IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

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India, Maldives to boost anti-terror cooperation, maritime security ties

News

• India and the Maldives vowed to boost anti-terror cooperation and expand their maritime security ties to deal with common challenges in the Indian Ocean, a region where China has been rapidly expanding its military presence.

Boost anti-terror cooperation

• After talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Maldivian counterpart Abdulla Shahid, both sides inked two pacts providing for cooperation in financial intelligence and election-related issues besides exchanging an instrument of ratification for a treaty on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.
• In the meeting, both sides also reviewed the ongoing construction of police training facility in the Maldivian city of Addu and capacity building projects being implemented with India’s assistance.
• The bilateral defence cooperation includes key infrastructure projects such as construction of a training centre for Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), the setting up of the coastal surveillance radar system as well as training programmes for MNDF officials in India.

 ‘Phase One’ agreement that the US and China have signed

News

• The United States and China announced a “Phase One” agreement under which the US will reduce some tariffs in exchange for increased Chinese purchases of American farm and energy goods.

Phase One agreement

• Chinese officials said that both countries have made major progress on their trade negotiations.
• US will be maintaining 25 per cent tariffs on approximately $250 billion of Chinese imports, along with 7.5 per cent tariffs on approximately $120 billion of Chinese imports.
• In the Phase One agreement, the chapter on trade expansion mentions commitments from China to import various US goods and services over the next two years, the total amount for which will exceed China’s annual levels of imports for those goods and services in 2017 by not less than $200 billion.
• The agreement addresses unfair currency practices by committing to refrain from competitive devaluations and exchange rate targeting.
• This approach will help reinforce macroeconomic and exchange rate stability and help ensure that China cannot use currency practices to unfairly compete against U.S. exporters.

Major restructuring at headquarters awaits approval of Appointments Committee

News

• The Army’s plan to restructure staff and operations at its Headquarters (HQ) is awaiting approval from the government’s Appointments Committee while the Ministry of Defence has given its go-ahead.

Restructure plan

• According to the restructure plan, the HQ will have a senior officer for human rights who will directly report to the Vice Chief of the Army.
• Another senior vigilance officer reporting to the Army Chief and approximately 100 officers will be moved out to the field in a bid to “prune the headquarters and send officers to the field.”
• The changes will remove duplications at the HQ as several officers are performing similar duties currently.
• The HQ restructure was one of the four studies commissioned by Army Chief General Bipin Rawat in June 2018.
• After the restructure, there will be “single point advice” for the Vice Chief. A Deputy Chief will look after military operations, intelligence, perspective and information warfare. It will be a newly-created post.
• Another Deputy Chief for capability development and sustenance will look after capital and revenue procurements.
• Currently, an Additional Director General, a Major General-rank officer, heads discipline and vigilance and reports to the Adjutant General. After the rejig, the officer will only handle discipline and an ADG for vigilance will report directly to the Army Chief. The office will also have officers from the Navy and the Air Force.
• Similarly, an ADG for human rights will report to the Vice Chief and will have an SP rank IPS officer.
• There will also be an ADG for foreign cooperation reporting to the Vice Chief.
• In another significant change, the Director General for the Rashtriya Rifles and all its staff will be moved to the Northern Command.

In a first, regulator hikes prices of essential medicines

News

• To ensure supply of crucial medicines, India’s drug pricing regulator has allowed an increase in the maximum retail prices of 21 drugs currently under price control by as much as 50 per cent.

Increasing price

• This is the first time the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) which is known to slash prices of essential and life-saving medicines is increasing prices in public interest to prevent patients opting for costlier alternatives in the face of shortage of these drugs.
• Most of these drugs are used as first line of treatment and are integral to public health programmes.
• The decision by the NPPA, taken at a meeting on December 9, will apply to formulations like the BCG vaccine for tuberculosis, vitamin C, antibiotics like metronidazole and benzylpenicillin, anti-malarial drug chloroquine and leprosy medication dapsone.
• With India still dependent on China for over 60 per cent of its API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) requirement, higher API costs for price-controlled medicines eat into profits and sometimes make production of these drugs unviable here. For instance, costs of ingredients to make vitamin C went up as much as 250 per cent, leading to a 25-30 per cent shortage of this drug in India last year.

Army to set up more than dozen integrated battle groups by 2020

News

• Preparing for the changing character of warfare across the world, the Indian Army will be ready with more than a dozen Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) by next year.
• Four each of the IBGs will come up facing China and Pakistan, while the Mountain Strike Corps will also be converted into IBGs.

Integrated Battle Groups

• IBGs were first proposed in one of the four studies regarding the reorganising of the Army, which was commissioned last year by Army chief General Bipin Rawat. The proposal to establish the IBGs has already gone to the government and the Army is waiting for approval, the source said.
• It will also include a signal company, a field company and engineering and ordnance will be “merged to become the logistics unit”. Each formation has to be given equipment depending upon what they are.
• There will be four IBGs in Sikkim and another four in the Jammu-Sialkot sector facing Pakistan. The IBGs will have the capacity to 10-15 km deep into enemy territory without requiring support.
• Three new tri-services agencies are also being built up a Cyber Agency, a Space Agency and an Armed Forces Special Operations Division. These three agencies will have a joint command.
• Cyber Agency is looking at a strength of around 1,000, which will include defence and civilian personnel.
• The Navy will lead the Cyber Agency and the personnel are being trained with the National Technical Research Organisation.”
• The forces are “focusing on creating cyber assets” with both, offensive as well as defensive capability. “You have to save assets and neutralize attacks” first, and then build offensive capacity “as a deterrent”.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

UN chief warns against ‘survival of the richest’ on climate

News

• Failure to tackle global warming could result in economic disaster, the United Nations Secretary-General warned in Madrid, as negotiators at the U.N. climate talks remained deadlocked over key issues.

Global warming

• N. chief Antonio Guterres said unrestrained climate change would allow only the “survival of the richest,” while former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the “absence of leadership” from Washington was a big obstacle in the talks.
• President Donald Trump’s administration has begun the process of abandoning an ambitious 2015 global deal forged by his predecessor Barack Obama that aimed to contain rising temperatures on the planet. Officially the U.S. leaves the Paris accord on Nov. 4, 2020, the day after the U.S. election.
• Scientists say countries need to stop burning fossil fuels by 2050 at the latest to ensure global temperatures don’t rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) this century.
• Not giving up on that goal, U.N. chief urged officials from almost 200 countries to embrace the economic opportunities that come with cutting greenhouse gases rather than focus on the risks to existing industries dependent on fossil fuels.
• At the talks, vulnerable countries expressed outrage over Australia’s bid to hold onto piles of emissions vouchers left over from a now-discredited system that could allow it to meet its climate commitments without reducing pollution.
• Small, low-lying islands like Fiji are particularly vulnerable to tropical storms and sea-level rise worsened by climate change.
• Talks to agree rules for global carbon markets and aid for poor countries already affected by climate change have made little progress in recent days.

November exports shrink 0.34% amid pressure on manufacturing

News

• Merchandise exports shrank 0.34 per cent year-on-year in November to $25.98 billion, the fifth contraction in the past eight months, despite a relatively favourable base, as faltering domestic manufacturing on top of external headwinds continue to bite.

Exports shrank

• Commerce Ministry data showed imports, too, fell for a sixth straight month in November, by 12.7 per cent against a fall of 16.3 per cent in October, mirroring a collapse in domestic demand.
• Goods trade deficit in November shot up to $12.1 billion against $11 billion a year ago, as contraction in imports narrowed month-on-month.
• Though the contraction in exports was less broad-based last month, as many as 17 of the 30 key segments witnessed a decline.
• The decline in goods trade is the latest in a series of crucial indicators industrial output shrank 3.8 per cent in October; retail inflation hit a 40-month high and non-food credit growth is hovering around a two-year low which reinforced fears of a protracted slowdown in the economy, especially after growth hit an over six-year low of 4.5 per cent in the September quarter.
• The persistent contraction in non-oil and non-bullion imports (12 per cent in November and 7.4 per cent in April-November period) reinforced fears of an acute domestic consumption slowdown.
• Gold imports rose 6.6 per cent in November after months of fall, likely reflecting a slow return to demand due to the marriage season.

A 3.7 per cent year-on-year fall in Brent crude oil prices has contributed to a drop in both exports and imports of petroleum. With this, overall goods exports in the April-November period contracted 2 per cent to $211.9 billion, while imports shrank 8.9 per cent to $318.8 billion.

Ganga Council meet today, River Cities, dolphins on the agenda

News

• The National Ganga Council, headed by Prime Minister , is set to meet for first time at Kanpur with a proposal to save and enhance the population of the Gangetic Dolphin, to discuss the concept of ‘River Cities’ and an action plan to provide sewer connection to every household in towns along the Ganga and its tributaries.

National Ganga Council

• The body, which is responsible for cleaning the Ganga, may also ask states to demarcate floodplains and strictly prevent the encroachment and dumping of waste in the same.
• Chief ministers of all states along the Ganga are expected to attend the meeting.
• At the meet, a special programme called ‘Project Dolphin’, along the lines of Project Tiger, may be cleared to enhance the population of dolphins, a source said.
• The dolphin was declared the national aquatic animal at the first meeting of the erstwhile National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) in 2009.
• According to an official report, the Gangetic dolphin is among the four freshwater dolphins found across the world.
• The council may ask states and the HRD Ministry to promote river conservation in school education and related activities in colleges.
• The ‘Namami Gange’ was approved on May 13, 2015 to rejuvenate river Ganga and its tributaries and a total amount of Rs. 20,000 crore allocated for this project to be spent over the next five years, till 2020.

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