DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS -2 SEPTEMBER 2019 BY SUMIT

     IMPORTANT TOPICS FOR TODAY 

BY SUMIT BHARDWAJ                        2nd September 2019

1.Pakistan says will grant consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav on Monday(GS-2)

• CONTEXT: ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday said it will granted consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is on death row in the country, on Monday "in line with the ICJ judgement". The announcement came nearly six months after a meeting between Indian officials and Jadhav did not materialise amid differences between New Delhi and Islamabad on the terms of the consular access to the retired Indian navy officer. Jadhav, 49, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" in April 2017, following which India had moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ), seeking a stay on his death sentence and further remedies.
• ABOUT ICJ:
• The International Court of Justice (ICJ)sometimes called the World Court, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). The ICJ's primary functions are to settle international legal disputes submitted by states (contentious cases) and give advisory opinions on legal issues referred to it by the UN (advisory proceedings). Through its opinions and rulings, it serves as a source of international law.
• The ICJ is the successor of the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), which was established by the League of Nations in 1920 and began its first session in 1922. After the Second World War, both the League and the PCIJ were succeeded by the United Nations and ICJ, respectively. The Statute of the ICJ draws heavily from that of its predecessor, and the latter's decisions remain valid. All members of the UN are party to the ICJ Statute.
• The ICJ comprises a panel of 15 judges elected by the General Assembly and Security Council for nine-year terms. The court is seated in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, making it the only principal U.N. organ not located in New York City. Its official working languages are English and French
• Kulbhushan Jadhav CASE:
• Kulbhushan Jadhav was arrested in March 2016 by Pakistani security forces in Balochistan province after he reportedly entered from Iran.
• He was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on the charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017.
• India has always maintained that Kulbhushan Jadhav is not a spy, and that Pakistan should provide counsellor access to him as his case pertains to abduction from the Iranian territory.
• In May 9, 2018, ICJ has stayed his death sentence after India had moved a petition before the UN body to seek justice for him, alleging violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by Pakistan.
• During the hearing in the case on February, 2019, India said Pakistan's continued custody of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav without any consular access should be declared "unlawful" as it was an egregious violation of the Vienna Convention.
• Harish Salve, who is representing India and Kulbhushan Jadhav in the ICJ, said Pakistan was using the issue of Kulbhushan Jadhav as a "propaganda tool" without even following the due proper procedure.
• Consular Access
• India had demanded consular access to Jadhav under the rules of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963.
• The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations is an international treaty that defines consular relations between independent states.
• A consul, (who is not a diplomat) is a representative of a foreign state in a host country, who works for the interests of his countrymen.
• Article 36 of the Vienna Convention states that foreign nationals who are arrested or detained in the host country must be given notice without delay of their right to have their embassy or consulate notified of that arrest.
• If the detained foreign national so requests, the police must fax that notice to the embassy or consulate, which can then verify the person. 
• The notice to the consulate can be as simple as a fax, giving the person's name, the place of arrest, and, if possible, something about the reason for the arrest or detention.
• Importance of consular access for India in Jadhav case
• Jadhav was awarded death sentence after a secret trial hence there are chances of trial being fake or sham.
• If India gets consular access to Jadhav, it can demolish the Pakistani case by advising Jadhav on the various aspects of the case and can get access to Jadhav's real version of events leading to his arrest.

2.Mamallapuram to host Narendra Modi-Xi Jinping meeting in October (GS-1,2)

Mamallapuram

• CONTEXT:It is the second informal summit
• The historic coastal town of Mamallapuram on the scenic East Coast Road in Tamil Nadu is expected to be the venue for the second India-China informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, scheduled in October this year.
• Mr. Modi will host Mr. Xi for two days — October 11 and 13 — in Mamallapuram, informed sources in the government said. Arrangements are being supervised at the highest levels of the Central and State governments.
• During the summit, besides holding talks, the leaders are likely to make a visit to the ancient monuments in the coastal town. The monuments there have been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. During the first informal summit in Wuhan, the leaders had made a visit tothe Hubei provincial museum.
• The first informal summit between both the leaders was held in Wuhan in China during April 27-28 last year, “to exchange views on overarching issues of bilateral and global importance, and to elaborate their respective visions and priorities for national development in the context of the current and future international situation,” according to the Union External Affairs Ministry.
• Mamallapuram also hosted the Defence Expo 2018 or known as Defexpo, the Union Defence Ministry’s annual event with international participation. Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the event last year. An official said this was the first time in the recent times that an event of historical importance with diplomatic ties was being held in Tamil Nadu.
• Monuments at Mahabalipuram(Mamallapuram):
• The Pallavas bridged the transition from rock-cut architecture to structural stone temples. Mahendra Varman I gloried in the construction of temple without the use of bricks, timber, metal or mortar. He built a number of rock-cut mandapas. 
• They were simple pillared halls. The main feature of the front facade is a row of pillars each 7 feet high, the shaft being square in section with a 2 foot side above and below and the corners chamfered in the middle third to give an octagonal section. 
• A heavy bracket provides the capital. In the earliest examples at Mandagappatu and Trichinopoly, there is no cornice above the pillars , but later roll moulding was added as at Pallavaram. Mahendra I also built a rock-cut temple of Anantasayana at Undavalli (Guntur distrit) and the series at Bhairavakonda (North Arcot District) towards the end of his reign. 
• In these temples at Undavalli, Mahendra attempted to copy a Buddhist vihara. It consists of four storeys of pillared mandapas set one above the other and rising to a height of 50 feet. 
• His successor Narsimha Varman I (Mahamalla) built the rock-cut mandapas at Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram). Narsimha Varman also built monolithic rathas popularly called the seven pagodas

3.Russia to train four Indian astronauts for Gaganyaan(GS-2,3)

• CONTEXT:New Delhi taking Moscow’s help for the maiden mission to space Gaganyaan
• India and Russia are stepping up cooperation in the space sector with Moscow extending help in 4-5 critical areas of India’s ambitious manned mission to space, Gaganyaan. This includes training of Indian astronauts at Russian facilities beginning later this year, sources at the Indian Embassy in Moscow said.
• Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on August 15, 2018 that an Indian will go to space by the 75th Independence Day, Indian Space Research Research Organisation (ISRO) has outlined a road map to put a three-man crew in a low earth orbit for 5-7 days by December 2021 by an indigenous GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle from a third launch pad under construction at Sriharikota.
• Space cooperation will be reviewed at the highest level during the summit meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin later this week in Vladivostok.
• The Gaganyaan programme is expected to cost under RS 10,000 crore and there will be two unmanned missions prior to the manned mission to validate the technologies.
• ISRO Chairman Dr. K. Sivan had stated earlier that they began work on the manned mission in 2004 and many of the critical technologies required have already been validated through various tests.
• • Gaganyaan :
    • • The Mission
  • Under the Gaganyaan schedule, three flights will be sent in orbit. Of the three, there will be two unmanned flights and one human spaceflight.
  • The human space flight programme, called the Orbital Module will have three Indian astronauts, including a woman.
  • It will circle Earth at a low-earth-orbit at an altitude of 300-400 km from earth for 5-7 days.
  • The payload will consist of:
  • Crew module - spacecraft carrying human beings.
  • Service module - powered by two liquid propellant engines.
  • It will be equipped with emergency escape and emergency mission abort.
  • GSLV Mk III, also called the LVM-3 (Launch Vehicle Mark-3) the three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle, will be used to launch Gaganyaan as it has the necessary payload capability.
  • The mission is expected to cost around Rs 10,000 crore.
  • Timeline
  • 2004: The ISRO Policy Planning Committee made recommendation for a manned space mission
  • 2006: Preliminary studies of Gaganyaan started under the generic name Orbital Vehicle.
  • 2008: An initial design of a fully autonomous vehicle to carry two astronauts was finalised.
  • 2009: A committee was formed to analyse the feasibility of the programme and funding was sanctioned.
  • 2014: Successful testing of experimental flight of GSLV MK-III was carried out.
  • 2017: First flight of GSLV MK-III was carried out. GSLV MK-III placed the country’s heaviest satellite till date, GSAT-19, into a precise orbit. With it, India became a nation having its own indigenous cryogenic engine technology.
  • July 5, 2018: First successful flight of the crew escape system was carried out. The crew escape system is an emergency measure designed to quickly pull the crew module along with the astronauts to a safe distance from the launch vehicle in the event of a launch abort.
  • August 15, 2018: Prime Minister promised manned mission before 2022.
  • Impact
  • The success of the mission will rekindle public imagination and get the young generation interested in space in particular and science in general.
  • The astronauts would carry out a series of experiments, particularly microgravity experiments.
  • India’s quest to undertake human space flight and its earlier Moon and Mars missions proves the growing sophistication of India’s space program and ensures a seat at the high table of global governance of outer space.
  • The mission would create 15,000 new employment opportunities, 13,000 of them in private industry.
  • If India does launch the Gaganyaan mission, it will be the fourth nation to do so after the United States, Russia and China.
  • Challenges
  • India does not even have the facilities to train astronauts.
  • India is yet to perfect fool-proof launch vehicle technology, the basic requirement for a manned space mission.
  • The Polar Satellite launch vehicle and the Geosynchronous Launch vehicle, the two Indian spacecraft deployed to launch satellites and modules into space, are yet to be man-rated.
  • (Man-rating is the term used to measure the safety and integrity of launch vehicles with zero failure.)
  • ISRO has not been able to put in place India’s own Global Positioning System in spite of completing the NavIC due to dysfunctional atomic clocks in the satellites, rendering the fleet a dud.
  • While the launch vehicle, crew module, re-entry technology, crew escape system are in place, monitoring and tracking systems, Environmental Control & Life Support System (ELCSS), space suit and crew support systems are still in the developmental phase.
  • The launchpad at the Sriharikota spaceport, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, will have to be enhanced for the human mission.
  • Way Forward
  • In terms of space technology, a manned space programme is the obvious next step for India.
  • India cannot afford not to develop the technological capacity for manned space flight because that will represent a major drawback in Indian space capabilities.
  • Even if the direct benefits of such advancement may not be as great in the short-term, this is a necessary longer-term investment.
  
  

4.India, Pak. to hold talks on Kartarpur Corridor on Sept. 4(GS-1,2)

• Kartarpur SAHIB corridor

• CONTEXT:India and Pakistan will hold a round of talks on the Kartarpur corridor project on September 4, sources confirmed on Sunday. The meeting comes days after both sides held a technical discussion on the progress of infrastructure work.
• “We proposed a slot between September 3 and 5, and they [Pakistan] agreed to meet on September 5,” a source said, adding that India had sent a note verbale on August 28, asking for the third round of talks on the project that is expected to be operational on time for Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary celebrations in the first week of November.
• Kartarpur Corridor :
• The Union cabinet has approved the construction of a ‘corridor’ linking India with the historic Kartarpur gurdwara on the banks of the Ravi river, in Pakistan.
• Kartarpur gurudwara is the revered shrine across the border where Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism spent the last 18 years of his life.
• The corridor will connect the holy shrines of Dera Baba Nanak Sahib in Gurdaspur district of Punjab in India with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan.
• The length of the corridor is about 4 km (2 km on either side of the international border).
• The Pakistan government has also decided to open the corridor.
• The corridor will commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
• Pilgrimages between India and Pakistan are governed by the 1974 Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines, which includes a list of shrines in Pakistan and India open for visitors from the other country, and for which visas are required.
• The Kartarpur Corridor, which will provide visa-free access to the shrine when it becomes ready on both sides, may need a separate treaty.
• Significance
• The Kartarpur Sahib corridor was first proposed in 1999 when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee took a bus ride to Lahore.
• The Kartarpur corridor will be implemented as an integrated development project with Government of India funding. The development comes ahead of the 550th Prakash Purab or 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak in 2019.
• It will allow Indian devotees to visit Kartarpur shrine located 2 km inside Pakistan in Narowal district.
• Until now, most Indian devotees have had to contend with a darshan using binoculars installed at Dera Baba Nanak Sahib.
• India has also asked Pakistan to develop the corridor with suitable facilities in its territory from the International Border to facilitate easier access of Indian pilgrims.
• The forward movement on the Kartarpur corridor can be considered a big development since despite the India-Pakistan deadlock in talks, both New Delhi and Islamabad have been able to form a consensus on the issue.
• Additional Information
• Guru Nanak Dev Jayanti is observed on the full-moon day in the month of Katak to celebrate the birth of Guru Nanak Dev (1469-1539), who is the first of the 10 Sikh Gurus and the founder of Sikhism.
• He advocated the 'Nirguna' form of bhakti.
• He rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, image worship, austerities and the scriptures of both Hindus and Muslims.
• He organised his followers into a community. He set up rules for congregational worship (sangat) involving collective recitation.
• He appointed one of his disciples, Angad, to succeed him as the preceptor (guru), and this practice was followed for nearly 200 years.
• The fifth preceptor, Guru Arjan, compiled Baba Guru Nanak’s hymns along with those of his four successors and other religious poets like Baba Farid, Ravidas (also known as Raidas) and Kabir in the Adi Granth Sahib.
• These hymns, called 'Gurbani', are composed in many languages.
• 
  
• In the late seventeenth century the tenth preceptor, Guru Gobind Singh, included the compositions of the ninth guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, and this scripture was called the Guru Granth Sahib.
• Guru Gobind Singh also laid the foundation of the Khalsa Panth (army of the pure) and defined its five symbols: uncut hair, a dagger, a pair of shorts, a comb and a steel bangle. Under him, the community got consolidated as a socio-religious and military force.

5.Germany asks Poland’s forgiveness 80 years after Second World War(GS-1)

• CONTEXT:German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday asked Poland’s forgiveness for history’s bloodiest conflict during a ceremony in the Polish city of Wielun, where the first World War II bombs fell 80 years ago.
• “I bow before the victims of the attack on Wielun. I bow before the Polish victims of German tyranny. And I ask your forgiveness,” Mr. Steinmeier said in both German and Polish.
• Poland suffered some of the worst horrors of Second World War II: nearly six million Poles died in the conflict that killed more than 50 million people overall.
• Hitler’s attacks on Poland led Britain and France to declare war on Nazi Germany. On September 17, the Soviet Union in turn invaded Poland.
• After the Nazis tore up the pact with Moscow, two alliances battled it out to the end: the Axis powers led by Germany, Italy and Japan and the victorious Allied forces led by Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States.
• SECOND WORLD WAR:
• World War II (often abbreviated to WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 70 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war
• Causes of Second World War(1939-1945)

(1) Humiliation by the Treaty of Versailles
War indemnity.
The provision for disarming Germany.
Saar coal mine to France for 15 years.
Polish corridor was given to Poland.
City of Danzing was made free.
(2) Growth of Fascism and Nazism
Mussolini (Italy) and Hitler (Germany) strongly glorified war and violence.
While West was fighting communism, Germany and Italy started massive militarization.
(3) Rise of Japan
Imperialism.
Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis (1936).
(4) Neglect of minority interests
New countries like Poland, Czechoslovakia and Austria were formed after the First World War. While drawing boundaries the interests of minority groups in each of these countries were neglected.
(5) Military Alliance
Allies – Britain, France, USA, USSR and China vs Axis Powers – Germany, Italy and Japan
Leaders – Churchill (Britain), Roosevelt (USA), Stalin (USSR)
(6) Germany’s attack on Czechoslovakia
In-spite of the Munich Pact between Germany and Britain (1938), Germany re-attacked and sized Czechoslovakia.

(7) Immediate Cause : Germany’s invasion of Poland (1st September 1939)
Germany annexed Polished corridor and Danzig city. The sudden attack on Poland is known as Blitzkrieg (lightning war).

• Brtiain and France declared war on Germany.
• Course of the War
• Second World War - Pearl Harbour Attack
• World War II officially began on September 1, 1939.
• Germany conquered – Poland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Holland and France.
• Battle of Britain – Germany vs Britain (air battle; German Air force =Luftwaffe).
• Battle of Stalingrad – Germany vs USSR. (Operation of Barbaressa (1941 = Attack on Yugoslavia and Greece; Russia countered attack on Moscow with Scorched Earth Policy).
• Atlantic Charter (August 1941) – Between Churchil (UK) and Roosevelt (USA).
• Pearl Harbor Attack (7th December 1941) – Japan on USA.
• Italy vs UK in Africa (1942) – Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, British Somaliland, Eritrea.
• France was conquered by Germany in 1940, but British and American troops liberated France in 1944.
• Atom bomb – Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
• Consequences of Second World War
• End of colonialism and imperialism.
• End of dictatorship in Germany and Italy.
• Germany was divided into West Germany and East Germany. West Germany was controlled by Britain, France and USA. East Germany by USSR. (Read more about the re-union of Germany in 1989 when you check our post about the fall of the Berlin wall).
• Strengthening of nationalist movements in Africa and Asia. (From Britain – India, Myanmar, Egypt, Sri Lanka; From America – Philippines; From France – Indo-China; From Dutch – Indonesia)
• 5 crore deaths (2.2 crore soldiers and 2.8 crore civilians)
• Economics problems – Unemployment, low growth etc.
• Emergence of two power blocks – USA and USSR. This resulted in cold war.
• Emergence of third world Countries.
• UNO was set up in 1945.

6.Catastrophic’ hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas(GS-1,3)

CONTEXT: Hurricane Dorian became the strongest storm in modern records to hit the northwestern Bahamas and is expected to pound the islands with up to two days of torrential rain, high waves and damaging winds as parts of Florida evacuated before it took aim at the U.S. mainland.The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Dorian was over Abaco as a Category 5 storm on Sunday with maximum sustained winds of 180 miles per hour (285 km per hour) and gusts of more than 200 mph (322 kph).

Hurricane :Tropical Cyclones

Tropical cyclones are regarded as one of the most devastating natural calamities in the world.They originate and intensify over warm tropical oceans.These are ferocious storms that originate over oceans in tropical areas and move over to the coastal areas causing violent winds, very heavy rainfall, and storm outpourings.Names of cyclone in different regionsThey are known as:Cyclones in the Indian OceanHurricanes in the AtlanticTyphoons in the Western Pacific and the South China SeaWilly-willies in Western Australia

Conditions for the formation of Tropical Cyclone

The conditions which favour the formation and intensification of tropical cyclone storms are:Large sea surface with a temperature higher than 27° CPresence of the Coriolis forceSmall differences in the vertical wind speedA pre-existing weak- low-pressure area or low-level-cyclonic circulationUpper divergence above the sea level system

Formation of Cyclone

The energy that strengthens the storm comes from the condensation process in the towering cumulonimbus clouds, surrounding the centre of the storm.With an uninterrupted supply of moisture from the sea, the storm is again strengthened.On reaching the terrestrial region the moisture supply is cut off and the storm dissipates.The place where a tropical cyclone cuts the coast is called the landfall of the cyclone.A landfall is frequently accompanied by sturdy winds, heavy rain and mounting sea waves that could threaten people and cause damage to properties.Cyclones which cross 20 degrees North latitude are more destructive.They cover a larger area and can originate over the land and sea whereas the tropical cyclones originate only over the seas and on reaching the land they dissipate.

Eye of Cyclone

A mature tropical cyclone is characterised by the strong spirally circulating wind around the centre which is called the eye.The eye is an area with calm weather descending air.It is characterized by light winds and clear skies.

Eye Wall

Around the eye is the eyewall, where there is a strong spiralling rise of air to a greater height reaching the tropopause.The wind reaches maximum velocity in this region and torrential rain occurs here.From the eyewall, rain bands may radiate and trains of cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds may drift into the outer region.

TODAYS SOURCES:THE HINDU,TIMES OF INDIA,WIKIPEDIA,THE GUARDIAN