Table of Contents:
A. GS1 Related:
B. GS2 Related:
1. UN calls for urgent meet over North Korea’s ballistic missile test
2. Anil Ambani firm to service over 100 U.S. Navy ships
C. GS3 Related:
D. GS4 Related:
E. Important Editorials : A Quick Glance
1. North Korea lobs a missile challenge
1. India could host the UN, in a brand-new town
1. Demonetisation transformed mindsets
1. Shri Kiren Rijiju addresses seminar on ‘Indo-Pacific Region: Converging India-Japan interests’
F. Concepts-in-News: Related Concepts to Revise/Learn
G. BILLS/ACTS/SCHEMES/ORGS IN NEWS
H. Fun with Practice Questions 🙂
I. Archives
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Useful News Articles for UPSC Current Affairs
A. GS1 Related
Nothing here for Today!!!
B. GS2 Related
Category: Internal Relations
Topic: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests
Key Points:
- UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on 13th February, 2017 condemned North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test.
- He also called for a united international response to the “further troubling violation” of UN resolutions.
- Mr. Guterres appealed “to the international community to continue to address this situation in a united manner”.
Reaction from other countries
- China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said it opposes North Korean missile launches that violate UN resolutions.
- Russia’s Foreign Ministry called the launch “a demonstration of contempt for UN Security Council resolutions”.
Category: International Relations
Topic: Bilateral Relations
Key Points:
- Anil Ambani group’s Reliance Defence and Engineering has inked a major contract with the U.S. Navy to provide repair and alteration services for ships of the Seventh Fleet.
- This would be the first instance of an Indian company, either public or private, providing logistical support to the U.S. military within Indian territory.
- The signing of the agreement is a follow-up to the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) signed between New Delhi and Washington in August 2016.
C. GS3 Related
D. GS4 Related
Nothing here for today!!!
E. Important Editorials: A Quick Glance
Category: International Relations
Topic: : Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests
Key Points:
- North Korea launched a medium-range ballistic missile on 12th February, 2017.
- Last year, the North Korean government, tested at least a dozen missiles and even vowed to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile that could hit the U.S.
- The UN Security Council has already imposed a host of sanctions on North Korea.
Trump’s Reaction
- Trump’s immediate reaction was marked by measured restraint.
- His reaction was in sharp contrast to his response to the recent missile test by Iran.
- The reaction was different perhaps because Mr. Trump knows that the stakes are higher as North Korea is a nuclear power.
Options before the U.S.
- North Korea is already isolated.
- War is out of the question as North Korea could directly target America’s allies in East Asia with nuclear weapons.
- It has been suggested that a feasible idea is to get China, which still has some leverage over North Korea, on board and engage the Kim regime diplomatically, without removing the sanctions.
- In conclusion, it is important to note that responding to North Korea’s provocative posturing with counter-provocations will yield hardly any diplomatic dividend.
The Economic Times
Category: International Relations
Topic: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests
Key Points:
- In a recent development, the US has turned down a visa application from a senior legislator from Pakistan, senate deputy chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri.
- Senate deputy chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri was planning to travel to New York to attend a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union at the United Nations.
- Although the precise reason for visa refusal has not been disclosed, it is perceived to be linked to restrictions on religious groups.
Where can the UN possibly relocate?
- It is important to note that people from all countries need to travel to the UN, regardless of their denominational or ideological compatibility with the present US administration.
- It has been suggested that it is time to relocate the UN.
- US politicians and its conservative media have been asking for long to slash US payments to the UN.
- Switzerland would be a natural choice for lots of people, with its long policy of neutrality, political and financial stability and capacity to provide security.
- China could also make a strong pitch and back it up with a large promise of funding.
- It has also been suggested that India would be the ideal place to house a relocated UN.
Strengths of India
- India is culturally diverse, can avoid extreme weather, is reasonably well-connected to the rest of the world, besides being a democracy that offers great food, fine beaches, warm hospitality and an ancient culture of intricate bureaucracy.
- But, India desperately needs to urbanise for reasons to do with its internal growth dynamics.
Business Line
Category: Indian Economy
Topic: Government Policy
Background:
Minister for urban development and information & broadcasting, Venkaiah Naidu, shares his thoughts in this article on the demonetization initiative by the government. This article presents a synopsis of his views.
- The Government had repeatedly stressed that the decision to demonetise high value currency was not taken in isolation.
- A series of important measures ranging from constituting an SIT headed by a former Supreme Court judge to trace black money stashed abroad to the Income Declaration Scheme preceded the game-changing decision as part of the war against black money, corruption and terror-funding.
- Even as re-monetisation is continuing at a fast pace and the objective of the Government to curb black money and corruption is making a huge positive impact among the masses, the blind critics of demonetisation are still not able to come to terms with the below telling facts.
These are as follows:
- A 38 per cent increase in the filing of personal income tax returns post-demonetisation
- significant growth in both direct and indirect taxes
- integration of parallel economy with formal economy, and
- enlarged revenues to the coffers of the Centre and various State governments.
- It is important to note that the increase in revenues would enable the governments hike spending on social welfare and development schemes and give a huge fillip to economy-driving sectors such as housing.
- While having a totally cashless society is a utopian ideal, the measures taken towards building a less-cash society will greatly reduce corruption.
- With India’s cash to GDP ratio at 12.2 per cent being higher than several other countries, including emerging economies, the drive towards a digital economy would benefit all — from government (prevent leakage of revenues) to individuals — because of the virtual nature of transactions.
PIB
Category: International Relations
Topic: Bilateral Relations
Key Points:
- Speaking on the occasion of a seminar on ‘Indo-Pacific Region: Converging India-Japan interests’, organised by Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Minister of State for Home Affairs Shri Kiren Rijiju, said that the relation between India and Japan are rooted in long history and both the countries share common values such as commitment to democracy, supremacy of law, human rights and global peace.
- Sixty four years have passed since both India and Japan established their diplomatic relations and during this period, they have been able to build a very robust partnership based on mutually convergent strategic and economic interests.
- Shri Kiren Rijiju said that Japan is supporting several mega-infrastructure projects like the Delhi-Mumbai Freight Corridor, Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor and Mumbai-Ahmadabad high speed railway.
- He said that both countries have also entered into a comprehensive economic partnership agreement to boost trade and investment.
- Japanese private investment has made a great impact particularly on the automobile sector in India.
F. Concepts-in-News: Related Concepts to Revise/Learn
- Observer Research Foundation (ORF)
- Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA)
G. BILLS/ACTS/SCHEMES/ORGS IN NEWS
H. Fun with Practice Questions 🙂
Question 1: Consider the following statements:
1] BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile named after two rivers, the Brahmaputra in India and the Moskva in Russia.
2] Akash is a medium-range mobile surface-to-air missile defense system.
Which of the above statements is/are correct? a) 1 Only b) 2 Only c) Both 1 and 2 d) Neither 1 nor 2
Question 2: Consider the following statements:
1] Demonetization is the act of stripping a currency unit of its status as legal tender.
2] Monetization is the process of converting or establishing something into legal tender.
Which of the above statements is/are correct? a) 1 Only b) 2 Only c) Both 1 and 2 d) Neither 1 nor 2
Question 3: Which of the following organizations brings out the publication known as ‘World Economic Outlook’?
- a) The International Monetary Fund b) The United Nations Development Programme c) The World Economic Forum d) The World Bank
Question 4: Which of the following organizations bring out the report known as ‘Global Competitive Index’?:
- a) The International Monetary Fund b) The United Nations Development Programme c) The World Economic Forum d) The World Bank
Question 5: With reference to Observer Research Foundation, recently in the news, which of the following statements is/are correct?
1] It is ranked as the top Think Tank in Asia by the University of Pennsylvania’s Global Go To Think Tank Index.
2] ORF was founded by the Ambani family and currently endowed by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Group.
Which of the above statements is/are correct? a) 1 Only b) 2 Only c) Both 1 and 2 d) Neither 1 nor 2
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