04 Dec 2019: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

December 4th, 2019 CNA:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
1. Bill to merge two Union Territories passed
2. Citizenship Bill likely next week
C. GS 3 Related
ECONOMY
1. U.S. threatens 100% tariffs on French goods
2. GST revenues not enough for States’ compensation: Centre
SECURITY
1. SPG Act amendment Bill gets Parliament nod
ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
1. India tests Swedish technology to reduce stubble burning
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. One state push for Israel and Palestine?
SOCIAL ISSUES
1. National shame
2. Setting the clock back on intersex human rights
ECONOMY
1. ‘Structural policies needed for 7-plus % growth’
F. Tidbits
1. Searching for Vikram, pixel by pixel
2. 51 left India, defrauding over Rs. 17,900 crore
3. DRDO to develop naval fighter jet
G. Prelims Facts
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

A. GS 1 Related

Nothing here for today!!!

B. GS 2 Related

Category:POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Bill to merge two Union Territories passed

Context:

A Bill to merge the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu into one UT has been passed by the Parliament.

The issue has been covered in 27th November 2019 Comprehensive News Analysis. Click here to read.

2. Citizenship Bill likely next week

Context:

The government plans to table the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).

The topic has been covered in 28th September 2019 Comprehensive News Analysis. Click here to read.

C. GS 3 Related

Category:ECONOMY

1. U.S. threatens 100% tariffs on French goods

Context:

On the eve of President Donald Trump’s meeting with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the NATO alliance talks, the U.S. announced that it could levy duties up to 100% on $2.4 billion in French imports into the country.

Details:

  • The announcement comes after the office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) probe into France’s Digital Services Tax (DST) concluded that a French tax measure is discriminatory towards specific U.S. technology companies.
  • The ‘301’ trade probe against France was launched after Mr. Macron signed the DST into law, aimed at taxing digital companies that did substantial business in France.
    • The DST is a 3% tax on the turnover of digital companies with global turnover of at least €750 million, of which €25 million is generated in France.
    • U.S. tech giants, including Google, Amazon and Facebook, had called for the tax to be scrapped.
    • The probe found that the French DST discriminates against the U.S. digital companies.
  • The USTR is also focusing on countering the “growing protectionism of EU member states” and may also open 301 investigations into the digital services tax against Turkey, Austria and Italy.

What is ‘301’ trade probe?

The ‘301’ probe is a trade tool authorised by Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974, which the U.S. uses to assert its rights under trade agreements if it decides American industries are facing “unfair” foreign trade practices.

What is the impact on India?

  • While this particular round of tariffs does not impact India directly, the USTR’s use of 301 probes is of relevance to the country.
  • Deputy USTR Jeffry Gerrish had earlier said that a ‘301 probe’ was among the options the U.S. was considering at the time with regard to India.
  • Currently, New Delhi and Washington are in the middle of a negotiation on a limited trade deal.

2. GST revenues not enough for States’ compensation: Centre

Context:

The Centre has written to all States voicing concern that due to the lower Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections, the compensation cess might not be enough to pay for losses arising out of the tax system.

Background:

  • The GST Act promises states enough compensation from the Centre to keep their annual revenue growth 14% for five years despite any likely loss due to the implementation of the indirect tax regime.
  • Most prevalent indirect taxes were subsumed by the new GST structure, which came into effect on July 1, 2017, and states are eligible for the compensation till 2021-’22.

Details:

  • The communication comes at a time when several States, including Rajasthan, Kerala, Delhi, Punjab and West Bengal, have publicly urged the Centre to transfer pending compensation payments as they have not received the dues for several months.
  • The government of Punjab has even said that it may take the matter to the Supreme Court if the Centre does not release the dues.
  • The issue will be discussed in detail at the next GST Council meeting.

Category:SECURITY

1. SPG Act amendment Bill gets Parliament nod

Context:

Parliament has passed an amendment to the Special Protection Group (SPG) Act, 1988, that will allow SPG cover to the Prime Minister and former Prime Ministers for a period of five years after leaving office.

Background:

  • SPG had been raised to provide security to Prime Ministers after the assassination of the then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984.
  • Four amendments to the Act had been brought over the years in order to provide SPG cover to former Prime Ministers’ families.

This topic has been covered in 26th November 2019 Comprehensive News Analysis. Click here to read.

Category:ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. India tests Swedish technology to reduce stubble burning

Issue:

Pollution from stubble burning in winter is the key contributor to the sharp decline in air quality in Delhi. But stubble burning continues unabated.

Details:

  • To find a solution to the stubble burning issue, India is testing a Swedish technology — torrefaction that can convert rice stubble into ‘bio-coal’.
  • The Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to Government of India has funded a pilot project in Punjab to evaluate the feasibility of the technology.
  • Bioendev, a Swedish company, has set up a pilot plant at the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute in Mohali.

How does torrefaction work?

  • Torrefaction is a thermal process to convert biomass into a coal-like material, which has better fuel characteristics than the original biomass. Torrefied biomass is more brittle, making grinding easier and less energy intensive.
  • The technology involves heating up straw, grass, saw mill residue and wood biomass to 250 degrees Celsius – 350 degrees Celsius.
  • This changes the elements of the biomass into ‘coal-like’ pellets. These pellets can be used for combustion along with coal for industrial applications like steel and cement production.

D. GS 4 Related

Nothing here for today!!!

E. Editorials

Category:INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. One state push for Israel and Palestine?

Context:

The recognition of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank by the U.S. State Department, reversing four decades of American policy which considered the Israeli settlements to be a violation of international law.

Background:

  • The recent decision is in line with President Donald Trump’s Israel policy, which has unconditionally favoured the Jewish nation.
  • In December 2017, Mr. Trump announced that the U.S. would recognize Jerusalem, a disputed city, as Israel’s capital, breaking with an international consensus that the status of Jerusalem should be settled as part of a peace agreement.
  • In March 2019, the US administration recognized the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 war and has occupied ever since, as part of Israel.

Concerns:

Ethnic cleansing:

  • The Zionist movement led to expelling half of the Palestinian population in 1948 and since 1967 has led to the departure of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from all over historical Palestine (the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Israel).
  • The Israeli government in the form of the Jewish settlements continues to dispossess land and take away resources from Palestinians, thus creating conditions that become more unsustainable for many Palestinians leading to an incremental process of ethnic cleansing.
  • The West Bank is facing the probability of ethnic cleansing. There are 600,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank and they will soon be one-third of the overall population. Vast areas have already been ethnically cleansed, and the rest are enclaved in spaces that at any given moment, Israel can turn into inhabitable areas, as it did in the Gaza Strip.
  • There have been more Jewish settlements in the West Bank in recent times and total separation between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as a result of the Israeli policies.
  • The settler community (Jews) has been blamed of acting with the logic of the elimination of the native and the indigenous population of Palestine, which the Palestinians call “the ongoing Nakba” (Nakba in Arabic is a catastrophe and is used in the Palestinian narrative to describe the ethnic cleansing of 1948).
  • Some of the critics of Israeli policy have termed the Israeli actions as colonization.

Oppressive conditions:

  • The Israeli policies have shown scant respect for the basic rights of the Palestinians robbing them of their living space, lands, rights, dignity, and life. The Jewish population has greater privileges.

The struggle:

  • In the 1960s and 1970s, the Palestinians resisted the Israeli policy of colonization and dispossession with an armed struggle in their quest for freedom and liberation. The Hamas in Gaza still believe that this can be an effective tool in the struggle.
  • However, quite a few Palestinians seem to prefer a different kind of popular resistance, given the imbalance of power between the strongest military force in West Asia and the weakest one.
  • The continued struggle has led to violence and loss of life and property leading to deprivation of development for the region.
  • The “march of return” — the weekly peaceful demonstrations by thousands of Palestinians on the fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel is one example of a popular resistance, which demands not only the end of the inhuman siege on Gaza and its two million people that has led to a human catastrophe there, but also the right of return of the refugees to their homes.

Lack of International support:

  • The Israeli policy and actions have so far been immune from any significant international rebuke.
  • The international community, and mainly western political elites, fully support Israel and remain silent in the face of continued dispossession of Palestinians.
  • Popular or armed resistance on the way to liberation would have not been needed had international diplomacy bravely examined the origins of the conflict in Palestine and on its basis supported a just and lasting solution.
  • The international community had adopted the two-state solution as its mantra for what should be done and was supported by the Palestinian leadership which hoped to salvage at least part of Palestine.

Futility of the two-state solution:

  • The “Green Line” part of the 1949 armistice line that separates Israel from the West Bank supports the two-state solution. The two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict envisages an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel, west of the Jordan River.
  • The recognition of the U.S. State Department of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank is yet another indication that the two-state solution is dead.
  • The two-state solution has been unilaterally replaced by the concept of a Greater Israel, ruled by the Israeli nationality law passed in 2018 that states that only the Jews have the right of self-determination all over historical Palestine.
  • Israel has established that any sovereign Palestinian state is impossible. The recent move of the American administration fully endorses Israel’s wish to de-politicize the Palestinian question and allow Israel to fully extend its sovereignty all over historical Palestine (and by that also rejecting categorically the right of any Palestinian refugee to return — a right recognized by the UN in its Resolution 194 from December 11, 1948).

Way forward:

  • Palestinian civil society has called upon the international community to divest from, boycott and sanction Israel.
  • There is also the Palestinian call for the establishment of one democratic state all over historical Palestine. This would rectify past evils by compensating and restituting lost land and property, enabling the repatriation of the refugees, and offering democracy for all who live in historical Palestine, without any discrimination. This vision has a growing support in the international community, among young Palestinians and progressive Jews inside and outside Israel.
  • There is a need for pressure from the outside and a continued popular struggle from the inside.

For more on this issue: Click Here

Category:SOCIAL ISSUES

1. National shame

Context:

Brutal rape and murder of a 26-year-old veterinarian in Hyderabad have led to an outpouring of anger across the country and in Parliament.

Background:

  • After the 2012 Nirbhaya outrage in Delhi, and on the recommendations of the Justice J.S. Verma Committee, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 was passed, by bringing in changes to the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
  • Key amendments were brought in to provide for death penalty for rape that led to the death of the victim or reduced the survivor to a persistent vegetative state and anyone found guilty of rape more than once.
  • In 2018, further changes introduced death as the maximum punishment for every perpetrator in a gang-rape when the victim is less than 12, and life-long imprisonment if the victim is less than 16.
  • In the Delhi case, a fast-track trial court sentenced four to death in 2013, while the only juvenile accused was freed after a stint at a remand home. The Supreme Court dismissed their appeals against conviction in 2017; two years on, the convicts have filed curative petitions in the court and one has already written to the President of India for clemency.

Concerns:

  • In the parliament, several MPs have questioned the adequacy of criminal laws and a judicial system that permits under-age convicts to get away with lenient punishment and others sentenced to death to escape the noose through mercy petitions.
  • Protests have rocked Hyderabad and the entire nation demanding speedy justice.
  • After the Nirbhaya incident, the UN Human Rights chief had called rape and violence against women in India a “national problem” which would need “national solutions”. Unfortunately, in the past week, rapes and assault have been reported from Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.
  • The National Crime Records Bureau which released its 2017 data this October said a total of 3.59 lakh cases of crimes against women were reported, a 6% rise compared to 2016. Of this, assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty comprised 21.7%, and rape 7%.
  • For every rape reported, there are many which go unrecorded as patriarchal mindsets remain unchanged.

Way forward:

  • The cycle of rapes, outrage, and amnesia must end.
  • Boys and girls should be raised right in an atmosphere of freedom and a culture of mutual respect. There is a need for inclusion of gender sensitization in every curriculum, right from school and wider societal changes to end sex crimes.
  • There is a need to make more stringent provisions in the law.
  • Public places must be made safer for all.
  • Better policing, fast-track courts, quick sentencing are the need of the hour as each can serve as a deterrent.

2. Setting the clock back on intersex human rights

Context:

Passage of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill.

Details:

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019, has led to a few protests across the country for failing to address the concerns of the LGBTQ community.

Background:

Arunkumar v/s. The Inspector-General of Registration case:

  • In April 2019, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court delivered a historic judgment in Arunkumar v. The Inspector-General of Registration.
  • This judgment marked the beginning of a normative journey of intersex human rights in India.
  • The court took up the issue of the validity of consent given on behalf of intersex infants for undergoing sex-selective surgeries.
  • It held that the consent of the parent cannot be considered as the consent of the child. Hence, such surgeries should be prohibited.
  • It recognizes the consent rights of intersex children and the right to bodily integrity. The judgment declared a prohibition on sex-selective surgeries on intersex children in Tamil Nadu. Complying with the directions of the court, Tamil Nadu banned sex reassignment surgeries on intersex infants and children.
  • As the Transgender Bill also deals with issues related to human rights protection of intersex persons, it needs to be examined in light of the developments of intersex human rights.

Concerns:

  • The Transgender Persons Bill does not distinguish between transgender and intersex persons. Transgenders have a different gender identity than what was assigned to them at birth, while intersex indicates the diversity of gender-based on biological characteristics at birth.
  • The title of the Bill itself is exclusionary as it does not accommodate all persons whose legal protection it seeks to recognize.
  • The Bill also conflates the condition of intersex persons with transgender persons. Barring a few overlaps, the legal and welfare needs of intersex persons are different from those of transgender persons.
  • Some persons born or living with intersex traits can live with a non-binary identity or may choose to live as gender-fluid persons. The Bill fails to account for these possibilities. Neither does it provide for the definition of terms such as gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics.
  • There are also multiple variations in “intersex” itself, which the bills fails to address.
  • The Bill doesn’t say much about discrimination against intersex persons. Intersex persons are particularly vulnerable and experience barriers in access to education, employment, marriage, etc.
  • The Bill is not in alignment with the evolving international human rights framework. World over, the discourse around gender and sexuality has evolved a great deal in the last decade. However, the current legislative discourse on this issue suffers from a lack of foundational understanding.
  • As per court-based jurisprudence, medical procedures are not a necessity for self-identification. Still, the Union Health Ministry has admitted that medical procedure including sex reassignment surgeries is being performed on intersex children. Inspite of the Ministries’ justification that this is only done after a thorough assessment of the child, with the help of appropriate diagnostic tests and only after taking a written consent of the patient/guardian it fails to protect intersex persons from unnecessary medical intervention.

Way forward:

  • Parliament will be well-advised to consider changing the title of the Bill to Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019.
  • The definition in the bill should highlight the distinction between transgender persons and intersex persons enabling them to exercise the rights which they are entitled to.
  • To address discrimination against intersex persons, the Bill should have included a provision directing medical professionals to ensure that intersex traits are not characterized as “disorders of sex development”. Intersex traits should not be considered as genetic defects/ disorders, and terms like ‘gender dysphoria’ should be used to characterize them.

For more information on this: Click Here

Category:ECONOMY

1. ‘Structural policies needed for 7-plus % growth’

Context:

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 4.5% for the second quarter of 2019-2020, making it the slowest in six-and-a-half years.

Details:

  • Measuring recession in terms of negative growth in two quarters is a developed country concept. It applies when economies are in a steady-state and recession is a departure from the steady-state. [A state of fully tapped land and capital so that growth is possible in case of improvements in technology and productivity, as happens in developed economies. In developing economies, growth is possible by increasing the use of resources.]
  • In terms of conventional economics, this is a slowdown, not a recession. But the Indian economy is definitely close to being in recession.
  • In India’s case, 6-7% is the achievable growth rate without doing much, since India is a growing economy. With reforms, India can aspire for even higher growth. The Indian GDP being below 6%, therefore, in the sense of a developing and growing economy, is definitely close to recession.
  • If India is to complete its development transformation, it must grow at more than 5%, even when things are bad. Sub-5% growth is a development disaster and needs urgent measures to address it.

Causes of the economy’s troubles:

The slowdown appears to be an outcome of supply-side constraints and not demand-side constraints.

Suggestions and remedies:

Considering that India is not a command and control economy, the current recession is structural in nature. Getting the growth rates consistently up to 7-plus% will require structural actions. These need to be supplemented by short term actions as well.

Short-term actions:

  • Short term-actions should be initiated to keep the growth rate above 5% over a two-year window.
  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) needs to quickly increase the amount of cash in the economy. The banks, especially public sector banks, can use that together with interest rate policy to provide easy credit. A larger supply of credit should lead to cheaper credit.
  • The above step will have to be supported by a reduction of the administered price of credit, which is the RBI’s repo rate.
  • If these temporary measures for boosting aggregate demand – both consumption demand and investment demand – are the only measures taken, and structural measures get neglected, then the threat of inflation is real. The inevitable result of that will be stagflation.

Tackling mismatched expectations:

  • Many people are reluctant to take on loans even at low-interest rates because they can no longer see what the next few years hold.
  • There could be hurdles to credit off-take due to lack of trust or cautiousness on the part of businesses, leading to mismatched expectations. These need to be tackled.
  • The government needs to hold granular conversations with the private sector and deal with the needs of the specific sector.
  • Need to pursue skills and industrial policy. For example with respect to the textile industry in India, the major reason behind India losing its market share to Bangladesh is due to the fact that we are not able to locate moderately priced medium-value high-volume textile factories in those States where labour is relatively cheap. The traditional locations of Tirupur and Gujarat are high-wage geographies to produce ₹400 shirts. Instead locating these industries in Bihar, Jharkhand or Varanasi would be beneficial. By kick-starting investment in north and eastern India, India can start taking advantage of India’s biggest asset: an abundant pool of reasonably priced labour, which has over the years got fairly skilled because of migration. This approach requires political investment.
  • If the economy manages to produce things that Indians earning minimum wages can afford, aggregate demand will increase.

Structural actions:

Agriculture, housing, health, and education sector are key to the structural action strategy.

  • Agricultural sector:
    • With respect to the agricultural sector, priority has been on the production of foodgrains to ensure food security of the nation. But a consequence of over-emphasis on the production of foodgrains, farmers have been disempowered by multiple interventions.
    • There is a need for structural reforms. There is a need to view the viability of farming as a business. Need to visualize India as an aggregation of 14-15 agro-climatic zones each with its own strengths and problems. Need to approach each with a relevant policy. A business model change is needed in agriculture.
  • Healthcare:
    • Lack of sufficient Public health system and the prominence of the private sector have made Healthcare in India expensive. This is a major challenge for people in poverty.
    • There is the need for a business model allowing them to use their earnings to buy reasonable amounts of healthcare which the government can then supplement.
    • Subsidies and welfare giveaways will not be sufficient because of the lack of medical personnel to deliver affordable healthcare at the scale India needs. Need to address ways to increase the number of medical personnel.

For more on this issue: Click Here

F. Tidbits

1. Searching for Vikram, pixel by pixel

  • In the first authentic information from any source on the fate of Indian lunar lander Vikram, NASA has released the latest images of the lunar surface that point to the fact that the lander broke into many pieces after crash-landing.
  • Images taken by NASA’s moon orbiter show that Vikram’s debris was strewn across at least 750 m of the crash site, which is now believed to be away from the planned landing target.

Read more about Vikram lander and Chandrayaan-2. Click here.

2. 51 left India, defrauding over Rs. 17,900 crore

  • The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has informed the Finance Ministry that 51 absconders and proclaimed offenders in 66 cases, who face allegations of fraud involving over 17,900 crore, have left for other countries.
  • The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has reported that six economic offenders had left the country illegally.
  • The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed applications in court against 10 individuals under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
  • The Interpol had issued Red Notices on the ED’s requests for the extradition of eight individuals.
    • Red notice is issued by the INTERPOL General Secretariat to seek the arrest or provisional arrest of wanted criminals, with the intention of extradition of the culprits. It is a request to locate and provisionally arrest an individual who is convicted in a criminal case. But just issue of red notice does not mean the person is guilty; he should be proven guilty by the court. It is issued by the General Secretariat at the request of a member country or an international tribunal based on a valid national arrest warrant. A Red Notice is not an International arrest warrant.
  • As reported by the Department of Financial Services, the expected losses on account of the stressed loans stemming from such cases were reclassified as non-performing assets.
  • While the CBI and the ED have moved court in these cases, the CBI is processing 51 extradition requests pending at various stages.

Read more about Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.

3. DRDO to develop naval fighter jet

What’s in News?

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is set to develop a new twin-engine deck-based fighter aircraft for the Indian Navy to serve on its aircraft carriers, one of which is already in active service, and another is presently under construction.

  • The Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) has offered to develop a new twin-engine deck-based fighter aircraft for the Navy based on the experience of the naval light combat aircraft (LCA) and it is expected to be ready by 2026.
  • It is said that the Navy expected to have the first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC-I) Vikrant operational by 2022.
  • The naval LCA recently successfully completed the take-off and landing trials on the shore-based test facility (SBTF) in Goa.
  • The current LCA Mk-1 is a technology demonstrator and would further be put to carrier compatibility tests.
  • The Navy is scheduled to host its largest multilateral exercise, MILAN off the coast of Visakhapatnam in March 2020, for which 41 countries have been invited.
  • So far, over 15 countries have confirmed their participation. However, China has not been invited.

Read more about LCA Tejas.

G. Prelims Facts

Nothing here for today!!!

H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions

Q1. Consider the following statements:
  1. Regolith is present on the Earth, the Moon, Mars, some asteroids, and other terrestrial planets and moons.
  2. The composition of the Regolith can strongly influence water composition through the presence of salts and acid-generating materials.

Which of the given statement/s is/are correct?

a. 1 only
b. 2 only
c. Both 1 and 2
d. Neither 1 nor 2

See
Answer

Answer: c

Explanation:

Regolith is a layer of loose, heterogeneous material covering solid rock. It includes dust, soil, broken rock, and other related materials.  Regolith is present on the Earth, the Moon, Mars, some asteroids, and other terrestrial planets and moons. In some areas of the Earth, Regolith is essentially absent, whereas in others, it is hundreds of meters in thickness. The Regolith is the zone through which aquifers are recharged and through which aquifer discharge occurs. Many aquifers, such as alluvial aquifers, occur entirely within Regolith. The composition of the Regolith can also strongly influence water composition through the presence of salts and acid-generating materials.

Q2. Which of the following is the most suitable explanation of “Torrefaction”?
  1. It is a thermal process to convert biomass into a coal-like material, which has better fuel characteristics than the original biomass.
  2. It is the use of living micro-organisms to degrade the environmental contaminants into less toxic forms.
  3. It is the concentration of a toxin, in the tissues of tolerant organisms at successively higher levels in a food chain.
  4. It is the process used to separate the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation.
See
Answer

Answer: a

Explanation:

Torrefaction is a thermal process to convert biomass into a coal-like material, which has better fuel characteristics than the original biomass. Torrefied biomass is more brittle, making grinding easier and less energy intensive.

Q3. Which of the following is INCORRECT with respect to the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act?
  1. A Fugitive Economic Offender is a person who has an arrest warrant issued in respect of a scheduled offence and who leaves or has left India so as to avoid criminal prosecution.
  2. A person can be named an offender under this for involvement in economic offences involving at least Rs. 1000 crore or more.
  3. The person who is declared as a Fugitive Economic Offender cannot challenge the proclamation in the court of law.

Options:

a. 1 and 3 only
b. 2 and 3 only
c. 1 only
d. 3 only

See
Answer

Answer: b

Explanation:

A person can be named an offender under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act for involvement in economic offences involving at least Rs. 100 crore or more. Section 17 of the FEO act provides from the challenge of the proclamation in the High Court within 30 days

Q4. Consider the following statements with respect to Light Combat Aircraft Tejas:
  1. The LCA Tejas is a lightweight, multi-role supersonic aircraft developed as a joint venture between Russia and India.
  2. It can carry air-to-air, air-to- surface, precision guided and standoff weaponry.

Which of the given statement/s is/are correct?

a. 1 only
b. 2 only
c. Both 1 and 2
d. Neither 1 nor 2

See
Answer

Answer: b

Explanation:

The Light Combat Aircraft Tejas is an indigenous lightweight; multi-role supersonic aircraft developed in both fighter and trainer versions. The Tejas is designed to carry a plethora of air-to-air, air-to-surface, precision-guided and standoff weaponry. The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme began in the 1980s to replace India’s ageing MiG-21 fighters. In 2003, the LCA was officially named “Tejas”. The Tejas is an Indian single-engine, delta wing, multirole light fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.

I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

  1. The U.S. administration’s recent Israel policy and Israel’s actions have made the two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine issue redundant. Comment. (10 marks, 150 words)
  2. In spite of the national outrage in the aftermath of the Nirbhaya incident, the cycle of rapes, outrage, and amnesia continue in India. Comment. In the light of the recent rape and murder in Hyderabad, discuss the measures needed to tackle the issue of sex crimes. (15 Marks, 250 Words)

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