Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
S.NO. NEWS ITEM
SYLLUBUS
1.
Modi may attend a) I.R
US nuclear
security summit
next year (Page
13)
2.
Sushma sets the a)
stage for Defence
Ministers visit to
Russia (Page 12)
I.R
3.
Pakistan shows a)
US dossier on
Indias role in
Balochistan (P13)
Nuclear tango in a)
Afghan shadow
(Page 10)
I.R
4.
5.
Sri Lankan Army a)
committed war
crimes: govt
probe panel (Page
14)
6.
Cameron hails
a)
historic nuclear
deal with China
(Page 14)
Thank you, Assad a)
tells Putin in
Moscow (Page
14)
7.
8.
9.
10.
Consumption
a)
injurious to the
planets health
b)
(Page 11)
An industrial hub a)
waiting to be born
(Page 9)
Measures for
judicial reform
a)
ESSENCE OF THE ARTICLE
a) PM Modi is likely to travel to the US for the fourth
Nuclear Security Summit on March 31-April 1 2016, an
initiative of President Obama who considers nuclear
terrorism the most immediate and extreme threat to
global security.
a) Setting the stage for the next India-Russia summit
meeting, the just-concluded Moscow visit by External
Affairs Minister Sushma began much awaited talks on
defence procurement and sensitive strategic cooperation.
a) Pakistan said it has handed over to the US three
dossiers, which it claims to contain evidence about Indias
role in subverive activities in that country.
International a) The discussions over a possible US-Pak nuclear deal
reminds us of the 1980s, when the Reagan administration
deliberately overlooked Pakistans clandestine nuclear
activities. Notwithstanding its current troubles in
Afghanistan, Washington should steer clear of repeating
past mistakes.
International a) A govt probe panel has said allegations that the Sri
Lankan Army committed war crimes during the civil war
with Tamil rebels are credible and backed UN Human
Rights Councils recommendation that foreign judges be
part of a role in domestic inquiry.
International a) Prime Minister David Cameron has said Chinas
agreement to partly finance a UK nuclear power plant is
a historic deal that will create thousands of British jobs.
International a) President Putin of Russia called his counterpart
Bashar Assad of Syria to Moscow for an unannounced
visit to discuss their joint military campaign and a future
political transition in Syria.
International a) There has been a lot of buzz over past several weeks
about the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions,
National
the climate goals set by each country for 2030.
National
National
a) Krishna and Guntur districts (which constitute the
Andhra Pradesh Capital Region) are poised for a
significant industrial growth in the coming years.
a) Individuals come and go but institutions have to
survive and gain the confidence of the people. The
1
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
11.
(Page 11)
b)
RBI Governor
a)
went with
majority view for
rate cut (Page 15)
Polity
Economy
S.NO. NEWS ITEM
SYLLUBUS
1.
Modi may attend a) I.R
US nuclear
security summit
next year (Page
13)
common man looks to efficacious resolution of disputes.
a) The RBI Governor Rajan went with the majority
view of external members on the Technical Advisory
Committee on the policy rate to announce the rate cut.
BACKGROUND
IMPORTANT POINTS
a) India – US relations a) PM Modi is likely to travel
to the US for the fourth Nuclear
b) Nuclear Security
Security Summit on March 31Summit
April 1 2016, an initiative of
President Obama who considers
nuclear terrorism the most
immediate and extreme threat
to global security.
b) Former PM Manmohan
Singh had participated in first
two Nuclear Security Summits
in 2010 in Washington and in
2012 in Seoul, but gave the
third in The Hague in 2014 a
miss. The External Affairs
Minister represented India at
The Hague, where 58 world
leaders participated. The fourth
and final summit will take place
amid Obamas renewed push for
the nuclear security agenda in
the last lap of his presidency.
c) It was in 2009 that Obama
announced an international
effort to secure vulnerable
nuclear material, break up black
markets, and detect and
intercept illicitly trafficked
material, which led to a series
of biennial summits starting in
2010.
2
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
d) Unaudited nuclear weapons
and radiological material
remains a serious threat to
global security and the risk of
these material reaching terrorist
hands is real. These risks were
mostly associated with the
republics that once formed the
Soviet Union and were left with
a lot of nuclear material, but
Pakistan has now emerged as a
core concern with increasing
risk of jihadi groups accessing
Pakistans nuclear arsenal.
2.
Sushma sets the a)
stage for Defence
Ministers visit to
Russia (Page 12)
I.R
e) A White House
announcement recently said the
2016 will be the last one and
these summits have achieved
tangible improvements in the
security of nuclear material and
stronger global institutions that
support nuclear security.
a) India – Russia
a) Setting the stage for the
relations
next India-Russia summit
meeting, the just-concluded
b) India-Russia summit Moscow visit by External
Affairs Minister Sushma began
c) Defence ties
much awaited talks on defence
d) Inter Governmental procurement and sensitive
Commission on Military strategic cooperation.
Technical Cooperation
b) Sources said that a major
(IRIGC- MTC)
part of her visit was aimed at
smoothening the way for the
IRIGC- MTC, which will be led
by Defence Minister Parrikar
from the Indian side. He will go
on a stock-taking visit, which
will assess the fifth generation
fighter jet project, the S400
missile system, and naval
3
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
coproduction plans with Russia.
c) Russia is raising a new
division for Afghanistan along
the Tajik border to fight Islamic
extremists of Af-Pak that are
threatening the modern govts of
Central Asia. Therefore, its
partnership with Pakistan is not
expected to last long and that is
why India and Russia will work
together in Afghanistan region.
3.
Pakistan shows a)
US dossier on
Indias role in
Balochistan (Page
13)
I.R
a) India – Pakistan
relations
b)
Terrorism
c)
Balochistan
d)
FATA
e) Operation Zarb-eAzb
d) The recent shocking losses
under Taliban attack in Kunduz
were a lesson for regional
powers and India and Russia
are expected to work together to
stabilise Afghanistan in view of
the American plans to stay back
in Afghanistan beyond 2016.
a) Pakistan said it has handed
over to the US three dossiers,
which it claims to contain
evidence about Indias role in
subversive activities in that
country.
b) Pakistan had earlier said
that it had handed over such a
dossier to the United Nations.
However, the world body has
paid no heed to the allegation.
c) India has been rubbishing
Pakistans allegation,
maintaining that it has no role
in the unrest in Balochistan,
Karachi or FATA.
d) The Pakistani statement
said Sharif apprised Kerry of
4
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
his commitment to seek
normalisation of ties with India
and efforts to improve relations
with Afghanistan. It said Kerry
commended the significant
gains achieved by Operation
Zarb-e-Azb of Pakistan against
terrorist groups in the restive
northwest border region.
4.
Nuclear tango in a)
Afghan shadow
(Page 10)
International
a) US – Pakistan civil
nuclear deal
b) India – US civil
nuclear deal
c) Nuclear Suppliers
Groups (NSG)
e) The statement claimed that
Kerry appreciated Sharifs
commitment to promoting
peace and security in the region
and reaffirmed US support to
work with Pakistan in this
shared objective.
a) As Pakistan PM Nawaz
Sharif visits the US, it is clear
that the US and Pakistan are
looking for some kind of a
nuclear deal and that the US
involvement in Afghanistan
once again provides the
strategic justification.
d) Comprehensive Test
b) This exercise is reminiscent
Ban Treaty (CTBT)
of the time of Ronald Reagans
e) Fissile Material Cut- presidency. The outcome then
off Treaty (FMCT)
proved to be counterproductive
in the long run: by the time
f) Afghanistans
Soviet Union withdrew from
situation
Afghanistan and the US reimposed nuclear sanctions in
g) Taliban
1990, Pakistan was already in
possession of nuclear weapons,
US-Pakistan relations had gone
into a downward spiral and,
within Pakistan, the jihadisectarian virus was taking root.
c) Fuelled by Paks unhappiness
5
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
about the NSG exceptional
waiver given to India in 2008, a
number of Western nonproliferation experts had been
suggesting that one way to
persuade Pakistan to stop going
ahead with Tactical Nuclear
Weapons would be to offer it a
similar deal. They felt such a
deal would also address the
countrys obsession with having
parity with India. These experts
have also been keen purveyors
of the South Asia as a nuclear
flashpoint hypothesis.
d) Some experts stated that
Pakistans objective is a civilian
nuclear cooperation deal which
would require an NSG waiver.
Since Indias entry into the NSG
is likely to be blocked by
China, one way out would be to
integrate Pakistan too into the
international non-proliferation
architecture and put behind its
murky proliferation past.
e) A second rationale is that
with the introduction of shortrange nuclear capable missiles
(60-km range Nasr), described
as a Tactical Nuclear Weapon,
Pakistan has lowered nuclear
threshold and shifted from
minimum credible deterrence to
full spectrum deterrence.
f) They suggested that in return
for such a deal, Pakistan should
accept certain constraints. It
should eschew Tactical Nuclear
6
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
Weapons, shift back to strategic
deterrence, maintain its arsenal
in recessed (de-alerted) mode,
sign the CTBT without waiting
for India to do the same, and
stop blocking the negotiations
in Geneva on an FMCT.
g) There had been few takers
for the idea. Pakistan indicated
that it would be unwilling to
accept any restrictions on its
nuclear posture and underlined
the need for full spectrum
deterrence.
h) The factors that contributed
to the US-India deal were
different. The key drivers
included: a growing strategic
convergence, commercial and
economic interests, Indias clean
track-record on nonproliferation, a stable
democratic polity and the need
for nuclear power as a clean
energy resource to meet Indias
growing energy demands.
i) These factors did not hold
in Pakistans case and in any
event, China had addressed
Pakistans nuclear power
demands by repeatedly assuring
Pakistan of continuing its
nuclear cooperation. At last
count, China is building
Chashma III and IV, with
options to build another five, all
under concessional financing.
j)
However, later, the
7
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
Afghanistan factor entered the
equation. With just another 15
months left for the Obama
administration to complete its
term, the goal of a clean and
managed exit for the US troops
seemed difficult to manage. The
peace process between Afghan
govt and Taliban had stalled.
President Ashraf Ghani was no
longer convinced that Pakistan
was serious about delivering on
the talks with the Taliban.
k) Suicide bombings and
Taliban attacks had gone up
with the Kunduz attack being a
rude wake-up call. Within the
US, there was a growing feeling
that a premature US exit would
rapidly undo the gains that had
been made in Afghanistan; this
has already forced President
Obama to postpone the
departure of 5500 US troops
from 2015-end to 2016-end.
Pakistan had become
indispensable and needed to be
persuaded to be cooperative.
l) After 9/11, Pakistan again
emerged as a front line state,
this time as part of the global
war on terror. Nevertheless, by
2009, there was growing
scepticism in the US about Paks
intentions. All terror attacks (in
the West or elsewhere, whether
successful or thwarted) were
traced back to Pakistani
madrassas and training camps;
Osama bin Ladens presence in
8
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
Abbottabad just reinforced US
misgivings.
m) However, Pakistan had
received economic and military
assistance amounting to $19
billion since 2002, with an
additional $13 billion as
reimbursements from the
Coalition Support Fund for
allowing transit to Afghanistan
and use of its ports and airports
for coalition troops and
equipment transfers. However,
this has not helped Obama to
manage a responsible exit from
Afghanistan.
n) The US-Pakistan nuclear
tango in the 1980s took place
during the Cold War. Today,
India-US relations are
qualitatively different and
successive leaders in both
countries have contributed to
realising the potential of the
newfound strategic partnership.
PM Modi has gone out of his
way to build a personal rapport
with President Obama, reflected
in the frequent summit-level
interactions.
o) However, recent US moves
in Afghanistan, like promoting
peace talks with the Taliban on
any terms, pushing the Afghan
government towards unrealistic
concessions and turning a blind
eye to Pak Armys continued
policy of distinguishing
between good terrorists and bad
9
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
terrorists, have created serious
doubts about the strength of
US-India engagement.
5.
6.
Sri Lankan Army a)
committed war
crimes: govt
probe panel (Page
14)
Cameron hails
historic nuclear
deal with China
(Page 14)
a)
International
a) Sri Lankas human
rights issue
b)
International
a)
UNHRC
p) Practically, the Obama
administration will be unable to
deliver what Pakistan wants in
the limited time that it has (the
Indian deal took more than
three years, 2005-08, to reach
fruition) but this short-sighted
policy will certainly have an
adverse impact on India-US
relations in the long term.
a) A govt probe panel has said
allegations that the Sri Lankan
Army committed war crimes
during the civil war with Tamil
rebels are credible and backed
UNHRCs recommendation that
foreign judges be part of a role
in domestic inquiry.
b) Former President Rajapaksa
said his govt had never
contemplated the appointment
of foreign experts as judges in
Sri Lanka. He said such a move
was politically unacceptable to
our people and stands against
the basic provisions of the
constitution of Sri Lanka.
China – UK relations a) PM David Cameron has
said Chinas agreement to partly
finance a UK nuclear power
plant is a historic deal that will
create thousands of British jobs.
b) President Xi Jinping signed
an agreement that will see
Chinas state-owned power
company take a 6-billion 35
10
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
percent share in a new plant to
be built with Frances EDF.
7.
Thank you, Assad a)
tells Putin in
Moscow (Page
14)
International
a) Russia – Syria
relations
b)
Syria crisis
c)
Islamic State (IS)
c) The plant has become a
focus for critics of Britains push
to increase relations with China,
the worlds second-largest
economy. Some accuse
Cameron of wooing the
Chinese for trade deals while
ignoring the countrys human
rights record.
a) President Putin of Russia
called his counterpart Bashar
Assad of Syria to Moscow for
an unannounced visit to discuss
their joint military campaign
and a future political transition
in Syria.
b) The surprise visit (evidently
Assads first outside Syria since
the civil war began there in
2011) highlighted how the
political and military horizon of
the long war of attrition has
shifted drastically because of
Russias intervention.
c) The most obvious focus of
the talks was the fight against
terrorist and extremist groups,
issues of the continuation of the
Russian operation supporting
the offensive of Syrian military.
d) Aside from the obvious
issues of mutual concern given
the current military alliance of
Russia and Syria, the meeting
was another chance to highlight
Russias re-emergence as a
11
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
8.
Consumption
injurious to the
planets health
(Page 11)
a)
International
b)
National
crucial player in West Asia.
Part of the inspiration for
Russian interference in Syria
was to break out of the isolation
imposed on Moscow over the
crisis in Ukraine.
a) Climate change
a) There has been a lot of buzz
over the past several weeks
b) Carbon emissions
about the INDCs, the climate
goals set by each country for
c) Sustainable
2030. India made its own
development
announcement quite
d) Intended Nationally dramatically on October 2,
Determined Contributions Mahatma Gandhis 146th birth
anniversary.
(INDCs)
e) Intergovernmental b) Most observers also agree
Panel on Climate Change that the govt has set ambitious
(IPCC)
goals and the sustainable
development framework
mentioned in the INDC is just
what the country needs, given
our energy challenges.
c) What most of these
discussions do not address or
rarely mention is consumption,
the singular economic driver of
climate change. The Indian
INDC refers several times to
the countrys sustainable
lifestyle and low levels of per
capita consumption and gently
suggests that developed
countries can certainly bring
down their emission intensity
by moderating their
consumption.
d) The dictionary meaning of
consumption is the use of
resources, primarily ones used
12
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
to produce goods and services,
all of which require energy.
Therefore, it is fair to say that
carbon is embodied within the
goods and services we consume
and is associated with the entire
life cycle of their production
from the mining of raw
materials to the disposal of
waste in landfills.
e) Economic logic indicates
that rich people everywhere and
rich countries would have
higher levels of consumption
compared to the poor, and this
is indeed borne out by facts.
Each person in India on average
emits about 1.8 metric tonnes of
carbon dioxide, but since the
poor have few energy services,
their emissions are very low. In
terms of averages, Indias per
capita values turn out to be low
in comparison with those of
rich countries.
f) Nevertheless, disaggregating
consumption levels by income
groups suggests that Indians too
have a lot to answer for. About
five percent of Indians,
constituting 60 million people
consume at the same level as
Europeans, but this is also
growing at an alarming rate.
Moreover, they set aspirational
bar for most other Indians
moving up the economic ladder,
which itself demands that we be
less sanguine about our
13
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
sustainable lifestyle.
g) The Fifth Assessment
Report of the IPCC points out
that a sustainable development
pathway for the world depends
on two distinct types of
decoupling. The first is that of
material resource consumption
(including fossil carbon) and
environmental impact
(including climate change) from
economic growth
dematerialisation. The second is
the decoupling of human wellbeing from economic growth
and consumption.
9.
An industrial hub a)
waiting to be
born (Page 9)
National
h) In order to really make these
kinds of transformative changes
a reality, we need innovation
and technology, but to change
lifestyles seriously, we will
need to wrestle with multiple
vested interests, reframe the
political economy landscape,
and craft new institutions that
promote sustainability. As of
now, neither India nor any other
country appears to be
considering these medium term
requirements to deal with
climate change or
sustainability.
a) Amaravathi
a) Krishna and Guntur
districts (which constitute the
b) VisakhapatnamAndhra Pradesh Capital
Chennai and Bengaluru- Region) are poised for a
Chennai industrial
significant industrial growth in
corridors
the coming years.
c)
Asian Development
b)
It is mainly due to their
14
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
Bank
location in VisakhapatnamChennai and BengaluruChennai industrial corridors
that are being funded to a large
extent by Japan International
Cooperation Agency and Asian
Development Bank.
c) The region was found by
the Confederation of Indian
Industry to be suitable for food
processing and agriculture and
allied industries with not much
potential for large
manufacturing units.
10.
Measures for
judicial reform
(Page 11)
a)
National
b)
Polity
a) National Judicial
Appointments
Commission (NJAC)
b)
Collegium system
c) Judicial
independence
d)
Judicial review
e)
CJI
d) On its part, the govt of
Andhra Pradesh has recently
identified key thrust areas agro and food processing, life
sciences (including
pharmaceutical, biotechnology
and medical equipment), textile
and apparel, electronics and
information technology,
aerospace and defence
manufacturing, automobiles and
auto components, petroleum,
chemicals, petrochemicals,
energy, minerals and leather.
a) The Supreme Court has
spoken on the NJAC. Right or
wrong, it is final, till a larger
bench overrules the verdict,
which seems unlikely in near
future. Expansive arguments
and expositions of Constitution
and the laws were advanced
during the hearing and have
been considered by the Court.
b)
The Constitution does not
15
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
f)
Supreme Court
g)
High Court
h)
Parliament
envisage a collegium of judges
to select judges. The lawyer
community and the public were
distinctly uncomfortable with
the intrusions into the
independence of the judiciary in
the 1970s and 1980s, reposed
enormous confidence in the
judges, virtually suggested the
collegium system, and gave a
euphoric welcome to the system
when Supreme Court devised it.
c) The judiciary has
acknowledged the deficiencies
of collegium system but fondly
hopes to reform the same. The
alternative (the NJAC) has been
rejected in a clear expression of
lack of confidence and faith in
the political class to preserve
and protect the independence of
the judiciary.
d) There are immediate areas
which need attention. First,
vacancies in the Supreme Court
and in the High Courts need to
be filled up. Second, persons of
doubtful integrity who might
have been appointed by mistake
of collegium have to be weeded
out. This follows logically, as a
consequence of the acceptance
by the Constitution Bench of
the defective functioning of the
collegium. But a method has to
be found without the process of
impeachment, and voluntary
retirement could be an option.
Third, the infrastructure in the
courts needs improvement.
16
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
Fourth, there needs to be
appointment of ad hoc or
additional judges to clear
pending cases.
e) The Supreme Court at the
hearing on Nov 3 should lay
down institutional mechanisms
for transparent functioning of
the collegium. The following
measures will be crucial: one,
accepting applications for
appointments as High Court
judges. This is followed in the
UK and can be adopted in India
too. There must be full and
complete disclosure of
relationships and affiliations of
applicants to sitting and retired
judges. Minimum eligibility
criteria for consideration need
to be laid down, including
appearances in important cases.
f) All the three organs of the
state should introspect as to
why there has been no or
inadequate representation in the
higher judiciary from amongst
women.
g) Parliament should also enact
changes to provide a uniform
retirement age for judges of the
Supreme Court and the High
Courts, so that the present
practice of some of the judges
seeking to be in the good books
of the existing or prospective
members of collegiums in the
Supreme Court is avoided. The
retirement age should be raised
17
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
uniformly to 70 with a
condition that no judge retiring
at 70 shall be appointed as a
member of any Tribunal.
h) The continuation as a judge
after the age of 65 should be
subject to being found not unfit
by Permanent Commissions. A
minimum tenure of two years
should be provided to the CJI
and the CJ of High Courts.
Consequently no judge who is
more than 68 years should be
made a Chief Justice. Court
management should not be
vested with Judicial Officers
but assigned to trained
managers.
i) To allay the fears of
intrusion into the independence
of judiciary, a three member
Permanent Commission to
scrutinise the credentials of
candidates and recommend
names may be constituted. The
Commission may consist of
three retired Chief Justices of
India for appointment of judges
to the Supreme Court. Four
such similar Commissions may
be constituted for the four
regions of India with a retired
judge of the Supreme Court as a
Chair Person and two retired
Chief Justices of the High
Courts as members.
j) The tenure of the Chair
person and members of the
Commission should be 3 years.
18
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
The recommendations of the
collegiums in the High Court
may be forwarded to the
Regional Permanent
Commission which shall then
send its recommendations to the
collegium in the Supreme
Court. The selection of these
permanent commissions should
be made by a committee
consisting of the CJI, two
senior most judges of Supreme
Court, the PM and the Leader
of the Opposition in Lok Sabha.
k) The collegium in the High
Court may recommend a panel
which is twice or thrice the
number of existing and
expected vacancies and, on
scrutiny, the Commissions can
recommend a pruned list of
names to the Supreme Court
Collegium.
l) These Permanent
Commissions should also be
vested with the power to
scrutinise complaints of
dishonesty and lack of integrity
of judges, to make
recommendations to collegiums
to withdraw work from those
judges pending impeachment.
m) Individuals come and go
but institutions have to survive
and gain the confidence of the
people. The average citizen has
greater trust and confidence in
the judiciary than the legislature
or the executive. The
19
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 22-10-15
11.
RBI Governor
a)
went with
majority view for
rate cut (Page 15)
Economy
a)
Monetary policy
b)
Repo rate
c) Statutory Liquidity
Ratio (SLR)
Constitution Bench says the
court will reform itself and
wants no intrusion from
Parliament and the executive.
a) The RBI Governor Rajan
went with the majority view of
external members on the
Technical Advisory Committee
on the policy rate to announce
the rate cut.
d) Technical Advisory
b) On policy options, six
Committee
members recommended
reduction in the policy repo rate
e) RBI
- two suggesting a reduction of
50 basis points (bps), one being
flexible within the range of 25
to 50 bps, while three wanted to
move cautiously with a
reduction of 25 bps.
c) One of these members also
recommended forward
guidance to discuss risks to the
medium-term growth and
inflation estimates and
suggested a reduction in the
SLR by 50 basis points.
d) One member recommended
that the policy repo rate be kept
unchanged. The member was of
the view that the RBI needs to
be careful and should keep
stressing on data dependency to
avoid getting into a Fed-like
trap.
20