DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS 30 JUNE

GSAT-17 ,Heaviest satellite of ISRO launched

• The 3,477-kg spacecraft, the heaviest built by the Indian Space Research Organisation, will soon join the ring of 17 working national communication satellites that are already in orbit. It will add to the services they provide for broadcasting, telecommunications, VSAT services, meteorology, search and rescue, among others, ISRO said.

• Said to have over 40 transponders in different bands, “GSAT-17 is designed to provide continuity of services of operational satellites in C, extended C and S bands,” it said.
• ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar said, “We have been short of satellite capacity and need to continue adding it for some more time. However, the [transponders] scene is definitely improving” after recent launches of communication satellites.

Army, PLA in a tug of war over Doklam Plateau

India and China are once again at loggerheads but this time the location is not the disputed territories of Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh, but Sikkim a state which Beijing recognises to be part of India.

The Indian media reported on Monday that Chinese troops had entered India in the Sikkim sector and jostled with Indian Army personnel guarding the Sino-India frontier, besides destroying two bunkers.

The catalyst for the ongoing stand-off seems to be India's objection to China building a road in the Sikkim sector of the border. While India alleged that the area comes under its jurisdiction, China, on the other hand, said that the area "undoubtedly" is located on its side of the border as per the 1890 Sino-British Treaty.

The Doklam Plateau, north of the tri-junction between Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet by Indian claim, is not just a disputed area, but has huge strategic significance for both India and China.

The few square kilometres of the plateau,is witnessing a tense stand-off between detachments of the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for the past few days. There have been several incidents that have culminated in the present situation, according to sources.

In recent days, the Chinese are believed to have destroyed temporary bunkers of the Indian Army, while the Indian Army is accused of objecting to a road construction by the Chinese side on the disputed area. Finally, there was also an incident of jostling among the soldiers of the two sides. Wedged between Bhutan, India and China are few areas of dispute — together accounting for just over 750 square kilometres. Among the disputed areas is Doklam (also called Donglang in China), which is just about 90 square kilometres where the present dispute is taking pace.

For Chinese to reach the China-Bhutan border posts, Doklam provides an easy way to construct their road, and they have been trying to do so and India has consistently objected to it. Not very far from Doklam is the strategically important Chumbi Valley in the Tibetan region, to which Chinese are now planning to expand their rail connectivity.

Bigger buffer

The disputed area also provides, according to India perspective, a bigger buffer to its sensitive Chicken’s Neck, or the Siliguri Corridor, which is an extremely narrow stretch of land that connects the north-eastern region to the rest of India. From the Chumbi Valley it is just a little over 100 kilometres away.

Pay to publish: making paid news an electoral offence

• The Election Commission’s order disqualifying Madhya Pradesh Minister Narottam Mishra for three years is an important step in curbing ‘paid news’ in the electoral arena. It is not the first such order. An Uttar Pradesh MLA, Umlesh Yadav, was disqualified in 2011 on the same ground, of suppressing expenditure incurred in the publication of paid news. 

• The EC has called paid news, a term that refers to propaganda in favour of a candidate masquerading as news reports or articles, a “grave electoral malpractice” on the part of candidates to circumvent expenditure limits. 
• In a typical inquiry into the paid news phenomenon, the newspaper or publication concerned denies that it was paid for publishing the material and insists that it was part of its normal election coverage. The candidate denies authorising the publication and takes the plea that he or she could not possibly account for something that was not paid for. Mr. Mishra was no exception.
• Paid news is not an electoral offence yet, but there is a case to make it one. The EC has recommended to the government that the Representation of the People Act, 1951, be amended to make the publishing, or abetting the publishing, of paid news to further a candidate’s prospects or prejudicially affect another’s an electoral offence. 

• Until this is done, contestants who use paid news can only be hauled up for failing to include the expenses involved in their campaign accounts. 
• In Mr. Mishra’s case, the EC has taken the view that even if it were true that he made no payment, he ought to have included a notional amount in his accounts. Also, candidates cannot simply claim that these reports were not authorised by them. 
• Mr. Mishra’s case pertains to the 2008 election, and by the time the Commission has given its verdict he is into his next term, having been re-elected in 2013. It is difficult not to notice that the enormous delay in adjudicating such questions is often created by candidates approaching the courts to stall inquiries. A legal framework in which electoral issues are expeditiously adjudicated must also be put in place if election law is to be enforced in both letter and spirit.

×

Daily Current Affair 28th June

 Netherlands is India’s natural partner: Narendra Modi

• Describing the Netherlands as India’s “natural partner” in its economic development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the bilateral ties with the country’s major trading partner will grow rapidly.
• After the bilateral talks between Prime Minister Modi and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte, the two countries signed three MoUs in the fields of social security, water cooperation and cultural cooperation.
•  Ahead of the talks, Mr. Modi thanked the key European nation for backing India’s Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) membership.“Because of your support India got the membership of the MTCR,” Mr. Modi said.India joined the MTCR as a full member last year. MTCR membership enables India to buy high-end missile technology and also enhances its joint ventures with Russia.
• “Ties between India and the Netherlands are very old. Our bilateral relations are very strong,” he said.
• Mr. Modi said the Netherlands is the 5th largest investment partner globally and in the last three years it has emerged as the third largest source of FDI for the country.
• In the joint address, Dutch Prime Minister Rutte said India’s emergence as a global power is a “welcome development from both political and economic point of views.”He commended India for its commitment to renewal energy and to the Paris climate agreement. He praised Mr. Modi for announcing major sustainable initiatives like ‘Clean India’ and ‘Make in India’.“The Netherlands is a key partner to help India achieve its goals. India is now a global economic power. It is world’s second biggest economy and Indian market has a lot of potential. We have a plenty to offer to India too,” he said.

• This year, the two countries are celebrating 70 years of the establishment of Indo-Dutch diplomatic relations. Mr. Modi, during his day-long visit, will also call on King Willem-Alexander and meet Queen Maxima. He would also be meeting with CEOs of major Dutch companies and encourage them to join the Indian growth story.

Rise in crocodile nestings in Odisha elates ecologists

• The steady increase in sightings of salt water crocodile nests in the swampy creeks of the Bhitarkanika National Park on the Odisha coast for three consecutive seasons has elated ecologists, who have hailed this achievement as the outcome of long-term conservation efforts.

• The wildlife wing of the State Forest Department has come across 80 crocodile nests in their wild habitats in 2017 in Bhitarkanika, compared with 75 in 2016 and 70 in 2015.

• Bhitarkanika is said to house 70% of India’s estuarine or salt water crocodiles, conservation of which was started over four decades ago in 1975.

Long-term effort

• The Bhitarkanika National Park is a place where the rivers Brahmani, Baitarni, Dhamra and Pathsala meet the Bay of Bengal. 

• The mangrove wetland and a large number muddy creeks provide perfect conditions for estuarine crocodiles to nest. Moreover, the nesting sites of crocodiles are located at places where tidal waves cannot wash away the eggs.

• “Unlike other crocodiles, estuarine crocodiles lay eggs by creating a mound made of leaves of a particular mangrove species, which are plentifully available in Bhitarkanika. Other crocodile species dig the soil for laying eggs,” said Dr. Kar.

• Crocodiles start laying eggs by mid-May, with an incubation period of 75 days. The female crocodile guards the nest devotedly for three months. During this period, she tends to attack anything that approaches the nest.

• Hatchlings come out in the month of August. An average of 25-30 eggs are found in a nest and 30% of hatchlings may finally survive. hitarkanika.

• The national park is also home to the only white-coloured captive crocodile named Gori. Many albino crocodile species can be found in the Bhitarkanika’s waters. The park also houses the world’s largest salt water crocodile, measuring about 23 feet — this was recorded in 2006 in the Guinness World Records.

• Dr. Kar said, “Salt water crocodiles devour predatory fishes. Hence, more fish thrive with the presence of crocodiles in the water.” He added, “The existence of salt water crocodiles depends on dense wet mangrove forests and the steady discharge of fresh water into the sea. Odisha has the distinction of having all three Indian species of crocodiles. ”

Uranus’ magnetic field flips on and off: study

Unlike the earth, the icy giant rotates on its side and the axis of its magnetic field is tilted too

• Scientists have found that Uranus’ magnetic field gets flipped on and off like a light switch every day as the planet rotates.
• Researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology in the U.S. made the discovery based on data from NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft. “The magnetosphere is ‘open’ in one orientation, allowing solar wind to flow into the magnetosphere; it later closes, forming a shield against the solar wind and deflecting it away from the planet,” researchers said.
• This is quite different from Earth’s magnetosphere, which typically only switches between open and closed in response to changes in the solar wind.Since the alignment of Earth’s magnetosphere is always toward the sun, the magnetic field threaded in the ever-present solar wind must change direction in order to reconfigure Earth’s field from closed to open. This frequently occurs with strong solar storms.
• Uranus lies and rotates on its side, and its magnetic field is lopsided — tilted 60 degrees from its axis. Those features cause the magnetic field to tumble asymmetrically relative to the solar wind direction as the icy giant completes its 17.24-hour full rotation.

Other News :

• A major global cyber attack dubbed "GoldenEye" or "Petya" on Tuesday disrupted computers at Russia's biggest oil company, Ukrainian banks and multinational firms with a virus similar to the ransomware virus that last month infected more than 300,000 computers.

Daily Current Affairs 27th June

To keep the temple flame burning

• There are about 100 Zoroastrian agiaries (fire temples) all over India — 40 of them in Mumbai — in which the holy fire never stops burning.

• Parsi Zoroastrians make offerings of fragrant sandalwood to keep the flame alive, but the bulk of the fuel comes from basic wood (kathi) from the Bawal tree (Acacia arabica, also known as the Babul), which is slow-burning and perfect for a sustained flame

• That slow-burning quality, however, makes Bawal wood attractive to others — for instance, bakeries which use woodfired ovens — says Noshirwan Mistry, an agriculture expert. Consequently, prices have risen nearly five-fold over the last decade.

• Concerned about the increasing cost, and the possibility of supply falling short or even running out, some religious Parsis have been working on ways to solve the problem.

• Now, a Mumbai-based group has come forward to make the movement bigger. Burjor Antia, an advocate and a former trustee of the Bombay Parsi Panchayat, Mr. Mistry and a few others have formed a public charitable trust, Amardad Kathi Trust, for a drive across States. Once the project takes off, the trust plans to expand to other States where the community owns land. It takes 10-12 years for a desi Bawal to mature into a usable tree

E-tailers get GST relief, date for TDS deferred

• Bringing significant relief to small businesses selling their wares on e-marketplaces, the Centre has decided to keep in abeyance the applicability of legal provisions pertaining to such businesses in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime along with requirements for ecommerce portals to deduct tax at source from sellers using their online marketplace.

• As per these provisions, e-commerce players were required to collect 1% tax at source while paying suppliers after July 1, while notified entities need to collect similar TDS for payments to suppliers for over Rs. 2.5 lakh. “Persons who will be liable to deduct or collect tax at source will be required to take registration, but the liability to deduct or collect tax will arise from the date the respective sections are brought in force,” the ministry said in a statement.

• E-tailers like Paytm Mall ,Snapdeal ,Amazon predictably welcomed the government’s decision and said this will help them enhance their preparedness levels for ensuring complete GST compliance.  

Other Important News 

• U.S. terms Hizb chief Salahuddin as global terrorist

• Kasturirangan to head education committee

          Eminent scientist, former chief of ISRO and Padma Vibhushan Dr. K. Kasturirangan has been             appointed Chairman of the committee tasked with preparing the final draft of the National                   Education Policy. The committee has eight members, apart from the chairperson.

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS 26 JUNE

NASA-ISRO satellite at stak

•       Space scientists in India and America are on tenterhooks as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump meet for their first bilateral in Washington on Monday. At stake is the world’s most expensive earth-imaging satellite till date being jointly made by NASA and ISRO.
•       The satellite aims to study global environmental change and natural disasters. However, climate change seems to be a red rag for the current American administration.
•       Mr. Trump calls climate change a hoax created by China by adhering to his views that “the concept of global warming was created by the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive”. On the other hand, Mr. Modi has penned a pictorial book — Convenient Action: Continuity for Change — that compiles his actions and beliefs on climate change.
•       Recently, the U.S. walked out of the Paris Climate Change Treaty while India continues to honour its commitments. Can a middle ground be found or can the jointly-made satellite escape President Trump’s anti-climate change gaze?

Cause of worry

•       This is what is worrying scientists at Pasadena, a suburb of Los Angeles, where at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory work has begun in full earnest to realise the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite called NISAR.
• 
  
•       Scientists at the Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad are also anxious as they go about fabricating unique components for the massive satellite.

- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

      Army has a rethink on its Sahayak system

• ·    The Sahayaks are ordinary soldiers who are engaged as menservants in the residences of commissioned officers for assisting his officer, maintaining his uniform and military kit and acting as his "buddy" in times of combat.
• 
  
•    The Army is now actively considering recruiting civilian staff in peace stations to do away with the colonial era Sahayak system, in the wake of rising cases of jawans coming out openly against it. A top Army official, however, said the Sahayaks or buddy system — whereby a solider is attached to officers — will continue to be deployed in key bases and field areas as they have defined military duties. 
• 
  
•     In the recent months, a number of videos had surfaced where some jawans were seen voicing their anger over the Sahayak system with some even alleging that they are treated as servants by the officers whom they are attached to.