IAS UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 28th December 2019

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(PRELIMS + MAINS FOCUS)

Somali Dervish movement: Negatives of ‘lost’ 1985 Somali epic found at NFAI

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-I Decolonization

In news:

The negatives of an epic Somali film thought to have been lost were ‘discovered’ in the vaults of the Pune-based National Film Archive of India (NFAI).

Value addition For Prelims:

• The Somali Dervish movement  was an armed resistance to the colonial powers – particularly the British – in the Horn of Africa, between 1899 and 1920
• It was led by the Sufi Muslim poet and militant leader Sayyid Mohamed

HORN OF AFRICA

Daily Current Affairs IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 28th December 2019

Src: Click here

• It is a peninsula in Africa. It consists of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.
• It extends hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden

Uighur Muslims: Indonesian Muslims protest China’s treatment of Uighurs

Part of: GS Prelims 

In news:

• Nearly  thousand Muslims marched to the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia’s capital  to protest China’s treatment of its Uighur Muslims

Value addition For Prelims:

• Uigurs, are a minority Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia.
• The Uyghurs are recognized as native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China.
• China rejects the idea of them being an indigenous group
• Since 2016, it is estimated that over a million Uyghurs have been detained in Xinjiang re-education camps.(UN)
• International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the main feature of the camps is to ensure adherence to Chinese Communist Party ideology.

Non-Performing Asset:  Gross NPAs may rise to 9.9% by next Sept., says RBI report

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III Economy

Daily Current Affairs IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 28th December 2019

SRC: The Hindu

For Mains:

• The gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratio of banks may increase to 9.9% by September 2020 from 9.3% in September 2019.
• due to change in macroeconomic scenario, marginal increase in slippages and the denominator effect of declining credit growth.
• The asset quality of agriculture and services sectors, as measured by their GNPA ratios, deteriorated to 10.1%
• Reviving the twin engines of consumption and investment remains the key challenge even while remaining vigilant about spillovers from global financial markets.

Value addition For Prelims:

• A non performing asset (NPA) is a loan or advance for which the principal or interest payment remained overdue for a period of 90 days.

NPAs classified further into Substandard, Doubtful and Loss assets.

1. Substandard assets: Assets which has remained NPA for a period less than or equal to 12 months.
2. Doubtful assets: An asset would be classified as doubtful if it has remained in the substandard category for a period of 12 months.
3. Loss assets: As per RBI, “Loss asset is considered uncollectible and of such little value that its continuance as a bankable asset is not warranted, although there may be some salvage or recovery value.”

MGNREGA: fewer jobs since July, wider demand-supply gap

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III Policy Vulnerable sections

In news

• Jobs generated under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) have shown a dip compared to last year after July.
• Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)  is  also witnessing a deceleration of activity .
• 2018-19, the year that preceded the Lok Sabha elections, saw a record number of households demanding as well as being provided employment under the flagship rural public works programme.
• In 2018-19, demand was registered from 5.88 crore households, and 5.27 crore of them were provided work.

Funds:

• For 2019-20, the Modi government has allocated Rs 60,000 crore towards MGNREGA. But out of this budgeted sum, Rs 9,493.80 crore would be required for clearing the liabilities of wages, material and administrative costs for previous years. 

Daily Current Affairs IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 28th December 2019

SRC: IE

Fall in Employment due to:

• The fall in MGNREGA employment after July has been largely due to the onset of the southwest monsoon. Rainfall during the monsoon season (June-September) this year was 10% above the historical long-term average — the highest since 1994 — whereas it was 9.4% below average in 2018

Value addition For Prelims:

PM-KISAN Scheme 

• It aims to extend direct income support at the rate of Rs. 6,000 per year to farmer families, having cultivable land upto 2 hectares.
• This income support will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiary farmers, in three equal instalments of Rs. 2,000 each.
• Around 12 Crore small and marginal farmer families are expected to benefit.
• This programme will be funded by Government of India.
• This programme will entail an annual expenditure of Rs.75,000 crore.
• PM-KISAN would pave the way for the farmers to earn and live a respectable living.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA),

• The MGNREGA provides a legal guarantee for one hundred days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage. 
• The Ministry of Rural Development (MRD), Govt of India is monitoring the entire implementation of this scheme in association with state governments

(MAINS FOCUS)

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

TOPIC: General Studies 2:

• Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian Diaspora.

China, Iran and Russia:  held joint naval drills in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman

In news:

• China, Iran and Russia held joint naval drills in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman, amid heightened tension in the region between Iran and the United States.
• This is being seen as a response to recent US manoeuvers in the region.
• exercise has been launched from the port city of Chabahar (The Chabahar port, which is near Iran’s border with Pakistan, was built with Indian assistance and is operated by India)

Daily Current Affairs IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 28th December 2019

SRC:TOIsreal

Why tensions?

• Last year U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six nations and re-imposed sanctions on the country, crippling its economy.
• Several attacks recently on international merchant vessels, including Saudi tankers, in Gulf waters which the United States blamed on Iran.
• US accused Iran of carrying out drone attacks on oil fields in Saudi Arabia. The attacks had immediately reduced Saudi Arabia’s oil production by half (5% of global oil production),
• Since attacks US sent a number of its troops to the region, and provided Saudi Arabia with missile defence systems.

Gulf of Oman:

• The Gulf of Oman connects the Arabian Sea with the Strait of Hormuz (through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes), which then runs to the Persian Gulf. 
• It borders Iran and Pakistan, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.

Daily Current Affairs IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 28th December 2019

SRC: CNN

Why Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman?

• The Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman are key areas for international trade and maintaining security in the waterways is an important task

Significance:

• The Gulf of Oman, where the exercise is being held, is a critical waterway as it connects the Arabian Sea to the Strait of Hormuz, a 33-km wide passage which opens into the Persian Gulf — located between energy producers Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman (the exclave of Musandam), and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
• A fifth of the world’s oil passes through this waterway — around 30% of all sea-borne crude oil globally.
• Since 2019, Gulf of Oman has been a focal point of global tensions.

Conclusion:

• The three-nation drill is expected to further provoke US
• It may bolster security of international maritime commerce, combating piracy and terrorism and sharing information… and experience
• The most significant challenge to the post-Cold War international order is the growing power of ambitious states opposed to the West. Iran, Russia, and China are taking advantage of the U.S. withdrawal from the world stage and while they seek opportunity, cooperation between them remains fragmentary.

Connecting the dots:

• Do you think this Tri- lateral exercise is going to Impact India?
• What do you think will be the next step of US?

POLITY

TOPIC: General Studies 2:

• Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.

National Population Register (NPR) : The Union Government to conduct Census 2021 and update the National Population Register

• The Union Cabinet recently approved a proposal to conduct Census 2021 and update the National Population Register (NPR) in all the States/UTs except Assam. 
• To spend Rs 8,754 crore for the Census 2021 and Rs 3,941 crore for updating the NPR.

Daily Current Affairs IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 28th December 2019

SRC: ET

National Population Register (NPR):

• The NPR is a register of usual residents of the country.
• It is mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR.
• It includes both Indian citizens as well as a foreign citizen. 

The objective of the NPR:

• To create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country. 
• The first National Population Register was prepared in 2010 and updating this data was done during 2015 by conducting door to door survey.
• Also essential for providing good governance

Citizenship Act:

• It is being prepared at the local (Village/sub-Town), sub-District, District, State and National level under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
• The announcement on the NPR came amid continuing protests against the recent Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019, in many parts of the country

Concerns:

• NRC or NPR exercise, in combination with the recently enacted Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, could lead to disenfranchisement and harassment of the poor and undocumented segments of the population was not born out of anyone’s imagination

Criticisms

• The NRC, as it was rolled out in Assam, puts the burden of proof on citizens to establish that they are indeed citizens. The undocumented and the poor will bear the brunt of this approach. 
• The proposed format for enumerating the NPR only exacerbates this concern and adds a third axis to the ongoing confusion and turmoil.
• With the passage of the CAA, and the announcement of the NRIC, there is enough factual basis for doubting the government’s claim that the NPR has nothing to do with the NRIC.

Way forward:

• If the government has a rethink on its strident position on the NRC, it must say so upfront, and at any rate desist from denigrating critics.

Conclusion:

• The NPR is not about citizenship but only about residency. However, when additional questions such as “place of birth of father and mother”, etc are being proposed for the forthcoming exercise, the concern that this may be a prelude to the NRIC is logical.

Connecting the dots:

• Do you think NPR creates Confusion among people?
• Do you think NPR NRC and CAA are Inter related?

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE)

Model questions: (You can now post your answers in comment section)

Note: 

• Correct answers of today’s questions will be provided in next day’s DNA section. Kindly refer to it and update your answers. 

• Comments Up-voted by IASbaba are also the “correct answers”.

Q.1) Consider the following statements 

1. Increase in the Rainfall contribute to the fall in MGNREGA employment
2. PM-KISAN aims to extend direct income support for the veterans

Which of the above statement(s) given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Q.2) Consider the following statements 

1. Somali Dervish movement was an armed resistance to the British colonial powers
2. Somalia is a part of Horn of Africa

Which of the above statement(s) given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Q.3) Uyghurs community recently in news are recognized as native to_______________

1. China
2. India
3. Somalia
4. Bangladesh

ANSWERS FOR 27 DEC 2019 TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE (TYK)

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