Comprehensive News Analysis - 11 February 2016

Useful News Articles

A. GS1 Related:

1. Darul-Uloom Deoband backs appointment of women Qazis

Topic:Society

Category :gender issues

Location:The Hindu,Page 14

Key Points:

• Islamic seminary Darul-Uloom Deoband backed women’s rights to become scholars and qazis.

• Conservative religious clerics in Rajasthan protested the appointment of 2 women as qazis in Rajasthan

• Qazis decide upon cases relating to Islamic personal law.

• The seminary argued that there was nothing in Islam that prohibits women from becoming a Qazi or a Mufti

• Islam empowers women through knowledge.It said

B. GS2 Related:

1. Arunachal Pradesh Crisis;Was it discretion or mere whim,SC asks Governor

Topic:Polity

Category: Federal structure

Location: The Hindu, Page 1

Key Points:

• Arunachal Pradesh governor , J.P Rajkhowa’s conduct under the scrutiny of a 5 judge constitution bench

• The governor had used his discretionary powers under Art 174(1) to summon a session of the state assembly before the scheduled date.

• He directed the house to take up the subject of removal of the speaker as its first agenda.

• The governor acted on resolutions sent by rebel Congress and opposition MLAs for the removal of the speaker claiming that the government has lost majority.

• The SC asks:

• Why did the speaker summon an advanced session bypassing the speaker?

• What was the urgency to remove the speaker?

• Why did the governor take up the responsibility to test the impartiality of the speaker?

• On what constitutional principle were the discretionary powers of the office of the governor used?

• The constitution does not explicitly give any power to the governor to advance the date of a session or to check the correctness of the actions of the speaker. So it can be presumed that the advice of the CM and his CoMs is necessary to take such measures.

2. Abu Dhabi Prince arrives, n-deal not on agenda

Topic: Polity

Category: Bilateral groupings and agreements

Location: The Hindu, Page 10

Key Points:

• Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi arrived in India yesterday

• Agenda: Investment, innovation, Small and Medium Enterprises and Strategic Partnership( UAE’s cooperation on terror) .

• India is also eying access to $ 800 billion Sovereign Fund of the UAE for infrastructure investment in India

• The UAE ambassador had talked of signing over 16 agreements including agreement on nuclear collaboration.The nuclear agreement does not seem a possibility though.

3. Fed’s Yellen cites global risks but says U.S. should motor through

Topic: International Relations

Category: Effect of policies of countries on India’s interests.

Location:The Hindu,Page 17

Key Points:

• Fed chief against financial tightening because of global uncertainty in the economic front

• According to her US is to grow moderately even amidst fears of slowdown

• Interest rate hikes which were expected from Fed this year may not happen

4. US lawmaker to block deal to sell F—16s to Pakistan

Topic: International Relations

Category: Effect of policies of countries on India’s interests.

Location:The Hindu-official website

Key Points:

• In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Senator Bob Corker said he couldn’t allow the Obama administration the sell F-16 jets to Pakistan.

• Terrorist organisations like Haqqani network that attack US troops in Afghanistan enjoy safe havens inside Pakistan according to him

• Mr. Kerry in his annual budget sent to the Congress proposed a financial assistance of $859.8 million for Pakistan, including $265 million for military hardware.

5. U.S. sends more troops to Afghanistan

Topic: International Relations

Category: Effect of policies of countries on India’s interests.

Location:The Hindu,Page 16

Key Points:

• US troops are being sent to Helmand province to counter the Taliban threat

• The new troops in Helmand are to train, advise, and assist the Afghan counterparts, and not to participate in combat operations according to US authorities

• But advisers on the ground in Helmand have found themselves increasingly drawn into combat

• Roughly 9,800 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan

• Barack Obama’s initial plan to withdraw forces by 2017 has already been scrapped

C. GS3 Related:

1. Reserve Bank tells banks to set aside more for stressed loans

Topic: Economic Development

Category: State of Indian Economy

Location: The Hindu, Page 17

Key Points:

• The RBI asks commercial banks to increase the provisioning for specific stressed loans by 2.5 per cent every quarter so that by March 31, 2017, provisioning reached the 15 per cent level

• The Indian banking sector, particularly the public sector banks, have seen a sharp rise in their non-performing assets (NPAs) in the last three years.

• According to RBI data, stressed assets as a percentage of all advances moved up to 11.1 per cent as on March 2015 as compared to 9.2 per cent two years back.

• The move comes in the back drop of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s drive to clean up banks’ balance sheets by March 2017.

2. India near bottom of intellectual property index

Topic:Economy

Category:State of Indian Economy

Location:The Hindu,Page 17

Key Points:

• The intellectual property Index — produced by the US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) — is based on 30 criteria critical to innovation.

• It includes patent, copyright and trademark protections, enforcement, and engagement in international treaties

• India was ranked 37 out of 38 countries, with only Venezuela scoring lower

• The U.S. was ranked first, followed by the UK, Germany, France and Sweden

• Russia ranked 20th, China (22nd), South Africa (26th) and Brazil (29th)

• It said patent protection in India remains outside of international best practices

• It says Indian law does not provide adequate enforcement mechanisms to effectively combat online piracy.

• India had suspended implementation of Final Guidelines for Computer Related Inventions (CRI) which if implemented would have helped her do better

• India uses commercial licensing (CL) allowing entities to manufacture, use, sell or import a patented invention without the permission of the patent-owner.

• Implications: IP-related issues can affect investors’ decisions when considering investing in new markets like India

3. Growth robust amid global market turmoil: Shaktikanta Das(Economic Affairs secretary)

Topic:Economy

Category:State of Indian Economy

Location:The Hindu official site

• Indian economy to grow by 7.6 per cent in the year to March.

• Mr. Das described growth by Asia’s third-largest economy as “robust” and said it was driven by manufacturing.

4. Revenue target to be met, says Adhia(Revenue Secretary)

Topic:Economy

Category:State of Indian Economy

Location:The Hindu,Page 17

Key Points:

• The Centre expects to meet the target of Rs.14.49 lakh crore for revenue collection from taxes for the current financial year.

• Collection of indirect taxes up to January 31 indicated healthy growth of 33.7 per cent, direct taxes is up by 10.9 per cent.

• the government expects to garner over Rs. 40,000 crore, which is more than the target set for indirect tax collection

• These are indications of high level of economic activities taking place in the economy says Adhia

5. Headley can still get death sentence in US

Topic:Security

Category: linkages of organized crime with terrorism

Location: The Hindu,Page 14

Key Points:

• David Coleman Headley : Lashkar – e – Taiba (Let) operative serving 35 years in US prison on terrorism charges for his involvement in 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

• Headley had agreed to conditions of the US court to avoid a death penalty

• The terms of the conditions involve not lying before foreign judicial commissions

• Special Public Prosecutor of India Ujjwal Nikam says that the US court could still sentence him to death if he is found to be lying to the Indian court.

• The question is how India would prove whether or not Headley is lying, as most of the evidence and all his handlers are in Pakistan.

• Would the appropriate U.S. authorities accept India’s claims?

• According to the Indian law, the public prosecutor is authorised to deprive Headley of the pardon.

• The prosecutor would take a call after considering the entire evidence

D. GS4 Related:

E. Important Editorials: A Quick Glance

1. Growth data send conflicting signals

Topic:Economy

Category:State of Indian Economy

Location:The Hindu,Page 12

Key Points:

• The growth at constant prices for the fiscal year ending March 31 is projected to be 7.6%

• the CSO expects expansion in agriculture and manufacturing in the current fiscal to outpace that of last year

• But the last quarter figures raises some doubts

• In the Feb 2 Monetary policy Review ,the Reserve Bank of India cited “slackening agricultural and industrial growth” as a prime reason for a loss in economic momentum in the third quarter.

• the CSO data itself shows a 1 per cent Gross Value Added (GVA) contraction in agriculture in the period ended December

• The RBI points to a decline in rabi sowing by end-January

• So how is the farm sector going to boost growth?

• Inspite of expansion in PMI(Purchasing Managers’ Index),the PMI release also point to a drop in output and new orders for makers of investment goods.

• The weak overseas demand environment, reflected in the protracted exports slump, is also a dampener

• So how is the manufacturing sector going to boost growth?

• How reliable are the data as currently calculated is a concern raised by several economists including RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan.

• Indirect taxes are included in the calculation of GDP and this is seen by some experts as inflating the overall figures, without necessarily resulting in increased output.

• The credibility of official statistics is crucial for policy making and planning

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

i. CSO-central statistical organization

ii. GDP

iii. Sovereign Fund

iv. GVA

v. Monetary Policy

vi. Afghanistan Unrest

vii. IPRs

viii. WIPO

.

G. Fun with Practice Questions 🙂

Question 1: The Economic Survey is complied by:

Question 2: The first Afghan War took place in the year------.

Question 3: Which of the below is not the key subcontractor of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)?

a) Raytheon

b) Boeing

c) Honeywell

d) HP

Archives:

You can check out some more recent News Analysis sections to build even more context

31st January 2016: Daily News & Current Affairs Analysis

30th January 2016: Daily News & Current Affairs Analysis

29th January 2016: Daily News & Current Affairs Analysis

28th January 2016: Daily News & Current Affairs Analysis

27th January 2016: Daily News & Current Affairs Analysis

26th January 2016: Daily News & Current Affairs Analysis

25th January 2016: Daily News & Current Affairs Analysis

24th January 2016: Daily News & Current Affairs Analysis

23rd January 2016: Daily News & Current Affairs Analysis

22nd January 2016: Daily News & Current Affairs Analysis

21st January 2016: Daily News & Current Affairs Analysis

20th January 2016: Daily News & Current Affairs Analysis

List of all DNA Articles

Practice More: Enroll for India’s Largest All-India Test Series