said, adding, “Everyone knows that he had brought change, but it would also be right to say that he had awakened the inner strength of people so they could bring the change themselves.”

Gandhiji would have gone ahead with the fundamentals of independence and self-reliance even if the responsibility of the country’s freedom struggle was not on him, he asserted.

“In the last five years, we have given primacy to people’s participation. Whether it’s the Swachh Bharat Mission or Digital India, people are now leading these campaigns themselves,” Mr. Modi said.

GANDHI -IMPORTANT NOTES:

The Rise of Gandhi in Indian Freedom Struggle

M K Gandhi returned from South Africa (where he had lived for more than 20 years) to India in 1915. There he had led a peaceful agitation against the discrimination meted out to Indians and had emerged as a respected leader. It was in South Africa that he developed his brand of Satyagraha. In India, he first used this tool against the British government at Champaran in Bihar.

Champaran Satyagraha (1917)

The first civil disobedience movement by Gandhi in the freedom struggle.

Persuaded by Rajkumar Shukla, an indigo cultivator, Gandhi went to Champaran in Bihar to investigate the conditions of the farmers there.

The farmers were suffering under heavy taxes and an exploitative system. They were forced to grow indigo by the British planters under the tinkathia system.

Gandhi arrived in Champaran to investigate the matter but was not permitted by the British authorities to do so.

He was asked to leave the place but he refused.

He was able to gather support from the farmers and masses.

When he appeared in court in response to a summons, almost 2000 locals accompanied him.

The case against him was dropped and he was allowed to conduct the inquiry.

After peaceful protests against the planters and landlords led by Gandhi, the government agreed to abolish the exploitative tinkathia system.

The peasants also received a part of the money extracted from them as compensation.

Champaran struggle is called the first experiment on Satyagraha by Gandhi.

It was during this time that Gandhi was given the names ‘Bapu’ and ‘Mahatma’ by the people

Kheda Satyagraha (1918)

1918 was a year of failed crops in the Kheda district of Gujarat due to droughts.

As per law, the farmers were entitled to remission if the produce was less than a quarter of the normal output.

But the government refused any remission from paying land revenue.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, under Gandhi’s guidance, led the farmers in protest against the collection of taxes in the wake of the famine.

People from all castes and ethnicities of the district lend their support to the movement.

The protest was peaceful and people showed remarkable courage even in the face of adversities like confiscation of personal property and arrest.

Finally, the authorities gave in and gave some concessions to the farmers.

Ahmedabad Mill Strike (1918)

Gandhi used Satyagraha and hunger strike for the first time during an industrial dispute between the owners and workers of a cotton mill in Ahmedabad.

The owners wanted to withdraw the plague bonus to the workers while the workers were demanding a hike of 35% in their wages.

During the peaceful strike led by Gandhi, he underwent a hunger strike.

The strike was successful and the workers were granted the wage hike they wanted.

5.PMJAY to offer teleconsultation to boost coverage(GS-2,3)

CONTEXT:The move is part of the Centre’s plans to widen the coverage of the scheme and thus reduce the incidence of catastrophic health expenditures.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) health insurance scheme is set to offer teleconsultation services to its patients soon. The move is part of the Centre’s plans to widen the coverage of the scheme and thus reduce the incidence of catastrophic health expenditures, and improve access and quality of health services in the public and private sectors, according to a senior health ministry official.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY):

PMJAY offers a sum insured of ? 5 lakh per family for secondary care (which doesn’t involve a super specialist) as well as tertiary care (which does). For the beneficiaries, this is a free scheme.

It is an entitlement-based scheme that targets the beneficiaries as identified by latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data.

Individuals can walk into any empanelled hospital that can process cashless payments.

Once identified by the database, the beneficiary is considered insured.

The insurance cost is shared by the centre and the state mostly in the ratio of 60:40.

Empanelled hospitals agree to the packaged rates under PMJAY—there are about 1,400 packaged rates for various medical procedures under the scheme.

These packaged rates also mention the number of average days of hospitalization for a medical procedure and supporting documents that are needed.

These rates are flexible, but once fixed hospitals can’t change it and under no circumstances can they charge the beneficiary. The scheme also has prescribed a daily limit for medical management.

National Health Agency has been constituted as an autonomous entity under the Society Registration Act, 1860 for effective implementation of PMJAY in alliance with state governments.

Inter-alia, this will include, formulation of PMJAY policies, development of operational guidelines, implementation mechanisms, coordination with state governments, monitoring and oversight of PMJAY amongst other.

Benefits of PMJAY

The PM-JAY is one significant step towards the achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Sustainable Development Goal - 3 (Good Health And Well-Being).

PMJAY is portable, which means the beneficiary can avail treatment in any of the states that have implemented the scheme.

It will leverage capacities available in both public and private sector hospitals, while providing standardised high-quality care, with strong fraud protection mechanisms.

It can ensure improved access and affordability, of quality secondary and tertiary care services through a combination of public hospitals and well measured strategic purchasing of services in health care deficit areas, from private care providers, especially the not-for profit providers.

It can significantly reduces out of pocket expenditure for hospitalization.

It will align the growth of private sector with public health goals.

It will strengthen public health care systems through infusion of insurance revenues.

It will enable creation of new health infrastructure in rural, remote and under-served areas.

It will help India capitalize its demographic dividend, ensure enhanced productivity, well-being and avert wage loss and impoverishment.

The scheme will also enrich the database of hospitals registered with the Registry of Hospitals in Network of Insurance (ROHINI) System and the human capital captured under the National Health Resource Repository (NHRR) project.

Moreover, the scheme will have a multiplier effect on hospitals and allied sectors like pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics. Companies will be encouraged to invest more, and this will create jobs.

WHAT IS teleconsultation?

Teleconsultation refers to the electronic communication

that happens between a clinician and patient for the

purpose of diagnostic or therapeutic advice . It

involves sharing of textual data, scans, documents and

photographs to get information related to patient’s

health. For patients, teleconsultation enables easy and

convenient access to health services for people living in

rural/remote areas or having disabilities. Additionally

teleconsultation can save time and transportation costs

by enabling access to health services directly from

home. For clinicians, teleconsultation provides an

opportunity to expand their care and knowledge beyond

the four walls of their hospital. However, despite these

benefits, people seem to have skeptical opinions about

its acceptance as a medium for healthcare delivery

6.PM addresses Goalkeepers Global Goal Award 2019 by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation…

7.Siachen Glacier (GS-1,3)
CONTEXT: No more waste mounds on Siachen glacier :Army has removed 130 tonnes of garbage and is cutting potential trash in rations

Siachen Glacier :

Known to the world as the highest battleground on earth, Siachen has been in the news since 1984, ironically Siachen means 'Place of Wild Roses' however the terrain does not have anything but snow all across. India and Pakistan have maintained their military presence at a height of more than 20,000 feet; even when the death toll data of soldiers are more in this region than deaths due to combats between the two countries.

This glacier region till date is not populated leaving the military presence, the harsh weather takes the temperature down to a – 50 degree and the average snowfall in winters is 35 feet. On the Indian side, the village of Warshi is the only place where the civilian population is present, this is way before the Indian base camp.

There have been various series of discussions on de-militarize the region as the cost of managing military positions in this region takes a huge cut of the defense budget of both the countries, however instances in the past like the Kargil war and other infiltration bids have always led to a failure in this region.

Siachen was in the news recently when an avalanche on the glacier buried more than hundred Pakistani soldiers at their military headquarters in the early hour of morning on 7th April. The Pakistani president on his visit to India discussed about signing an agreement on the Siachen Glacier, he suggested that this move will surely strengthen Indian ties with the Pakistani people and also tone down the military relations between the two countries.

However to let the positions also go away could prove costly for India as it holds some of very strategic positions in that region since 1984. There always were earlier attempts by Pakistani forces to take these positions however they failed in all the attempts till date.

IMPORTANT TOPICS for TODAY TO LOOK AT (SUMMARY)..

1.UNDERSTANDING Generalized System of Preferences (GSP),U.S. Trade Representative (USTR),Special 301 Report.
CONTEXT: India, U.S. trade deal falls through(GS-2,3)
2.UNDERSTANDING Earthquake, Earthquake-prone zones in India, US Geological Survey,(GS-1,3)
CONTEXT:26 dead, 300 injured as quake jolts Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
3.UNDERSTANDING UNSC,FATF, The G4 Bloc(GS-2,3)
CONTEXT:PM pushes to strengthen FATF as Imran calls blacklist part of India’s ‘agenda’
4.Gandhi @150: Modi delivers speech at U.N(GS-1,2)
CONTEXT:Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared his thoughts on Mahatma Gandhi at a
programme hosted by India at the United Nations (UN) here on Wednesday.
5. PMJAY to offer teleconsultation to boost coverage(GS-2,3)
CONTEXT:The move is part of the Centre’s plans to widen the coverage of the scheme and thus
reduce the incidence of catastrophic health expenditures.
6.PM addresses Goalkeepers Global Goal Award 2019 by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation….(VIDEO)
7. Siachen Glacier (GS-1,3)
CONTEXT: No more waste mounds on Siachen glacier :
Army has removed 130 tonnes of garbage and is cutting potential trash in rations