National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 2nd November 2019

by Mentors4ias · November 2, 2019

Elephant Bonds

Topic: Economy

In News: A High Level Advisory Group on Trade Policy (HLAG) headed by Surjit S Bhalla has recently suggested the government to issue ‘Elephant Bonds’. This will help India to recover up to $500 billion of black money that is stashed overseas.

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An Elephant Bond is a 25-year sovereign bond (a bond issued by a national government).
This bond is issued to those people who declare their previously undisclosed income and are then bound to invest 50% of that amount in these securities.
The fund gathered by the issuance of these bonds is utilized to finance infrastructure projects only.
HLAG recommended these bonds in order to boost India’s growth by utilizing the collected money (via this mechanism) to fund infrastructure projects in the country.
One of the key features of the proposed mechanism is that those disclosing their black money will receive immunity from all local laws including those under foreign exchange, black money laws, and taxation laws.
This would enable people to bring their offshore undisclosed wealth into India without fear of prosecution.
Countries like Indonesia, Pakistan, Argentina, and the Philippines have already launched their own tax amnesty schemes for persons who disclose undeclared income without the risk of prosecution.
Tax amnesty is a limited-time opportunity for a specified group of taxpayers to pay a defined amount, in exchange for forgiveness of tax liability (including interests and penalties).
The move is also expected to bring down the real interest rate. It will also strengthen the rupee.
The HLAG was set up under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in the year 2018.

Source: Hindu

National Health Profile

Topic: Reports and Indices

In News: National Health Profile (NHP) 2019 has been released by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence.

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It covers demographic, socio-economic, health status and health finance indicators, human resources in the health sector and health infrastructure.
It is also an important source of information on various communicable and non-communicable diseases that are not covered under any other major programmes.

Key Findings:

India has registered an improved sex ratio from 933 in 2001 to 943 in 2011.
In rural areas the sex ratio has increased from 946 to 949 and in urban areas from 900 to 929.
Kerala has recorded the highest sex ratio in respect of total population (1,084), rural population (1,078) and urban (1,091).
The lowest sex ratio in rural areas has been recorded in Chandigarh (690).
Non-communicable diseases dominating over communicable in the total disease burden of the country.
India also shows a decline in birth and death rates.
The estimated birth rate reduced from 25.8 in 2000 to 20.4 in 2016 while the death rate declined from 8.5 to 6.4 per 1,000 population over the same period.
The total fertility rate (average number of children that will be born to a woman during her lifetime) in 12 States has fallen below two children per woman and 9 States have reached replacement levels of 2.1 and above.
Delhi, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have the lowest fertility rate among other States.

Source: Hindu

Tipu Sultan

Topic: Indian History

In News: Karnataka Chief Minister (CM) B.S.Yediyurappa has announced that his government is trying to remove Tipu Sultan’s history lessons from the state textbooks.

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The government has long underlined Tipu’s cruel treatment of Hindus, including torture, forced religious conversions, and the razing of temples in the course of his conquests, as the central feature of his personality.
In the hills and jungles of Kodagu on the Kerala-Karnataka border, as well as in Kerala, Tipu is not seen as a hero.
This is so as both Tipu and his father Haider Ali had strong territorial ambitions, and invaded and annexed territories outside Mysore.
In modern times, the ruling party has sought to harness the anti Hindu strand of Tipu’s personality to fulfil its political objectives.
This was the project the BJP in Karnataka took up energetically around 2016-17, as the Assembly elections of 2018 approached.
This aimed to build a broad ‘Hindu’ platform against then CM Siddaramaiah’s coalition of OBCs and minorities.
The BJP’s opposition to Tipu was manifested in its strong opposition to the Tipu Jayanti celebrations that Siddaramaiah’s government began in 2015.
Violence broke out in Kodagu district in connection with the celebrations, in which two people were killed.
The removal of Tipu from textbooks will fundamentally alter the history of early modern India.
This removal will make a key individual in the society and politics of South India in the 18th century invisible, when the East India Company (EIC) was rapidly expanding Britain’s colonial footprint over the country.

Why there are so many controversies surrounding him?

There are concerns raised against Tipu Sultan on nearly every historical figure, perspectives differ.
Haider and Tipu had strong territorial ambitions, and invaded and annexed territories outside Mysore. In doing so, they burnt down entire towns and villages, razed hundreds of temples and churches, and forcibly converted Hindus.
The historical record has Tipu boasting about having forced “infidels” to convert to Islam, and of having destroyed their places of worship.
The disagreement then, is between those who see the “Tiger of Mysore” as a bulwark against colonialism and a great son of Karnataka, and those who point to his destruction of temples and forced conversions of Hindus and Christians to accuse him of tyranny and fanaticism.

How should the historical figure of Tipu Sultan be assessed today?

It is important to be aware that much of the criticism of Tipu is rooted in the accounts of those whom he vanquished and of colonial historians who had powerful reasons to demonise him.
Tipu defeated the EIC in wars, allied with the French to frustrate the attempts of the British to control the politics of the Deccan and Carnatic, and sought to challenge the vital trading interests of the Company.
Tipu’s keenness to subjugate Kodagu was linked directly to his desire to control the port of Mangaluru, on whose path Kodagu fell.
Tipu battled nearly all powers in the region, irrespective of the faith of his opponents.
His army had both Hindus and Muslims, and among the populations that he slaughtered in Kerala, there were sizeable numbers of Muslims.
It is likely that Tipu’s Islamic zeal had something to do with finding ideological ballast for his relentless warring.
To argue that Tipu was a nationalist patriot and secular is misleading. Back in the 18th century, there was no “nationalism” or “secularism”. These are modern concepts that should not be read back in time.
But it is also misleading to argue that if Tipu fought the British, it was “only to save his kingdom” – because so did every other pre-modern ruler, in India and elsewhere.
Just as there is evidence that Tipu persecuted Hindus and Christians, there is also evidence that he patronised Hindu temples and priests, and gave them grants and gifts.
He donated to temples at Nanjangud, Kanchi and Kalale, and patronised the Sringeri mutt. When linguistic states were formed in the 1950s, many regions that read their historical past differently were merged under a common linguistic identity.
Kodagu, now part of Karnataka, has always seen Tipu as an invader, and the old Mysore state’s narrative of him as a moderniser would not be acceptable to Kodagu only because it is now the official state narrative.
It serves no purpose to view Tipu’s multilayered personality through the prism of morality or religion. It is not necessary that he be judged only in terms of either a hero or a tyrant.

Source: Hindu

Takhat Darshan Yatra

Topic: Culture

In News: To mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) will be organizing a three-day ‘Takhat Darshan Yatra’ for Sikh youths from various countries as part of its birth anniversary celebrations.

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The ICCR is also organising a first-of-its-kind programme including an International Youth Seminar (IYS) on Teachings of Baba Guru Nanak Dev ji and Sikhism’s Contribution in Universal Well being.

About Takhats:

Panj Takht are 5 important Gurudwaras of Sikhism which have a significant respect. In Sikhism, Guru is refrered as Sachcha Patshah (true king) and to his gaddi (spiritual seat) as Takht and the congregation he led as darbar (court).
These Panj Takht take Religious, Social and Political decisions as required by Sikh community.
In 1609, Sri Guru Hargobind Singh established the first and the most important one of the Panj Takht ‘Akal Takht’ near Sri Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple) at Amritsar.

Other Gurudwaras of Panj Takhts are :

Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib, Anandpur Sahib
Takht Sri Damdma Sahib, Talwandi Sabo
Takht Sri Patna Sahib, Patna Bihar
Takht Sri Hazur Sahib, Nanded, Maharashtra

Source: Hindu

International Solar Alliance

Topic: International Organisations

In News: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy hosted 2nd assembly of International Solar Alliance at New Delhi.

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The assembly had the participation from member countries, ISA Partners, and other invitees.
As of now, there are 83 member countries with Eritrea and St. Kittis and Nevis latest countries to join ISA.
The Assembly is the supreme decision-making body of the ISA. It gives directions on various administrative, financial and programme related issues.
India’s Minister for New and Renewable Energy and Power is President of the ISA Assembly and France’s Minister of State for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition is the Co-President of the Assembly.

About ISA:

ISA, an Indian initiative, was launched jointly by India and France on the sidelines of COP21 of UNFCCC held in Paris.
It opened ISA Framework Agreement for signature in Marrakech, Morocco in 2016, on the side-lines of COP-22.
After ratification by 15 countries, ISA became the first full-fledged treaty based international intergovernmental organization headquartered in India.
Delhi Solar Agenda was adopted in the founding conference of ISA held in 2018.
In the agenda, ISA member States have agreed to pursue an increased share of solar energy in the final energy consumption in respective national energy mix.

Source: Hindu

Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

Topic: International Affairs

In News: Union HRD Minister has recently reviewed the preparations of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti in New Delhi for its participation in PISA, 2021.

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The PISA is a competency-based test to assess the quality of education systems across the world. It assesses the learning levels of 15-year-old students in reading, mathematics, science, collaborative problem solving and money literacy.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) conducts PISA every three years.
It does not test a student’s memory and curriculum-based knowledge.
PISA’s science test, measures three competencies: Ability to explain scientific phenomena, Scientific interpretation of data and evidence, Ability to design and evaluate scientific query.
Similarly, PISA defines reading as an individual’s capacity to understand, use and reflect on written information in a range of situations.

India’s Participation:

The country participated in 2009 test with 16,000 students from 400 schools in Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
India was placed 72nd among the 74 participating countries.
Indian government decided not to participate in 2012 and 2015 cycles.
The decision was revisited in 2016 and HRD ministry approved the decision to participate in 2021 cycle.
The students of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti and Union Territory of Chandigarh will represent India in this examination.

Source: PIB