IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

IASTODAY CAPSULES are available free -date wise => CLICK HERE

Rajnath Singh receives first Rafale jet; first batch to arrive in 2020

News

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh formally received the first Rafale fighter jet built for the Indian Air Force (IAF) in France.
• The first batch of jets will arrive in India only in May 2020.

Defence dialogue

• Defence Minister held the Annual Defence dialogue with his French counterpart Florence Parly, the Defence Ministry said.
• India is procuring the Rafales for self-defence and as a deterrent.
• Indian Defence Minister and French President Emmanuel Macron comprehensively discussed key aspects of bilateral defence partnership and resolved to continue strengthening the ties between the two countries.
• Till May 2020, three batches of IAF pilots along with engineers and technicians will undergo advanced training on the Indian jets in France. So far three IAF pilots and two technical officers have trained on French Air Force Rafales as per the terms of the contract.
• In September 2016, India and France signed a €7.87 billion Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for 36 Rafale multi-role fighter jets in fly-away condition following the surprise announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2015 citing “critical operational necessity” of the IAF. As per IGA, deliveries begin 36 months from signing of contract and will be completed in 67 months.
• The first Rafale built was RB-008 and it is on this aircraft that the 13 India Specific Enhancements (ISE) will be incorporated, tested and certified before they are incorporated on the remaining jets which will be done after all jets arrive in India.
• The IAF recently resurrected the 17 Squadron ‘Golden arrows’ at Air Force station Ambala which will operate the first squadron of Rafale fighter jets once they arrive in India. The second Rafale squadron would be based at the Hasimara base in West Bengal.
• The deal has a 50% offset clause as part of which French companies in the deal are setting up facilities in India and tying up with local companies to execute the obligations.
• Dassault Reliance JV (DRAL) production facility in Nagpur has started functioning while Thales already has presence in Nagpur. Engine maker Safran is set to inaugurate its facility in Hyderabad.

Telangana makes ’emergency button’ mandatory for cab services

News

• Soon, private cab services across the State will have an ‘emergency button’ installed in a service application to ensure the safety of women commuters.

Emergency button

• In case of emergency, the commuter can press the ‘emergency button’ in the related cab service app.
• Once a commuter in distress presses the button, the message will be transmitted to Telangana police’s Hawk-Eye App through a back-end operational workflow. This will enable passing on Latitude and Longitude location and other details of the cab to the police resources attending to the emergency services.
• Once the information is received, police will be able to respond immediately to reach the commuter by continuously tracking the movement of the vehicle on the geo-tagged map.
• This facility will not only help in the apprehension of the offender before the crime is committed but also helps in enhancing the levels of safety and security to all the commuters on the move and their family members at home.
• This process of integrating police patrols with passenger cabs is achieved for the cab services provided several app-based aggregator.

US Congress committee urges India to end communication blackout in Kashmir

News

• India’s communication blackout is having a “devastating impact” on the lives and welfare of the people of Kashmir, a powerful S. Congressional Committee said, urging New Delhi to lift its more than two-month long restrictions in the Valley.

Restrictions

• Restrictions were first imposed across Kashmir when the Centre announced its decision to revoke all provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcate the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
• Mobile services remain suspended in Kashmir except in Handwara and Kupwara areas in the north, while Internet services across all platforms continued to be snapped in the Valley.
• The House committee comes nearly a month after Indian-American lawmaker Pramila Jayapal, along with 13 other US Congressmen, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address concerns over the human rights situation in Kashmir and lift the communications blackout.
• The Asia-Pacific and Non-Proliferation Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee has scheduled a hearing on human rights in Kashmir and other parts of South Asia.
• India has categorically told the international community that its move to scrap Article 370 of the Constitution was an internal matter and has also advised Pakistan to accept the reality.

India slams Pakistan for ‘weaponising’ women’s rights issues at UNGA

News

• India has lashed out at Pakistan for “weaponizing” women’s rights issues for self-serving political gains in Jammu and Kashmir, saying it is ironical that a country where violations of women’s right to life in the name of ‘honour’ go unpunished is making “baseless” statements about it in India.

Advancement of Women

• First Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN Paulomi Tripathi during the UN General Assembly Third Committee session on ‘Advancement of Women’ asserted that from the first woman President of the General Assembly Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit to women scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation, Indian women from have long served as inspiration for many.

The Committee is one of the six in the UN General Assembly, deals with social, humanitarian affairs and human rights issues.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Saturn overtakes Jupiter as the planet with most moons

News

• Twenty new moons have been found around Saturn, giving the ringed planet a total of 82.
• That beats Jupiter and its 79 moons.

82 moons

• Our solar system’s biggest planet Jupiter still has the biggest moon. Jupiter’s Ganymede is almost half the size of Earth.
• Saturn’s 20 new moons are minuscule, each barely 5km in diameter.
• Scientists used a telescope in Hawaii to spot Saturn’s 20 new moons over the summer.
• Seventeen of Saturn’s new moons orbit the planet in the opposite, or retrograde, direction. The other three circle in the same direction that Saturn rotates. They’re so far from Saturn that it takes two to three years to complete a single orbit.
• These moons are the remnants of the objects that helped form the planets, so by studying them, scientists are learning about what the planets formed from.

Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent chief Asim Umar killed in Afghanistan

News

• The leader of al-Qaeda’s South Asian branch was killed in a S.-Afghan joint raid in southern Afghanistan , Afghan officials confirmed.

Leader

• Asim Umar, who led al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) from its inception in 2014, was killed during a raid on a Taliban compound in the Musa Qala district of Helmand Province.
• Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security said Umar was a Pakistani citizen, though some reports claim he was born in India.
• The raid was part of a lengthy and confusing overnight operation for which the U.S. provided air support.

CLICK HERE TO SEE DATE WISE CURRENT AFFAIRS