“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.”
Dalai Lama
“हम बाहरी दुनिया में तब तक शांति नहीं पा सकते हैं जब तक कि हम अन्दर से शांत न हों।”
दलाई लामा
Thursday, December 31, 2020
Quote of the Day December 31, 2020
Current Affairs – December 31, 2020
Cabinet Approvals
- Industrial Corridor nodes at Krishnapatnam. It was proposed by DPIIT.
- Tumakuru Industrial Area in Karnataka
- Multi-modal Logistics Hub and Multi-modal transport hub at Greater Noida
- Export of Akash missile system
- Interest subvention for ethanol distilleries
- India mission in Estonia, Paraguay and Dominican Republic in 2021
- India-Bhutan MoU in peaceful use of outer space
India
Global Pravasi Rishita portal launched
On December 30, 2020, the External Affairs Minister launched the Global Pravasi Portal and application to connect with Indian diaspora across the world.
Indian Navy and DRDO conduct SAHAYAK-NG
The Indian Navy and Defence Research Development Organization conducted the maiden test trail SAHAYAK-NG. SAHAYAK-NG is the first indigenously designed and developed air dropped container from IL 38SD aircraft of Indian Navy. The main objective is to provide critical engineering stores to ships that are deployed more than 2,000 kilometres from the coast.
PRAGATI: PM reviews several projects
On December 30, 2020, PM Modi chaired the 34th PRAGATI interaction. PRAGATI is Pro-Active Governance and Timely implementation involving central and state governments.
Deputy Chairperson of Karnataka Legislative Council found dead
On December 29, 2020, the deputy chairperson of the Legislative council S L Dharme Gowda was found dead on railway track at Chikmagalur. He was a Janata Dal legislator.
Lok Sabha MP Manasukh Vasava withdraws resignation from BJP
The Lok Sabha member of Bharuch in Gujarat, Mansukh Vasava resigned from BJP on December 30, 2020. He is to submit his resignation during the coming budget session of the parliament.
Nagaland declared disturbed area under AFSPA
On December 30, 2020, the entire Nagaland was declared as disturbed area for six more months by the central government. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act has been in force in Nagaland for several decades.
Economy and Corporate
Filing of IT returns extended
The Government of India recently extended the last date of Income Tax returns till January 10, 2021.
Indian Army inducts indigenously made short span bridges
Indian Army has inducted three sets of ten-metre short span bridges in close coordination with private industries and DRDO. This will help in providing mobility of own forces.
World
UK: COVID-19 vaccine by Oxford-AstraZeneca approved
The UK Government has approved the emergency supply of AstraZeneca and Oxford University vaccines. The Serum Institute of India has tied up with AstraZeneca to supply the vaccines in UK.
The Nagaland deadlock
With the threat of China looming over, peace talks with NSCN-IM must not be allowed to lose momentum.
The peace talks between the Centre and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isaac-Muivah) (NSCN-IM) have hit a dead end, prompting NSCN leader Muivah to dash off a letter to the Prime Minister, asking for talks to be resumed “at the highest, that is Prime Minister’s level, without preconditions, in a third country”. In the past, former Prime Ministers P V Narasimha Rao, H D Deve Gowda and Atal Bihari Vajpayee have had direct talks with NSCN leaders abroad.
The recent overture by Niki Sumi faction of the NSCN (Khaplang) to rejoin peace talks with the government followed by the surrender of 53 insurgents of the Yung Aung faction of NSCN (Khaplang) on December 25 augurs well for the possibility of accelerating peace talks. NSCN (K) had earlier abrogated the ceasefire in 2015 when it found itself being sidelined by the government.
In his speech delivered on the eve of Nagaland’s 58th statehood day on November 30, Governor R N Ravi, who also happens to be the interlocutor for talks with NSCN (IM) leaders, in very unambiguous terms said that the demand for a separate Constitution and flag will not be accepted.
The NSCN (IM) has refused to accept Ravi as an interlocutor. In the past, he has described NSCN (IM) as “armed gangs” and asked the Nagaland CM to contain them, besides ordering all state government employees to declare if they had any relatives in the militant outfits. The recent government directive to Assam Rifles to intensify operations against the Naga groups also seems to have hit a raw nerve.
The Naga insurgency is one of the oldest in the country. After the 1975 Shillong Accord, a faction of the erstwhile Naga National Council led by Isaac Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah chose to part ways. The rank and file of the hitherto outlawed Naga Army surrendered and were inducted into the newly raised battalion of the Border Security Force (BSF). The faction opposed to the Shillong Accord went on to form the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in 1980, with its base in the dense forests of northern Myanmar in the eastern Naga Hills. While Isaac Swu was appointed the chairman of the newly-formed outfit, Shangwang Shangyung Khaplang and Thuingaleng Muivah took on the mantle of vice-chairman and general secretary, respectively
Despite the security forces going on the offensive against the NSCN cadres, the latter went on a massive recruitment drive enhancing the strength from a modest 150 to 3,000. Pitted against their own erstwhile colleagues who had joined the BSF, the NSCN suffered heavy casualties. Nevertheless, the NSCN spread across Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
A failed assassination attempt on Isaac Swu and Muivah by Khaplang’s loyalists in April 1988 led to a split in NSCN into NSCN (Isaac-Muivah) and NSCN (Khaplang) groups. A lurking suspicion that the Isaac-Muivah were holding secret parleys with the government led to the failed attack.
The proliferation of other insurgent groups in the Northeastern region lent ideological support to the NSCN (IM). Militant outfits like the Hmar People’s Convention (HPC), the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and several others looked up to NSCN (IM) not just for basic logistics support but also for weapons and training.
Khaplang formed the United National Liberation Front of Western South East Asia (UNLFWSEA) – a conglomerate of 11 militant outfits. After Khaplang’s death in June 2017, Khango Konyak was the natural choice to don the mantle of chairman of UNLFWSEA. He was impeached and replaced by Yung Aung as leader of NSCN(K) while Paresh Barua, the leader of United Liberation Front of Assam (Independent) (ULFA-I), assumed leadership of the UNLFWSEA.
After incessant efforts made by then PM Deve Gowda, NSCN (IM) leaders agreed to come to the negotiating table. Ceasefire was declared in August 1997 and since then the negotiations have been on, initially with Swaraj Kaushal as the interlocutor and then with K Padmanabaiah and RS Pandey. The NSCN (K), too, declared ceasefire in April 2001 but abrogated it in 2015.The Centre banned the outfit for five years which was extended by another five years on September 28 last.
With the NSCN(I) leader Isaac Swu admitted in a New Delhi Hospital in August 2015, the government hurriedly came up with a one-page Framework Agreement (FA) signed by T Muivah and N Ravi in the presence of PM Modi, which was termed as a historic end to the 60-year-old insurgency that kept the Northeast on boil. For reasons unknown, the FA was kept under wraps. Swu died on June 28, 2016.
In August this year, the NSCN (IM) divulged the contents of the original FA, while accusing Ravi of amending the document by deleting the word “new” in one sentence, thereby altering the meaning to the advantage of the government. This was not taken kindly by the NSCN (IM) leaders, who rejected Ravi as an interlocutor.
After the arrival of T Muivah in New Delhi for the talks and refusal to enter into any kind of negotiations with Ravi, the Prime Minister’s Office directed two top officials of the Intelligence Bureau to carry the talks further. With the government sticking to its stand that Nagaland will not be allowed to have its own flag and constitution, further negotiations hit a dead end.
Having abrogated Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and thus having divested the state of its flag and constitution, the Centre is in a quandary. Resumption of insurgency could prove too costly a gamble for the country. Our relationship with China is at its lowest ebb. The role of the Chinese in whipping up insurgency in the Northeast is too well-known to ignore. A permanent solution to the Naga issue will ease the tension in the Northeast, forcing the Chinese PLA to turn its back on the insurgent groups operating there.
Written by M.P. Nathanael
(The writer retired as inspector general of police, CRPF)
Source: Indian Express, 30-12-20
Women must be centre-stage in water and sanitation
In 2018 the rallying call of the Swacch Bharat Mission (SBM) campaign of “Satyagraha se Swachhagrah” - rode on the back of the big change in sanitation habits in India .
In May 2014, India was shaken by the rapes of two adolescent girls in rural northwest India, when they were out in the evening to defecate in an open field. In a recent study in the Indian Journal of Gender Studies on Women’s Experiences of Defecating in the Open, one respondent said: Some men would hide and watch us defecating and then talk about it. This often put my husband to shame and even led to quarrels, with my husband scolding me for not remaining hidden.
Fortunately, sanitation continues to be central to the government’s agenda. With the Covid-19 pandemic, it is recognised that by addressing sanitation and water issues, we improve hygiene, health, gender, and livelihoods. The Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 (SBM) aims, among other things, to find solutions for sustained behaviour change, addressing women and their personal hygiene needs.
There is a growing consensus now that whereas the statutory framework relating to sanitation is gender neutral in its approach, the policy framework does recognise gender-related issues. However, when it comes to implementation, it is evident that sanitation-related needs and vulnerabilities of women need to be better addressed. Examples such as women not being consulted in decisions taken on sanitation-related matters such as the building and use of toilets and failing to take into account the prevalent socio-cultural norms, which for generations have defined the status of women as one that needs to be protected from all forms of exposure, while, at the same time, forcing them to defecate in the open even if this is in groups, substantiate this contention.
Nor should communication only focus on women, as if men could do whatever they liked; 100% open defecation free, cannot be achieved without men also being engaged.
The famous promotional videos of SBM casting its celebrity ambassador, Vidya Balan portrayed a scene, where the protagonist asked a man on his wedding day whether he had a toilet at home, to which the answer was negative. This prompted the person to ask the bride to remove her veil explicitly giving a message that a man who lets his wife defecate in the open has no right to let his wife observe purdah. In other words, the man has to build a toilet to be able to enforce the purdah system. Later, the video was amended to “clean” the message — all communication needs to be re-checked through a gender lens.
Several research studies have indicated that girls drop out of schools due to inadequate sanitary facilities being provided especially during their menstruation periods. Facilities need to be provided — and their awkwardness needs to be addressed too.
Much work has been done to alter some of these norms and beliefs, with women clearly coming to the forefront to take charge of addressing their own needs, supported by various government schemes and non-governmental organisations.
In Odisha, women and transgender Self-Help Groups (SHGs) have been engaged in the operation and maintenance of treatment facilities in eight cities; in Jharkhand, trained women masons built over 15 lakh toilets in one year, and the state was declared open defecation free (rural) much ahead of the national cut-off date of October 2, 2019.
These examples are rapidly increasing throughout the country, with women being able to push through reforms that better their overall wellbeing either through the help of support groups or through community-led efforts. Water management, sanitary complexes that answer their needs, and a host of other requirements to help them in their daily lives are now being driven by them.
The livelihood creation opportunities are immense whether from building the infrastructure, maintaining and operating the facilities or the communication programmes in communities — and women can play a part in all of these .
The India Sanitation Coalition is committed to looking at these reforms through a gender lens to ensure unintended biases do not creep in. Policies on water and sanitation need to keep the needs of women centre-stage — indeed enable them to be agents of change.
Naina Lal Kidwai is chair, India Sanitation Coalition and FICCI Water Mission
Source: 31-12-20
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Quote of the Day December 29, 2020
“If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.”
Dalai Lama
“यदि आप दूसरों की मदद कर सकते हैं, तो अवश्य करें; यदि वह नहीं कर सकते तो कम से कम उन्हें नुकसान नहीं पहुंचाएं।”
दलाई लामा
Current Affairs – December 29, 2020
India
Pneumosil: First Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine of India
On December 28, 2020, the Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan launched the first Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine of India called Pneumosil. The vaccine was developed by Serum Institute of India.
100th Kisan Rail of India
On December 28, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the hundredth Kisan Rail of India. The train carried vegetables and fruits from Sangola in Maharashtra to Shalimar in West Bengal.
First Driverless Metro Train in Delhi
On December 28, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the first driverless train in New Delhi.
Arya Rajendran of Kerala becomes the youngest Mayor of India
The 21-year old Arya Rajendran was sworn in as the Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram city corporation. She is from Communist Party of India-Marxist. She is now the youngest mayor in India.
38th District of Tamil Nadu inaugurates
On December 28, 2020, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami inaugurated the 38th district of the state, Mayiladuthurai. The district has been carved out from the Nagapattinam district.
Sonu Sood released his Autobiography
Actor Sonu Sood released his autobiography, “I am no Messaih”. It is co-written by Meena Iyer.
Economy and Corporate
“My FASTag” Application new feature
The National Highway Authority of India has added a new feature to the “My FASTag” application. The application is used to check balance status by entering vehicle number.
Ban on Onion Exports lifted
On December 28, 2020, the Government of India lifted the ban on onion exports.
RBI: “Maintaining Inflation Target at 4% is appropriate”
The Reserve Bank of India recently released a paper “Measuring Trend Inflation in India”. The paper says that inflation target at 4% is appropriate. In 2016, RBI introduced Inflation Target of 4% with an upper tolerance limit of 6% and lower limit of 2%.
World
S Jaishankar calls on Qatar’s Amir in Doha
On December 28, 2020, the External Affairs Minister S Jai Shankar called on Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamin and discussed strengthening the economic and security cooperation between the countries.
International Day of Epidemic Preparedness: December 27
The United Nations observed the first International Day of Epidemic Preparedness on December 27, 2020. The day was observed to highlight the importance of prevention of preparedness for partnerships against epidemics such as COVID-19.
US-European Space Orbiter crosses Venus
The joint US-European orbiter recently completed the first of its gravity assist flyby of Venus.
Chinese journalist sentenced for exposing COVID-19 outbreak
On December 28, 2020, a Chinese court sentenced a citizen journalist who documented early days of COVID-19 outbreak. Zhang Zhan travelled from her home in Shanghai to Wuhan to see the toll from the virus in the city.
Sports
Ronaldo wins “Player of the Century” award
Cristiano Ronaldo recently won the “Player of the century” award at the Globe Soccer Awards. Bayern Munich won the Club of the Year award.
ICC Awards: Virat Kohli named the Male Cricketer of the Year
The former Indian Captain MS Dhoni was named as the Captain of ODI and also the Captain of T20I. The ICC T20I Team of the Decade also includes Rohit Sharma, Aaron Finch, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Rashid Khan, Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Jasprit Bumrah, AB de Villiers. The ICC ODI Team of the Decade includes Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shakib Al Hasan, AB de Villiers, Ben Stokes, Trent Boult, Lasith Malinga, Imran Tahir, David Warner. Virat Kohli was announced the Skipper of ICC Test team of the Decade. In Women T20I Australia Meg Lanning was announced the Captain of the decade.
Arun Jaitley Statue unveiled
On December 28, 2020, the Delhi and District Cricket Association unveiled the statue of its former President Arun Jaitley
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