Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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China develops underwater surveillance networks in Indian Ocean, SCS

News: 

• China has developed a new underwater surveillance network to help its submarines get a stronger lock on targets while protecting the nation’s interests along the maritime Silk Road, which included the Indian Ocean.

Beyond News: 

• The system, which has already been launched, works by gathering information about the underwater environment, particularly water temperature and salinity, which the navy can then use to more accurately track target vessels as well as improve navigation and positioning.
• The project, led by the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), is part of an unprecedented military expansion fuelled by Beijing’s desire to challenge the US in the world’s oceans.
• In recent years, China has stepped up naval expeditions to the Indian Ocean to fight the pirates in Gulf of Aden.
• These expeditions included large naval ships accompanied by submarines. China is silent about the reasons to deploy submarines for anti-piracy operations.
• China is also seeking to establish logistic bases in the Indian Ocean, much to the chagrin of India.

U.S. has drastically cut aid to Pakistan

News:

• S. President Donald Trump’s New Year tweet is indicative that his administration is not satisfied by Pakistan’s response on terror.

Beyond News:

• The U.S. has also made disbursement of Pentagon’s Coalition Support Funds (CSF) conditional.
• CSF pertains to reimbursement to Pakistan for its logistical and operational support for U.S.-led military operations.
• The defence budget for 2018 reduced the CSF allocation to $700 million and tied half of it to action against the Haqqani Network.
• A recent congressional move to include Lashkar-e-Taiba also in the same category of certification requirement was dropped after the Pentagon resisted it.

India, Pakistan exchange list of nuclear installations

News:

• India and Pakistan exchanged, through diplomatic channels simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad, the list of nuclear installations and facilities under a three-decade old bilateral pact.

Beyond News:

• According to an External Affairs Ministry release, the two sides exchanged the list under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations between India and Pakistan.
• The agreement, which was signed on December 31, 1988, and entered into force on January 27, 1991, provides that the two countries inform each other of nuclear installations and facilities to be covered under the pact on the first of January of every calendar year.
• This is the twenty seventh consecutive exchange of such a list between the two countries, the first one having taken place on January 1, 1992.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Nagaland declared as ‘disturbed area’ for 6 more months

News:

• The entire Nagaland has been declared as “disturbed area” for six more months, till June- end, under the controversial AFSPA, which empowers security forces to conduct operations anywhere and arrest anyone without any prior notice.

Beyond News:

• In a gazette notification, the Union Home Ministry said it is of the opinion that the area comprising the whole of Nagaland is in such a “disturbed and dangerous condition” that use of armed forces in aid of the civil power is necessary.
• The notification said that,now in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (No. 28 of 1958), the central government declares that whole of the said State to be a ‘disturbed area’ for a period of six months with effect from December 30, 2017 for the purpose of that Act.

Reason:

• A home ministry official said the decision to continue the declaration of Nagaland as “disturbed area” has been taken as killings, loot and extortion have been going in various parts of the state which necessitated the action for the convenience of the security forces operating there.

Parliamentary panel bats for setting up cybercrime nodal agency

News:

• A parliamentary panel asserted that the IT Ministry should set up a cybercrime nodal agency or helpline that would assist and guide victims in dealing with such incidents.

Beyond News:

• The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, in its report, noted that there is no separate mechanism for dealing with cases of cybercrime in India.
• The Electronics and IT Ministry (MeitY) had noted that the Home Affairs Ministry is setting up a centralised portal for cybercrime against women and children.
• For cyber security incidents like phishing, hacking, scanning, spoofing and malware attacks, CERT-In can be approached.
• Setting-up such an agency could also help in dissemination of information to the victims about the appropriate agency to approach and also guide them on the next course of action.

NASA’s flying telescope to study Saturn’s moon

News:

• NASA has said its flying observatory Sofia ( Stratospheric Observatory for Infra-red Astronomy) is preparing for its 2018 campaign, which will include, among others, observations of celestial magnetic fields, star-forming regions, comets and Saturn’s giant moon Titan.

Beyond News:

• This will be the fourth year of full operations for Sofia, with observations planned between February 2018 and January 2019.
• Sofia is a Boeing 747SP jetliner modified to carry a 100-inch diameter telescope. It is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Centre, DLR.
• Scientists believe that the observatory’s investigations will help them understand how magnetic fields affect the rate at which interstellar clouds condense to form new stars.
• One programme using the observatory’s newest instrument, the High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera-Plus, called HAWC+, will help astronomers better understand how energetic, active black holes contribute to the most luminous, distant galaxies.
• Researchers also plan to utilize Sofia’s mobility to study the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan by studying its shadow as it passes in front of a star during an eclipse-like event called an occultation.

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