DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS - 5 SEPTEMBER 2019

    IMPORTANT TOPICS FOR TODAY

                         


BY SUMIT BHARDWAJ                          5 September 2019

Vienna

Vienna crowned 'most liveable city' for second year

1.India, Russia against outside influence in internal issues: Narendra Modi(GS-2)

• CONTEXT:Mr. Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the Russian Far East Region.
• India and Russia are against “outside influence” in the internal matters of any nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday after comprehensive talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed at finding new horizons of bilateral cooperation in areas like trade, defence, space, oil and gas, nuclear energy and maritime connectivity.
• Mr. Modi, who arrived in Russia on a two-day visit, is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the Russian Far East Region.
• Mr. Modi’s remarks were made at a press meet with Mr. Putin after their delegation-level talks at the 20th Annual Summit following a two-hour tete-a-tete on board a ship. His remarks came against the backdrop of tension between India and Pakistan after New Delhi revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
• India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 was an internal matter and also advised Pakistan to accept the reality. Pakistan is trying to internationalise the Kashmir issue after India’s decision on August 5.
• A joint statement issued later said the two sides “underlined the primacy of international law and emphasised their commitment to the purposes and the principles stated in the UN Charter including the inadmissibility of interference in the internal affairs of member states.” 
• The two leaders discussed ways to bolster cooperation in trade and investment, oil and gas, mining, nuclear energy, defence and security, air and maritime connectivity, transport infrastructure, hi-tech, outer space, counter terrorism and people-to-people ties.

Russian Far East Region:

• The Russian Far East comprises the Russian part of the Far East, the easternmost territory of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean.
• The Far Eastern Federal District shares land borders with Mongolia, the People's Republic of China and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to its south, and shares maritime borders with Japan to its southeast and with the United States to its northeast. Although geographically part of Siberia, the Russian Far East is categorized separately from the Siberian Federal District to its west in Russian geographical schemes.

Eastern Economic Forum (EEF)

• The Eastern Economic Forum was established by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin in 2015.
• In accordance with the Decree, the Eastern Economic Forum takes place each year in Vladivostok.
• Every year, the Eastern Economic Forum serves as a platform for the discussion of key issues in the world economy, regional integration, and the development of new industrial and technological sectors, as well as of the global challenges facing Russia and other nations.
• Events at the Forum traditionally take place in the form of panel sessions, roundtables, televised debates, business breakfasts, and business dialogues devoted to Russia’s relationships with various countries.
• The Forum business programme includes a number of business dialogues with leading partner countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and with ASEAN, a key integration organization of dynamically developing nations in Southeast Asia
• ABOUT THE FAR EAST:
• The Far East is the easternmost part of Russia. The macro-region borders two oceans, the Pacific and the Arctic, and five countries (China, Japan, Mongolia, the United States and the DPRK).
• The Far Eastern Federal District covers more than a third of the country’s territory.
• RESOURCES: The Far East is rich in natural resources like diamonds, stannary, borax materials, 50 gold, tungsten, and fish and seafood. About 1/3 of all coal reserves and hydro-engineering resources of the country are here. Forests of the region comprise about 30% of the total forest area of Russia.

UN Charter:

• 
  

  The Charter of the United Nations (also known as the UN Charter) of 1945 is the foundational treaty of the United Nations, an intergovernmental organization. The UN Charter articulated a commitment to uphold human rights of citizens and outlined a broad set of principles relating to achieving ‘higher standards of living’, addressing ‘economic, social, health, and related problems,’ and ‘universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.’As a charter, it is a constituent treaty, and all members are bound by its articles. Furthermore, Article 103 of the Charter states that obligations to the United Nations prevail over all other treaty obligations
• 
  

  The Charter was opened for signature on 26 June 1945 and was signed at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, United States, on 26 June 1945, by 50 of the 51 original member countries (Poland, the other original member, which was not represented at the conference, signed it two months later). It entered into force on 24 October 1945, after being ratified by the original five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—the Republic of China (after 1949, located in Taiwan and was later replaced by the People's Republic of China), the Provisional Government of the French Republic (later replaced by the Fourth Republic and then the Fifth Republic), the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (later replaced by the Russian Federation), the United Kingdom, and the United States—and a majority of the other signatories.
• 
  

  In the meantime, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki took place on 6 and 9 August, respectively; the introduction of this new weapon of warfare completely changed the security environment in which the UN Charter was promulgated. Most countries in the world have now ratified the Charter.
• 
  

  24 October was later declared as United Nations Day by the United Nations General Assembly

2.Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Lakhvi, Dawood Ibrahim declared terrorists under new anti-terror law(GS-2,3)

• CONTEXT:Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), his deputy Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim who planned and executed the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts are the first four persons designated as “terrorists” under the anti-terror law passed by Parliament on August 2.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a gazette notification declaring the four as 'terrorists' under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 35 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967.
• The UAPA was first amended in 2004, then in 2008 and again in 2013. The 2004 amendment was to ban organisations for terror activities, under which 34 outfits, including the LeT and the JeM, were banned.

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967:

•  is an Indian law aimed at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India. Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India.
• The National Integration Council appointed a Committee on National Integration and Regionalisation to look into, the aspect of putting reasonable restrictions in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India. Pursuant to the acceptance of recommendations of the Committee, the Constitution (Sixteenth Amendment) Act, 1963 was enacted to impose, by law, reasonable restrictions in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India. In order to implement the provisions of 1963 Act, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Bill was introduced in the Parliament

LATEST:

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019

• The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Amit Shah, on July 8, 2019. The Bill amends the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.  The Act provides special procedures to deal with terrorist activities, among other things.
• Who may commit terrorism: Under the Act, the central government may designate an organisation as a terrorist organisation if it: (i) commits or participates in acts of terrorism, (ii) prepares for terrorism, (iii) promotes terrorism, or (iv) is otherwise involved in terrorism.  The Bill additionally empowers the government to designate individuals as terrorists on the same grounds.  
• Approval for seizure of property by NIA: Under the Act, an investigating officer is required to obtain the prior approval of the Director General of Police to seize properties that may be connected with terrorism.  The Bill adds that if the investigation is conducted by an officer of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the approval of the Director General of NIA would be required for seizure of such property.  
• Investigation by NIA: Under the Act, investigation of cases may be conducted by officers of the rank of Deputy Superintendent or Assistant Commissioner of Police or above.  The Bill additionally empowers the officers of the NIA, of the rank of Inspector or above, to investigate cases.
• Insertion to schedule of treaties: The Act defines terrorist acts to include acts committed within the scope of any of the treaties listed in a schedule to the Act.  The Schedule lists nine treaties, including the Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings (1997), and the Convention against Taking of Hostages (1979).  The Bill adds another treaty to the list.  This is the International Convention for Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (2005). 

3.Cases of vector­ borne diseases down in NDMC areas: NEW DELHI offIcial (GS-2)

• CONTEXT:The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) on Wednesday said that cases of vector borne diseases this year have reduced in areas under its jurisdiction, compared to the last two years
• So far this year, the number of malaria cases is 24, compared to 41 in the same period in 2017 and 31 in 2018

vector­ borne diseases :

• Vector Borne diseases are caused when disease spreading micro-organisms are spread through a vector like mosquito. People suffer from a significant disease burden from these diseases in local and focal areas of India, which is reflected in the form of morbidity and mortality from Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya, Japanese Encephalitis (JE), Kala-azar and Lymphatic filariasis.
• There has been abysmally low level of researches done in this area. People affected by this disease mostly belongs to rural and underdeveloped sanitation. India has vast rural
• area without proper sewage, sanitation and effective health centre.
• This will make India more vulnerable to Vector Borne disease. Hence reviving research is important. Other reasons and benefits of reviving researches are:
• Vector borne diseases are also prevalent in neighboring nations like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh etc. India‘s research, vaccination and pharmaceutical achievement can be shared with them in future.
• By focusing research on VBD, we can also setup bio-medical research institute which is need of the hour.
• India can help WHO motto of eliminating malaria by 2025 from whole world. Also, India‘s research will be important, as Malaria is eliminated from all developed  nations. And only nation that is doing research is China.
• Vector borne disease leads to greatest mortality. Checking them, will ensure a healthier next generation. Also, it will reduce cost of operation in Rural PHC.
• Right now, we have many different programmes for each diseases like:
• National Anti – Malaria programme
• Kala – Azar Control Programme
• National Filaria  Control Programme
• Japanese Encephilitis Control Programme
• Dengue and Dengue Hemorrhagic fever.
• Such research will bring all of them under one umbrella programme to deliver their remedy, symptom guides and medicine course together. It will be later helpful to deliver all drugs/medicines to rural PHCs for all VBDs.

4.Green tribunal warns all States to properly deal with hazardous waste(GS-2,3)

• CONTEXT:Following a plea seeking remedial action against pollution caused by hazardous waste and compliance of waste management rules, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed all States to follow recommendations of the Central Pollution Control Board, including setting up treatment, storage and disposal facilities.
• A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel took note of the recommendations put forth by the CPCB and observed that scientific handling of hazardous waste has to be ensured given that it is highly toxic and has the potential to irreversibly damage the environment.
• The green panel has directed all States and Union Territories, apart from the Union environment and shipping Ministries, to take necessary steps towards compliance of the recommendations.

NGT:

• What is National Green Tribunal (NGT)?
• It is a specialised body set up under the National Green Tribunal Act (2010) for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources.
• With the establishment of the NGT, India became the third country in the world to set up a specialised environmental tribunal, only after Australia and New Zealand, and the first developing country to do so.
• NGT is mandated to make disposal of applications or appeals finally within 6 months of filing of the same.
• The NGT has five places of sittings, New Delhi is the Principal place of sitting and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai are the other four.
• Structure of NGT
• The Tribunal comprises of the Chairperson, the Judicial Members and Expert Members. They shall hold office for term of five years and are not eligible for reappointment.
• The Chairperson is appointed by the Central Government in consultation with Chief Justice of India (CJI).
• A Selection Committee shall be formed by central government to appoint the Judicial Members and Expert Members.
• There are to be least 10 and maximum 20 full time Judicial members and Expert Members in the tribunal.
• Powers & Jurisdiction
• The Tribunal has jurisdiction over all civil cases involving substantial question relating to environment (including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment).
• Being a statutory adjudicatory body like Courts, apart from original jurisdiction side on filing of an application, NGT also has appellate jurisdiction to hear appeal as a Court (Tribunal).
• The Tribunal is not bound by the procedure laid down under the Code of Civil Procedure 1908, but shall be guided by principles of 'natural justice'.
• While passing any order/decision/ award, it shall apply the principles of sustainable development, the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle.
• NGT by an order, can provide
• relief and compensation to the victims of pollution and other environmental damage (including accident occurring while handling any hazardous substance),
• for restitution of property damaged, and
• for restitution of the environment for such area or areas, as the Tribunal may think fit.
• An order/decision/award of Tribunal is executable as a decree of a civil court.
• The NGT Act also provides a procedure for a penalty for non compliance:
• Imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years,
• Fine which may extend to ten crore rupees, and
• Both fine and imprisonment.
• An appeal against order/decision/ award of the NGT lies to the Supreme Court, generally within ninety days from the date of communication.
• The NGT deals with civil cases under the seven laws related to the environment, these include:
• The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974,
• The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977,
• The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980,
• The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981,
• The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986,
• The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991 and
• The Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
• Any violation pertaining to these laws or any decision taken by the Government under these laws can be challenged before the NGT.
• Strengths of NGT
• Over the years NGT has emerged as a critical player in environmental regulation, passing strict orders on issues ranging from pollution to deforestation to waste management.
• NGT offers a path for the evolution of environmental jurisprudence by setting up an alternative dispute resolution mechanism.
• It helps reduce the burden of litigation in the higher courts on environmental matters.
• NGT is less formal, less expensive, and a faster way of resolving environment related disputes.
• It plays a crucial role in curbing environment-damaging activities.
• The Chairperson and members are not eligible for reappointment, hence they are likely to deliver judgements independently, without succumbing to pressure from any quarter.
• The NGT has been instrumental in ensuring that the Environment Impact Assessment process is strictly observed.
• Challenges
• Two important acts - Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 have been kept out of NGT’s jurisdiction. This restricts the jurisdiction area of NGT and at times hampers its functioning as crucial forest rights issue is linked directly to environment.
• The NGT decisions are being challenged in various High Courts under Article 226 (power of High Courts to issue certain writs) with many asserting the superiority of a High Court over the NGT, claiming ‘High Court is a constitutional body while NGT is a statutory body’.” This is one of the weaknesses of the Act as there is lack of clarity about what kind of decisions can be challenged; even though according to the NGT Act, its decision can be challenged before the Supreme Court.
• Decisions of NGT have also been criticised and challenged due to their repercussions on economic growth and development.
• The absence of a formula based mechanism in determining the compensation has also brought criticism to the tribunal.
• The decisions given by NGT are not fully complied by the stakeholders or the government. Sometimes its decisions are pointed out not to be feasible to implement within a given timeframe.
• The lack of human and financial resources has led to high pendency of cases - which undermines NGT’s very objective of disposal of appeals within 6 months.
• The justice delivery mechanism is also hindered by limited number of regional benches.
• Important Landmark Judgements of NGT
• In 2012, POSCO a steelmaker company signed a MoU with the Odisha government to set up steel project. NGT suspended order and this was considered a radical step in favour of the local communities and forests.
• In 2012 Almitra H. Patel vs. Union of India case, NGT gave judgment of complete prohibition on open burning of waste on lands, including landfills – regarded as the single biggest landmark case dealing with the issue of solid waste management in India.
• In 2013 in Uttarakhand floods case, the Alaknanda Hydro Power Co. Ltd. was ordered to compensate to the petitioner – here, the NGT directly relied on the principle of ‘polluter pays’.
• In 2015, the NGT ordered that all diesel vehicles over 10 years old will not be permitted to ply in Delhi-NCR.
• In 2017, the Art of Living Festival on Yamuna Food Plain was declared violating the environmental norms, the NGT panel imposed a penalty of Rs. 5 Crore.
• The NGT, in 2017, imposed an interim ban on plastic bags of less than 50-micron thickness in Delhi because “they were causing animal deaths, clogging sewers and harming the environment”.
• Conclusion
• There is need for more autonomy and widen NGT’s scope for effective protection of environment in balance with human developmental activities.

 hazardous waste :

• Hazardous waste is waste that has substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment.
• Characteristic hazardous wastes are materials that are known or tested to exhibit one or more of the following hazardous traits:
• Ignitability
• Reactivity
• Corrosivity
• Toxicity
• Listed hazardous wastes are materials specifically listed by regulatory authorities as hazardous wastes which are from non-specific sources, specific sources, or discarded chemical products.
• Hazardous wastes may be found in different physical states such as gaseous, liquids, or solids. A hazardous waste is a special type of waste because it cannot be disposed of by common means like other by-products of our everyday lives. Depending on the physical state of the waste, treatment and solidification processes might be required.

5.Megalithic sword unearthed from rock-cut cave(GS-1)

• CONTEXT:105-cm sword is believed to be 2,500 years old
• The State Archaeology Department in Kozhikode has unearthed what it calls a Megalithic era iron sword, a chisel and a few decorated pottery from a rock-cut cave at Pothuvachery in Kannur district.
• The 105-cm sword, said to be 2,500 years old, was found during a scientific clearance at the historical site.
• “However, the discovery of the cave was fortuitous on the unpaved road side parallel leading to the Manikkiyil temple road in Mavilayi village, 12 km from Kannur city,” K. Krishnaraj of the Archaeology Department, who is supervising the project, said.
• About a month ago, he said that local people had spotted a hole that had developed on the gravel road. They dug out a few pieces pottery from the hole and kept them in their possession. Only later did some of them inform about the hole and return the Megalithic artefacts to the Archaeology Department.
• The semi-spherical shaped cave has a diameter of 2.5 metre and a height of 90 cm. The investigations would continue for a week, he said.
• Mr. Krishnaraj said that the sword was not a rare one. “Previously, a sword was discovered from a similar rock-cut cave from a site at Kuruvattur in Kozhikode. The recovery of the implements revealed the technological advancement of the Megalithic people,” he said.
• The materials would be shifted to the Pazhassi Raja Archaeological Museum at East Hill in Kozhikode soon, he said.

Megalithic Culture – The Iron Age Culture of South India

• In the present state of research these megalithic monuments, whatever their external shape and contents be, seem to herald the Iron Age in South India. The megalithic culture in South India was a full fledged iron age culture when the great benefits of the use of this metal were fully realised by the people. Hence, normally the stone dropped out of use as a material for the weapons and tools to a large extent. The megalithic people of South India, or, for that matter, the iron age people of the subcontinent in general, found out new uses of stones in their daily life. Most of the information about the iron age in South India comes from the excavations of the megalithic burials. Iron objects have been found universally in all the megalithic sites right from Junapani near Nagpur in Vidharba region (Central India) down to Adichanallur in Tamilnadu in the far south.
• With the introduction of iron there was a gradual change in almost everything except perhaps the house plans. But, of all these changes the most remarkable was the elaborate method of disposing the dead. This became a characteristic feature of the South Indian regions. Instead of laying the dead accompanied by four or five pots in a pit in the house, now the dead were buried in a separate place – a cemetery or a graveyard away from the house. The remains of the dead were collected perhaps after exposing the body for sometime and then the bones were placed underground in specially prepared stone box called a cist. The cists were elaborate structures and must have necessitated an amount of planning and cooperation among the community and the existence of masons and other craftsmen capable of manufacturing the required size of stones, large and small. It is probable that like Egyptian cellars, these megaliths must have been planned and kept ready before the death of an individual.

Classification of the Megaliths

• It is not easy to prepare a typology of the megaliths of South India in general because the megalithic burials show a variety of methods for the disposal of the dead. Moreover, there are megaliths which are internally different but exhibit the same external features. Nevertheless, on the basis of the explorations and excavations carried out on different sites of South India, the megaliths can be classified under different categories depending upon their outstanding features. These are:

I.          Rock Cut Caves,
II.        Hood Stones and Hat Stones / Cap Stones,
III.       Menhirs, Alignments and Avenues,
IV.       Dolmenoid Cists,
V.        Cairn Circles,
VI.       Stone Circles,
VII.     Pit Burials, and
VIII.    Barrows

• 
  
• I. Rock Cut Caves
• These are scooped out on soft laterite, as found in the southern part of the West Coast. These rock cut cave tombs are peculiar to this region and occur in the Cochin and Malabar regions of Kerala. They also occur in other regions. On the East Coast of South India, they are present in Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram) near Madras. In the Deccan and western India they are observed at Elephanta, Ajanta, Ellora, Karle, Bhaja etc. But these belong to a later date and were used for entirely different purposes while those in Kerala are purely megalithic and funerary ones, the others being of different tradition.
• The Kerala funerary rock cut caves consist of an open well, roughly rectangular or square, cut vertically down the rock and provided with a flight of steps for descending to the floor. Such caves are found at many sites like Chovvannur, Kakkad, Porkalam, etc. More elaborate specimens of such caves occur at sites like Eyyal, Kattakampal, etc.
• On the basis of his detailed study of these rock cut burial caves in Cochin region, Y.D. Sharma (1956) recognises four types of caves – (i) Caves with Central pillar, (ii) Caves without central pillar, (iii) Caves with a deep opening and  (iv) Multi-chambered caves. 
• II.  Hood Stones (Kudaikallu) and Hat Stones / Cap Stones (Toppikkals)
• Allied with the rock cut caves but of a simpler form are the Hood stones or Kudaikallu. These consists of a dome-shaped dressed laterite block which cover the underground circular pit cut into a natural rock and provided with a stairway. In some cases the hood stone gives place to a hat stone or toppikkal, which is a plano-convex slab resting on three or four quadrilateral clinostatic boulders, forming a square base and a truncated top on which rests the toppikkal or the hat stone. This also covers an underground burial pit containing the funerary urn and other grave furnishings. Unlike as in the rock cut caves, there is no chamber apart from this open pit in which itself the burial is made. Usually, it contains a burial urn covered with a convex or dome-shaped pottery lid or a stone slab and contains skeletal remains, small pots and, sometimes ashes. Similar monuments are commonly encountered in Cochin and Malabar regions extending along the Western Ghats into the Coimbatore region upto the Noyyal river valley in Tamilnadu.
• III. Menhirs, Alignments and Avenues
• Menhirs are monolithic pillars planted vertically into the ground. These may be small or gigantic in height, ranging from 14 to 16 ft. down to a mere 3ft. Their common heights range between 3 to 6 ft. They are often rudely dressed or not dressed at all. These are essentially commemorative stone pillars set up at or near a burial spot. These menhirs are mentioned in ancient Tamil literature as nadukal and are often called Pandukkal or Pandil. In some cases, the menhirs are not planted in ground but rest on the original ground propped up with a mass of rubble as at Maski. These occur in a number of sites in close vicinity of other type of megalithic burials, mostly in different regions of Kerala and Bellary, Raichur and Gulbarga regions of Karnataka in large numbers, but less frequently at other places of South India.
• Alignments are closely associated to the menhirs. These consists of a series of standing stones, oriented to the cardinal directions. Some of these stones are 14 to 16 ft. high and one monolith at a certain place measured 25 ft. long. But the normal heights range between 3 and 6 ft. These stones are sometimes dressed. The alignments are found at Komalaparathala in Kerala and at a number of sites in Gulbarga, Raichur, Nalgonda and Mahboobnagar districts of Karnataka.
• Avenues consists of two or more parallel rows of the alignments and hence many of the sites in the Deccan, mentioned above under alignments, may be considered as examples of this category of monuments when they are in parallel lines.
• IV. Dolmenoid Cists
• Dolmenoid cists consists of square or rectangular box-like graves built of several orthostats, one or more for each side, supporting the superincumbent capstone consisting of one or more stones, often with the floor also paved with the stone slabs. The orthostats and the capstones might be formed either of undressed rough blocks of stone or partly dressed flattish stones. The dolmenoid cists occur at large number at Sanur near Chingleput and many other sites in this region. The cists built of dressed slabs or the slab cists are the normal type of cists, occurring all over South India, as also in some parts of the north. There are many sub-types of this in Tamilnadu – (i) Dolmenoid cist with multiple orthostats, (ii) Dolmenoid cist with four orthostats planned contra-clockwise with U-shaped port-hole in the east or west, (iii) Dolmenoid cist with four orthostats kept contra-clock-wise with U-shaped port-hole on the top corner of the eastern orthostat, and  (iv) Dolemnoid cist with four orthostats arranged contra-clockwise and with slab-circles.
• V. Cairn Circles
• The Cairn circles are one the most popular type of megalithic monuments occurring all over south India in association with other types. They consist of a heap of stone rubble enclosed within a circle of boulders. On the basis of the form of the underground burial, they may be divided into three sub-types – (i) Pit burials,  (ii) Sarcophagi burials, and (iii) Pyriform or other types of urn burials.
• The pit burials under the cairn circles consist of deep pits dug into the natural soil, roughly circular, square or oblong on plan. The skeletal remains and the grave furniture were placed on the floors of these pits. The pits were then filled up with earth, either the earth dug up in the pit or that which was brought from elsewhere, upto the original ground level. Above this earth filling was placed the cairn heap which might be just a thin layer or may rise upto 3 to 4 ft. above the ground level and bounded by a circle of stones. Such pit burials have been found at many sites in the Chingleput (Tamilnadu), Chitradurg and Gulbarga (Karnataka) districts.
• A sarcophagus is literally a legged coffin made of terracotta. The cairn circles containing sarcophagi entombments are comparatively more widespread than the pit burials. They are similar to the pit burials described above but the skeletal remains and the primary deposits of the grave furniture are placed in an oblong terracotta sarcophagus. This sarcophagus is generally provided with a convex terracotta lid, rows of legs at the bottom and often with a capstone at a higher level. Rarely, these sarcophagi are not provided with legs, but are supported on pottery stands and vessels or placed on the floor directly. Such megalithic structures are found from South Arcot, Chingleput and North Arcot districts of Tamilandu and Kolar district of Karnataka. They are also found in the southern districts of Andhra Pradesh, though they are comparatively rare in these regions
• The urn burials under the cairn circles are a variant form of the sarcophagi burials described above and occur in large number in most parts of South India. The urns, in which the burials are made, are deposited in pits dug into the soil. The pits are filled up with the soil upto the ground level and are frequently provided with a capstone. Then, the heap of cairns on the surface, which marks the burial, is surrounded by a circle of stones. They are predominant in Kerala and have been known to occur is Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Salem, Chingleput and South Arcot district of Tamilnadu; Kolar, Banglore, Hassan, Chitradurg, Bellary, Raichur and Gulbarga districts of Karnataka; various districts of Andhra Pradesh and the region around Nagpur in Maharashtra.
• VI. Stone Circles
• They are the most commonly encountered megalithic monuments in India. They reflect the features of various forms of megalithic monuments such as the Kudaikallu, Topikkal, different types of pit burials, menhirs, dolmenoid cists of different types, cairns, etc. These occur from the southern tip of the peninsula upto Nagpur region and in different parts of North India, where the megalithic monuments are known to occur. But in this category under consideration, only stone circles without any considerable cairn filling within the circle, containing burial pits with or without pyriform urns or sarcophagi, are included. The monuments under this category are distinguished from the cairn circles only in that the cairn heaps occur or do not occur in these circles. Otherwise, all the three sub-types discussed above under the cairn circles are found to occur in this category also. It may appear that there is not much justification in making this distinction between cairn circles and stone circles. But at some sites like Sanur near Chingleput, both the kinds exist side by side, but in separate groups. Therefore, on the basis of some distinctions they are placed under different categories under our considerations.
• VII. Pit Burials
• Burials in pyriform or fuciform urns a large conical jars or handi-shaped jars containing the funerary deposits, are buried in the underground pits specially dug for the purpose into the hard natural soil and sometimes into the basal rock and the pits are filled up. In these kinds of burials we do not find any surface indication of the burial in the form of a stone circle, cairn  heap, hood stone or hat (cap) stone, or even a menhir. These urn burials are without any megalithic appendage. But in some sites like Amritamangalam in Chingleput district some small heaps of earth mixed with quartz chips would make out the place of the burial. Strictly speaking, this class of megalithic burials cannot be included under the megalithic burial monuments, because no megalithic or, for that matter, any lithic appendage in the form of stone circle or capstone is observed in relation to them. But they exhibit the general traits of the megalithic culture of South India, characterized by the use of the typically megalithic Black-and-red ware (BRW) and associated wares with iron objects. These grave goods are identical typologically with their counterparts found in the regular megalithic burials. Moreover, these occur in the general areas where the typical megalithic burials exist. In fact, these urn burials do not differ in any detail from the urn burials under a stone or cairn circle of the megalithic order, except for the surface features. These urn burials without megalithic appendage are found in many sites of Tamilnadu like Adichanallur, Gopalasamiparambu and scores of other sites, practically in almost every village in Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Salem, and South Arcot districts. However, these occur less abundantly in Karnataka and Andhra regions. Even in North India, these urn burials are frequently observed at a number of Harappan and the Later Chalcolithic sites in Western, Central and North-western India, but their context is completely different from the South Indian urn burials. But the latter might have had some phylogenetic (racial affinity) connection with the former.
• VIII. Barrows
• The barrows or earthen mounds mark off the underground burials. They may be either a circular or a round barrow, oblong or oval on plan, a long barrow. They have or may not have the surrounding stone circles or ditches. Monuments of this kind have not been found in large numbers in India. However, such monuments have been observed in the Hassan district of Karnataka.

6.India, Russia Sign Pact to Open Maritime Route Between Chennai and Vladivostok

(GS-2)

• CONTEXT:Vladivostok: India and Russia on Wednesday agreed to open a maritime route between the ports of Chennai and Vladivostok to ensure connectivity between the two countries.
• A Memorandum of Intent was signed between the Indian Ministry of Shipping and Russia's Ministry of Transport for the development of maritime communications between the ports of Chennai and Vladivostok in Russia's Far East Region after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• Modi, who arrived in Russia on a two-day visit on Wednesday, is the first Indian prime minister to visit to the Russian Far East Region. He will also attend the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on Thursday.

• Chennai and Vladivostok MARITIME ROUTE

• 
  

  Key Facts 

• 
  

  The proposed maritime route can be transformed into corridor that could juxtapose with Indo-Japan Pacific to Indian Ocean Corridor to counter China’s Maritime Silk Route (MSR) under Border Road Initiative (BRI) which connect entire South East Asia through road, shipping and rail links. Russia is sensitive to growing Chinese presence in Russia’s Far-eastern region particularly increasing population from China which are settling there. It fears that this pattern could change demographics of Far-east Russia. The growing presence of other countries including India will help to bring balance China’s presence in far east region.
  Background
   India was first country to establish resident Consulate in Vladivostok in 1992. India’s current engagement with region is limited to isolated pockets such as Irkut Corporation in Irkutsk where Mig and Sukhoi aircraft are built and over $6 billion worth of investments by ONGC Visesh Limited in Sakhalin 1 project. The region has wealth of natural resources such as timber, mineral resources (coal & diamonds) and precious metal deposits (gold, platinum, tin and tungsten) and oil and natural gas.

7.India among top 10 nations in gold reserves(GS-3)

• CONTEXT:U.S. leads the pack with 8,134 tonnes followed by Germany with 3,367 tonnes
• India has pipped the Netherlands to move into the list of top ten countries in terms of total gold reserves.
• According to the World Gold Council, India has gold reserves totalling 618.2 tonnes, which is marginally higher than the Netherlands’ reserves of 612.5 tonnes.
• Interestingly, in terms of individual countries, India actually ranks ninth since the International Monetary Fund (IMF) occupies the third position after the U.S. and Germany.

  
  

• 
  

  • 
    

  
  
  
  
• 
  

  World Gold Council: