Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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India, France to boost defense ties

 

News:

• India and France decided to expand military cooperation in the strategically key Indo-Pacific region, besides resolving to ramp up the overall defence and security ties.

Beyond News:

• At their delegation-level talks, the two sides also agreed to expand counter-terror cooperation.
• India had signed a Rs. 58,000-crore deal with France for the supply of 36 Rafale jets last year and the IAF was pitching for procuring another fleet of 36.
• India and France will further expand information sharing arrangements.

SC questions Centre on judicial posts

News:

• SC inquired the reasons for delay by government to iron out the dos and don’ts of judicial appointments to the Supreme Court and the high courts.

Beyond News:

• The Supreme Court also wants Attorney General to address it on the delay in appointment of “regular” Chief Justices to various high courts.
• Six of the 24 high courts have been without regular Chief Justices for months.

Act or we will, U.S. tells Pakistan

News:

• The Trump administration has firmly told Pakistan that if it fails to take “decisive” action against terror groups, it will “adjust” its tactics and strategies to achieve the objective in a “different way.

Beyond News:

• Noted that the future course of action would be based on conditions on the ground,entire South Asia strategy is a conditions-based strategy.
• Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif in a meeting on Thursday with the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs said that Pakistan will neither surrender to the U.S. nor compromise on its sovereignty.

Tokyo for quadrilateral talks

News:

• India open to Japan’s move to include Delhi in dialogue with U.S., Australia

Beyond News:

• The Ministry’s reaction to the quadrilateral came days after the re-election of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, indicating that the new government is expected to push for overhauling of the post-World War strategic doctrine of Japan.
• Indications of regional partnership between India and Japan came also during Mr Abe’s visit, with both sides indicating willingness to manage the maritime domain from Indian Ocean and the Asia-Pacific zone.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Scientists link new virus to kala-azar

News:

• Researchers have stumbled upon tantalizing evidence of an unknown virus that may be responsible for the persistence of kala-azar or visceral leishmaniasis.

Beyond News:

• This month, a group of scientists claims that Another parasite called Leptomonas seymouri may also be present.
• Inferred that they found the L seymouri and a virus called Lepsey NLV1 within it in 20 of 22 biological samples of patients who had a residual L donovani infection.

Background:

• Kala-azar or visceral leishmaniasis, a parasite infection that has spawned epidemics and sickened thousands of Indians for over a century.
• People get infected when bitten by an insect called the sandfly, which harbours the disease-causing parasite.
• Kala-azar is endemic to the Indian subcontinent in 119 districts in four countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal).
• India itself accounts for half the global burden of the disease. If untreated, kala-azar can kill within two years of the onset of the ailment, though the availability of a range of drugs has meant that less than one in 1,000 now succumbs to the disease.

Centre can now shift troops from Bengal

News:

• Law and order in Darjeeling is State’s problem- SC tells govt.

Beyond News:

• SC allowed the Centre to withdraw seven companies of the Central police forces stationed in the restive Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal for deployment in poll-bound States.
• The districts had witnessed a spate of violence following the resurgence of the Gorkhaland movement.
• The Chief Justice observed that the SC would decide on two issues: whether courts can intervene in the placement of troops; and whether courts can intervene with the government in the placement of forces in order to protect the lives of citizens.

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