CURRENT AFFAIRS 11 OCTOBER 2019

CURRENT AFFAIRS

11 OCTOBER 2019

BY SUMIT

1.Modi-Xi Mamallapuram informal summit,Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) route, Belt and Road Initiative(gs-2,3)

Context:Trade, border dispute likely to dominate Narendra Modi-Xi Jinping talks
Trade issues, boundary disputes and multilateral cooperation are expected to dominate the “informal summit” at Mamallapuram as the seaside resort on the outskirts of Chennai prepares to host Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday and Saturday.
Mr. Xi will land in Chennai past 2 p.m. — about two hours after Mr. Modi. He will head to the Mamallapuram temple complex for an evening with Mr. Modi, which will include a tour of the monuments and a dance performance at the Shore Temple at sunset, followed by dinner. On Saturday, the talks will be more structured and will include time for a “one-on-one” meeting, followed by delegation-level talks.

Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) route:

The Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM EC) is an initiative conceptualised for significant gains through sub-regional economic cooperation within the BCIM. The multi-modal corridor will be the first expressway between India and China and will pass through Myanmar and Bangladesh.
These advantages are envisaged to accrue from greater market access for goods, services and energy, elimination of non-tariff barriers, better trade facilitation, investment in infrastructure development, joint exploration and development of mineral, water, and other natural resources, development of value and supply chains based on comparative advantages, by translating comparative advantages into competitive advantages, and through closer people to people contact.
The proposed corridor will cover 1.65 million square kilometres, encompassing an estimated 440 million people in China's Yunnan province, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and West Bengal in Eastern India through the combination of road, rail, water and air linkages in the region. This interconnectedness would facilitate the cross-border flow of people and goods, minimize overland trade obstacles, ensure greater market access and increase multilateral trade.

Belt and Road Initiative:

BRI consisting of the land-based belt, ‘Silk Road Economic Belt’, and ‘Maritime Silk Road’, aims to connect the East Asian economic region with the European economic circle and runs across the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa.
BRI is China’s ambitious project announced in 2013. It covers about 65% of the world population, 60% of the world GDP and over 70 countries in six economic corridors.
China is spending almost $1 trillion to revive and renew the overland and maritime trade links between China, Europe, West Asia, and East Africa through construction of modern ports linked to high-speed road and rail corridors.

India’s concerns with BRI:

India argues that the BRI and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project violates its sovereignty because it passes through the part of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir that belongs to India.
Debt trap: BRI projects are pushing recipient countries into indebtedness, do not transfer skills or technology and are environmentally unsustainable.
China is planning to extend the CPEC to Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Maldives, Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka are eagerly pursuing potential BRI projects.
Through OBOR, China is countering the strategies of India in North East region and is promoting its greater presence in North East India, part of which China claims as its own territory. This may have a security impact on India.
Tense bilateral relations with China, deep mistrusts and India’s growing concerns over Chinese hegemonic intentions in South Asia and Indo-Pacific region make it practically unlikely that India will ever consider joining this project.
Military deployment: The fact that the Chinese have begun to deploy 30,000 security personnel to protect the projects along the CPEC route makes it an active player in the politics of the Indian sub-continent. Clearly, this is a case of double standards.

2.Public Safety Act (PSA)(GS-2,3)

CONTEXT:4 held under PSA freed
Four persons, held under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), have had their detentions quashed this month and five senior leaders have been released in the Valley as the State starts an initiative to release detainees in phases.

JAMMU AND KASHMIR PUBLIC SAFETY ACT (PSA):

The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA) received the assent of the J&K Governor on April 8, 1978.
The Act was introduced as a tough law to prevent the smuggling of timber and keep the smugglers “out of circulation”.
The law allows the government to detain any person above the age of 16 without trial for a period of two years.
The PSA allows for administrative detention for up to two years “in the case of persons acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the State”, and for administrative detention up to one year where “any person is acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order”.
Detention orders under PSA can be issued by Divisional Commissioners or District Magistrates.
Section 22 of the Act provides protection for any action taken “in good faith” under the Act: “No suit, prosecution or any other legal proceeding shall lie against any person for anything done or intended to be done in good faith in pursuance of the provisions of this Act.”
Under Section 23 of the Act, the government is empowered to “make such Rules consistent with the provisions of this Act, as may be necessary for carrying out the objects of this Act”.

Why is it often referred to as a “draconian” law?

Right from the beginning, the law was misused widely, and was repeatedly employed against political opponents by consecutive governments until 1990. After the emergence of militancy, the J&K government frequently invoked the PSA to crack down on separatists.
In August 2018, the Act was amended to allow individuals to be detained under the PSA outside the state as well.
The detaining authority need not disclose any facts about the detention “which it considers to be against the public interest to disclose”.
The terms under which a person is detained under PSA are vague and include a broad range of activities like “acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the State” or for “acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order”.
The vagueness provided in the act gives unbridled powers to the authorities. The detainees, therefore, are effectively debarred from contesting the legality of their detention.
PSA does not provide for a judicial review of detention. To checkmate the J&K High Court orders for release of persons detained under the act the state authorities issue successive detention orders. This ensures prolonged detention of people.
PSC has been used against human rights activists, journalists, separatists and others who are considered as a threat to the law & order. Right to dissent is stifled by these Acts.

3.Gross domestic product (GDP) (GS-3)

CONTEXT:Moody’s cuts India’s FY20 growth to 5.8%
Moody’s Investors Service has pegged India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the current financial year at 5.8%, lower than what the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) projected last week at 6.1%.
India’s growth will remain weaker than in the recent past, and the drivers of the deceleration are multiple, Moody’s said.
The fiscal year ending in March 2020 is internally considered by Moody’s as fiscal 2019.

Moody's Corporation, often referred to as Moody's, is an American business and financial services company. It is the holding company for Moody's Investors Service, an American credit rating agency, and Moody's Analytics, an American provider of financial analysis software and services.

Gross domestic product (GDP) :

Definition: GDP or Gross Domestic Product is the money value of all the goods and services produced within the domestic territory of a country in an accounting year.

Let’s take the case of your village or town as an example.

People in the village earn money through various means. No one gives anybody free lunch! In order to earn money one has to provide something that has VALUE in terms of money. It can be goods such as milk, roti served in a hotel or a service such as teaching children, providing manual labour for building a house etc.
Thus the GDP of the village is total money value of milk sold+ total money value of rotis sold + total money value of manual labour provided(wages he earned)+total money value of teaching service provided (salary she earned). The same thing expanded for a country gives you the GDP of the country.

Accounting Year or Financial Year runs from April to March.

GDP PER CAPITA: It’s the average contribution of a citizen to a country’s GDP.

GDP Per Capita = National Income ÷ Population.

INDIA’s GDP: 1.877 trillion USD ‎(DATA OF 2013)

USA GDP: 16.77 trillion USD ‎(DATA OF 2013)

Neither GDP nor GNP is considered a good measure of economic development. HDI or Human Development Index is often selected as a good measure of economic development.

4.Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk for 2018 and to Austrian author Peter Handke for 2019

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature has been announced along with the 2018 Prize. The Swedish Academy said, Austrian author Peter Handke has won the 2019 Prize while Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk has received the 2018 Prize.
Handke was honoured for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience. His notable works include "Short Letter, Long Farewell" and "A Sorrow Beyond Dreams".
Tokarczuk was awarded for a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life. Her first novel, "The Journey of the People of the Book," was released in 1993.
She has also won the Booker International Prize for her 2007 novel "Flights". Her 900-page "The Books of Jacob" was hailed as her magnum opus by the Swedish Academy. Tokarczuk becomes just the 15th woman to have won the prestigious distinction, out of 116 literature laureates honoured since 1901.
Tokarczuk and Handke each take home a cheque worth nine million kronor , or 912,000 US dollars.
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature was announced along with the 2018 Prize as the latter was delayed by a year following a scandal that included allegations of sexual misconduct

BREAKING NEWS:
The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2018 is awarded to the Polish author Olga Tokarczuk. The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2019 is awarded to the Austrian author Peter Handke.#NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/CeKNz1oTSB
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 10, 2019

5.The Ganges River dolphin or Susu(GS-3)

CONTEXT:Annual Ganges river dolphin census begins
New method likely to yield more accurate count of the endangered species
The annual Ganges river dolphin census, undertaken by World Wide Fund for NatureIndia in collaboration with the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department along about 250kmlong riverine stretch of Upper Ganga between Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary and Narora Ramsar site began in Bijnor on Wednesday

The Ganges river dolphin is important because it is a reliable indicator of the health of the entire river ecosystem. The government of India declared it the National Aquatic Animal in 2009.

The Ganges River dolphin or Susu:

The Ganges River dolphin or Susu, lives in one of the most densely populated regions of the world. One of the main threats to the species is loss of habitat due in large part to the creation of dams and irrigation projects.
Dolphins are one of the oldest creatures in the world along with some species of turtles, crocodiles and sharks. The Ganges river dolphin was officially discovered in 1801. Ganges river dolphins once lived in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. But the species is extinct from most of its early distribution ranges.
The Ganges river dolphin can only live in freshwater and is essentially blind. They hunt by emitting ultrasonic sounds, which bounces off of fish and other prey, enabling them to “see” an image in their mind. They are frequently found alone or in small groups, and generally a mother and calf travel together. Calves are chocolate brown at birth and then have grey-brown smooth, hairless skin as adults. Females are larger than males and give birth once every two to three years to only one calf.

6.Earth Summit 1992(GS-3)

CONTEXT:Invasive weeds threatening tiger habitats in Adilabad
They affect population of herbivores, prey to the big cats
It was way back in 1992 at the Rio de Janeiro Convention on Biodiversity that biological invasion of alien species of plants was recognised as the second worst threat to the environment after habitat destruction. But nothing much was done subsequently to contain the spread of invasive weed species in environmentallysensitive areas like the former composite Adilabad district, where plants are threatening to obliterate pastures from precious habitats

Earth Summit 1992 OR Rio de Janeiro Convention:

Earth Summit 1992 is also known as The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).
Earth Summit 1992 succeeded in raising public awareness of the need to integrate environment and development.
190 countries pledged their commitment to achieve by 2010, a significant reduction in the current rate of biodiversity loss at global, regional and local levels.
As a follow-up, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio+10) was held in 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
In 2012, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development was also held in Rio and is also commonly called Rio+20 or Rio Earth Summit 2012.

The issues touched included:

checking production of toxic components, such as lead in gasoline, or poisonous waste including radioactive chemicals,
alternative sources of energy to replace the use of fossil fuels,
new reliance on public transportation systems in order to reduce vehicle emissions, congestion in cities,
the health problems caused by polluted air and smoke, and
the growing usage and limited supply of water.

The Earth Summit resulted in the following documents:

Rio Declaration: principles intended to guide countries in future sustainable development.
Agenda 21: non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development.
Forest Principles: Non-legally binding document on Conservation and Sustainable Development of All Types of Forests.

Landmark Agreements

An important achievement of the summit was an agreement on the Climate Change Convention which in turn led to the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement.
Important legally binding agreements (Rio Convention) were opened for signature:
Convention on Biological Diversity.
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

7. 5G(GS-3)

CONTEXT: Huawei to present 5G use case at India Mobile Congress
Chinese telecom equipment firm Huawei has got approval to participate in the demonstration of 5G use cases during the three-day India Mobile Congress to be held in New Delhi, even as the government is yet to take a decision on allowing the firm to participate in the upcoming 5G field trials.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has assigned telecom service providers with spectrum in the 3400-3600 Mhz band range to demonstrate India-specific 5G technology-use cases along with their vendor partners, which include Huawei as well, a source confirmed.The new comes ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping visit to India this week.
Huawei has been banned by the U.S. citing security and espionage-related concerns. Additionally, the US and has been lobbying with other countries, including India, to ban the Chinese telecom giant.
India is yet to announce its decision over the company’s participation in the upcoming full-flegded 5G trials as India looks to roll out 5G by 2020.

5G:

5G is the fifth generation cellular technology that apart from increasing the downloading and uploading speeds over the mobile network, also reduces the latency i.e. the time taken by a network to respond.
5G will provide download speed of 1 Gbps, which is at least 100 times the existing data speeds.
It also increases energy efficiency and offers more stable network connections.
5G will have a wider area in the frequency spectrum (range of frequencies) that will ensure no network congestion.
In addition, it will also ensure connectivity to a full circle i.e. everything is connected to every other thing.
The standards for the usage of 5G are defined and driven by 3rd Generation Partnership Project

Deployment of 5G

Its deployment will happen with the auction of the millimetre-wave spectrum i.e. the frequency range of 28 - 100 GHz. In this area India is not fully prepared and that’s why 5G implementation will take more time.
Three mobile carriers of U.S. - Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon have taken the task to upgrade the existing 4G infrastructure to 5G. Verizon has already launched its 5G home service in Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Sacramento.
The switch from 4G to 5G will be infrastructure intensive i.e. mobile service providers will have to upgrade their underlying hardware countrywide in order to provide 5G speeds.
Overnight upgradation of hardware is not possible so telecom companies would use the 4G LTE infrastructure to eventually migrate to 5G.
It means that even when 5G is deployed, it will take the telecom giants, a couple of years to achieve the speed of 5G.
The customers will have to upgrade their SIM cards and buy new 5G enabled phones to access better speeds.
India being a traditional late adopter of advanced technologies, still struggling to achieve the speed which 4G network offers.
In that scenario any major developments in coming year is doubtful. Though the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has started the process of auctioning the 5G spectrum, analysts have predicted that India will only fully adopt 5G by 2022.

8.GST Council(GS-2,3)

CONTEXT:GST Council sets up panel to spur collection
In the light of falling Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues, the GST Council Secretariat on Thursday set up a committee of Central and State tax offi??cers to look into a “wide range of reforms” to boost revenue collection. The focus will be on improving compliance and clamping down on misuse

GST Council:

The GST council is the key decision-making body that will take all important decisions regarding the GST. The GST Council dictates tax rate, tax exemption, the due date of forms, tax laws, and tax deadlines, keeping in mind special rates and provisions for some states. The predominant responsibility of the GST Council is to ensure to have one uniform tax rate for goods and services across the nation.

How is the GST Council structured?

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is governed by the GST Council. Article 279 (1) of the amended Indian Constitution states that the GST Council has to be constituted by the President within 60 days of the commencement of the Article 279A.

According to the article, GST Council will be a joint forum for the Centre and the States. It consists of the following members:

The Union Finance Minister will be the Chairperson

As a member, the Union Minister of State will be in charge of Revenue of Finance

The Minister in charge of finance or taxation or any other Minister nominated by each State government, as members.

Article 279A (4) specifies that the Council will make recommendations to the Union and the States on the important issues related to GST, such as, the goods and services will be subject or exempted from the Goods and Services Tax.

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