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Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
S.NO. NEWS ITEM
SYLLUBUS
1.
Saudi diplomat a) I.R
issue casts
shadow on IndoNepal ties (Page
13)
2.
3.
Sri Lanka
a)
resolution in
UNHRC likely by
Sept 25 (Page 14)
Moving towards a)
accountability
(Page 10)
4.
Refugees pour
a)
into Croatia (Page
14)
5.
Military confirms a)
coup in Burkina
Faso, dissolves
govt (Page 14)
6.
New plan of
action to end
global problems
(Page 14)
7.
Mayors stumble a)
on Smart City
mission (Page 11)
8.
Ahimsa cannot be a)
forced, says
Supreme Court b)
(Page 12)
9.
The way out of a)
the economic
tailspin (Page 10) b)
a)
ESSENCE OF THE ARTICLE
a) The departure of the Saudi Arabian diplomat Majed
Hassan Ashoor has not ended the crisis over the brutal
treatment of the two women. Following Ashoors exit, the
triangular crisis has acquired a bilateral shape involving
India and Nepal.
International a) Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs Minister Samaraweera
said a consensus resolution on Sri Lanka may come up
during the ongoing session of UNHRC by Sept 24 or 25.
International a) The human rights investigation report on Sri Lanka
(submitted to the UNHRC by the High Commissioner for
Human Rights) seeks to address the crucial question of
accountability in the island nation for the horrific crimes
committed by all parties to conflict that ended in 2009.
International a) Amid chaotic scenes at its border with Serbia,
Croatia said it could not cope with a flood of refugees
seeking a new route into the EU after Hungary kept them
out by erecting a fence and using tear gas and water
cannon against them.
International a) While gunfire rang out in the streets, Burkina Fasos
military took to the airwaves to declare it now controls
the West African country in a coup mounted weeks
before elections.
International a) Heads of states will gather at the UN from Sept 25
to 27 to adopt a new set of development goals aimed at
resolving the social, economic and environmental
problems troubling the world.
National
a) The Smart City initiative expects municipalities to
generate funds from private investors and take capacitybuilding measures to initiate big projects.
National
a) Noting that meat bans cannot be shoved down
someones throat, the Supreme Court refused a Jain
Polity
community organisations plea to set aside the Bombay
High Court stay on a State government notification
banning sale of meat and slaughter in Mumbai during the
Jain Paryushan period of penance.
National
a) As it stands at present, the Indian economy is headed
for a crisis and a crash by early 2016. The govt needs a
Economy
Crisis Management Team of politicians and economists
who are rooted in Indian ethos and not complaint to
1
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
10.
11.
12.
13.
Fed leaves key
interest rates
unchanged, citing
low inflation
(Page 15)
Sustained low
inflation
necessary for
lower cost of
funds, says RBI
(Page 15)
Now, bid to push
back antiquity of
the Vedas (Pages
1 and 12)
Ashoka stupa
restored in China
(Page 14)
finance institutions like the IMF and the World Bank.
a) The Federal Reserve is keeping US interest rates at
record lows in the face of threats from a weak global
economy, persistently low inflation and unstable
financial markets.
a)
Economy
a)
Economy
a) Ahead of the bi-monthly monetary policy review,
the RBI Deputy Governor Urjit Patel said sustained low
inflation over medium to long-term is necessary to bring
down the cost of fund.
a)
National
a) Moves are on to push back the commonly accepted
date of the Vedas through astronomical calculations.
b)
History
a)
Geography
b)
History
S.NO. NEWS ITEM
SYLLUBUS
1.
Saudi diplomat a) I.R
issue casts
shadow on IndoNepal ties (Page
13)
a) A 2000-year-old lost stupa, one of 19 built with Lord
Buddhas relics sent by Emperor Ashoka to China, has
been restored with religious rites by an Indian monk in
the remote Tibetan town.
BACKGROUND
a) India – Nepal
relations
IMPORTANT POINTS
a) The departure of the Saudi
Arabian diplomat Majed
Hassan Ashoor has not ended
b) Saudi diplomat issue the crisis over brutal treatment
of the two women. Following
c) Nepals new
Ashoors exit, the triangular
Constitution
crisis has acquired a bilateral
shape involving India and
Nepal, and has cast a shadow
on Indias work in the last stages
of the delicate process of
making Nepals Constitution.
b) The overall sense of
emergency generated by the
case, and the context of Nepals
fractured internal politics, can
be measured by the fact that
Foreign Secretary Jaishankar is
2
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
being sent to Kathmandu as the
Special Envoy of PM Modi to
soothe the frayed nerves of the
Nepali civil society and its
political parties.
2.
Sri Lanka
a)
resolution in
UNHRC likely
by Sept 25 (Page
14)
International
c) Nepal govt representatives
in Delhi have said that India
cannot wash off its share of
responsibility in the case as the
crime was committed on Indian
territory.
a) Sri Lankas human a) Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs
rights issue
Minister Samaraweera said a
consensus resolution on Sri
b) UNHRC
Lanka may come up during the
ongoing session of UNHRC by
c) Liberation Tigers of
Sept 24 or 25. According to the
Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
schedule, the UN report on Sri
Lankas war crimes (released in
d) Eelam war
Geneva on Sept 16) will come
up for discussion on Sept 30.
b) Describing the UN report
on Sri Lankas war crimes as
well drafted and sober, he said
the document gave a narrative
of some of the human rights
violations that may have taken
place in the country. It is up to
us to investigate and ensure that
justice is done and see to it that
such things do not happen
again.
c) The report has urged the
Sri Lankan govt to establish a
special court to try the horrific
abuses committed by the
authorities and the rebels in the
closing phase of the civil war.
3
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
3.
Moving towards a)
accountability
(Page 10)
International
a) Sri Lankas human
rights issue
b)
UNHRC
c)
LTTE
d)
Eelam war
d) The report was very, very
balanced in its reporting of the
excesses committed by the
LTTE. It also acknowledged
great strides accomplished by
the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe
regime in the last six months.
a) Accountability for past
excesses is not easily achieved
in post-conflict societies, but its
need and relevance cannot be
brushed aside. Fostering peace
and reconciliation among
formerly feuding sections of
society, and finding
constitutional solutions to core
political issues are often the
final objectives.
b) However, transformative
and substantive justice requires
establishing the truth about past
crimes perpetrated as part of a
deliberate policy.
c) The human rights
investigation report on Sri
Lanka, submitted to UNHRC
by the High Commissioner for
Human Rights, seeks to address
the crucial question of
accountability in the island
nation for the horrific crimes
committed by all parties to the
conflict that ended in 2009.
d) The report proposes a
special hybrid court that will
integrate international judges,
prosecutors and investigators
with domestic resources. It
concludes that many of the
4
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
instances established may
amount to war crimes or crimes
against humanity.
e) The report records unlawful
killings, disappearances,
deliberate bombardment of
hospitals, and other crimes by
the security forces. It also
records the killing of civilians
by LTTE, its forced recruitment
of adults and children, and
preventing civilians from
leaving the conflict zone.
f) The report recognises the
present national unity govts
efforts to engage the Office of
the High Commissioner for
Human Rights. Sri Lankas brief
response does not contain any
explicit reference to the
proposed hybrid court, but only
a promise of reconciliation and
non-recurrence of violations.
g) India will also be looking
at the process closely, the South
Asian region being new to such
a trans-national inquiry.
However, it should not be
forgotten that the Sri Lankan
conflict always had an
international dimension, with
many countries involved in
supporting both war and peace.
h) The new proposal strikes a
necessary balance between the
clamour for an international
probe and the need to involve
domestic institutions. It is time
5
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
4.
Refugees pour
into Croatia
(Page 14)
a)
International
a) Europes refugee
crisis
to render justice to the victims
of what was South Asias
longest war.
a) Amid chaotic scenes at its
border with Serbia, Croatia said
it could not cope with a flood of
refugees seeking a new route
into the EU after Hungary kept
them out by erecting a fence
and using tear gas and water
cannon against them.
b) The EU is split over how
to cope with the influx of
people mostly fleeing war and
poverty in Syria, Iraq,
Afghanistan and Pakistan.
5.
Military confirms a)
coup in Burkina
Faso, dissolves
govt (Page 14)
International
a) Burkina Faso
internal issues
c) European Council President
Donald Tusk summoned EU
leaders to an extraordinary
summit on Sept 23 to discuss
migration and a proposed
scheme to distribute 120,000
asylum seekers across the bloc.
a) While gunfire rang out in
streets, Burkina Fasos military
took to the airwaves to declare
it now controls West African
country in a coup mounted
weeks before elections.
b) A former aide to exPresident Blaise Compaore
(who was ousted in a popular
uprising last year) was named
the new head of state.
Demonstrators who opposed
Compaores bid to prolong his
27-year rule forced him from
office.
6
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
6.
New plan of
a)
action to end
global problems
(Page 14)
International
a) Millennium
Development Goals
(MDGs)
b) Sustainable
Development Goals
(SDGs)
c)
7.
Mayors stumble a)
on Smart City
mission (Page 11)
National
Climate change
c) US said it is deeply
concerned about the events
unfolding in Burkina Faso. The
US strongly condemns any
attempt to seize power through
extra-constitutional means or
resolve internal political
disagreements using force.
a) Heads of states will gather
at the UN from Sept 25 to 27 to
adopt a new set of development
goals aimed at resolving social,
economic and environmental
problems troubling the world.
b) A set of 17 goals and 169
targets covering the next 15
years that will replace the
MDGs which expire this year.
c) The SDGs are intended to
be universal, applying to all
countries rather than just the
developing world. They
emphasise the need to urgently
tackle climate change.
a) Smart City Mission a) On Sept 4, Union Urban
Development Minister
b) Swachh Bharat
Venkaiah Naidu said the BJPMission
led govt has formulated radical
policy shifts in Indias urban
c) Atal Mission for
governance that empowers
Rejuvenation and Urban
mayors to take back control of
Transformation
cities from States and
(AMRUT)
encourages them to be selfreliant.
d) Jawaharlal Nehru
National Urban Renewal
b) From a logistical
Mission (JNNURM)
standpoint, the mayors (who are
frontrunners of the mission)
e) Urbanisation
found it hard to follow the
mission guidelines. Previous
7
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
urban development schemes
had rendered them powerless
and they were reduced to just
bystanders watching the central
govt handing over projects to
State ministers. As the new set
of urban policies (Smart City
Mission, Swachh Bharat
Mission, AMRUT) claim to
transfer powers of designing
and building cities to
municipalities, the shift has
been overwhelming.
c) The mandate establishes
direct contact between the
municipal bodies and the Urban
Development Ministry, and the
coordination assures easy
access to central funding with
minimum bureaucratic delays.
On other hand, the municipal
commissioners are struggling to
make the transition from being
armchair bureaucrats to onground managers, tasked with
designing solutions to meet
peoples aspirations.
d) For the entire mission, the
Centre has asked the States to
generate half the funding (Rs.
48,000 crore) through publicprivate partnerships. And
mayors are encouraged to use
their political clout to attract
private investors.
e) If all these elements work
in tandem, the govt is optimistic
that one smart city will inspire
an urban sprawl expected to
8
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
function more on private
investments, less on govt
funding. The endgame is to
generate as many urban centres
as possible and ensure a double
digit GDP.
f) To speed up growth for a
slowing economy and create a
consuming class of city
dwellers, the role of a
municipal body is crucial. Since
the Smart City initiative is
cutting out aggressive State
spending, municipalities have
to generate funds from private
investors and take capacitybuilding measures to initiate big
projects. But that is precisely
where the shortcoming exists.
g) In recent past, the efforts
of roping in private investors to
quickly transform societies
have often hindered urban
progress. Between 2008 and
2014, the previous Congressled UPA govt rolled out the
ambitious JNNURM, and
partially relied on private sector
investments to speed up its
implementation.
h) Sceptics also say the govts
hasty drive to urbanise small
towns with the support of
private money is doomed to
fail. Like in the Smart City
Mission, JNNRUM also
featured the need for setting up
strong mechanisms for sewage
treatment, solid waste
9
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
management and drainage, but
these were the areas where
private investors were not
forthcoming.
8.
Ahimsa cannot be a)
forced, says
Supreme Court b)
(Page 12)
National
a)
Meat ban issue
Polity
b) Jain Paryushan
period
c) Article 21 of the
Constitution
d)
Supreme Court
i) Before jumping into the
deep end with urbanising 100
small towns that have met the
smart city criteria, the BJP govt
should consider whether its
financing model is feasible.
And simultaneously mayors and
commissioners should be
trained to design new projects
and tap into local resources.
Otherwise, the Smart City
Mission will turn into an
unattractive proposition right
from the municipal level, which
is its core.
a) Noting that meat bans
cannot be shoved down
someones throat, the Supreme
Court refused a Jain community
organisations plea to set aside
Bombay High Court stay on a
State govt notification banning
sale of meat and slaughter in
Mumbai during the Jain
Paryushan period of penance.
b) Submissions were made
that a two-day ban on meat ban
was an expression of
compassion to animals and
reverence to principle of ahimsa
practised by Mahatma Gandhi.
c) In its petition, the Jain
Trust argued that a ban on meat
for 15 to 20 days can only be
conceived as compassion for
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Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
9.
The way out of a)
the economic
tailspin (Page 10) b)
National
a) Indias economic
growth
Economy
b)
GDP
c)
World Bank
d) International
Monetary Fund (IMF)
e) Non-Performing
Assets (NPAs)
f) Participatory Notes
(PNs)
animals. Even animals had the
right to live under Article 21 of
the Constitution, counsel
Manish Singhvi argued.
a) East Asian nations such as
Japan, South Korea and
Philippines were growing very
fast during the 1975-95 period,
the growth rates of their GDP
exceeding 10 percent per year.
Japan was slated to overtake the
US by 2005.
b) The World Bank and the
IMF termed it an East Asian
Miracle in their publications
and called it a model for other
nations like India. However, in
1997, a sudden financial
blowout knocked out these
countries and all the talk of
miracle evaporated. Japan is yet
to recover from that blowout.
c) As it stands at present, the
Indian economy is headed for a
crisis and a crash. According to
author (Subramanian Swamy,
former Union Cabinet Minister
for Commerce and professor of
economics), the likely date is
by early 2016. Today, a course
correction can rectify and
rescue the economy from a
crash, only if there are shortterm and long-term
prescriptions to be followed.
Does the Modi govt have such
contingency prescriptions
ready? Not as of now.
d)
Following are the authors
11
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
prescriptions. First, the govt
must constitute a Crisis
Management Team (CMT) of
politicians and economists who
understand the dynamics of
Indian society and, more
importantly, the general
equilibrium calculus of an
economy. At present, there is
no such team in place.
e) World Bank and IMF are
institutions which had
miserably failed to either
foresee or rectify the financial
crises in Latin America in the
1970s; in East Asia in late
1990s; and even in US in 2008.
IMF/World Bank studies are of
value only as tabular, statistical
compilations and no more.
Hence, the CMT has to consist
of those who are rooted in the
ethos of India and not
compliant to international
financial institutions.
f) Second, to know what
crisis-managing reforms to
initiate, we must first know
which problem to focus on and
prioritise for action. In authors
considered opinion, the
following questions deserve
immediate answers and
consequent policy rectification:
g) Despite crude oil prices
having crashed and the dollar
value of rupee having dropped
in a steep devaluation, why
have both exports and imports
12
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
(especially the former in 23 of
30 commodity groups) declined
steadily over last 14 months?
h) Why have household
savings, which were the bulk of
national domestic investments,
dropped from a high of 34
percent of GDP in 2005 to 28
percent of GDP in 2015?
i) Why have the NPAs of the
public sector banks risen so
sharply, in fact at a rate much
higher than the rate of the new
advances made by these banks?
j) When the economy needs
about a $1 trillion investment in
infrastructure to render Make in
India a reality, why is the actual
investment in just 75 projects in
Financial Year 2015-16 valued
at Rs.42,749 crore, less than the
amount invested in 2005-06,
which was Rs.44,511 crore?
k) Why has the manufacturing
sector (which provides the bulk
of employment to the skilled
and semi-skilled labour force)
grown at abysmally low rates of
between 2 and 5 percent?
l) Why, when Indias
agricultural products are among
the cheapest in the world
despite a low yield per hectare,
are we not able to double the
production and export the
products abroad?
13
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
m) To address these priority
problems, it is essential to
implement a menu of measures
to uplift the household
sentiments by abolishing the
personal income tax; by
lowering the cost of capital, by
reducing prime lending interest
rates of banks to below 10
percent; by shifting to a fixed
exchange rate of Rs.50 per
dollar for financial year 2016;
and lowering exchange rate
further for subsequent years; by
abolishing PNs while invoking
UN Resolution of 2005 to bring
back black money of about $1
trillion; and by printing rupee
notes to fully finance basic
infrastructure projects.
n) The CMT should also
initiate steps for transforming
agriculture into a globalised
sector by providing adequate
infrastructure to export food
and milk to Europe and the US
o) In the long run, we need to
tap the advantages we have in
our demographic dividend.
Through innovation, we must
tap our vast Thorium deposits
for clean electricity generation
and thus end power shortage;
set up desalination plants along
our long coastline to provide
adequate water for coastal
States; overcome technological
issues and build a water grid by
linking major rivers, from
Ganga to Cauvery, through
14
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
canals; and develop new
alternative technologies such as
hydrogen fuel cells to provide
an environmentally friendly
substitute to petroleum
products.
p) India has always come out
of crises renewed and on a
higher growth path. The food
crisis of 1965-67 led to Green
Revolution self sufficiency in
food, and the foreign exchange
crisis of 1990-91 led to
economic reforms, enabling the
country to move away from
Soviet-style statism to market
system and high growth rates.
10.
Fed leaves key a)
interest rates
unchanged, citing
low inflation
(Page 15)
Economy
q) Thus, the present imminent
economic crash should
galvanise the way we do
business and make us rise to
new heights through innovation
and achieve high growth rates
with financial stability.
a) Global economic
a) Federal Reserve is keeping
situation
US interest rates at record lows
in the face of threats from a
b) US Federal Reserve weak global economy,
persistently low inflation and
c) Inflation
unstable financial markets.
d)
Global Recession
b) Ending a highly anticipated
meeting, Fed officials said that
while US job market is solid,
global pressures may restrain
economic activity and further
drag down already low
inflation. Signs of a sharp
slowdown in China have
intensified fear among investors
15
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
about the US and global
economy. And low oil prices
and a high-priced dollar have
kept inflation undesirably low.
c) Before years end, many
analysts still expect the Fed to
raise its key short-term rate,
which its kept near zero since
2008. A higher Fed rate would
eventually send rates up on
many consumer and business
loans.
11.
Sustained low
inflation
necessary for
lower cost of
funds, says RBI
(Page 15)
a)
Economy
a)
Monetary policy
b)
Inflation
c)
WPI
d)
CPI
e) Current Account
Deficit (CAD)
f)
GDP
g)
RBI
d) Some economists argued
that many factors from a
sharply slowing China to uproar
in markets to persistently lessthan optimal inflation raised
concerns about a rate hike.
Others contended that with the
US job market considered
essentially recovered from the
Great Recession, it was time to
start edging toward normal
rates.
a) Ahead of the bi-monthly
monetary policy review, the
RBI Deputy Governor Urjit
Patel said sustained low
inflation over medium to longterm is necessary to bring down
the cost of fund. Sustained low
inflation at a low enough level
is an important ingredient for
making the cost apposite to that
particular level of inflation and
inflationary expectation.
b) Inflation (which RBI takes
into account while deciding the
interest rate) has remained low
16
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
for the past several months.
c) While the WPI remained
in negative territory for 10
months in a row, the retail
inflation (CPI) eased to 3.66
percent in August.
d) The RBI is scheduled to
announce bi-monthly monetary
policy review on September 29.
In the last policy review on Aug
4, the RBI had kept its policy
rates unchanged because of
elevated inflation level.
12.
Now, bid to push a)
back antiquity of
the Vedas (Pages b)
1 and 12)
National
a)
Vedas
History
b)
Rig Veda
c) Harappan
civilisation
e) He said the RBI expects the
CAD to be about 1.5 percent of
GDP in the current fiscal.
a) Moves are on (at Sanskrit
Department of the University of
Delhi) to push back commonly
accepted date of Vedas through
astronomical calculations. Next
weekend, the department will
host scholars from across India,
who will reassess the existing
Vedic chronology accepted by a
range of European scholars and
Indian historians.
b) Most Indian historians have
held that Harappan civilisation
declined by 1800 BC and the
Aryans appeared in north-west
India around 1500 BC. Using
philological evidence, the
overlap between Vedic
Sanskrit, old Persian and
ancient European languages,
most scholars have argued since
19th century that the Rig Vedic
17
Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 18-09-15
Aryans came from outside.
c) Politically, this led to lowcaste movements since the 19th
century in western and southern
India, where this theory was
used to argue that Aryans had
defeated pre-Aryan original
inhabitants of India.
13.
Ashoka stupa
a)
restored in China
(Page 14)
b)
Geography
a)
Ashoka stupa
History
b)
Budddhas relics
c) Drukpa lineage of
Buddhism
d) Official says many scholars
have used archaeology to date
the Vedas, and this does not
take them before 3000 BC. But
there are other dating tools that
have been ignored or forgotten.
There are instances where
Vedic literature offers positions
of stars and constellations at the
moment it was composed. This
can be calculated back
mathematically to figure out the
date when the positions actually
corresponded to description.
a) A 2000-year-old lost stupa
(one of the 19 built with Lord
Buddhas relics sent by Emperor
Ashoka to China) has been
restored with religious rites by
an Indian monk in the remote
Tibetan town.
b) A symbol of the advent of
Buddhism from India to China,
the renovated stupa and Ashoka
pillar were consecrated by
Gyalwang Drukpa (the spiritual
head of Drukpa lineage of
Buddhism based in Ladakh) in
Chinas Qinghai province.
18