comprehensive current affairs 22 july 2020

EC not to extend postal ballot to those aged 65 years and above.

With more than 70 lakh electors above 65 years of age, the Election Commission has decided against extending postal ballots to them in the upcoming Bihar Assembly election due to the logistical challenges posed, an EC source said.

The EC had recommended extending the postal ballot facility to electors over 65 years as the age group had been termed most vulnerable to COVID-19. The Law Ministry notified the change to the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 on June 19, extending the facility to electors above 65 years, as opposed to the existing provision for above 80 years.

However, on July 16, the EC announced that it would not be extending the facility to electors of age 65 and above due to logistical, staff and safety protocol-related constraints.
The source said that while reviewing the preparations for the poll, the EC decided that it would not be possible to arrange the facility for about 72 lakh electors, about 10% of the total 7.19 crore voters in the State.

The source said the facility for this category of electors is not the conventional postal service. The system works as a polling station on the move, with the polling staff visiting the homes of senior citizens.

Indian Parliament to bring in new norms ahead of monsoon session.

For the monsoon session of Parliament, to ensure that the members adhere to physical distancing norms, a plan is being mulled over, whereby members of both Houses will sit spread out in the RajyaSabha and LokSabha halls.

One House will meet in the morning and the other in the afternoon, with enough time in between to sanitise both the halls.

This plan was arrived at following a meeting between RajyaSabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu and LokSabha Speaker Om Birla.

 

India and Bhutan launched Jaigaon -Ahllay Trade Route.

Two countries launched a new route that operates between Jaigaon in West Bengal and Ahllay in Bhutan.

Expected Benefits:

• Boost bilateral trade and commerce.

• Beneficial for the movement of heavy vehicles like trucks and industrial raw materials from India to Bhutan.

•Decongest vehicular traffic along the Jaigaon-Phuentsholing route.

India-Bhutan Trade:

• India is Bhutan’s largest trading partner. The bilateral trade stood at Rs 9,227 crore in 2018.

• Bhutan imports mineral products, machinery and mechanical appliances, electrical equipment, base metals, vehicles, vegetable products, plastics and articles from India.

• Bhutan exports electricity, portland cement, dolomite, timber and wood products, potatoes, cardamom and fruit products to India.

Kholongchhu (Joint Venture) Hydroelectric Project:

• Hydropower sector is the flagship area of India-Bhutan bilateral cooperation.

• The run-of-the-river project is located on the lower course of the Kholongchhu river in
Trashiyangtse district of eastern Bhutan.

• The project envisages an underground powerhouse of four 150 MW turbines, with water impounded by a concrete gravity dam of 95 metres height.

• It will be implemented by Kholongchhu Hydro Energy Limited, a joint venture company formed between Druk Green Power Corporation of Bhutan and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam of India.

UN draft declaration goes soft on reforms demand.

Despite India’s repeated demands for reform of the UN Security Council, the process of the expansion of the membership is expected to slow down this year with the final draft of the Declaration on the Commemoration of the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the U.N. favouring a softer approach to the issue.

Mention of ‘discussions’ in this key anniversary document is being interpreted as dilution of the progress made on the path of reform of the principal organs of the UN during the 122nd plenary meeting of the General Assembly.

The final draft for the upcoming UNGA is also a step down from the Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on September 16, 2005 when the call for reform was demanded against the backdrop of widespread unilateral decisions as seen during the Iraq war of 2003 and the “war on terror”.
The 2005 Resolution had expressed strong global will to stop misuse of military power and said, “We are determined to reinvigorate the intergovernmental organs of the United Nations to adopt them to the needs of the twenty-first century”.

 

Bangladesh bans free internet for social media users.

The Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has issued orders for the telecom companies to stop free internet services to its subscribers for accessing social media. 

The regulatory authority asked the telecom service providers to stop the service because it gives rise to unhealthy competition between the companies. 

The BTRC order also said that this facility was being used by some people for carrying out criminal activities on the social media.

BTRC issued the order after it was instructed by the information ministry to ensure safe internet and maintain normal market competition. The telecom companies have started implementing the order from Friday.

CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur, unveils the COVID Protection System (COPS) for Workplace.

CMERI or the Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute is the apex R&D institute for mechanical engineering under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
The institute’s mandate is to serve the industry and develop mechanical engineering
technology so that India’s dependence on foreign collaboration is substantially reduced in strategic and economic sectors.

Besides, the institute is facilitating innovations and inventions for establishing the claims
of Indian talent in international fields where Indian products shall ultimately compete.
It is located in Durgapur, West Bengal.

COVID Protection System (COPS) for Workplace:

This system can be utilised by organisations as healthcare workers and frontline security guards are vulnerable to COVID-19 through infected individuals and contaminated objects.

The COPS is a conglomeration of Solar Based Intelligent Mask Automated Dispensing Unit cum Thermal Scanner (IntelliMAST), Touchless Faucet (TouF) and 360 degree Car Flusher.

·        IntelliMAST: It is an Intelligent surveillance kiosk which identifies the body
temperature and whether an individual is wearing face mask or not through
customized software solutions.

·        Touchless Faucet (TouF): It is being launched for households and office spaces. The
system dispenses liquid soap and water from the same faucet with a time-gap of 30 seconds, which is as per the latest Government guidelines.

·         360 degree Car Flusher: It is a sodium hypochlorite water screen that uses
specialized nozzle design to ensure that the sanitizer diffused water is evenly spread
over and under the car body or wheels with adequate water force and coverage.

·         These are now available for Technology Transfers and Product Orders.

 

Giant cockroaches discovered from eastern Indian Ocean.

A new species of cockroach has been found deep in the Indian Ocean by a team of researchers from Singapore.The researchers found the species when they were working on the unexplored waters of Indian Ocean in Banta. Bantan is in the southern coast of West Java in Indonesia.The newly found cockroach species has been named “Bathynomusraksasa”.

The cockroach belongs to the genus Bathynomous. It has 14 legs and uses them to crawl along the bed of oceans in search of food.It measured 50 centimetres in length and is big for isopods.

In general, the isopods that reach to a length of 50 centimetres are generally referred to super giants.The raksasa eats dead marine animals such as fish and whales. It can also go for long periods without food. This is a common trait the raksasa shares with cockroaches.

India looks into privatisation of more banks.

India is looking to privatise more than half of its state-owned banks to reduce the number of government-owned lenders to just five as part of an overhaul of the banking industry, government and banking sources said.

The first part of the plan would be to sell majority stakes in Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, UCO Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and Punjab & Sind Bank, leading to an effective privatisation of these state-owned lenders, a government official said.

The official said that such a plan would be laid out in a new privatisation proposal the government is currently formulating, and this would be put before the Cabinet for approval.The Centre is working on a privatisation plan to help raise money by selling assets in non-core companies and sectors when the country is strapped for funds due to lack of economic growth caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several government panels and the RBI have recommended a maximum of five state-owned banks.
The divestment may not happen in this financial year due to unfavourable market conditions, the sources said.India expects bad loans at its banks could double after the crisis brought the economy to a standstill.

 

Centre and Telcos assure supreme court on non re-assessment of AGR dues.

The Centre and telcos on Monday assured the Supreme Court that they would not conduct any re-assessment or re-calculation of the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues.

A Bench led by Justice Arun Mishra said it would not tolerate “even for a second” any attempt to re-assess the AGR dues which now stands at ₹1.6 lakh crore. The Bench, however, reserved its verdict on the timeline for the staggered payments.

The Bench observed that 15 or 20 years was not a reasonable time period and the telcos must come forward with an appropriate time frame. The Centre had earlier urged the court that up to 20 years be given to the firms for the payments.

 

A Pincer in Ladakh.

Context: 
While India has long considered the potential of a two-front war with Pakistan and China, it was only in 2009 that a keynote address at a seminar in Delhi, by the then Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor, forced a serious re-evaluation.

The debate regarding India’s capability to fight a war in which there is full collusion between China and Pakistan has generally remained inconclusive.

Most detractors of the belief regarding China’s military-operational support to Pakistan, in the event of latter’s adventurismagainst India, have leaned on the argument that China will adopt a policy to suit its interests.

Both in 1965 and 1971, it made some promises to Pakistan but chose to stay away. Of course, that was during the Cold War.

Altering Chinese attitude:

From 2005, the process of rapid military modernisation saw China pursue its strategic interests, including border management on land and sea, more aggressively.

Limited and fairly benign experiments with “walk in” operations across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) began after 2008.

An expression of the mutuality of strategic interests with Pakistan came with the reported presence of 11,000 PLA troops in Gilgit-Baltistan in 2011.

Post 2013, Pakistan rampedup its proxy campaign in J&K almost in sync with two China-related trends.
First, enhanced PLA assertiveness in Eastern Ladakh. Second, the announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — Xi Jinping’s ambitious, and almost personal, project.

A progressively altering Chinese attitude towards the Kashmir issue started to take shape as early as 2008-09, with the issue of stapled visas to Indians residing in J&K.

The denial of a visa to the Northern Army Commander in August 2010 was with the clear intent of expressing increasing diplomatic support to Pakistan.

This support was also witnessed on issues like the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Pakistan’s involvement in global terrorism and the abrogation of Article 370.

Belt and Road initiatives:

The BRI was probably long in the making. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a part of the BRI that is less economic in orientation than strategic.

It is described by many as the flagship of the BRI.

The corridor is also a part of China’s Indian Ocean strategy and in its current avatar, it is little more than a shaky communication artery with some additional projects thrown in.

The BRI is a far more ambitious project, the survival of which in the post COVID-19 setting has been questioned by experts.

Yet, China’s long-term strategic vision is not something that the international strategic community is adeptat assessing.

Prime Minister’s observation on expansionism having no place in the modern era was an indirect message to China.

We are about midway through the period that China has set for itself to rise to a position of greatness — beginning in 1978 — for which it is increasingly employing coercion.

It is seeking that milestone on a faster track, post the devastation due to COVID-19.

China-Pakistan:
It is no longer Pakistan seeking Chinese support for its adventurism as much as it is the other way around.
The mutuality of interests has increased and military coordination has become a larger part of the overall strategy.

China may force further escalation this season depending upon how the world responds to its expansionism.
Yet it could also adopt a posture which prepares it, along with Pakistan, towards a future “pincer approach” in Ladakh.

This does not presuppose the limitation of Chinese intent to just Ladakh — Arunachal, Sikkim and the Central Sector very much under the scanner as part of the expanded collusive strategy.
However, it is Ladakh where the effect is intended most and it is there that the pincer approach may prove more challenging for India.

Preparedness:
Currently, India may not be optimally prepared for such a contingency but the Chinese may not be either.
This is because they have tried setting the stage too early in their eagerness to spring a surprise — in turn, the Chinese could be surprised.

That is where Pakistan comes in as a force multiplier to keep the options open as far as timing is concerned — the current campaigning season or a postponed one.

In postponing, the Chinese will seek greater Pakistani activity in J&K and Ladakh, including attempts to keep the LoC alive along with terror in the hinterland to dilute Indian optimisation in Ladakh.
Assuming that confrontation with the Sino-Pak combine is inevitablenow or later, one of the ways for India to offset this is to project sufficient capability.

The diplomatic and military domains have to play this out effectively.

India cannot be seen to be alone or militarily weak. It has tremendous support internationally which must translate into a higher level of strategic support.

Militarily, Pakistan should never be able to perceive that it will be allowed to fight as per choice and conceived strategy.

Conclusion:
China’s success or failure in such adventurism will set the course of its future strategy against its multiple adversaries.

That is the psyche which India must exploit to prevent escalation and win this and impending standoffs without fighting.

This needs a rapid and all-out national effort with highest priority accorded to it, including budgeting.
China has made the major mistake of creating a face-off that it thought it could win without fighting but it is now mired in a situation that it did not think through.

Extending this face-off will be a logistics nightmare for both countries. On its part, India cannot afford to focus only on the northern borders.

A firm and full strategy to deal with Pakistan in all contingencieshas now become imperative.