Current Affairs Topiclist: 2015 February Week1 to Week4

List of Abbreviations
P Only	important for prelim only
P+M	important for prelim and mains
M+I	Important for mains, essay and interview but has none or negligible utility in prelims.
OLF	One line fodder point that can be quoted in some descriptive answer, essay, interview or Group discussion. But doesn’t warrant an article by itself.
Ignored	Because (A) I see bad:cost benefit in pursuing it OR (B) I don’t think it’s important for UPSC exam given the trend in last few years. (C)I already covered it in old article.

IR/Diplomacy

FebW1-IR
M+I	February to be jampacked with maiden visits of Presidents from Singapore (Tony Tan) and SriLanka (Sirisena) to India
M+I	APEC – Asia Pacific economic cooperation- India will soon become its members and benefit from this free trade block
OLF	40 Indians missing from Mosul, Iraq, believed to be captured by extremists. Red Cross DG says India should put more efforts to get them rescued.
OLF	Ex-Pakistani Diplomat Husain Haqqani says Pakis shouldnot try to achieve parity with India because India is a much larger and developed country. Pakistan’s two-nation theory and parity doctrine is outdated, they need to be more pragmatic based on changing geopolitical scene at world level.
OLF	India polio free since 2011. Part of soft-diplomacy, our Health ministry offered expertise to Afghanistan and Pakistan to combat Polio. Afghans said yes yes, but Pak. Yet to respond, although they too began giving firearms training to teachers doing Polio-campaign in Peshawar region
OLF	Sushma’s China visit outcomes: Modi to reach China in late May 2015. Notes exchanged for opening altenrative route to Mansarovar- via Nathu La pass in Sikkim- it’ll significantly reduce travel time compared to current Lipu Lekh pass in Uttarakhand. Mountpass vs state important for Prelims, new route as mains fodder.
OLF	In the 90s, after the breakup of Yugoslavia, the Croatia and Serbia armies had murdered each others civilans but in the latest ICC verdict absolves them of committing pre-planned genocides
OLF	Srilankan Government gives greenlight to Chinese port Development project in Colombo worth $1.5 billion
Ignored	Mitt Romney- the former U.S. Republican presidential nominee announced not to enter in 2016 Presidential election. This will help chances of Jeb Bush-the younger brother of George Bush and an ex-governor of Florida.
Ignored	BNP leader Khaleda Zia launching nation-wide protests-hartals against ruling PM Haseena. Haseena cuts down electricity to Khaleada’s office.
Ignored	Prince Charles and Diana contemplated calling off wedding
Ignored	Jordon pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh burned alive by ISIS terrorists. Jordan retaliates by executing 2 Iraqi Jihadists. Columnists angry over Obama’s inaction. Turkey capable of destroying ISIS but Turkey wants Obama to dethrone Syrian regime of Assad. Obama valvet gloving Assad to please Irani establishment so nuke-drama can end & Israel can sleep easy…..and so on Hence Turkey sitting idle in ISIS crisis
Ignored	Ex-Al-Qaeda operative says Saudi princes funded them and even planned a stinger missile attack on US President’s plane the “Air force one”.
Ignored	TransAsia plane crashes in Taiwan river.
Ignored	Sholey Made in 1975- finally permitted for theatrical release in Pakistan after 40 years.
Ignored	Paki PM Nawaz Sharif says Kashmir is their jugular vein and India altering demogrpahic makeup of this region through settling Hindu “non-state” people here.

FebW2-IR-Diplomacy
M+I	After Modi-Obama meeting, the proposed format of Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Act (CLND 2010) is: (1) US nuclear suppliers will not be directly liable if there is any nuclear accident. (2) Their liability will covered from a Rs.1500 crore insurance pool. Government and Government-owned Insurance companies will contribute 50:50 money in this pool.
M+I	1996: Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) launched. So far 180+ nations signed and 160+ ratified. Thus, CTBT is one of the most widely supported arms-control treaties. It requires the signatories never to conduct a nuclear explosion. India does not support this treaty. Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) constantly monitoring earth’s crust, atmosphere etc. possible Nuclear explosion done by any country. This data collection also helps in early detection of natural disasters, climate change and meteor showers.
M+I	Visit of Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena during FebW3
OLF	India suspends trade with Pakistan through road, after a Paki truck driver found with narcotics
OLF	India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is India’s Special Representative for the boundary issue With China. Recently he met with is counterpart China’s State Councillor Yang Jiechi in Munich — to resolve the Sino-Indian border.
OLF	Pranab wisdom We have conveyed a strong message to our neighbours that the region must decide whether to live in perpetual tension or understanding. We have already made big announcements for bilateral cooperation in trade and security, however government must finish the “follow-up processes” to conclude such initiatives.
OLF	India needs to pursue a policy of equidistance diplomacy with US, China, Japan and others. We antagonise one country to please the other, it will hurt our growth and development agenda.
OLF	An elderly Indian, Sureshbhai Patel Was brutally assaulted by the police officers in Alabama, USA. MEA issued protests. Indian-American Diaspora calls for need to train police officers on how to deal with minorities.
OLF	Islamic state(IS) was previously called Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL). Home Ministry plans to Notify it as a terror outfit under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act
OLF	After the death of over 5000 and displacement of 10 lakh people, finally Ukraine cease fire deal reached at Minsk Summit among the leaders Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France. Outcome: Both Russia and Ukrain will withdraw heavy weapons from the frontline.
OLF	UN concerned over ongoing Bangladesh Turmoil between PM Sheikh Hasina (Awami League) vs. Opponent Khalida Zia (BNP)
OLF	China did not openly declare support for India’s permanent seat at UN Security Council. China only said we respect the aspiration of India and Brazil to play bigger roles that UNSC.
OLF	Myanmar Government says Rohingya and other people without full citizenship, are not eligible to vote.
OLF	Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan becomes the first Modi-Minister to to visit Pakistan. He sought Paki support for faster implementation of the 1,800-km Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline project. It’ll also help building Modi’s proposed national gas grid for India.
OLF	China launches first silk road cruise liner, under its maritime silk Road initiative. This vessel will visit Malaysia and Vietnam.
Ignored	David Beckham launched a new UNICEF fund called “7”- for children living in warzone. 7 is the jersey number he wore during Manchester United football games.
Ignored	Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council (NPC) passed a resolution accusing successive governments of ignoring justice in Tamil-genocide.
Ignored	Modi calls us Nawaz Sharif. Columnists eagar to know when Dialogue process will resume again.
Ignored	The Sri Lankan Army will release 1000 acres of land in Tamil-majority North Province.
Ignored	UN declared June 21 as International Yoga day. But a US senator is bringing a bill to ban tight-fitting Yoga-pants because they’re vulgar.
Ignored	IMF chief Christine Lagarde gave ~18 billion$ loan to crisis-ridden Ukrain.
Ignored	Ex-ISI officer, in his Al-Jazeera interview says that Pakistan probably knew about Osama.
Ignored	Chinese President “11th” Jinping likely to be the chief guest of Pakistan’s National Day Parade on March 23
Ignored	After the controversial replacement of Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh, the Government has amended the rule for tenure of Foreign Secretary – two years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

FebW3-IR
M+I	Sri Lanka planning to sign nuke energy pact with Pakistan. Modi to visit Sri Lanka in mid-March 2015
M+I	Outcome of Sri Lankan Pres’s visit to India: (1) nuclear energy cooperation – transfer of both trained men and material (2) cooperation in agriculture, food processing, culture (3) participate in Nalanda University. Unresolved issues- resettlement of Srilankan Tamils who had fled to Tamilnadu during LTTE-years. Srilanka seeks indian help in housing projects for Tamil plantation workers in its Central province
OLF	Feb 2015 was the 29th foundation day of Arunanchal Pradesh, Modi visits the state, China criticizes.
OLF	Home Minister Rajnath Singh says there is >420% per cent jump in tourist arrivals last year, because of the E-visa facility.
OLF	After the death of Col. Gadhafi, Libya has become a failed state, with various sects and terrorist ruling over the region. Recently, ISIS terrorists Executive 21 Egyptian Christians who had come to Libya in search of work. Now Egypt has requested UN Security Council for an international intervention in Libya. However later it is clarified that it will not want an international “military” Intervention in the Middle East region.
OLF	North Myanmar->Shan State->Kokang region. Here, heavy fighting between the Myanmar army and Kokang rebels for control of Laukkai township. This is led to large influx of refugees towards China. However Chinese government has assured that it will not interfere in domestic affairs of Myanmar.
OLF	India’s High Commissioner in London will outsourcing of key consular services e.g. visa/passport and OCI-card applications. Because they have to process the work 6 lakh applications a year. Outsourcing will help reducing delays in operation.
OLF	China to give $50 Billion fund for Asian infrastructure investment bank and another $40 billion for Implementation of Silk Road Economic Belt — to integrate Asian and European Economies along the Eurasian corridor.
OLF	1991: India and Israel established formal diplomatic relations. 2015: for the first time, Israeli defence Minister will visit India (during to participate in “Aero India 2015” in Bengaluru)
OLF	China says its new embassy in Pakistan will be largest Chinese overseas Embassy. This is the evidence of our deepest friendship with the failed state known as Pakistan(!)
Ignored	Nobel Amartya Sen is the Chancellor of Nalanda University but Government of India has not given approval for his second term, file kept pending. so he has resigned. Although Government maintains we have not interfered (only we kept the file pending ताकि वो खुद ही समज के इस्तीफा दे दे).
Ignored	Ever since NATO and USA withdrew from Afghanistan, the civilian toll in terror attacks increased by 22%
Ignored	Coast guard DIG says he had ordered blowing of the Pakistani boat on 31/12/2014 because he did not want to serve them biryani. Later retracts his statement.
Ignored	Terrorist attack the Copenhagen conference in Denmark and killed jews. Israel Prime Minister has invited all European Jews to migrate to his country. Some reports allege that Danish Security and Intelligence Service (known as PET) Already knew about the attacks, but did not do anything -perhaps to let the terrorists kill a few jews under Denmark’s unofficial ‘safety valve’ policy.
Ignored	The U.N. Human Rights Council Was to release a report on Sri Lankan civil war in March 2015. But they have postponed it to September 2015. Ignored because basics already covered in old article.
Ignored	During India Pakistan match, All India Radio Twitter account re-tweeted a number of ‘obnoxious’ and anti-Pakistan tweets. I&B Ministry ordered an enquiry
Ignored	Maldives Ex-President Mohd. Nasheed arrested Under antiterrorism law, because in 2012, He tried to arrest a senior judge Using military without authority.

FebW4-IR
P+M	Next summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will be held in Basharkostan, Russia. Putin will push for India’s full membership in this body. SCO was setup in 2001, as a counter to NATO.
P+M	Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention law requires US government to take action against any country that doesn’t facilitate returning of abducted American children. Earlier one Indian-American couple divorced but husband ran away with twins in 2008. Indian courts not facilitating their return, now US congress forcing Obama to take action against India. But India counters- we are not party to 1983 Hague convention on International child abduction.
M+I	China backs a trilateral partnership with India and Sri Lanka to establish a Maritime Silk Road (MSR) and promote the rise of Eurasia.
OLF	Pakistan’s is on fast track to weaponise spent nuclear fuel using its plutonium reprocessing plant in Chashma in Punjab, says new satellite scans.
OLF	MEA and Afghan government finally managed to get release of Jesuit priest Fr. Alexis Premkumar Antonysamy after 8 months of Taliban captivity.
OLF	Maldives government arrested ex-President Mohammad Nasheed under anti-terror law for ordering arrest of a senior judge in 2012 that led to large scale violence. India expressed concern over “manhandling” of ex-president during arrest.
OLF	Union government is adopting a “soft approach” towards youth radicalized by ISIS-terror outfits- e.g. instead of arrest, they’re doing counseling with help of family members, and letting them off with an undertaking under Section 108 of the Criminal Procedure Code (security for good behaviour from persons disseminating seditious matters).
OLF	H1B visa holding professional are eligible to work in USA and later can get “Green card”. But their H4 visa holding spouses were not eligible. This led to martial discords. But from May 2015, they too will be eligible to work as per the new US government guidelines.
OLF	Given the high profile petroleum ministry – corporate espionage case, now union government is planning security audit of all government computers with help of Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY). Although exercise won’t be of much help because already more than 3000 government computers were infected by foreign spyware and have leaked sensitive information to China, United States, Ukraine, France and the Netherlands.
OLF	Subramaniyam Swami wrote letter to CBI asking them to register FIR against Amartya Sen for embezzlement of Nalanda University funds while he was the chancellor
OLF	Pakistan makes stringent norms for mobile phone owners after Peshwar school attack. They’ll to give finger print records as well, which will be crosschecked with national database. Otherwise, service will be cut off. perhaps indian Government too should learn lesson.
OLF	Afghan Government planning “Lapis Lazuili” route to connect with Central Asian and European economies
OLF	2008: NIA setup through an act, with its own special court. To combat terror finance and naxal finance, NIA has a separate cell called ” Terror Funding and Fake Currency Cell (TFFC)”. It has been monitering suspect bank accounts but no links to naxal found yet
OLF	Foreign Secretary, S. Jaishankar begins with “SAARC nation” yatra as part of “silent backchannel diplomacy”
Ignored	“Jihadi John”, the masked ISIL terrorist responsible for beheading orange-prisoner suit journalists, has been identified. He is Kuwait-born London computer programmer Mohammed Emwazi.
Ignored	ISIS begins kidnapping Assyrian Christians in Syria, others begin to flee.

Economy

FebW1-Economy
Banking-Finance	P+M	Bhai updates monetary policy: SLR reduced from 22 to 21.5, other rates and ratios unchanged. However person can invest upto 250,000$ a year under LRS remittance scheme. What’re its implications? Wait for future lecture video on BoP, exchange rates and capital account convertability.
Banking-Finance	P+M	Committees: Usha Thorat, Ex-Dy-Gov-RBI for processing small bank applications; and Nachiket Mor, RBI Board director for processing payment bank applications.
Banking-Finance	OLF	Indian companies allowed to raise capital from abroad, using ADR and GDR. If IT act is amended to provide more clarity on tax-liabilities, it’ll be easier to attract funds through ADR and GDR
Banking-Finance	OLF	Modi Government planning to launch 5000 crore ETF in March 2015 for faster disinvestment. Basics explained in previous lecture.
Banking-Finance	OLF	Rajanbhai permits banks to give “differential rates” on fixed deposits e.g. if you make above 1 crore FD with no option for premature withdrawal= then bank will pay you higher interest rate, compared to chillar FDs of 10-20,000 made by ordinary customers. This will help bankers in asset liability management and give large-value-long-term loans for business projects.
Banking-Finance	Ignored	in Coal India disinvestment (Offer for sale / OFS)- 10% shares were reserved for retail investors but their response was luckwarm. Hence cabinet aims to reduce their quota to just 5% in future Disinvestments
BoP	Ignored	Jet ATF selling at 46/liter- even cheaper than petrol and diesel. Although hardly 5-10% discount expected in plane-tickets because companies wanting to recover earlier losses first.
BoP	OLF	Mcgrawhill’s Standard and Poors rating deliberately gave good ratings to mortgage backed securities- that ultimately lead to asset-bubble and subprime crisis. Now S&P required to pay over 1 billion dollar damages to US Federal and state governments
BoP	OLF	America’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) released International IP Index. India was ranked second from the bottom- because (1) India’s patent laws not in sync with intl. laws (2) no specific laws for IPRs in pharma/biotech/life sciences. (3) Massive piracy both online and offline.
BoP	OLF	gold import- India world’s largest consumer in 2014, imported over 850 tonnes, even ahead of China.
Fiscal Policy	P+M	The 14th Finance Commission chairman Y.V. Reddy recommends 42% shares from union taxes to state governments for 2015 to 2020. But Member Abhijit Sen gave dissenting note- states deserve only 38%. Jaitley likely to table report in parliament, during budget session.
Fiscal Policy	OLF	At present, IT act Sec 80C now allows tax reliefs for upto Rs.1.50 lakh invested in PPF, NPS, Insurance etc. Rajanbhai says this limit should be increased further. In recent years, National savings rate reduced from >35% to ~30% of GDP. IF tax relief increased, juntaa will save more money and through financial intermediaries it can become credit/capital for faster growth of Indian economy.
Fiscal Policy	OLF	Disinvestment: Government wants to sell 10% shares from Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) . They’re looking for a merchant banker to help in the process, but since Government offering too low rates, most bankers hesitant.
Fiscal Policy	Ignored	ED gives notice to Sahara for violating Foreign exchange rules
Fiscal Policy	Ignored	Niti Ayog ‘s first meeting. Same old bolbachchan about cooperative federalism, mfg-boost etc. basics already covered in old article
HRD	Ignored	Badminton player Jwala Gatta accuses National Coach Gopichand of ignoring capable players who’re not from his “coaching class” such as Ashwini Ponnappa :P
HRD	P Only	National Games 2015 at Kerala. Sports topic beaten to death in both Essay and Mains papers of 2014. Although venue, motto, leading medalists should be prepared for prelims.
HRD	OLF	UN-ESCAP says during 2004-11, India had 8% GDP growth rate, it helped reducing poverty from ~42% to just 33%. Thus India achieved the 1st MDG goal i.e. reduce poverty by half on 2015. However, India yet to succeed in other goals- such as universal primary education, Universal youth literacy, employment and political participation for women, reducing IMR & open defecation.
HRD	OLF	Sports ministry’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) for helping Indian atheletes win medals.
HRD	Ignored	Nawaz Sheikh- son of a daily wage labourer, designs logo for India’s new education policy
HRD	OLF	Government of Gujarat introduces common syllabus for 11 State universities – to ensure uniformity in teaching and skill Development.
industry-agro	OLF	NSSO data on PDS leakage. Best States Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu; Most Bogus: Manipur, Diu-Daman, Delhi. Argument in favour of linking PM-JDY accounts with aadhar and money be directly transferred to them, instead of supplying over 50MMT grains to 5 lakh raashan-ki-dukaan, because most of the grains will never reach beneficiary anyways.
industry-agro	OLF	Government planning to amend the Archaic Tea Act of 1953- to give more powers to Tea board of India, encompass small tea growers in the definition and protect IPR. As such “salient features of Tea Act” seems quite unlikely question but matter can be used as fodder for Tea-beverages-food-processing industry in GS3.
industry-agro	P+M	Shanta Kumar report on FCI restructuring had recommended moving towards direct cash transfers due to large scale leakages in PDS-foodgrain supply chain. Now Economists Jean Dreze and his coterie of jholachhap economists are disputing the survey methods used by this Committee to show PDS leakages.
Industry-Service	OLF	Competition Commission of India (CCI) says real-estate players using unfair trade practicies and oligopoly to extract more money from clients. But CCI did not impose penalty because evidence lacking.
infra	OLF	Modi wants to shutdown UPA’s brainchild Urban Institute of India because same bolbachchangiri work done by the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) under Urban Development Ministry.
infra	OLF	Rockefeller Foundation announced the 100 Resilient Cities project with a $100 million worldwide. Bengaluru, Chennai, Surat chosen.
infra	OLF	Cisco will develop Vizag as first smart city – skill Development centres with global talent tracker, civic amnestics through ICT and other fancy things.
infra	OLF	2009: Indian steel and coal PSUs formed “ICVL- international coal venture ltd”. It aquired mining rights in Mozambique- will help fetch over 10 million tonnes of coal in next 3 years
infra	OLF	After Modi-Obama meet on nuke deal, PMO sets target of doubling n-power in India by 3x times in next 10 years
infra	OLF	Government planning to levy cess on Airfares- to finance the expansion of Aviation sector in NorthEast. + to counter China, India plans 6 airports in Arunanchal Pradesh.

FebW2-Economy
Banking-Finance	OLF	Union government has decided to infuse ~7000 crore Rs. equity capital in nine public sector banks, According to their performance. State bank of India will get the highest.
Banking-Finance	P Only	Under The Coinage Act 2011, RBI can issue all notes except Rs.1 note. Union Government planning to print new Rs.1 notes with Hindi & English signatures of new finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi. Although Bankers feels this is mere publicity stunt, because as such cost of printing Rs.1 note is more than the ‘face-value’ of Rs.1 note.
Banking-Finance	OLF	Supreme Court criticises RBI,Sebi and other financial regulators for turning blind eye to chit-funds-cum-ponzi scams running in West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Tripura and neighbouring States.
Banking-Finance	P Only	ICICI Bank launched India’s first digital bank called “Pockets”- it is a moble app cum e-wallet. Even a non-ICICI Client can clean up this electronic wallet from money from any other bank. This wallet uses a virtual Visa card to help you transfer money to any email id, mobile number, Facebook account, online shopping site, retail mall, Paying utility bills etc. Transaction limit: Rs.10,000, if you’re not an ICICI client. You can even add a zero balance saving account and earn interest on your deposit. Thus, ‘Pockets’ integrates a digital wallet, a physical prepaid card and a basic savings bank account- all features of an upcoming payment bank.
Banking-Finance	Ignored	Currency Building, Kolkata was built in 1833. It was the first office of the Reserve Bank of India.
Banking-Finance	OLF	Earlier Government had setup TK Viswanathan Committee to frame bankruptcy law. Committee recomends amending the Companies Act 2013, to get insolvet companies windup their business quickly- it’ll help us improving our Ease of doing business ranking.
Banking-Finance	OLF	Crooks are increasingly using shell companies for tax evasion, money laundering and even bidding lucrative coal mines with good rail-road connectivity so they can be resold to genuine companies at a higher price (similar to 2G scam). therefore, SEBI began an exercise to find and suspend such shell companies.
BoP	Ignored	Because of Government and RBI restriction of on Gold, its import decliend by 14% in 2014, says World Gold Council (WGC) report.
BoP	OLF	G20 members’ summit at Istambul: India demands (1) IMF quota reforms (2) Automatic exchange of tax information.
Fiscal Policy	OLF	Japan is the most indebted country in the world, at 400 per cent of GDP. High debt, whether public or private, makes economies more vulnerable to economic shocks and tends to fuel booms and bust cycles
Fiscal Policy	OLF	Indian Express & International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, released the names of ~1200 Indians having accounts in HSBC’s Swiss bank worth total 25,000+crore rupees. Finance Minister says we’ll “investigate”. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi assures SC that Government will make new legal provisions during budget session
Fiscal Policy	Ignored	Recently, Modi held first meeting of NITI Ayog- usual bol-bachchan about cooperative federalism etc. already covered in old article. CM Mamata Banerjee remains absent saying planning commission was brain child of Subhas Chandra Bose, and Modi has insulted him by abolishing Planning commission.
Fiscal Policy	OLF	Modi asks state governments to create 2 taskforces under Niti Ayog – 1 for poverty removal and 1 for agriculture
Fiscal Policy	OLF	Government asked rich-PSUs to issue bonus debentures to their respective ministries- this cash inflow will help Government meet the fiscal deficit targets under FRBM
Fiscal Policy	OLF	Most of the FIIs have parked their money in coal India disinvestment and buying shares of HDFC. Hence not much liquidity left in the market, therefore government of India has decided to postpone the 5% disinvestment of ONGC, because it is unlikely to attract those FIIs and fetch good prices for the ONGC shares.
Fiscal Policy	OLF	PFRDA chairman has requested government to give same tax benefits to new pension scheme subscribers like those available to EPF subscribers. Only then people will be interested to invest in NPS.
Fiscal Policy	Ignored	Companies who do not pay any taxes by using various tax exemptions, they are required to pay a minimum alternate tax of 20%. New budget is likely to cover foreign portfolio investors more stringently and clearly under the MAT regime. Let the budget come first
HRD	OLF	Impact investingmeans investing in projects that makes profit and simultaneously achieves specific social and environmental causes. Impact investing can help people invest private money in social initiatives, but both investors and the NGOs need to be trained first.
HRD	OLF	Guj. Government to implement Food security act in following format- (1) BPL/APL will be phased out (2) New beneficiaries to be identifed from Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 such that 66% juntaa is covered.
Industry-Agro	OLF	In battery cages, each hen is confined in a size less than A4 sized paper and made to produce eggs like a machine. This type of animal cruelty is banned in Europe, therefore companies like “big Dutchman” selling their equipment to Indian paltry companies. Allahabad highcourt has sent notice to All stakeholders for The violation of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. Exam relevance: Mains GS3 Upstream issues in the food processing industry.
Industry-agro	OLF	2014: Tea exports declined in value and volume because (1) India’s rivals Kenya and Sri Lanka have increased tea production (2) because of adverse weather, India’s tea production was lower than usual.
industry-agro	OLF	Britain’s early industrialisation distanced farming from business and technology. Latest data reveals per hectre productivity of the British farms is far less then other European countries.
Industry-MFG	OLF	Peter Pan is a fictional character that never grows up. Researchers pointed out that Indian retailers are suffering from Peter Pan syndrome (i.e. Never grew up, Never accept New technologies)- because of the high level of corruption.
Industry-MFG	P Only	Central Statistics Office (CSO) launches new series of Consumer Price Index (CPI) with 2012 as base year. First data will cover January 2015 month and will be released in Feb 2015.
Industry-MFG	OLF	Central Statistics Office (CSO) had changed the GDP base year from 2004 to 2011. Accordingly India’s latest growth projection is 7.4% and we’ll become a $2.1-trillion economy.
Industry-MFG	P+M	Government’s proposed Amendments to BIS act. 1986: more products will need ISI certificate. Misuse of ISI will become a cognizable offence. Both distributor and retailer can be held liable. Product liability, product recall and compensation to consumers.
Industry-MFG	OLF	Modi’s Make in India campaign faces two dilemmas (1) cheap money policy required to boost expansion of factories but (2) cheap money policy will also weaken Indian rupee against dollar- thereby making the exports unattractive.
Industry-Service	OLF	Under ‘Digital India’ initiative, Modi wants to setup BPO-call centres mofussil towns.
Industry-Service	OLF	Communication minister says the white revolution of the dairy industry should be replicated in the information technology arena, only then we can transform the lives of rural people. Target 2020: 11,500 start-up companies to provide jobs to 2.5 lakh people.
infra	OLF	Kerala’s Vizhinjam International Multipurpose Seaport project wasn’t kicking up due to lack of funds, but now union Government promised to pay ~4,000 crores.
infra	Ignored	To extract coal from Odisha, CIL’s subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. (MCL) will create to new SPV-entities.
infra	OLF	At present a builder has to get 3050 approval from union and state governments- hence avg. 90-600 days wasted in getting files cleared. In hill states, majority of the land falls under forest area, so very difficult to get environment clearance. Union Government wants to cut down these red tapes to promote smart cities.
infra	OLF	Power minister Piyush Goel says India will be a power surplus country in the year 2019, because we will take following measures (1) Reviving the gas based and coal based power plants (2) Ensure continuous supply of coal at cheap prices (3) encouraged the use of LED lights
infra	OLF	Dredging Corporation of India will begin dredging Adani Vizag coal port- to help Panamax vessels with upto 1 lakh tonne cargo to enter inner harbour.
infra	OLF	Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana guidelines revised. First priority will be given to villages under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY). State governments will be required to maintain those roads, even beyond the default 5-year period.
infra	OLF	SAIL and NMDC to form a joint-venture company to setup a 6MT Greenfield steelplant in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh
infra	OLF	Government is planning the privatisation of airports of Jaipur, A’bad, Kolkata, Chennai. GMR, GVR, Adani and others are interested.

FebW3-Economy
Banking-Finance	OLF	Until now public sector banks focused on building cadres of officers hoping they’ll continue with them till retirement. But since flow of foreign investment has increased- banks should be ready to face attrition i.e. officers leaving to other financial organizations for better packages, says RBI dy.gov. R.Gandhi.
Banking-Finance	OLF	Rajanbhai criticizes the lack of specialist in Government- who can properly make budget or manage public debt.
Banking-Finance	OLF	Previous Justice BN Sri-Krishna’s Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) panel had recommended one “Indian financial code” IFC in place of all other laws, and revamping the financial regulatory bodies in India with one “Financial sector appellate tribunal” (FSAT) at top. Rajanbhai has now criticized this move saying from license raj, we’ll be put into “Appellate Raj”. Rajanbhai also indirectly criticized Modi’s style of functioning: “Hitler provided Germany with an extremely effective administration — the trains ran on time, as did the trains during our own Emergency in 1975-77. His was a strong government, but Hitler took Germany efficiently and determinedly on a path to ruin, overriding the rule of law and dispensing with elections. So, “It is not sufficient that the trains run on time, they have to go in the right direction at the desired time. Means, strong governments might not always move in the right direction.”
Banking-Finance	P Only	New Indian Accounting norms (Ind AS) aims to align Indian accounting practices with international IFRS code. From 1/4/2015, companies need to voluntarily begin implementing this. From 1/4/2016, this is mandatory for companies with 500 crore or more networth. Says Corporate Affairs ministry.
Banking-Finance	Ignored	Under EPFO act, Government of India has to appoint Employees Provident Fund Appellate Tribunal (EPFAT). But officials not appointed since a long time, SC gave 4 weeks to Government to fix this problem.
BoP	Ignored	Greece Crisis and Euro bailout packaged. Basics already covered in last lecture. More when ball by ball commentary ends.
BoP	OLF	RBI relaxes gold norms- banks can import gold on consignment basis. Banks can grant gold metal loans on such imported gold. This will help jewelry industry.
BoP	OLF	Finance Ministry re-launched its website for filing FDI applications. New website needs submission of single document instead of 15-18 copies earlier- part of the ‘ease of doing business’ and make in india’.
BoP	Ignored	Hike in petrol and diesel prices announced.
Fiscal Policy	OLF	Corporate espionage- smuggling of key-policy documents from the Oil Ministry, to benefit corporate giants ahead of budget.
Fiscal Policy	OLF	Modi unlikely to implement Shanta Kumar panel to revamp FCI-PDS system & reduce the coverage of NFSA, after defeat in Delhi elections. Basics already done in old article.
Fiscal Policy	OLF	Swiss authorities raid HSBC’s offices to probe money laundering. HSBC allegedly helped crooks from 200 countries to stash ~120 billion USD. While HSBC issues full page apology in British newspaper- ‘We have absolutely no appetite to do business with clients who are evading their taxes’
HRD	OLF	If we compare countries on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) then India is not very bad. India ranks second in highest number of mobile towers, motorcycle manufacturing, rice and so on. But still India’s ranking in the UNDP’s Human Development Report (2011) is 134. Some critics say during such “Human development rankings”, India should be given two ranks- one for entire country and separate rankings for each of its states. Because many of our states are bigger both area and population -wise compared to many African and European countries.
HRD	OLF	Gujarat Government to develop “smart schools” with wifi, school Management software, LCD in every class, biometric attendence etc.
industry-agro	OLF	In recent time, potato supply increased and prices declined. So, Government removed it from “minimum export price” (MEP) regime to help farmers sell off in foreign market.
Industry-MFG	OLF	‘Brown money’ is the value of unused goods lying at people’s homes. Thanks to sites like olx and quikr, brown money trading has increased.
Industry-MFG	Ignored	Rajanbhai had criticized Central Statistics Office (CSO) for confusing calculation of GDP. Hence CSO DG met bhai and “powerpointed” him to the GDP calculation method.
Industry-MFG	OLF	Noted industrialist Deepak Parekh says businessman are impatient because despite 9 months of Modi-raj, the “ease of doing business” has not improved on the ground
Industry-MFG	Ignored	WPI only 0.39% in January 2015
Industry-MFG	P Only	SBI composite index Tracks India’s manufacturing activity using SBI’s internal loan portfolio- because it mirrors the loan demand by the manufacturing units. Accordingly, this index has two components (1)Manufacturing cycle (monthly) (2)growth (yearly). For Feb-2015, this index shows manufacturing activity has declined in India.
Industry-Service	OLF	Maharastra Government aims to make Mumbai the first city in the country to be open all day and night — 24×7. The city will be divided into ‘special entertainment zones’ with adequete food, security and safety features. This will boost trade-tourism but critiques say it’ll hurt physical wellbeing of the youth and poor workers.
Industry-Service	P Only	Central statistical Organisation (CSO) Publishes annual survey of industries (ASI) each year. Now they are planning: similar annual survey of services. For better estimation of job creation, GDP production etc.
infra	OLF	Government aims to auction 2g and 3g radiowaves for Rs.1 lakh crores in March 2015. Ambanis, Airtel, Vodafone, Idea- total 8 telecom giants interested.
infra	OLF	Gujarat: ‘Diamond Research and Mercantile (DREAM) City planned near, Surat, to boost diamond cutting and polishing industry. similarly GIFT (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) and Dholera special investment region
infra	OLF	Urban Housing Ministry has found that state governments have not spent crores of rupees given to them under Rajiv Rinn Yojana, Rajiv Awas Yojana, National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) etc. now the ministry wants to divert that unused amount to Metro rail projects in major cities.

FebW4-Economy
fiscal policy	P+M	Rail budget, Economic survey and General Budget.
Banking-Finance	P+M	RBI says Rs.5000 overdraft facility awarded to Pradhan Mantri JanDhan Yojana (PMJDY) bank accounts will be counted under given Bank’s Priority sector lending (PSL) quota, under “Weaker section / others” category. But condition is that borrower’s household annual income should not be more than 60k in rural areas and 1.2lkh in urban areas. Overdraft facility is ‘unlocked’ in your account after having satisfactory operation for 6 months.
Banking-Finance	P Only	Government declares budget day as “non-business” day for mutual funds. This is to forbid Investors from buying/redeeming their mutual fund units on Feb 28, to prevent any windfall gain. Although trading permitted in ETFs.
Banking-Finance	Ignored	Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) final deal worked out to stop Bank-strikes. (1) 15% salary increase from Nov.2012. (2) 2nd and 4th Saturdays will be holidays while remaining Saturdays will have full working days.
Banking-Finance	P Only	NSE will setup interntional exchange at GIFT city Gujarat for trading of shares, bonds, currencies and derivatives.
Banking-Finance	OLF	finmin invites applications for MD-CEO posts at PNB, BoB, IDBI, BoI and Canara. even private bankers eligible to apply. First time “Flexypay” package offered. Term limit: 3 years duration or 60 years age
Banking-Finance	P Only	IRDA Chief TS Vijayan permits GIC to setup 1500 crore nuclear liability pool to cover any damages from nuclear reactor accidents. As such Indo-US nuke deal part of diplomacy but such minor facts for banking-fin. GK
BoP	P Only	2014- 6th BRICS summit at Fortaleza, Brazil – chalked out the plans for setting up BRICS Bank/ New Development Bank (NDB) and its 100 Billion Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), to help member countries for Development loans and balance of payment crisis. Modi Cabinet now formally approves necessary paper agreements.
BoP	Ignored	EU approves 4 months extension to Greece bailout package. Basics already done in ppt/video.
HRD	OLF	As per Water Sanitation Hygiene programme for school (WASH)- 1 toilet per 80 boys and 1 toilet for 40 girls required but not even 30% of Rajasthan schools meet the norms for girl toilets. Rajasthan HC ordered the state government not to grant permission to any new school/colleges if they don’t meet such norms.
HRD	OLF	Arjun Award selection revamped. Now a Committee headed by retired SC/HC judge with noted persons associated with sports will decide the names. Only 1 sportsperson from any given field- to avoid bias towards that field’s nominees. More weightage to individual sports over team sports. Meeting proceedings to be video graphed.
HRD	Ignored	University professor retirement age 65 but CSIR scientist retirement age is 60. so Modi planning to raise scientists’ retirement age.
industry-agro	OLF	Andhra govt. reviving the ‘letter of permit’ vessels for deep sea tuna fishing. Local fishermen concerned because foreign vessels will enter after getting permits under Benami local Indian and takeaway the “shishami tuna fishes” from Indian waters.
industry-agro	OLF	2007: agricultural policy was framed based on recommendations of the M.S. Swaminathan Commission. But a PIL filed in Supreme Court alleges that government has done nothing to implement it. Government counters saying we’ve done more than enough to make India and its farmers self-sufficient in food production- even though India accounts for only 2.4 per cent of the world’s geographical area and 4 per cent of its water resources, we support 17% of world population and 15% livestock.
Industry-MFG	Ignored	Unease of doing business: Coca cola exits from Modi’s Varanasi Constituency after Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) delays giving clearance.
Industry-Service	Ignored	AirIndia begins restructuring based on Dharmadhikari report. Revised payscales from March1 to achieve pay parity between AirIndia and merged Indian Airlines workers.
infra	OLF	The Odisha Government has decided to scrap joint venture agreements with the mining giants Rio Tinto, Vedanta, Sesa Sterlite and Hindalco. This goes against “ease of doing business” because those firms already invested capital in setting up plants.
infra	OLF	Trai to implement all India mobile number portability from May 3. Until now it was confined only to user’s own telcom circle.
infra	OLF	TRAI planning to reduce interconnection charge- that one operator pays to the other for using their network. Same way TRAI planning to reduce tariffs for national roaming services first time after 2013. Likely to reduce call and SMS charges by 35-80 percent respectively.

Polity, Governance

FebW1-Polity, Governance
P Only	Social justice ministry celebrated Raahgiri day on 1st Feb 2015. Focus: Disabled peoples’ participation in cultural and sports activities. OnRaahgiri Dayare cordoned off for vehicle movement. Then citizens free to cycle, walk, run, skate, play, dance, yoga and enjoy the streets. Thus it help community to get together and celebrate their city and their lives. The concept is inspired by “Ciclovia”. This weekly event held in Bagota, Columbia. Many other nations follow it as Open Streets, Summer Streets, etc. names.
P+M	1981: During Indira Raj, Inter-state agreement signed among Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan for sharing of Ravi-Beas system. Punjab Government moved to SC demanding more water share from these rivers.
P+M	Collegium system to continue until NJAC is appointed for selecting judges
M+I	A CPI leader sent to 4 weeks jail for contempt of court. Columnists demand relooking at the “imperial” provisions about contempt of court. Because originally provisions were made to enforce foreign rule over natives.
M+I	Controversy about political parties doing money laundering after some NGO Avaam vs AAP controversy about donation of Rs.50 lakhs. As per Representation of People’s act- a political party has to give audited annual statement of all contributions over Rs.20,000 to EC, then they’re exempted from income tax payment. NIPFP’s black money report even recommends reducing such IT-exemptions.
M+I	Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami sacked for trying to influence CBI officials not to arrest a TMC leader in Saradha connection. Anil voluntarily resigned, thus eligible for whatever pension-gratuity benefits of IAS officer. Some columnists demanding he ought to be formally dismissed so he can’t get such benefit otherwise its same like those tainted judges who resign before they can be impeached- to ensure pension benefits. Makes a good GS4 Ethical case study.
M+I	Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has mooted the idea of automatic suspension of members who entered the Well, because it present this is no specific rule on how to deal with those unruly elements.
M+I	Pros and Cons of giving full statehood for Delhi. (Because AAP manifesto demands it)
M+I	Nepalese Constitution drafting Committee gives guiding principles for new Constitution- democracy, federalism, republicanism, secularism, and inclusiveness
OLF	As per Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Ordinance, only those with class 8 and 10 degrees can fight Sarpanch and Zila Parishad. Noble intention but (1) candidates using bogus marksheets (2) at many places crooks elected unopposed because rivals couldn’t apply due to educational certificate. (3) at posts vacant because no applications received!
OLF	Law Commission chairman Justice A.P. Shah recommends amending Civil Procedure Code and setting up special commercial courts for the speedy disposal of “high value commercial suits”- preferably by enacting a new law. Until Government actually draft bill, topic just OLF
OLF	Union tells SC that IT Act section 66A is not meant for curbing freedom of speech, but only to curb cybercrimes
OLF	Research paper in World Development journal says reservation of backward communities didn’t hurt performance of Indian railways.
OLF	SC says if a candidate hides his past-criminal record, junta can’t chose right candidate, due to lack of information so if such criminal wins election, it’ll be declared null and void.
OLF	Union Government’s Justice G.P. Mathur panel’s suggestion to make a new SIT to reinvestigate 86’s Anti-Sikh riots.
OLF	Delhi EC asks Schools to distribute ‘pledge letter’, get parents sign on them “we’ll vote in assembly elections”. This will help increasing voter turnout.
OLF	GS4: World bank definition of CSR is “business commitment for economic development and quality life for workers, families, communities, society at large”. Companies have to achieve “Triple bottom Line approach” i.e. balance of economic, environmental and social imperatives. BUT without ignoring shareholders’ interests. Indian businessmen long pursued idea of idea of trusteeship, charity and philanthropic activity for community development, educational, cultural and research projects. But now they must work beyond charity and philanthropy, and focus on the words ‘social’ and ‘responsibility’- to improve junta’s economic and social conditions with main focus on weaker societies. Else we can’t achieve continuous growth of GDP. (- Vice President Hamid Ansari)
OLF	GS4: Government communication: ideal characteristics- (1) use digital media and social media for their reach, scale, variety and accessibility- especially during emergency and natural disasters. (2) officer’s communication must have speed, accuracy, brevity and clarity of thought. (3) Perception management is also important. (4) webpage must provide info on policies-initiatives, vernacular languages – easy to read and understand. (5) use cloud computing to minimize costs. (- Vice President Hamid Ansari)
OLF	E-governance: Modi aims for Digital lockers – to store each citizens birth certi, marksheets etc which he can use to fill online forms for job, passport etc. Maharashtra already has this, covered in old article
OLF	Gujarat state government planning to allot Fair price shop (raashan ki dookaan) licenses to women only.
OLF	Freedom of Speech: Chinese Government ordered blog and chatroom platform owners to register all users with their real-name and give undertaking they’ll never challenge Communist political system, further tightening control over Internet use.
Ignored	Mullaperiyar water level declined after Tamilnadu began discharging water. Basics already covered in old article.
Ignored	Mumbai police summons Arun “I-m-in-every-Prakash-Jha-movie’ Rampal for meeting Jailed Gangster Arun Gawli in hospital without permission.
Ignored	cousumer court says if a person doesn’t have id-proof, railway still cannot throw him out of the train
Ignored	NHRC orders Delhi police to deploy constables in night shelters to ensure junta safety
Ignored	45,000 Pak-Hindu refugees living in Jammu. They’re eligible to vote in parliament election but not in J&K State assembly elections, because J&K state law forbids it. Now PDP says ‘middle-path’ to ensure Government formation with help of BJP.
Ignored	CBI court bails Gujarat cadre IPS officers D.G. Vanzara and P.P. Pandey in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case. Columnists furious over rumors about DG Vanzara’s possible appointment as a director of some Gujarat-state-PSU.
Ignored	Saradha chit fund ball by ball- arrest of xyz leaders, TMC wants SC to monitor CBI probe, SC refuses…. Chit fund mechanism, scam-overview in my upcoming lecture on youtube
Ignored	Delhi HC awards 30 years to Vikas Yadav and aide for honor killing of Nitish Katara.
Ignored	Secularism: Obama says the religious intolerance of new India would have shocked Gandhi. Jaitley reacts sharply – that we sheltered Dalai Lama.
Ignored	Secularism: Amit Shah says BJP respects preamble the way it is- we don’t have any plans to replace the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’.
Ignored	Delhi assembly election to use VVPAT. Basics already covered in old article.
Ignored	Delhi voters will be inked with brush instead of stick, because brush-painting helps drying the ink at faster rate.
Ignored	AAP leaders apprehensive about temping of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). But EC it’s not possible.
Ignored	BJP manifesto for says North Eastern Immigrants will to be protected in Delhi. Word “immigrant” draws largescale protests in Assam. BJP apologizes.
Ignored	Churches in Delhi vandalized. Home minister Rajnath orders quick action
Ignored	Bihar Power struggle between Manjhi and Nitish Kumar
Ignored	Freedom of Speech- RSS magazine warns Government against the “5th column members in the armed forces, who use social media to spread negative publicity against their own establishment”
Ignored	Freedom of Speech: AIB (All India Bakchod group) organized a show with filmstars full of profanity, with Karan Johar as host. Enraged Censor member Ashoke Pandit even abused them on twitter and MNS demanding unconditional apology. Video removed from youtube after getting 80 lakh views.

FebW2-Polity, Governance
P Only	Government doubled the sharecapital of National Minorities Development and Finance Corp. from Rs.1,500 crore to Rs.3,000 crore. New sharholding norms: 73:26:1 among Union : State: (individual and institutions.). The earlier ratio was 65:26:9.
P+M	SC says if a public servant practices bigamy, then Government is free to sack him, irrespective of religion. Because Article 25 permits freedom of religion only as long as it doesn’t violate public order, health or morality. Polygamy is not integral part of religion and monogamy was a reform within the power of the State under Article 25
P+M	Modi Government had appointed Shashi Kant Sharma (IAS) as CAG. But some ‘concerned’ citizen filed PIL in SC asking his removal because earlier he has taken some controversial decision as defense Secretary. CJI refused to intervene saying the court should not react to every sound of alarm and “meddle” in constitutional appointments. As per the Constitution, it was the Executive’s prerogative to recommend the name of the CAG to the President.
P+M	The representation of People’s act prevents under trial prisoners from voting rights. However, under trial people out on bail, can vote in the election. This conundrum violates article 326 of the Constitution – which permits voter disqualification only on the grounds of nonresidents, unsound mind, crime or corruption.
M+I	A fifth petition Filed in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC)
M+I	To implement Bezbaruah report on safety of North East people- Government mooted following ideas: (1) transit camps and special hostels for them in big cities (2) NCERT to add NER history-culture-geography in class 6-12 textbooks. HRD ministry will ask state education boards to do the same (3) 10,000 UGC fellowship for NER-students (4) more NER-people to be recruited in Delhi Police by relaxing physical and educational requirements. (5) more funds for Imphal sports centre and setting up National Sports University in Manipur State through an act of parliament.
OLF	SC is concerned: India till now is a secular country… we don’t know for how long it will continue to remain secular. There is a need to “stamp out” religion from civil laws. Observation comes after a group demands Christians o be exempted from Indian Penal code provisions for biogamy.
OLF	Freedom of Speech: Censor board chief prepares a list of vulgur words to be banned from movies- including salaa, kutta etc. Artist community enraged.
OLF	To cut down the burden of backlog cases, Government needs to come up with alternative dispute resolution mechanisms like “meditation”. If large number of people have to litigate against the government in the court, then it is a sign of Bad governance, says a Supreme Court judge.
OLF	Freedom of Speech: Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai was planning to “badmouth” Indian Government in front of England MPs, but she was stopped from boarding the flight from India. Home ministry officials justify the move saying “if we allow such individual to criticize India abroad, then their testimonies are used by first world countries against India- during trade negotiations.”
OLF	After Uber-taxi rape, the app was banned in India. Now they added new safety-features in the app: (1) Passengers can share ride details with their contacts in real time. (2) “SOS” button to call the local police directly.
OLF	Dalit NGO launches online tool-Atrocity Tracking and Monitoring (ATM). Send message to 9898915455, the system will notify the concerned authorities to help the victim.
OLF	Previously Himachal Pradesh assembly became paperless by adopting E-technology. Now Haryana planning the same. And Modi cabinet to use kindles instead of papers.
OLF	Every month, National Legal Services Authority (Nalsa) to Organize Lok Adalats throughout the Country. Every month will be allotted specific issues e.g. one month for cheque bounce & bank frauds. This will be reduce pending cases and deliver cheap justice- no further appeal possible.
OLF	E-Courts Mission Mode Project being done by Justice Department, SC and NIC. Phase 1- computerize the subordinate courts. Phase-2: e-filing and e-payment gateways. These e-Courts portals will be part of the National Judicial Data Grid. They’ll help citizen get case-status, court-document etc.
Ignored	If a man refuse To provide maintenance to his estranged wife, it amounts to economic abuse says Delhi High Court.
Ignored	2008: After Kandhamal riots in Odisha, victims began moving out to Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. PIL was filed but State government maintains These people have migrated for the search of a better livelihood and not because of the persecution by radical Hindus in Odisha.
Ignored	“One Billion Rising,” a global action plan that involves a billion activists in over 207 countries coming together to dance, sing and raise their voice to end violence against women and girls. Recently they organized an event at Delhi University.
Ignored	The Jawaharlal Nehru University’s plans to open a special hostel for Northeast students
Ignored	Kejriwal victory in Delhi state assembly election and the ball by ball commentary.
Ignored	After vulgar AIB Roast video starring Bollywood celebrities, a PIL has been filed-demanding that Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry should create a mechanism to keep a check on videos uploaded on YouTube. Topic ignored for exam, until Bombay HC delivers verdict
Ignored	Annual World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) ranks India 136 out of 180 nation.
Ignored	Activist Teesta Shetalvad accused of duping Post-Godhara riot victims. SC gave stay on her arrest.
Ignored	Critics say Modi Government’s Strategy of naming centrally sponsored schemes With Sankritised Hindi names- One type of cultural chauvinism, it will hurt national integration.
Ignored	1984, October 31- Indira Gandhi assassinated. Subsequent Anti-Sikh riots left over 3000 people dead in Delhi, UP, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra etc. Modi Government had declared 5 lakh compensation and setup Justice GP Mathur Committee – which recommended setting up a new SIT to reopen the cases. So now 3-member SIT formed under IPS officer Pramod Asthana.
Ignored	Delhi Police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) questions Shashi Tharoor about Mysterious death of his wife.
Ignored	Narendra Modi temple in Rajkot. Although after his displeasure, the organizers decided to shut it down.
Ignored	Tharoor says hanging of Parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru, was a badly handled event, because family was not allowed to meet him, his body was not given to them.
Ignored	Shirin Dalvi, the editor of Urdu newspaper Avadhnama had published a cartoon of Charlie Hebdo magazine. She is slapped with criminal charges and columnists gone crazy about protecting the freedom of speech.

FebW3-Polity, Governance
P Only	21 Feb: International Mother Tongue Day celebrated by CBSE and NCERT celebrate
P+M	Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Kerala, Karnataka, Orissa and Chhattisgarh have already given 50% reservation to women in local bodies. Now Union wants to take states in confidence and then move an amendment for 50% women reservation in urban local bodies. At present they’re given 1/3rd reservation. Government will also promote ‘engendered cities’ with the objective of welfare of women through their participation.
P+M	Supreme Court judge Rohinton Fali Nariman says Indira Gandhi shouldnot have included the words ‘socialist and secular’ in the Preamble to the Constitution through the 42 nd amendment 1976. Because Socialism and secularism are inbuilt in our Constitution through directive principles of State policy (DPSP)
P+M	2014: Gujarat local authorities bill 2009 passed- it provides for compulsory voting in the local bodies and 50% reservation to women therein. 2015, Oct: Gujarat election commission will Offer the option of online voting in the six municipal elections.
M+I	New guidelines for speedier child-adoption process. (1)annual target 15k adoption (2) deadline for each application 4 months (3) implemented by CARA (Child Adoption Resource Authority)- monitoring on a weekly basis. (4) juvenile protection bill to give more powers to CARA (5) CCTVs in hospitals/maternity homes to prevent illegal adoptions. (5) centralized registration at CARINGS (online adoption system) (6) children in adoption homes will be given Aadhar Cards (7) Media awareness campaign
OLF	Brazil’s Electoral court aims to ban corporate donations to political parties, to combat nuisance of money in elections.
OLF	Under the present law, a person has to be convicted, before he is disqualified for elections. SC says it applies only after conviction. But Barring a person from contesting elections as soon as criminal charges are framed against him will stigmatise him even before he is proven guilty
OLF	CBI’s Wrong interpretation of RTI act- CBI says it can provide RTI information about corruption Charges against its own officials, but RTI Does not apply ongoing CBI probes against outsiders.
OLF	The ‘safe harbor’ clause in IT act, ensures that websites are not punished if their platform is used for illegal content without knowledge of the owner. After vulgar AIB-roast show in YouTube, PILs filed in Bombay HC to undo this ‘safe harbor’- and require the site owners to verify the legality of the content before serving it to large internet audience. in the meantime, Bombay HC grants interim relief to AIB-roast participants’ arrest, saying their language was vulgar but not obscene.
OLF	Freedom of speech: Given the rise of Internet trolls, many popular news websites have stopped comment system. However a Jewish site “tablet” came up with a novel idea- reading articles is free, but to post comment a person will have to buy subscription!
OLF	Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) facing financial crisis. They plan to ‘auction’ naming of new buildings and roads after local people- if their family members give money. Critiques argue even goonda-log can get buildings and streets named after them after paying ill-gotten money. Makes a good case study for GS4
OLF	Modi wisdom: Large case pendency in India because laws adopted by unqualified people, and so many loopholes, grey areas and litigations. Reforms done: (1) We are uploading all the bills on government websites, seeking opinion of the lawyers on how to prevent such issues. (2) in 9 months of Modi-raj, over 1700 laws repealed.
OLF	In recent times, many safety apps for women- like Himmat, SmartShehar, VithU, BSafe, Raksha. Majority of them merely help the victim to call police/relatives for help. But if mobile already snatched/broken by the goonda-log OR if police fails to respond in time, then it’s of no use. Besides, These apps work only in smartphones. Hardly 13% of total Indians have such phones. So what’s about safety of women without smartphones?
OLF	Under the current law, divorce is granted if a couple jointly file appeal with mutual consent. Otherwise, either husband or the wife has to prove certain grounds under which a marriage can be dissolved such as adultery, cruelty, insanity, desertion or medical reasons etc. but this makes the whole process very time consuming, expensive, sometimes either party will deliberately find ‘faults’ to defame the other party. solution? UPA wanted to amend Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and the Special Marriage Act, 1954, to make “irretrievable breakdown of marriage” a ground for divorce- IF couple living separately 3 years. Bill pending in Rajya Sabha since 2013. Modi Government hesitant to amend because opposition from certain groups that (1) crooked women will enter in sham marriages and run away with half property by misusing such facility (2) men will fear marrying- as a result more ‘live-in’ relationship & breakdown of family values.
OLF	of the 884 SC judgments in 2014, only 7% dealt with substantial matter of law & Constitution. Remaining 93% just appeals against misc. orders by high courts. Due to majority of such chillar cases, SC is bogged down with unnecessary work.
Ignored	Star channel has won telecast rights for world cup matches. But they’re required to share the feed with Prasar Bharati for ‘public interest’. However, Prasar Bharti further gives these videos to private channels. Hence Star went to SC but no relief.
Ignored	Earlier an Kerala MLA went to Mullaperiyar dam with journalists, to show how weak and dangerous it has become. Now Tamilnadu went to SC asking for CISF cover to protect the dam against such ‘elements’.
Ignored	UGC increased NET/JRF exam fees to 1000 \| 500 \| 250 for General \| OBC \| ST/ST respectively. JNU students protesting.
Ignored	Earlier union Government amended Motor Vehicle Act to permit E-rickshaws. But dismal registration in Delhi. Now Kejri-sarkar running awareness campaign.
Ignored	The Manjhi vs Nitish drama finally ends. Nitish becomes CM of Bihar, after Manjhi resigns instead of facing vote of confidence in Vidhan sabha
Ignored	Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board or Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal- Is nicknamed “Vyapam” in Hindi. Major controversy erupted about the involvement of Chief Minister in Vyapam recruitment scam.
Ignored	Previously SC appointed N.R. Madhava Menon Committee on sarkaari ads had Recommended that names and pictures of political parties and their office-bearers should not be mentioned in government advertisements. SC aims to order Government to enact a law to implement this. However, Government opposed claiming this will amount to a violation of article 19 and imposition of pre-censorship. Ignored because final verdict awaited.
Ignored	Attack on Christian Churches in Delhi. Modi assures religious freedom and protection to all regions.
Ignored	Gangster Abu Salem convicted by Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) for Pradeep Jain murder case. Court Gives him life imprisonment. But during extradition from portugal, indian Government had assured their court we won’t give him more than 25 years jail.
Ignored	Delhi Government says Private electricity distribution companies fall under the ambit of CAG. Companies are opposed. Legal battle ongoing.
Ignored	Tamil Nadu High Court high court bans beauty contests in colleges, because it leads to erosion of moral values among youth- according to a petition.
Ignored	Delhi court asks Government whether online sale of sex toys violate IPC Section 377

FebW4-Polity, Governance
P+M	Government withdraws insurance, coal mining and motor vehicle amendment bills from Rajya Sabha. Plan is to put them in Lok sabha- it’ll get passed due to Modi majority. Then again put in Rajya Sabha- it’ll not be passed due to Modi minority. But then Modi will call joint session of parliament because 1 house passed while 2nd house rejected the same bill. In joint session Modi majority will get everything passed.
P+M	SC says that If a Christian reconverts to Hindu Schedule Caste, he’ll get reservation benefits, but condition- there is clear proof of his parents/grantparents belonging to the said SC caste.
OLF	Central Information Commission (CIC) orders Delhi civic bodies to distribute sweets to people on all national festivals- to promote cultural diversity. (Earlier they’d do it only on religious festivals.)
OLF	NHRC orders placement agencies to give full report of people employed as domestic servants after reports that such agencies are involved in human trafficking, and even selling poor Indian women abroad.
OLF	E-Governance: New Delhi Municipal Council launches “NDMC pleasefix” App to help citizens lodge complaints via smartphones.
OLF	Rajya Sabha MP Ramdas Athawale demands social boycott and breaking of arms and legs of rapists.
OLF	Delhi police aims to install front-facing CCTV cameras on emergency vehicles like ambulances, disaster management vehicles, and police patrol vans. This will help recording evidences and ensure other drivers act responsibly.
Ignored	Modi vs Anna vs Opposition parties on Land ordinance. Basics already covered in old article
Ignored	Vyapam-recruitment scam SIT says Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav also involved.
Ignored	RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat and Shiv Sena allege Mother Teresa used money and sweet talk to convert poors to Christianity.
Ignored	Rahul Gandhi on leave of absence.
Ignored	Essar group whistleblower leaks internal documetns showing how Nitin Gadgari used Essar yatch “Sunrays” in 2013 for free riding with his family. Opposition demands action under prevention of corruption act for any undue favors given to Essay for such freebies.

Environment, Agro

FebW1-Environment, Agro
P Only	Junta protesting against Koteshwar dam across the Bhagirathi in Tehri district, Dehradun after cracks and seepage reported in dam wall. Location important for MCQ
P Only	During 1660s Newton wrote a book “vegetables” – on how plant roots suck minerals and waters and pump it upwards against gravity. Although it took another 200 years for Botanist to explain this.
P Only	Two algae species Ulva paschima Bast, and Cladophora goensis Bast. They grow on shorelines, can be used for carbon sequestration due to (1) their high growth rate near shorelines and (2) their ability to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide.
P Only	Central African endangered plant Sirdavidia named after Sir David Attenborough- a noted environmentalist
P+M	Sinkholes form in riverbeds with gypsum, dolomite or limestone. They melt in water available in the sub surface channels, leading to a sudden collapse. First time, Andhra Pradesh’s Anatapur reported Sinkholes- because (1) overexploitation of groundwater (2) water table not recharged thanks to poor rain. For prelims- definition and reasons for Mains as a fodder on water exploitation.
P+M	Maharashtra Government gives field-trial approval for GM crops. Top countries with largest areas under GM-cultivation -Argentina, Brazil, US, India (4th). We are far ahead of China. India-GM the company Monasoto enjoys near monopoly, while in China- GM developed through PSUs.
OLF	World Bank report say Sunderbans carrying capacity exceeded the population pressure.
OLF	Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) says Santhal and other tribals have shifted from agriculture to menial Labour in past few decades. Because agriculture has became an unsustainable business for them
OLF	Najafgarh has Delhi’s longest sewage drain, and it had became an alternative wetland habitat for birds. However, Asian Water bird Census says less migrant birds coming to Delhi due to climate change.
OLF	Hollywood actor Arnold says Gujarat’s clean energy projects makes it the “California of India” and to combat climate change the sub-national Governments must take similar initiatives.
OLF	Over 1 lakh metric tonne solid waste generated everyday in Indian cities. Quantity sufficient to generate ~450MW electricity and sufficient compost fertilizer to reduce chemical fertilizer usage by 30%. Over 35,000 million litre sewage generated every day- sufficient to irrigate >1 lakh ht. crops. Therefore, Urban minister V.Naidu wants a proper framework for municipal waste to be converted to fuel, fertilizer and water. Main focus on Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) which is obtained by separating combustible part of municiple solid waste from other waste
Ignored	Some food experts believe idli originated from Indonesia, while others argue Arabs bought it to India because they were confused about which food was haram and which one was halal- so simply started boiling rice-balls as food.
Ignored	Josephoartigasia was the largest rodent ever on planet earth. It used front teeth just like an elephant tusks.
Ignored	Ongoing Tussle between NGO Greenpeace vs Government of India over Foreign contribution and anti-national activities.

FebW2-Environment, Agro
P Only	Bru people speak Kau Bru language of Tibeto-Burmese origin. They migrated from Mizoram to Tripura following the ethnic clashes in ’97. But their long stay in Tripura relief camps = damage to environment by firewood collection and poaching. They also clash with indigenous people of Tripura. Hence Union ministry planning their repatriation back Mizoram.
P Only	American plants generate over 2000 tonnes of nuclear waste every year. Government planning to store them under Yucca Mountains in Nevada state.
M+I	TSR Subramanian’s Green law panel submits 55 recommendations. Environment Ministry has partially accepted some of them.
OLF	Modi wants to permits deep sea fishing vessels, but Local fisherman afraid foreign operators will corner such permits and their livelihood will be affected, hence protesting.
OLF	India’s initiatives for monitoring climate change electronically. (1) along with 20 nations, we will deploy a global calculator (In MS – Excel format) to calculate climate impact scenarios in our country e.g. transport, crop yields, forests etc. We will also upgrade our existing tool Indian Energy Security Scenarios (IESS) (Which was originally designed by the former planning commission).
OLF	2011: Adani Purchased Abbot Point terminal In Queensland, Australia. Now Adani wants to dredge the Great Barrier Reef To expand coal port. Environmentalists opposing this move
OLF	Israel runs world’s largest desalination plants and recycles 90 per cent of water for agricultural. They have offered to share their expertise in cleaning ganga.
Ignored	Around 1540, the Spanish Empire forced Peru’s Incas to in silver mines of Potosi mountains. Now Scientists observed evidence of mining/smelting pollution in the icecaps near Peru. Thus, Humans have begin polluting the earth 240 years before the Industrial Revolution.
Ignored	A parasitic wasp employs a virus as a “biological weapon” to paralyse a beetle and turn it into a bodyguard for wasp-larva.
Ignored	Ituglanis boticario is a carnivore fish living underground caves in central Brazil. Researchers claim increased cattle ranching= less water reaching the caves=fish population declined.
Ignored	The Delhi High Court asks Delhi Government to furnish pollution map of the city since 2010.
Ignored	Water Resources Ministry planning to revive Brahmaputra Board with a new mandate and schemes. Topic becomes important only after its officially notified.

FebW3-Environment, Agro
P Only	Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune launched “SAFARAir” app to increase air-pollution awareness among juntaa.
P Only	Geoengineering aims to fight climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or by increasing the reflectivity of the earth using artificial clouds or even space dust- to reduce the sun’s warmth and thereby Global warming. But now even CIA interested in geoengineering- to “weaponize” weather. Although it is nothing new, previously united kingdom wanted to produce artificial clouds to stop smooth flight of German bombers. Similarly During Vietnam war, America’s “operation Popeye” aimed to increase Rainfall in Vietnam to reduce the movement of North Vietnamese Army in the jungle.
P Only	‘Vanaj 2015’ Tribal festival held at Delhi
P Only	Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) setup in 1916- began planning for its upcoming cemetery celebrations. Will convert paper database into online taxonomy. So far India has reported 96,000 species = ~8% of total species in the world. However, ZSI believes so far we have discovered hardly 10% of our actual species in India.
P Only	latest report of Forest Survey of India: 5,871 sq km increase in the forest cover of India, West Bengal accounts for nearly 64 per cent of this rise. Top gainers- Bengal> Odisha>Kerala. Top losers: Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh.
P Only	Pilot whales are most common species of whale in New Zealand waters. Topic in news because 100 of them stranded on a New Zealand, rescue workers waiting for high tide to push’em back into the water.
P+M	ICAR achievements: E-Kapas voice based service for cotton farmers, infocrop wheat module for identifying location based suitable variety of wheat, Chitosan based hand sanitizer, derived policonasol from lac, lac-based coating to preserve fruit freshness, health supplement from collagen of fish scales, Aseel: indigenous chicken breed-its genome decoded. 4G nano based nutritional agriculture inputs (P, Mg, Zn, Fe); Deepasha: the only surviving wild-female-buffalo from Asha breed in Chhattisgarh.
P+M	PM launches ‘Soil Health Card scheme’ with gives slogan: “Swasth Dharaa. Khet Haraa.” – Healthy Earth. Green Farm. Card validity 3 years-then renew. Card to display soil fertility and recommend fertilizers accordingly. This will improve crop yields, prevent soil-water contamination due to excessive use of fertilizers and thus reduce Government subsidy bill.
P+M	Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) is now renamed to Jal Sadhana with tagline “Conserve water, Conserve life”. Will be monitored through mobile app “drishti”. Features (1) involve community at every stage (2) use remote sensing and satellite imageries (3) de-silting of water harvesting structures before monsoon-2015. (4) ensure every farm receives water.
P+M	Mridaparikshak’, is a MINILAB that can determine soil health using digital-mobile-soil-test kit. Developed by Bhopal centre of ICAR. It determines all the important soil parameters i.e. soil pH, EC, organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur and micronutrients like zinc, boron and iron. Accordingly, farmer gets SMS info. on recommended fertilizer. System compatible with Soil health card system. Even 11-12 pass farmers themselves can use it with little training.
OLF	To relocated Lions from Gir (Gujarat), Madhya Pradesh had began expending Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary. In this process, ~8,000 Sahariya tribal people displaced in late 90s. New study says it has reduced their life expectancy.
OLF	Madhya Pradesh->Singrauli District->Mahan Coalmines. Tribals are opposing it. Greenpeace activist Ms. Pillai wanted to raise this matter to British MPs. But Government of India banned her foreign travel. New condition: if she gives written undertaking that she will not make any submissions about rights violations in India before a British Parliamentary Committee, only then she’ll be allowed to travel. Because such testimonies lead to release of “biased annual reports” by EU and US parliaments and adverse trade negotiations.
OLF	Brazil is called the “Saudi Arabia of water” Given the abundant water resources of Amazon. But now, Sao Paulo facing the worst draw period in the century- because of its polluted rivers, deforestation and population growth.
OLF	“Operation Opson 4”- run by Interpol and Europol to stop “food-adulteration”. So far they have investigated lakh of litres of misbranded alcohol, malt, whiskey, beer and caviar from China and other Asian countries coming to Europe. In a way its good because such cheap Asian exports were hurting Indian food processing industry.
OLF	Union Government permits 5% ethanol blending with petrol. Steps taken – remunerative prices offered to sugar mills to supply ethanol to oil marketing cos. But problems (1) states levy additional taxes in pretext of ‘import-export’ and even extra octroi (2) state excise inspectors don’t give NOC for Inter-state movement of ethanol easily. These “transaction barriers” are hurting the policy implementation.
OLF	India is the 4th largest energy consumer in world. Demand to dobule by 2030, make in India can’t succeed hence must focus on renewable. ~34 out ~250 GW of India’s energy output comes from renewable sources. Problems (1) 70% solar cells imported from USA and China (2) small hydro power potential 20GB but so far achieved not even 4% (3) need to permit finance through tax-free “green bonds” just like in USA, China and Europe
Ignored	Nobel winner and TERI DG R. K. Pachauri accused of sexually harassing a colleague.
Ignored	Auction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dark suit with golden pinestrips, at Surat. A diamond merchant Lalji Patel won it for 4.31 crores, money to be spent on Ganga cleanup.
Ignored	NGT order Delhi Government to explore possibility of rainwater harvesting on its flyovers. NGT fines 11 Delhi hospitals for not adopting water harvesting methods and so on

Science Tech, Defense, IT, Healthcare

Swine Flu mechanism 4CSAT, Government action plan 4mains

FebW1-Science Tech, Defense, IT, Healthcare
Defense	P Only	Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. Signed contract to supply 14 Dornier-228 aircraft to the Indian Air Force.
Defense	Ignored	RK Gupta- the DRDO project director for nuke-capable Agni-V missile moved out.
Defense	OLF	China has only one aircraft carrier ship – Laoning. But given the increased presence of US forces in the region under Obama’s Asia-Pivot policy, the Chinese Government planning to induct more aircraft carrier vessels.
IT/electronics	OLF	A Shanghai builder planning World’s tallest 3D-printed building” using a 3D printer.
IT/electronics	OLF	Army making its own Mobile Cellular Communications System (MCCS) using BEL handsets and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology because its harder to spoof. They also created a separate Army Wide Areas Network (AWAN) to connect HQ with battalion level formations using optical fiber network.
IT/electronics	P Only	Silicene is world’s thinnest silicon material. Researchers used it to create One-atom-thin silicon transistors
IT/electronics	P Only	Spectrum is a frequencies band of electromagnetic waves or radio waves. Radio waves are used for communication and broadcasting. Example FM radio- 88 to 108 Mhz, Mobile services on providers 900-1800 MHz and so on. But Two operators cannot use the same frequency in the same region, else interference. Therefore, Government allocates spectrum among the service providers through auction
IT/electronics	P Only	Ultra Wide Band (UWB) are popular for short and medium range communications. They use minimal spectrum, minimal power and don’t interfere with other communication services. Department of Space working on the main passive components of the Ultra Wide Band systems i.e. “antenna” and “filter”- on Silicon Substrate.
Medical	Ignored	Scientists studying Mixed Lineage Leukaemia (MLL) protein to find out leukemia occurs in people.
Medical	OLF	NACO working on special software to link Aadhar cards of AIDS patients. Next time person goes in a different clinic, it’ll automatically show data about his previous registration and tests.
Medical	OLF	WHO fears cancer deaths will rise by 70% in next 20 years. Must focus on HPV-vaccine, Hep-B vaccine and reduce non-ionizing sunlight radiation. These measures will help reduce deaths from non-communicable diseases by 25 per cent by 2025
Medical	OLF	Health ministry submits to SC, our expert panel working to amend Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 to give more punishment to milk adulteration crooks.
Medical	OLF	under Right to education Act, 11 categories of weaker sections eligible to 25% quota and free education in the private schools- including BPL, SC/ST and even HIV infected. For the first time, a private school in Ahmedabad ordered to give free education to an HIV-infected class-10 boy.
Medical	P Only	Till now, Scientists believed stem cells can be used to create new eggs and thereby cure infertility. New research says it’s not possible.
Medical	P Only	Litchi seeds contain ‘methylenecyclopropylglycine’ (MCPG). Researchers claim its responsible for the summer outbreaks of mysterious brain disease in among young children in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar.
Medical	P Only	Feb 10: the national deworming day by health ministry.
Medical	P Only	The inventor of contraceptive pills, Carl Djerassi died recently. So, principle behind the pill becomes important for MCQ.
Medical	P+M	UK passes law for regulation of ‘3-parent-baby’ treatment. If mom has defective DNA for mitochondria, baby will suffer heart-liver-brain damage. Solution- insert healthy DNA code from another female into her egg, fertilize it with father’s sperm= 3 parent baby.
Medical	P+M	Rising Swine flu cases. Union framing an action plan. Origin-Symptoms-treatment important for prelims and action plan for mains.

FebW2-Science Tech, Defense, IT, Healthcare
Defense	P Only	INSV Mhadei sets record of sailing 1 lakh nautical miles. In 2010 and 2013, Indian navy officers have circumnavigated the globe in this boat.
Defense	P Only	Royal British Navy’s HMS Hermes had participated in the Falkland wars and in late-80s it was inducted in Indian navy as INS-Viraat, the aircraft carrier. Navy planning to decomission it in 2016, because (a) expensive repair work (2) its Sea Harrier aircrafts not much use in modern-combat.
Defense	OLF	Defence Minister Parrikar says While we may not be able to produce latest defense equipment like developed countries, but still we’ve expertise to build and export hi-tech stuff to other developing countries who’re already interested in buying ISRO’s space-expertise after Mangalyan success.
Defense	OLF	Union Information and Broadcasting Minister says hardly any war documentaries made in India. Our war history needs to be popularised using the digital media.
Defense	Ignored	CISF personnel are Responsible for the security of Delhi International airport. But Delhi airport not paying for their services since last seven months, hence their salary is entirely bourne by Government of India.
IT/electronics	M+I	Net neutrality principle requires ISPs not to give advantage to one type of traffic over the other. Violation cases (1) Airtel’s decision to charge extra money on its mobile-internet users IF they use skype to make free calls over internet. Although later decision taken back. (2) Facebook launches internet.org initiative in India with help of Anil Ambani’s Reliance communication. We are 6th country in the world to be covered under facebook’s ‘free-internet’ scheme. Basic idea is- every reliance phone subscribe will get free internet access to facebook, wikipedia etc selected sites. Criticism: Neutrality principle is violated because other similar social networking sites / and knowledge sites will not get visitors. Because junta given ‘free internet’ only for a selected group of sites allied with Facebook. So in a way, facebook misusing its dominant position via this “zero-rating” business strategy.
IT/electronics	P+M	ultrathin sheets have thickness of just few atoms, and width of just few micrometers. They’re made using transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). They haven numerous applications such as better rechargable batteries, but at present TMD-manufacturing very expensive. Indian-American scientist Gurpreet Singh given 5 lakh dollar “CAREER” award for pursuing this research.
IT/electronics	OLF	Government admits foreign agents committed Cyber-espionage against Indian Government servers but real-culprits yet to be identified.
IT/electronics	Ignored	Raspeberry 2- the new more powerful edition of that Raspberry credit card sized computer. Ignored because basics already done in old article
Medical	P Only	Brain: Short-term memory stored in “Pre-Fronta” and long term memory stored at Hippocampus, a horseshoe shaped paired structure.
Medical	P+M	Government will vaccinate all the health workers dealing with H1N1 cases. And simultenously to reduce workload of medical staff, Union home ministry declares new guidelines against swine flu.Patients are now classified into three categories. Category A: people with mild fever, headache etc. but do not require testing for H1A1 And don’t need to be hospitalised. Category B : those with high grade fever and high-risk category. Category – C: those with all symptoms of category a and B, and need to be hospitalised.
Medical	P+M	Biocapsules are made of a polymer with size less than one militer. These capsules are filled with insulin or antibiotics. Doctor places them placed on the infection site, and gives micro-shock waves through a handheld machine. These shockwaves kill Staphylococcus bacteria and facilitate in drug-release from capsule. Injections not needed anymore.
Medical	P+M	10th Feb is National Deworming day by health ministry. To protect kids from 1 to 19 age from intestinal worms. Albendazole tablets will be given to kids. These parasites can live throughout the body but prefer to live on intestinal wall. Kids get them via contaminated food, water and soil. Main-species: helminth, roundworm, hookworm. They give diarrhoea, abdominal pain, weakness and anaemia.
Medical	OLF	As such India to spend 2 billion$ till 2020 for family planning. Yet, we are unlikely to achieve fifth Millennium Development Goals (MDG-5) of reducing maternal mortality to 109 per 1,00,000 live births by 2015. But we’ll be able to reduce total fertility rate (TFR) to 2.1 (right now 2.3.
Medical	OLF	Google to add a “health-related” feature in its search-engine. So, if you type “malaria”, it’ll show symptoms and treatments.
Sci-Tech	P Only	The inventor of Laser & Nobel winner, Charles H. Townes died in USA recently. Hence laser principal and application becomes important for UPSC. Laser applications: surgical instruments, bar code readers, CD players etc.
Sci-Tech	P Only	As such heavy water is used in nuclear power station but, Gulf countries also use it for for oil exploration. Now Department of Atomic energy will begin such feasibility in India.
Space-tech	P Only	2019: world’s biggest solar telescope will be opened in Hawaii

FebW3-Science Tech, Defense, IT, Healthcare
Defense	OLF	U.S. helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky says it’ll produce S-70B Seahawk naval helicopters in “Make in India” IF Government orders 120 multirole helicopters from them.
Defense	OLF	Women power in armed forces: After a lady officer gave guard of honor to Obama, after a contingent of Women-only armed forces parade during 26th Jan, now at Aero India show- two women are part of IAF’s “Sarang” Helicopter formation team.
Defense	Ignored	Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha says Sukhoi is not a replacement for Rafale as their capabilities are different. They complement each other but do not replace each other.
Defense	OLF	Kalyani group to from JV with Rafael (Israel) for joint defense production (51-49 partnership)under “Make in India”.
Defense	P Only	Privthi-2 missile test fire. Full strike range 350 kms, nuke capable yes.
Defense	OLF	Russian Irkut Corp’s Su-30 MKIs are manufactured in HAL’s Nasik plant. Yak-130 combat trainer.
Defense	P Only	‘Aero India 2015’: held at Bengaluru. Focus: Make in India- for aerospace, defence, civil aviation and airport infrastructure in line with the government’s mantra.
Defense	P Only	Dakota-3- this aircraft played crucial role in Bangladesh liberation war. IAF donated Dakota-3, Twin Otter plan and Aloutte-3 helicopter to Bangladeshi Airforce.
Defense	OLF	Government aims to create a ‘tri-services chief’ known as Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). Most countries have this official with overall perspective of 3 services and direct liaison with the President. At present we’ve CISC (Chief of Integrated Defence Staff)- 3 star post headed by Air Marshal P.P. Reddy. The three Services chiefs are four-star.
Defense	P Only	Pakistan Army launched Operation ‘Zarbe-azab’ against Taliban in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). They aim to finish it before end of 2015, Then begin reconstruction and rehabilitation of people.
IT/electronics	Ignored	New research says People who are insecure in their relationships are more actively engaged on Facebook And other social networking sites. This tendency is called “feedback seeking” behavior.
IT/electronics	P+M	internet penetration (1) first world saturated (2) China many restriction, so all tech-giants looked at India. Internet business to cover 600 million indians and 7% of India’s GDP in 2020. so, to get junta hooked up with net, 3 initiatives (1) Facebook-Anil Ambani tieup for Internet.org to give free access to limited sites in their mobile phones + solar-powered internet drones in future (2) Google to beam internet using helium balloons + working on google fiber to give 100 times faster net than broadband (3) microsoft to get unused television spectrum from doordarshan to launch “white-fi” internet.
IT/electronics	P Only	Automotive emergency braking (AEB)- Use a short distance low-power radar operation at 76-77 Ghz frequency, to automatically brakes on the car during emergency. Same way blindspot detection apps work in 24-81 Ghz frequency. Automobile companies are requesting the Department of Telecom delicense This frequency bandwidth so that such safety measures can be implemented in more number of cars and mid and low-cost segment.
IT/electronics	Ignored	Apple Inc. planning to build electric cars, even poaching experts from noted automobile companies, says a leaked report.
Medical	P+M	Nanogold particle usages (1) bind it to drug molecule using sulphur. Then drug can be delivered to any part of body (2) if they’re delivered to cancer site and then Infrared light is emittedthey get excited, hot & kill cancerous cells because of “surface plasmon resonance” property. (3) can improve efficiency of solar cells (4) breaking down organic contaminants for water-purification.
Medical	P+M	Serum Institute of India, Pune will being production of Nasovac- the Swine flu (H1N1) vaccine soon. This is an egg-based, trivalent, live attenuated vaccine with shelf life of 1 year.
Medical	P Only	Albinism is a hereditary genetic condition. Result: No pigmentation in skin, eyes and hairs. 1 out of 1400 Tanzanians have Albinism- mostly due to inbreeding. Idiotic Tanzanian Mobs kills such people and sell their bodyparts for $600-$75,000 for witchcrating. UN Human rights commissioner has condemned this practice.
Medical	P Only	70% liquid drugs in India are sold in plastic (PET) bottles. But polyethylene terephthalate (PET) interacts with drug molecules, releases bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates that can reduce immunity, induce miscarriage, abnormal DNA-birth defects etc. Hence Delhi doctors demanding ban on using PET bottles in pharma companies.
Medical	OLF	Diarrhea and pneumonia are the biggest reasons for under-5 child mortality in India. Bihar ranks the top. WHO recommends only oral rehydration salts (ORS) for diarrhea. Nothing else. But a new study revealed, majority of Indian health workers and pediatricians give other unnecessary drugs and antibiotics, sometimes even without checking the child patient. Hardly 4% give correct treatment. Hence so many deaths.
Medical	P+M	Low density lipoprotein (L.D.L) Cholesterol creates fat-deposits in blood vessels. Later on if coronary artery gets blocked- you get heart attack. If vessel supplying blood to brain gets affected then you get stroke. Now scientists binding cholesterol lowering Statin drugs with AC2-26 nanoparticles to prevent this clotting
Medical	P+M	To cure MDR and XDR TB, scientists binding polymers with antibiotic-nanoparticles. Polymer will bind to bacteria in body and nanoparticile will release the drug. This “personalized” targeted drug delivery will help faster recovery from TB.
Medical	P Only	ATP molecule acts as a storehouse of energy and fuels the physiological activities. Similar molecule IP7 also responsible for energy, DNA-repair, blood-cloting and other processes in the cell. IP7 made up of sugar and 7-phospate groups. Scientists believe its DNA-repair mechanism can be used to cure cancer.
Medical	P Only	IMA warns that Tamiflu is not an Over-the-counter (OTC) precautionary drug for Swine flu. Unless you have tested positive, you must not take it.
Medical	Ignored	Malnutrition levels are high among Children’s of migrant workers, says a new study.
Medical	P Only	International Epilepsy Day celebrated on February 9. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that is treated with medication. It’s not a contagious disease, it does not spread by touch.
Medical	OLF	Rajasthan State Government aims to launch health insurance scheme for people covered under food Security act. Critics argue This is a ploy to handover public health care system to private clinics (because Government will simply pay money to beneficiary irrespective of whether he gets treated at a public hospital or a private hospital.) need of the hour is hosting the public health Infrastructure. And since Modi’s factory – labour reforms where previously inspired from Rajasthan State government, critiques fear same model will be replicated at all India level under the proposed national health assurance scheme.
Medical	OLF	Thailand bans surrogacy by foreign couples after a couple refuses to take away their ‘baby’ born with Down’s syndrome and overall moral degeneration of women’s body into ‘rental-wombs’. Perhaps India should consider.
Sci-Tech	Ignored	Limpets are small aquatic creatures. There have teeth are so strong, its structure can be copied to make cars, boats and planes of the future.
Space-tech	Ignored	Scientists baffled by plumes rising 250 kms above mars surface. Scientists to use satellites over 700 kms to check ocean acidification.
Space-tech	Ignored	Achuthanandan and Vaiko to launch joint campaign against the proposed India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) at Theni, alleging it’ll harm both people and environment. Dharna ‘specialist’ Medha Patkar also invited. Union Government defends (1) no weapons or radioactive material in this lab (2) deliberately set underground-to prevent instruments from cosmic radiation. (3) tunnels won’t harm dam or ecology.
Space-tech	P Only	Mars one projects aims to setup permanent human settlement at Mars. Kerala’s Dr. Lekha Menon Margassery selected through contest, she’ll be shipped in 2024.

History & Culture

FebW1-History & Culture
P Only	Sarnath: here Lord Buddh delivered first sermon and 11th Jain Trithankar Shreyamshanath was born. World bank will fund for upgrading this site, nearby villages and their handicraft industries.
P Only	UNESCO officers to visit Ahmedabad soon, to decide if it deserves “heritage” tag.
OLF	Navjivan trust members say there is need to replace Gandhian icons with changing times. E.g. Charkha causes noise pollution – better just gift it as a memento.
Ignored	A 400-year-old Tamil ‘hero stone’ proves existence of Bull-sport Jallikattu in India. Earlier Maneka Gandhi had said Jallikattu was a foreign event introduced in India.

FebW4-Environment, Agro
P Only	Union to give money to Harayana for conversation of Hariana, Sahiwal and Gir breeds of indigenous cattle, under ‘Gosamvardhan and Gosanrakshan’ projects.
P Only	Sunda Pangolins are critically endangered species of Vietnam. Restaurants buy them at premium price for ‘alleged’ medicinal benefits.
P Only	Greater Kruger National Park, South Africa has raised a women only group “Black Mambas” for protecting the rhinos.
OLF	India’s coal-based thermal power plant most inefficient in the world says Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)’s Green Rating Project (GRP). Reforms suggested (1) stronger norms for Particulate matter, Sox, NoX, mercury (2) higher use of ash (3) increase coal washing (3) capacity expansion permit only for those plants using super critical technology (4) encourage PAT (Perform, Achieve, Trade) (5) water tariff should be raised to prevent its excessive use.
OLF	US universities research says Indian life expectancy reduced by 3 years due to high pollution.
OLF	After industrial revolution the aerosols increased in atmosphere. Consequently ITCZ shifted southwards since 1900. As a result southern atmosphere got warmer, more evaporation and rainfall. While northen hemisphere got cooler- leading to dry climate and less rainfall.
Ignored	Fukushima nuke plant again leaking radioactive water in the sea.
Ignored	NGT says vintage cars can’t be driven on road- because they are more polluting than modern cars.

FebW4-Science Tech, Defense, IT, Healthcare
Defense	OLF	India Russia jointly want to build 400 fifth generation aircrafts (FGFA) but research phase agreement yet to be sorted out between HAL and its Russian counterpart. Hopefully matter will resolve after this year’s Russia visit of Pranab and Modi.
Defense	Ignored	INS Sindhugosh’s periscope damaged during an exercise, because of a fishing vessel near mumbai coast.
IT/electronics	OLF	An Israeli company “Sesame Enable” is Designing handsfree smartphone that works by tracking the head movements of users. This will be of great help to disabled people, particularly with spinal cord injuries
IT/electronics	P+M	Govt. to celebrate Internet Safety Week from 10th to 17th February 2015. CERT, google an Mygov will focus on internet safety, particularly for children and youngsters.
IT/electronics	OLF	French company Gemalto makes 2 billion SIM CARDS a year. Ex-NSA-operative Edward Snowden claims US-UK spy agencies have hacked that sim maker company to moniter call-texts-emails made from mobiles.
Medical	P Only	In 1347, Black plague killed 1/3rd of European population. Till now scientists believed Black rats carried plague bacteria, Yersinia pestis. But new research says due climate change even other mammals such as great gerbils and marmots also harbored this bacteria.
Medical	OLF	AIIMS and allied bodies released a book “Voice of Conscience From the Medical Profession”. It details the unethical practices- private hospitals deliberately give targets to its employee-doctors to prescribe surgeries to patient even if it’s unnecessary- to raise the hospital bill.
Medical	OLF	The UNICEF and the Indian Medical Association have joined hands to train doctors on how to treat child sexual abuse (CSA) victims.
Medical	OLF	WHO requests nations to switch over to smart syringes” to stop the menace of Hepatitis and AIDS. Smart syringes don’t work after single use. This prevents spread of diseases through needle-sharing.
Medical	OLF	Smokers die 10 years sooner says a report.
Medical	P+M	Chemical ministry to celebrate 2015 as “Year of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients”, with focus on “make in India” so we become self-reliant on bulk drug production, instead of importing from China. Government also setup “Katoch” Committee to bulk drug issues. It gave report, but yet to be implemented.
Medical	P+M	Mission ‘Indradhanush: for vaccination against 7 preventable disease by 2020. This diseases are diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B. plus our universal immunization program to include 3 more vaccines against rotavirus, rubella and polio
Medical	Ignored	Alaska becomes 3rd US state to legalize marijuana
Sci-Tech	P Only	IISc Bangalore researchers produce a superior water filter using Polymer Reverse osmosis (RO) Nanomembranes (using PVDF and PMMA material). RO membranes now require less pressure to produce pure water. Plus, silver, titanium dioxide and carbon nanotubes are embedded on membrane to kill E. coli bacteria. (1) Silver kills bacteria by damaging its cell protein integrity (2) Titanium Dioxide works best in presence of UV light (3) Carbon nanotubes kill the bacteria through direct physical contact.
Space-tech	Ignored	NASA astronauts complete spacewalks to setup a “parking spot” for Boeing and SpaceX spacecraft at International Space Station (ISS).
Space-tech	P Only	Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) planning to build its own space outpost similar to International Space Station (ISS). ROSCOSMOS will stop its modules to ISS after 2024. At present Russia is the only country that can ferry humans to ISS using its Soyuz rockets.

FebW2-History & Culture
P Only	Khongjom Parma: it is a Manipuri ballad that recalls heroic battle between Manipuris against the British army on India Burma road, during 1891. April 23 is observed as remembrance day in Manipur to mark this event. Ibemni Devi- first woman khongjom balladeer, won Padma Shri (2012).
OLF	2008: Tourism ministry launched ‘Explore Rural India’ program under its ‘Incredible India’ campaign to make foreign tourists vacation in villages, providing livelihood opportunities to rural junta. Puducherry’s Alankuppam village selected (2011)
Ignored	The Peranakan Chinese are descendants of southern Chinese traders who settled in South-East Asia and married local women. Their culture is rooted in Chinese traditions, but with strong influences from South-East Asia and Europe. Topic in news because Delhi Museum holding an exhibition
Ignored	ASI had found Satvahan remnants in Medak district of Telangana in 2009- Lajja Gauri statue, coins, terracotta seals etc. It has strong linkages to Hampi of Karnataka. But not much progress in excavation due to lack of funds.
Ignored	Ex-CAG Vinod Rai’s Audit report says over 200 kg of gold Siphoned off from Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala. Basics Already covered old article.

FebW3-History & Culture
M+I	World History: When Apartheid S.African Government closed down all avenues for legal-peaceful protests, Nelson Mandela felt violence was the only means. He went underground and began sabotaging while avoiding civilian causalities. Caught in 62, released in the 90, became President only once. Topic in news because he was released in 11/02/1990 so 2015 marks 25th anniversary of his release.

FebW4-History & Culture
P Only	The much-awaited unveiling of a Mahatma Gandhi bronze statue to be unveiling at London’s Parliament Square. Designer: Philip Jackson. Jaitley may be the special guest.Status commemorates 100th anniversary of Gandhiji’s return to India from South Africa to launch the Independence Movement.
P Only	Britain will honor Indian soldiers who fought in WW1. 11 out of 628 winners of Victoria cross, were from undivided India. Kanpore’s Seopy Chatta Singh’s stone laid in a ceremony at Staffordshire. + planning to raise a Sikh regiment

Download Excel File (Dec-2014 till now)

[button type=”real” shape=”rounded” size=”small” href=”https://www.mediafire.com/folder/xd8g0yrwgcb6r/Current_Affairs_Excel_File” title=”Current Affairs Topiclist for UPSC” target=”blank”][icon type=”cloud-download”]Download the EXCEL File[/button]

Q. In above excel file, you’ve used gibberish codes like “00P, 0P+M, OLF, z_ignored”, why?

It helps sorting all cells quickly in ascending or descending order based on their specific utility. 00P means only for prelims, 0P+M = Prelim and mains, OLF = One line fodder

“End result” of the gimmick= a neatly arranged topiclist

Q. What exactly is this list?

Ans. It contains of weekly list of important Current Affairs topics from theHindu, IndianExpress, pib.nic.in, frontline and other sources –which are important from UPSC exam point of view.

Q. How do you define weeks in Current Affairs list?
Week	Dates
W1	1-7
W2	8-14
W3	16-21
W4	22 to 28/29/30/31 depending on month

Q. I had read xyz column in Hindu but I don’t see it here listed here.

Ans. As such all columns should be read for improving reading comprehension skills for CSAT Paper-II. So, no point in listing here. Keep a habit of reading them on daily basis.

Q. What is the purpose of listing these topics? You have not written any content about them!

Ans. Those are the topics from Hindu, Indian express, PIB, frontline etc. which I consider important for UPSC prelims and mains. I’ll be covering them at my own pace.

Q. Will you finish all these topics in your articles before the mains exam?

Ans. No. Unlike Salman Khan, I make no “commitment” of delivering full-length articles those topics.

Q. Then why have you listed these topics?

Ans. To help the serious players crosscheck and update their notes accordingly, for UPSC civil service exam.

[Current Topiclist] February Week1 to Week4 (1 to 28): Only Topiclist

IR/Diplomacy

Economy

Polity, Governance

Environment, Agro

Science Tech, Defense, IT, Healthcare

History & Culture

Download Excel File (Dec-2014 till now)

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[Current Topiclist] February Week1 to Week4 (1 to 28): Only Topiclist

IR/Diplomacy

Economy

Polity, Governance

Environment, Agro

Science Tech, Defense, IT, Healthcare

History & Culture

Download Excel File (Dec-2014 till now)

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