Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Editorials are covered separately. HINDU NOTES are available free date wise| CLICK HERE

BJP makes huge gains; Congress marginally improves tally

News

• Heading towards a grand finale, the BJP, is poised to return to become the second political party in the Indian history to come back to power, even stronger this time.

Beyond news:

• The Bharatiya Janata Party garnered 37.4% of the votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
• The NDA as a whole, received nearly 45% of the vote.
• This is the highest vote share received by the party nation-wide in any Lok Sabha election since the party was (re)formed in 1980.

U.S., Japan, S.Korea, Australia hold first naval drills in Western Pacific

News

• S. Navy ships conducted joint drills with warships from allies Japan, Australia and South Korea in their first combined exercise in the Western Pacific, the U.S. Navy said.

Beyond News

• The Pacific Vanguard exercise near the U.S. island of Guam takes place ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to Japan this weekend, as Washington looks to allies in Asia to help counter China’s military might in the region.
• The six-day exercise involves two Japanese destroyers, two Australian frigates and a destroyer from South Korea, with as many as 3,000 sailors participating.
• The U.S. Navy has deployed five ships as well as fighter jets and maritime patrol planes for the drills, which include live fire and anti-submarine warfare exercises.
• Pacific Vanguard is the latest show of combined naval force in the Asia Pacific region.
• This month U.S. ships conducted drills with French, Japanese and Australian ships in the Bay of Bengal, and held separate exercises with a Japanese helicopter carrier and warships from India and the Philippines in the disputed South China Sea.
• China claims almost all of the strategic South China Sea, through which passes about a third of global seaborne trade. Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have competing claims to the waterway.
• The U.S. Navy sent two ships through the Taiwan Strait, its latest transit through the sensitive waterway and a move likely to anger Beijing at a time of tense relations between the world’s two biggest economies.
• Taiwan is one of a growing number of flashpoints in the U.S.-China relationship, which also include a bitter trade war, U.S. sanctions and China’s increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea, where the United States also conducts freedom-of-navigation patrols.

India votes in favour of UNGA resolution demanding UK withdraw from Chagos Archipelago

News

• India was among 116 nations to vote in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution that demanded the UK withdraw its “colonial administration” from the Chagos Archipelago unconditionally within six months, supporting Mauritius in its quest for the restoration of sovereignty over the island chain in the Indian Ocean.

Beyond News

• The General Assembly adopted the resolution ‘Advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965’ with 116 votes in favour, 56 abstentions and six nations voting against, including the UK, the United States, Australia, Israel and the Maldives.
• The UK retained sovereignty over the islands after Mauritius gained its independence from Britain in 1968. The islands have since been used for defence purposes by the UK and the United States, which established a military base on the island of Diego Garcia.
• The entire Chagossian population was forcibly removed from the territory between 1967 and 1973, and prevented from returning.
• The resolution welcomed the February 25, 2019 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legal consequences of the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965.
• The resolution affirmed, in accordance with the advisory opinion of the Court, that the Chagos Archipelago forms an integral part of the territory of Mauritius.
• It demanded that the UK withdraw its colonial administration from the Chagos Archipelago unconditionally within six months, enabling Mauritius to complete the decolonization of its territory as rapidly as possible.

India voted in support of the resolution, with its Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador telling the 193-member that as part of New Delhi’s longstanding support to all peoples striving for decolonisation, India has consistently supported Mauritius in its quest for the restoration of sovereignty” over the Chagos Archipelago.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Pakistan successfully test-fires ballistic missile Shaheen-II capable of hitting India

News

• Pakistan successfully test-fired surface-to-surface ballistic missile Shaheen-II, capable of hitting targets as far as 1,500 kilometers away, bringing major Indian cities under its range.

Beyond News

• The Pakistan Army said that the launch was aimed at ensuring operational readiness of the Army Strategic Forces Command.
• Shaheen-II Missile is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads upto a range of 1,500 km. Shaheen-II is a highly capable missile which fully meets Pakistan’s strategic needs towards maintenance of desired deterrence stability in the region, the Army said.
• It said that the launch, having its impact point in the Arabian Sea, was witnessed by Director General Strategic Plans Division, Commander Army Strategic Forces Command, senior officers from the Army Strategic Forces Command, scientists and engineers of the strategic organisations.

Officials to the rescue in parched Kurnool sanctuary

News

• The effects of drought are being felt in the Gundla Brahmeswaram (GBM) wildlife sanctuary located in the Nandyal region of Kurnool district.
• With numerous streams drying up, animals are venturing out of the reserve to quench their thirst.

Beyond News

• The Gundlakamma stream, which feeds into the Gundlakamma river, was a perennial source of water for animals, but now it has all but dried up. Realising the urgency of the situation, officials have started filling the 180-odd saucer pits in the sanctuary.
• The pits can hold about 800–1,000 litres of water, and a tanker can at best fill four pits.
• However, there are some pits deep inside the sanctuary which cannot be reached by the tankers. In such cases, makeshift water tankers basically plastic tanks attached to a jeep are being pressed into service.
• The forest officials have also dug some small water pits.
• Groundwater levels have also gone down, resulting in pump sets drying up. New ones are being installed on a war footing.

IAF successfully testfires aerial version of BrahMos

News

• The IAF said it had successfully test fired the aerial version of the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile from a Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft.
• The 2.5 tonne air-to-surface missile has a range of around 300 km.

CLICK HERE TO SEE DATE WISE CURRENT AFFAIRS