Comprehensive News Analysis - 11 April 2016

A. GS1 Related

1. Gandhiji’s tryst with Bihar enters the 100th year 

Topic: History

Category: Life of Gandhiji

Location: The Hindu

Key points:

• On April 10, 1917 Gandhiji set foot on Bihar to lead his first Satyagraha movement against British policies in Champaran
• Gandhiji came to Bihar at the invitation of indigo cultivator Raj Kumar Shukla who wanted him to take up the cause of the farmers who were forced to grow indigo by the British
• He arrived at Bankipore station (old name of Patna railway station) on April 10

Tags: Champaran Satyagraha

B. GS2 Related

1. India-EU free trade impasse may end: CII

Topic: International Relations

Category: India EU  FTA

Location: The Hindu

Key Points:

• During last month’s 13th India-EU Summit, no agreement regarding FTA could be reached
• the key demands of the EU — India lower or eliminate duties on automobiles and wines & spirits
• India’s main demand is on data security status (crucial for India’s information technology sector to do more business with the EU firms), easier temporary movement of skilled professionals and seamless intra-corporate movement
• India is open to giving greater market access to EU firms by lowering duties for automobiles, wines and spirits under the FTA provided it gets in return what it wants in other sectors, CII said

Tags: FTA, EU, CII

2. India offers to invest $20 billion in Iran

Topic: International Relations

Category: India- Iran Relations

Location: The Hindu

Key points:

• India has offered to invest $20 billion in Iran’s petrochemical, fertilizer and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities and in return sought cheap natural gas and land to set up the units
• India expressed interest in setting up petrochemical and fertilizer plants, including in the Chabahar Special Economic Zone, either through joint ventures between Indian and Iranian public sector companies
• The planned Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline , the award of rights to Indian firms to develop Farzad-B gas fields and the pending payments by Indian refiners towards Iran’s oil purchases were discussed by Indian Oil Minister and industry delegates on their visit to Iran

Tags: Chabahar SEZ, Farzad B, IPI pipeline

3. Refugee-returnees ask for land and housing

Topic: India’s Neighbourhood

Category: India- Sri Lanka Relations

Location: The Hindu

Key points:

• Those seeking to return from India to Sri Lanka’s North call for finance for homes, scheme for the landless
• About one lakh refugees are in Tamil Nadu including 65,000 in 107 camps
• the OfERR (Organisation for Eelam Refugees’ Rehabilitation),an NGO says that the proposed Constitution should incorporate provisions ensuring the refugees’ inalienable right to return and guaranteeing “a life in safety and dignity”

C. GS3 Related

1. Fireworks show in Kerala goes awry, kills 107

Topic: Disaster Management

Category: Fire Safety

Location: The Hindu

Key Points:

• Pyrotechnics tragedy in Kollam, southern Kerala – 107 killed , close to 400 injured
• an official Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in Kerala written by experts to ensure safety at religious mass gatherings was not adhered to
• Explosives Rules, 2008 were also flaunted

 

Tags: Pyrotechnics

2. Moderate tremors leave Capital shaken  

Topic: Disaster Management

Category: Earthquake

Location: The Hindu
Key Points:

• A moderate-intensity earthquake, measuring 6.8 magnitude originating in the Hindukush mountain range in Afghanistan was felt in the NCR
• epicentre was across a 200 km area on the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border in the Hindukush region

Tags: epicentre

3. Centre plans anti-terror cyber-push

Topic: Security

Category: media

Location: The Hindu

Key Points:

• To prevent radicalization by the Islamic State (IS) through online videos and social media groups, the Union government will come up with a “national social media policy”
• The plan is to collaborate with the online community to strengthen reporting mechanisms and complaint procedures
• Deterrent action in specific cases against producers and circulators of radical content under penal law is also under consideration

Tags:IS

D. GS4 Related

Nothing here for today folks!

E. Important Editorials: A Quick Glance

The Hindu

1. The wages of negligence

Topic: Disaster management

Category: Role of state

Key points:

• Gross negligence, a combination of appalling carelessness and a reckless disregard for the safety of others were the primary reasons for the tragedy that unveiled in Kollam, Kerala
• The organizers had went ahead with the event despite permission having been refused by the District Collector
• the police failed to implement the decision of the district administration and stop the show
• bursting firecrackers after 10 p.m is also not permitted
• what is required is a quick and impartial investigation
• the Kerala government has ordered a judicial inquiry
• The State’s Department of Revenue and Disaster Management has a research based institute dedicated to the study of accidents and has brought out a standard operating procedure for festival organizers
• Zero tolerance for violations, and a strong commitment to safety even in the remotest of locations, should be non-negotiable if human lives are not to be put in harm’s way
• Even then the support provided by the armed forces and expert medical teams have raised the profile of the Kollam incident and created a new benchmark for collaboration between the Centre and States during such emergencies which is indeed laudable

Indian Express:

1. Misremembering an icon

Topic: History

Category: Leaders of freedom movement

Key points:

• The name of Bhagat Singh is now being used many a platforms to justify firebrand nationalism
• But the famed freedom fighter really was nothing like he is projected to be
• He had rejected religion as it was practised by his fellow countrymen. His argument was humanistic in that he said man is more important than religion
• This humanism was key to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association that Bhagat Singh initiated in 1928
• His rejection of religion as the “opium of the people” went together with his socialist criticism of society
• He wanted to get rid of two forms of oppression, not only capitalism but also the caste system
• Bhagat Singh was clearly not an advocate of violence for the sake of violence
• He said,“Force, when aggressively applied is ‘violence’ and is, therefore, morally unjustifiable, but when it is used in the furtherance of a legitimate cause, it has its moral justification”
• On 85th anniversary of his death on March 23, it is befitting that we remember him as who he really was

Others

1. The Economic Times: IIT fee hike: Step in the right direction

Topic: Governance

Category: Education sector

Key points:

• The decision of the IIT council headed by the HRD minister to raise UG course fee to Rs 2 lakh accepting the Anil Kakodkar committee recommendation of 2011 is commendable
• This will not keep out any eligible youngster either: the tuition is waived: in full for Scheduled Castes and Tribes, differently-abled, and those with annual family income of up to Rs 1 lakh, and two-thirds for those with family incomes below Rs 5 lakh
• Up to 50% of the students will pay the enhanced tuition fees Also, students admitted to IITs are guaranteed interest-free loans
• The Australian model of deferred payments would be still better
• In this, the fees are low for everyone but those who take up employment outside defined national priority areas have to pay additional fees over a certain number of years
• The substantially higher tuition fee, however, is only a third or a fourth of the government’s actual expenditure on an undergraduate IIT student
• The IITs must aggressively focus on getting endowments, alumni contributions and donations, and increased earnings from consultancy, research and patents if they are serious about financial autonomy

2.The Business Line: Regulating overreach

Topic: Governance

Category: Auditing

Key points:

• The Supreme Court has quashed a PIL challenging the permission given to Reliance Jio for offering voice telephony, using spectrum it had originally got for broadband services
• The PIL was based on a report by the CAG, which questioned a 2013 policy decision that permitted internet service providers (ISP) having broadband spectrum to launch voice telephony services by paying an additional fee of Rs1,658 crore
• The CAG clearly overstepped its brief because the policy decision was taken transparently after following due process
• In a highly technical sector such as telecom, it is better if  a sector regulator such as TRAI decides if there is any revenue loss
• In the 2G spectrum scam, the sector regulators failed to take action against companies that were blatantly violating licensing rules and, as a result, intervention by constitutional bodies such the CAG and the Supreme Court became necessary
• While the Supreme Court’s decision should prompt the CAG to adopt more scientific methods, it is also perhaps time for the sector regulators to get their act together

 

F. Concepts-in-News: Related Concepts to Revise/Learn:

• CAG
• TRAI
• Bhagat Singh
• Champaran satyagraha
• India – EU BTIA

G. Fun with Practice Questions 🙂

Question 1: Which of the following are true about Chabahar port?

Question 2:Where is Farzad B gas field located?

Question 3:Gandhiji's first satyagraha movement was launched from which of the following place?

Question 4: Which of the following national leaders were partners to Gandhiji in the champaran movement?

Question 5:Which of the following are true ?

H. Archives:

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