1. Economy
  2. Diplomacy and Defense
  3. Science Tech
  4. Tribal rights and Samta Judgment
  5. History: Tharoor’s Speech @Oxford union
  6. Culture, Architecture
  7. Persons in News
  8. Mock Questions

Economy

  • Finance ministry’s revised draft of the Indian Financial Code (IFC) proposes following: ⇒ RBI’s monetary policy shall be decided by a committee of 6 members. ⇒ RBI governor will not have any veto power to override the decisions of this committee. But if there is tie, then RBI governor will have 2nd and casting vote. ⇒ These members will be appointed by Government. ⇒ Government representatives in the committee will not have voting power. ⇒ Non-Government members will be selected from RBI ⇒ RBI board will nominate 5th member ⇒RBI governor will nominate 6th member- who will be one of its employee ⇒ If the inflation target  not met, RBI will have to explain reasons & suggest remedies.
  • Budget 2015: Jaitley had proposed to setup a statutory non-statutory Public Debt Management Authority (PDMA). But RBI opposed saying RBI alone capable of handling this. Now proposal to setup public debt management cell to be headed by the Finance Secretary. But RBI and Finmin officials still have difference of opinion.
  • Budget 2015 had proposed merger of Forward market commission with SEBI. Now SEBI chief UK Sinha says this will be done by September 2015 so that UPSC aspirants can be harassed in Mains in December 2015.

Diplomacy and Defense

  • Maldives parliament (Majlis) passed constitutional amendment to permit freeholds for islands, means foreign investors can buy even Entire Island.  ⇒  However, Maldives Government assured India, they’ll not allow China or others to install military base in Maldives, because they don’t want to upset India.
  • 1987: HMS Hermes (Britain) joins Indian navy as “INS Viraat”, the aircraft carrier.  ⇒  2016: INS Viraat will retire, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh keen to convert it into a museum.  ⇒  2015: plans to repair/refit this ship, hence controversy since it’s retiring next year, not much point blowing another 20 crores on it.
  • 2016, Feb: First time, Indian Navy will conduct an International Fleet Review (IFR) (by Eastern Command, @Vishakapatnam). But Pak.Navy not invited.
  • Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency hired private companies to buy domestic spying software from abroad.  ⇒  They plan to monitor the underwater cables passing through Pakistan, to monitor worldwide internet.

Science Tech

  • 2014, November: SAARC summit in Nepal. Modi had announced launch of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) satellite. It’ll cost Rs.235 crores. It will help in telecome, TV, DTC, tele-education, telemedicine and disaster management support. ISRO will launch it with 12 Kuband transponders and Indian Geostationary Launch Vehicle Mk-II as launch vehicle.
  • Beta Amyloid protein ⇒ created toxic brain plaques  ⇒ Alzheimer’s disease  ⇒ Dementia. Eli Lily, Roche Pharma and other pharmaceutical giants working on new drugs that act against Beta Amyloid.
  • Drug capsules contain shells of two types (1) cellulose (vegetarian)  (2) gelatin (Derived from animal product, hence non-veg). BIS (Bureau of Indian standards) says Gelatin should be replaced with cellulose based “HPMC”. So DCGI (Drug controller General of India) contemplating how to align its norms with BIS.

Tribal rights and Samta Judgment

  • 1987: NGO Samta operating from Andhra Pradesh, files petition in SC for alienation of tribal lands despite 5th schedule provision. 1997: SC judgment held that  ⇒  mining and industrial activity prohibited in scheduled areas  ⇒  all previous mining grants cancelled  ⇒  only state mineral Development corporation or tribal cooperative can do mining in such reserved areas- and that too after complying with environmental laws  ⇒  Under PESA, Gram Panchayat has power to protect/preserve community  resources.
  • Scheduled Tribes category has >500 groups, within them 75 classified as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups because of their declining population e.g.
Notable PTGs (list not exhaustive)
State PTG
Andhra Pradesh Chenchu
Bihar and Jharkhand Birhor
Gujarat Siddi
Kerala Cholanaikayan
Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Hill Korba, Birhor, Sahariya
Chhattisgarh Baigas
Maharashtra Maria Gond, Kolam
Odisha Birhor, Dongaria Khond, Lodhas….total 13 PTG, highest in India
Rajasthan Sehariya: only 1 PTG
Tamilnadu Kotas, Irulas, Todas
Tripura Reangs
UP and Uttarakhand Buxas
W.Bengal Birhor, Lodhas
A&N
  • Andaman: Great Andamanese, Jarawas, Onges, Sentinelese (Negrito)
  • Nicobar: Shom Pens (Mongoloid) only.

 

Live in relationships
BJP leader Dr.  Subramanian Swamy’s Defamation should be decriminalized.
SC’s observes
  • “Live-in” relation is not a crime, it’s an acceptable norms in modern society similar to marriage. (Therefore, it should not be a crime to speak about someone’s live-in relationship).
Attorney General if public personalities live in relations exposed in public through social / electronic media, then defamation proceedings necessary, otherwise anyone can say anything about anyone.
  • @HC: 1/3rd posts empty, @subordinate courts 1/5 posts empty. Worst scene @Chhattisgarh High Court is the worst, ~ 60% posts empty.

History: Tharoor’s Speech @Oxford union

Statistics
23% India’s share in world economy, before arrival of British
4% India’s share in world economy, after departure of British
WW1 1/6th of British troops were Indian, 54k dead, 65k wounded, 4k missing in action
WW2 India gave 25 lakh soldiers and 3 billion pounds to British war efforts
ignored stats about how many rifles and uniforms supplied
  • The British took raw material from India and shipped back manufactured goods- this turned Indian

handloom weaver into beggars.

  • The British built railways and roads in India, to serve their own economic interests of transporting raw material and finished good, and not for any interests of the local people.
  • The British families made millions by transporting African slaves, 1833: When slavery abolished, they did not pay full compensation to the victims or their families.
  • Millions of Indian starved by British induced famines such as in WW2, when PM Churchil’s policy of diverting essential supplies from Bengal led to death of 40 lakh India, yet he snarled saying “Why Gandhi hasn’t died yet?”.
  • Today Britain gives financial aid to India, that’s hardly 0.4% of Indian GDP- we spend more in fertilizer subsidies.
  • British rulers undermined social traditions, property rights, and authority structures of the societies in their colonies, that lead to racial-ethnic-religious tensions in the post-Colonial world.
  • British take pride their colonies became “Democratic countries” in the end, but that is no moral justification for their own oppression, slavery, murder and starvation.
  • Therefore, Britain should accept the principal that they owe reparations to their former colonies.

Culture, Architecture

  • The Chief architect of Delhi Sir Edwin Lutyens had designed two clocks for the  the Rashtrapati Bhawan in 1920s, Now they’re repaired and will be put on display again.
  • Fibonacci numbers: means series of 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21… in this series, every number is the sum of two numbers before it.  ⇒  Dan Brown’s book, Da Vinci Code popularized this as “Italian invention”.  ⇒  However, it was evident in poetry of Hemachandra (AD 1050).  ⇒  Same way French Mathematician Pascal’s triangle was seen in Pingal’s Meruprastar (500 BC)

Pascal Triangle

Persons in News

R.K.Pachauri TERI director general, removed, following the allegation of sexual harassment
Maldives
  • Maldives President Abdullah Yameen
  • Maldivian Vice President Ahmed Adeeb
  • Majlis: name of their parliament
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi
Professor Manjul Bhargava This Indian-American mathematician has Won Field’s medal for mathematics in 2014, he came to IIT-Madras this week.

Mock Questions

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Q1.  Consider following statements about particularly vulnerable groups (PTGs)

  1. Earlier they were called PRIMITIVE TRIBAL GROUPS.
  2. Odisha has highest number of PTGs
  3. Arunanchal Pradesh has no PTGs

Correct statements are:

  1. Only 1 and 2
  2. Only 2 and 3
  3. Only 1 and 3
  4. all of them

Q2: which of the following judgment(s) are correctly matched?

  1. Samta: Mining in Tribal areas
  2. Sarla Mudgal: second marriage
  3. P. A. Inamdar: 50% ceiling to reservation

Correct pairs are:

  1. Only 1 and 2
  2. Only 2 and 3
  3. Only 1 and 3
  4. all of them

Q3.Which of the following statements are correct about Gelatin? (Hint: Read NCERT Chemistry Class12 Chapter 5)

  1. It is a hydrophilic sols.
  2. Photographic films  are prepared by coating an emulsion of silver bromide in gelatin over celluloid films
  3. Both A and B
  4. Neither A nor B

Q4. Which of the following are incorrectly matched? (Hint: Read NCERT Psychology Class12 Chapter 4)

  1. Alzheimer’s Disease: Loss of Memory
  2. Dissociative disorders: Loss Identity
  3. Schizophrenia: Loss of Volition (decision making ability)

Answer Choices

  1. Only 1 and 2
  2. Only 2 and 3
  3. Only 1 and 3
  4. None of them

Q5. Find correct statements

  1. Pingala was a Kashmiri author who wrote a book on the science of metrics.
  2. Pingal was a form of Brajbhasha used by poets of Rajasthan.
  3. Both A and B
  4. Neither A nor B

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Mock Questions for GS (Mains) Paper-1

  1. British colonialism led to worsening of the economic situation of its colonies. Elaborate
  2. The racial, ethnic and religious tensions in the Modern world are the direct result of colonialism. Comment