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Table of Content
A). Topper’s Talk
B). Policy and Governance
1. What is PM-AASHA ? 7
2. Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana. 8
3. BCCI is now covered under the RTI Act 9
4. Concerns around Corporate governance 10
5. Electricity Amendment Bill. 11
6. Food Security Scheme of Odisha. 12
7. Google to help the Election Commission
in 2019 13
8. Section 377 14
9. 27 Crore people out of poverty in India in
the last 10 years 16
10. Oxfam World Inequality Index. 17
11. Choice Based Approach in PDS. 18
12. The Criminalization of Politics Supreme
Court Verdict 19
13. Status of Poverty in India according to
latest report 20
14. Sabarimala Temple Verdict by Supreme Court
21
15. SC/ST Promotion Supreme Court Verdict 23
16. Status of Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan or SBA in
Rajasthan 25
C). International Relations
1. 7 Rohingya deported to Myanmar 26
2. AGARTALA-AKHAURA Rlwy Project 27
3. U.S Sanctions on Chinese Military 28
4. INDO-BANGLA Pipeline Project 29
5. India-Russia New Defence Deal 30
6. VLADIMIR PUTIN Visit In India 31
7. Why China Heavily Investing In Africa? 32
8. World's Longest Sea Bridge 34
9. India and China to Sign Internal Security 35
Cooperation Agreement
10. US Federal Reserve Hikes Interest Rate 36
11. Why Is Iran Important To India 37
12. India-Japan First Ever Joint Military 38
13. Maldives Election Good News for India 39
14. CHAGOS ARCHIPELAGO Controversy 40
15. NAFTA-USMCA 42
16. RCEP 43
17. India Wins Election to UNHRC with Highest
Votes 44
18. Why is Uzbekistan Important for India 45
D). Economy
1. Revival of Air India by GOI 46
2. Bank Merger of Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank
and Vijaya Bank 47
3. Banning Import of Pet Coke 49
4. India China Bullet Train Plan- BCIM 50
Economic Corridor
5. Constitutional Validity of compensation law
under GST 51
6. Increase in customs duty and Impact 52
7. Internationalization of Indian Rupee 53
8. What Are Unicorn Start-Ups 54
9. World's Bank's "a glass half full report” 55
10.Sikkim Becomes World's First Organic 56
State
11.Problem with Mudra Loans, Rising NPA 58
12.Challenges In Metro Rail Planning 59
13.Mariculture Policy (Draft) of India: 60
14.Infusing liquidity through OMOS 61
E). Environment
1. IPCC Report On Global Warming 62
2. Construction and Demolition Waste 63
Management
3. Arunachal Mega Dam Controversy 64
4. Windmill Pose Threat to Wildlife 65
F). Science and Technology
1. 1st
Ethics Code On A.I. 66
2. China To Launch Own Moon 67
3. Digi Yatra initiative 68
4. H1NI Virus 69
5. ISRO Launched Two British Satellites 70
6. Electric Vehicles: Jharkhand Modl 71
7. India's First Missile Tracking Ship 72
8. Mission to Mercury 73
9. Discovery Of Two New Planets 74
10. India's First Anti-Nuclear Medical Kt 75
11. ISRO Mystery Case 76
G). Disasters 79
H). Miscellaneous 83
I). UPSC Prelims Capsule 87
J). Practice UPSC Mains Writing 96

of 111 For Free Download visit www.upsciq.com
A. Topper’s Talk
How to conquer GS in UPSC
Mains, Explained:
By Anudeep Durishetty – RANK 1 ,UPSC CSE 2017
With 1000 marks spanning across four papers in Mains, GS
feels like one giant, insurmountable mountain. The point of
this article is to convince you that those fears are unfounded.
I’ve written this post assuming someone who had already
read the foundational books for GS Prelims. If you haven’t
read them as yet, you should first read my post on GS
Prelims. At the end of this article, I embedded download
links to my complete GS notes and answer copies. There I
had marked two particular answer booklets that accurately
represent my writing style in Mains. I hope aspirants who
are struggling with answer writing find them useful. I had
also written previously about my UPSC journey here and on
how to prepare for the Essay in this post.
Marksheet
As you start reading the books I mention here for GS mains,
please keep the following points in mind:
1. Along with these books, get a printout of the syllabus
and read it carefully. Your final aim must be: for each
topic mentioned in the syllabus, you should have
enough content to write a 250-word answer.
2. Go through the past five years’ question papers to
understand the breadth and depth of questions UPSC
usually asks. It’ll give you a good perspective of
what’s important and what’s not.
3. Use the internet extensively, especially for topics like
Science and Tech. Your target must be to gain
knowledge, be it through books or through the
internet.
4. For all subjects, you have to superimpose current
affairs over it, especially for GS-2 and GS-3. For both
these papers, current affairs form the nucleus. You
will inevitably do a lot of reading on the internet, so
use Evernote to organize and highlight content
like this.
5. Give adequate time for revision. Without it, you will
not be able to recollect whatever you may have read.
So please dedicate enough time to it, whether you are
giving a mock test or the actual exam.
6. Many aspirants commit one fundamental mistake:
they read and revise, over and over, but never
practiced. Remember that the examiner checking
your copy will have no idea about the number of
books you’ve read or the number of hours you’ve
slogged. Your answers are all that he has to judge
you. So it makes sense to learn it, practice it and
perfect it.
7. Mains exam demands not only our memory and
intelligence, but also endurance. If you lack prior
practice, writing relentlessly for 6 hours a day and do
this for 5 days will cause both mental and physical
fatigue. The only way to overcome it is to practice
enough before the final exam.
8. General Studies demand only a peripheral
understanding of an expansive set of topics. So it’s
important that you try to gain minimum sufficient
knowledge over a diverse set of subjects rather than
obsessively focussing on one topic. For instance, it
doesn’t make sense to read World History for three
months at the expense of all other subjects. Always
maintain that fine balance between all the topics and
don’t get imprisoned in one.
9. In GS, there will be very few questions where you
will have absolutely no clue. Even if you only have a
vague idea, write those generic points. For instance,
in last year’s GS-1 paper, for the question on the
Malay peninsula, I knew no specific fact, except a
vague idea that Singapore had a partial story similar
to India. So I just wrote a generic answer comprising
of problems such as ethnic strife, insurgency, and
economic collapse. The examiner checking my copy
might have given 2-3 marks for it, which I am sure
any aspirant would gladly take.
10. You must develop the skill to speed read a committee
or an organisation’s report on your computer (reading
online saves you a lot of time) and highlight
important lines as you read along. In the second
reading, this highlighted portion is what you need to
revise. It should look something like this.
11. In GS papers, map of India is your most effective tool
for illustration. For example, I drew India maps and
labelled relevant parts for questions on river linkage
(GS-3), North-East insurgency (GS-3), Inland
navigation (GS-1), India’s 18th-century fragmented
polity (GS-1) etc. Practise it enough so that you are
able to draw and label it under 60 seconds.
12. If you are taking a test series, please give those tests
with all the seriousness of the final UPSC exam. In
the mock test, if you take 10-15 additional minutes to
finish the paper, you are cheating no one except
yourself. Observe strict time limits.
13. You will never feel content with your Mains
preparation and there is always a nagging tendency to
just keep reading and procrastinate writing answers or
skip an upcoming test. You have to overcome this
reluctance through conscious effort. Suppose before a
mock test if you were unable to finish the syllabus,
you can postpone your test by a day or two, but don’t
skip it altogether.
14. Perfectionism is your enemy. If you keep referring to
countless sources to make that “perfect notes”, if you
keep postponing your mock tests in order to write
“perfect tests”, this mentality will bring you to ruin.
Getting a good score in Mains is about attempting all
questions to which some answers are excellent, some
good and many above average. So instead of waiting

for that elusive perfection, start imperfect and then
keep improving.
15. When you are buying coaching material, always ask
yourself: “what's new is this material, adding to my
preparation?” If you can’t answer that question
convincingly, then the material probably isn’t really
useful.
16. Just because I am AIR-1, it does not mean that my
notes are the best or that this book list is the last
word. If you have been studying some other material,
that’s fine, too. To succeed in this exam, the source of
material is not important. What’s important is you to
understand the concepts, memorize the facts well and
have a firm grip over the entire syllabus.
Stiffer the climb, better the view.
The list of books for GS Mains:
GS 1
Indian Art and Culture
1. An Introduction to Indian Art – Class XI NCERT
2. Chapters related to culture in Ancient and Medieval
India NCERTs
3. Centre for Cultural Resource and Training (CCRT)
material
4. Heritage Crafts: Living Craft Traditions of India -
NCERT
▪ For someone who is starting just now, this topic can
overwhelm them. So I suggest beginners read this
section after they get acquainted with other GS
topics.
▪ In Art and Culture, questions asked by UPSC in
recent years are more analytical— which requires
both the factual content and good analysis to answer
the why and how. You can answer such questions
well only when you understand the historical
background in which such art was produced. This is
why it’s important that you read NCERT XI Ancient
India for it gives you that historical context.
▪ For instance, don’t just memorise features of say,
Sangam literature or Chola architecture, but
understand the social, political, religious and
economic context in which such grand art was
produced. They will form the analysis part and will
help you write great answers.
▪ Make good use of the internet to watch both visual
and performing arts to understand how they actually
look in real life. You will be able to recollect such
visuals more easily. They will help you write a decent
answer for questions which you only have a vague
idea about.
▪ Wherever relevant, draw diagrams to illustrate your
answers. For instance, you can draw a rough sketch to
show the features of a Stupa, Dravida, and Nagara
style architecture, Paleolithic art, Folk arts such as
Warli, Harappan pottery, etc. You don’t need to be a
Michelangelo for this, but you must ensure that the
fundamentals are correct. For example, in Warli art,
human bodies are represented by triangles, heads by
circles and hands by simple lines. Just get these
basics right. Link to download diagrams is given at
the end of the article.
▪ Art and Culture requires a ton of memorization and
there’s really no shortcut to mastering it except
through multiple revisions.
Modern Indian History
1. A Brief History of Modern India- Spectrum
Publications.
2. India’s Struggle for Independence – Bipan Chandra
(Read selectively for topics not covered in the
Spectrum book)
▪ Questions on Indian history are something that every
serious aspirant will answer well, so you really
cannot afford to let go of these questions. If you had
done your prelims preparation for this topic well, that
is good enough. You just need to practise answer
writing.
India’s Post Independence History
1. India Since Independence by Bipan Chandra
2. For certain topics, I made notes from this book.
Download link is given at the end.
World History
I prepared entirely for this topic from this outstanding
book: Download
▪ Since revising this big book before the exam was
difficult, I prepared concise notes from it. I also
practised maps to demonstrate major world historical
events.
▪ Link to download my notes and maps is given at the
end of the article.
Geography
▪ The study plan is the same as for prelims, which I’ve
explained here.
Indian Society
▪ This is a generic, nebulous topic with no style or
structure. Questions are sometimes vague,
philosophical and the challenge we face is not so
much in lack of content as in presenting it concisely
in 200 odd words. To understand the basics, read
NCERT Sociology Std XI and XII. Make concise
notes on each topic that includes: a crisp definition,
latest statistics, govt schemes, criticism of these
schemes; causes of issues such as communalism and
regionalism, historical and current examples, their
impact on our society, and your suggestions as the
way ahead. (You can get these suggestions from the
internet or ARC 2 or some committee report). In case
if you find good coaching material for these topics,
that’ll do as well.
▪ For this topic, a generic answer with proper structure
and subheadings that cover multiple dimensions is
good enough to fetch you marks. You can find my
notes at the end of the article.
GS 2
Polity, Governance and Social Justice
Static Portion:
1. Laxmikanth
2. Polity Notes (this will provide analytical content.
Download link is given at the end of the article)

3. ARC 2 (One of the best reports ever written for the
government. It’s been more than ten years since the
reports were published, but the content is still
priceless. Read complete reports, memorise only
recommendations)
Current Affairs:
1. The Hindu
2. The Big Picture on RSTV
3. CivilsDaily current affairs material
4. I also referred to Insights/ForumIAS current affairs
material for topics not covered well by CivilsDaily
5. PRS India for latest legislation
6. All India Radio – Spotlight (used to listen during my
commute to the office)
▪ Open your answers with Constitutional articles.
Question on Governor? Art 153 must be there in the
first line. Question on Civil Services? Art 312 is
where you begin. If there’s a technical term like
‘Parliamentary Sovereignty’, ‘Political democracy’ or
‘Social Audit’ — define them in your introduction
telling the examiner what you understand by those
terms.
▪ Supreme Court judgements are very important. Make
a list of important judgements (both historical and
current) and quote them to substantiate your answer.
For example, when you are answering a question on
Free speech, quoting SC judgement in Shreya Singhal
vs Union of India case will add tremendous value to
your answers.
▪ For a debatable topic, always write both sides of the
issue even if not explicitly asked in the question.
Example: A question might ask: Do you agree that
Civil Services is in need of drastic reforms? For this,
explain under a subheading why drastic reforms are
needed. And in the next paragraph, counter by saying
why drastic reforms are harmful. In the end, you can
add the view of ARC 2/Hota/Surendranath committee
to convey your view and end on a balanced note.
▪ For miscellaneous topics like the comparison of
Constitutions, RPA Act, SHG, e-Governance etc.
refer to any good coaching material to have 200-word
worth content. Source latest examples and issues
from newspapers and quote them in your answers.
▪ Prepare thoroughly on Govt policies and bills. PRS
India is an excellent resource for all the latest
legislation in the offing and The Hindu for policy
criticism. But the newspaper is patently leftist and
they publish articles incessantly and nauseatingly
ranting on policies they don’t like (Eg: Aadhar). But
as someone aspiring to be a civil servant, you need to
be more dispassionate. This is why you must actively
pursue articles with a contrarian and balanced
opinions like this and this.
▪ Cram latest statistics pertaining to health,
employment, women, education, poverty etc. Also
apart from committees, you may quote authentic
reports from reputed organisations such as Lancet,
Transparency International, UNICEF, FAO etc to
substantiate your point. I made notes on important
statistics that can be used for all papers of GS and
essay. Download link is given at the end of the
article.
▪ Conclusion: Wherever possible, end with a
committee/ commission recommendation or
observation. For instance, a question on Centre-State
relations should invariably end with Punchhi
Commission, a question on death penalty with Law
Commission and a question on Indian Constitution
with NCRWC. Referring to Sustainable Development
Goals, Preamble, DPSP is also another good way to
end your answers.
International Relations
▪ Any good book that adequately covers the historical
aspect of India’s bilateral relations.
▪ Current affairs: The Hindu, India’s World on RSTV,
CivilsDaily or Insights or ForumIAS depending upon
the topic.
▪ Questions on IR will be almost, always be about the
current happenings in the world. But before you run
after the Hindu or some other latest magazine for this
section, it’s important that you understand the
historical background of India’s relationship with
other countries. This is indispensable because every
bilateral issue that you see in the news can be traced
back to history. Once you understand this historical
context, this topic becomes uncomplicated.
▪ For example, let’s take India China relations. Don’t
merely focus on Doklam crisis and troop positioning,
but understand the larger context of our border
dispute with China, the agreements we had signed
starting with the Simla Accord of 1914. For India-Sri
Lanka, don’t just concentrate that India voted for or
against Sri Lanka at the UN, but understand how
India always championed peace between the Tamils
and the Sinhalese, the 1987 accord, its fallout, Sri
Lankan civil war and what India did during these
times. When you have that bigger picture in mind,
each part of the puzzle becomes easier to fit in.
▪ For miscellaneous topics like diaspora and
international institutions, refer to any good coaching
material.
▪ Draw map wherever relevant. Example: for India-Iran
relations, you can draw a rough map to show how the
Chabahar port helps us to bypass Pakistan and reach
Afghanistan. Act East policy can be demonstrated
with arrows pointing from India and showing our
specific relationship with Vietnam, Japan, South
Korea, Singapore, Australia and ASEAN, MGC,
BIMSTEC etc.,
▪ Each bilateral relationship or a global grouping is
multi-faceted. To make your answers comprehensive,
always write a multidimensional perspective that
includes: the strategic dimension, defence co-
operation, technology, education, culture, diaspora,
trade and investment, co-operation in global fora etc.
GS 3
Economy
Static part:
1. Standard resources I already mentioned in my prelims
post
2. Budget (any coaching material compilation)
3. Economic Survey (gist)
4. Niti 3-year Action Plan report (a good resource for
policy recommendations that come in handy while
you write conclusion)
Current Affairs:
1. The Hindu
2. CivilsDaily
3. I referred to Insights/ForumIAS current affairs
material for topics not covered well by CivilsDaily
Indian Agriculture, Land reforms, PDS, Food
Processing, LPG, Infrastructure
1. Mrunal.org
2. Vision IAS

3. The Hindu and CivilsDaily for current affairs
▪ You need to remember that for GS-3, questions
revolve around current affairs and there is no dearth
of material. It may sound counter-intuitive, but the
trick is to restrict yourself to material that’s good
enough for you to write a 250-word answer for all
topics. It’s very important that you don’t get sunk
under the heap of current affairs and coaching
material.
▪ So for each topic mentioned in the syllabus, make
concise notes from the resources mentioned above. I
also found Niti Aayog’s 3-year Action Plan report
really helpful for this paper. And just as I had
mentioned for GS-2, statistics and committee reports
are very important.
Security
▪ Vajiram and Vision IAS material
▪ The Hindu and CivilsDaily for current affairs
▪ Prepare crisp and clear definitions of technical terms
such as cybersecurity, terrorism, organised crime,
money laundering, left-wing extremism etc.
▪ For questions on border security, draw India map to
illustrate.
Disaster Management
▪ Fundamental reading: CBSE book
▪ Prepare concise notes on NDMA (structure,
functions, rules etc), international agreements such as
Sendai Framework, latest current affairs from
newspapers, internet and coaching material.
▪ Draw diagrams to illustrate concepts like river
embankment, land zoning, watershed management
etc.
Environment and Ecology
▪ Shankar IAS book
▪ The Hindu and CivilsDaily for current affairs
▪ My handwritten notes (Download link given at the
end)
Science & Tech
1. The Hindu
2. Vision IAS Mains 365
3. YouTube
▪ This topic terrifies many aspirants, and for good
reason. There’s no single book or resource to help
one navigate this section and it all feels like one big
haze. But there’s good news: the questions asked in
S&T are mostly from current affairs and you are
expected to have only a general understanding of the
topics.
▪ During my preparation, I used to note down in my
book whatever scientific term or technology that’s
frequently talked about in news. For instance, these
days we repeatedly encounter terms such as Artificial
General Intelligence, Blockchain, Machine Learning,
Cryptocurrency, CRISPR-CAS9 in news and on the
internet.
▪ Note down all such scientific concepts that are in
news and then scour the internet (especially Youtube)
to understand them. There are many explainer videos
on Youtube that explain the concept so well that even
a school student can understand it. For instance, take
this excellent video on blockchain technology. Once
you see it, it’s impossible for you to miss a question
on blockchain and its practical applications.
▪ Apart from the above, you need to learn fundamental
terms and technologies used in Space (PSLV, GSLV,
Cryo Engine etc), Nanotech, Nuclear Research (Fast
breeder reactor, Uranium enrichment, Nuclear fission
and fusion etc.), Defence (Cruise missile, Ballistic
missile, Stealth Bomber etc), Biotech (Gene editing,
Stem Cells, GM food etc), Communication (LIDAR,
RADAR, LiFi, 5G etc). Any comprehensive material
of a coaching institute will be sufficient for this (I
referred to Vajiram printed notes).
▪ Whatever S&T topic you are learning, always focus
on the concept, why is it in news, practical
applications, potential threats, benefits far into the
future etc. Just do this and you will easily handle this
topic in the final exam.
GS 4
▪ 2nd ARC reports: Ethics in Governance, Promoting
E-gov, RTI, Citizen-centric Administration,
Personnel Administration. Read all ARC reports
completely, memorise only recommendations.
▪ For moral thinkers, Google them to read about their
major contributions and for misc topics such as
corporate governance, I referred to Vajiram printed
material. I also prepared some notes for certain topics
(download link at the end of the article)
▪ I went through the syllabus and tried to define each
term in clear words and simple sentences. I found this
exercise very useful because these definitions
inevitably formed the introduction to most of my
answers. For all of ethics paper, the essence can be
distilled as just this: a clear and simple definition of
the term and a real-life example to illustrate the
concept. You can draw flowcharts and schematics
wherever apt.
▪ It’s important to understand that each question is an
opportunity to display your ethics. This will be best
demonstrated by the actions you did or some other
personalised/ real-life examples you quote. Reflect on
your childhood, school life, college time, professional
career etc and glean examples that are simple,
unpretentious and at the same time bring out your
ethical values clearly. For some questions, you can
also quote historical examples from the lives of great
leaders.
▪ For case studies, my aim was not so much in writing
ingenious, extraordinary solutions, but to write
something that’s realistic and practicable and finish
the paper no matter what.
▪ I always started with Q1 and not with case studies
because I could not see how one mark in Section B
(case studies) is superior to one mark in Section A. I
gave equal importance and dedicated equal time to
both the sections.
▪ Rest of the GS papers have 20 questions each, Ethics
has only 14. But don’t let that number 14 fool you.
I’ve always found GS-4 to be the lengthiest paper of
all. Every question in Section A has many subparts
that drain an inordinate amount of your time. In fact,
if we go by the absolute numbers, we write
more words in GS-4 than in other papers. So to
manage your time well: Abide by the rule that you
must complete at least 80 marks worth of questions in
each hour, irrespective of whether you start with
Section A or Section B.
▪ Just before GS-4, you would have had written three
stressful GS papers that would put your body
condition under severe mental and physical strain.
But it’s important to stay mentally tough during this
crucial period and push your endurance limits so as to
survive another 3 hours of relentless writing.
Remember that it’s all in the mind— it can be your
biggest enemy or your greatest strength.

GS may look insurmountable at first, but remember that it’s
always the small steps towards the summit that count.
Through effective planning and adequate practice, anyone
can conquer it.
My best wishes.
Until next time,
Anudeep.
Read More : https://anudeepdurishetty.in

B. Policy and
Governance
(Click on the image above to watch the video)
Will it help our Farmers??
Giving a major boost to the pro-farmer initiatives of the
government, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, approved a new Umbrella
Scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan
Abhiyan’ (PM-AASHA) on September 12, 2018.
Umbrella Scheme big scheme under which many
other small schemes are present.
BASICS
The government has already increased the MSP (minimum
support price) of kharif crops by following the principle
of 1.5 times the cost of production.
NOTES
According to a survey conducted by the National Sample
Survey Office (NSSO) in the 70th round in 2013, only 6%
of farmers are able to sell their produce at MSP.
According to a 2016 NITI Ayog evaluation report 79%
farmers responded with ‘no’ when asked if they were
satisfied with the MSP regime.
Reasons for their dissatisfaction were delay in
payments, lack of infrastructure at procurement
centres, distance to procurement centres and delayed
announcement of MSP rates.
PROBLEMS WITH MSP
MSP is presently (September 2018) is declared
for 23 crops. Shanta Kumar report on FCI-
restructuring, Buffer stock, PDS & Food
security & Direct Benefit Transfer.
THE NEW SCHEME
The scheme is aimed at ensuring lucrative price to
the farmers for their produce as announced in the
Union Budget 2018.
The new Umbrella Scheme – 3 components
Price Support Scheme (PSS) – Under the scheme, the
physical procurement of pulses, oilseeds, and ‘copra’
(kernel of coconut) will be done by Central Nodal Agencies
with the proactive role of the state governments.
Further, in addition to NAFED, the Food Cooperation of
India (FCI) will take up PSS operations in states and
districts. The procurement expenditure and losses due to
procurement will be borne by the Union Government as per
norms.
NAFED
It stands for National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing
Federation of India.
It is an apex organization of the marketing cooperatives for
agriculture production.
It comes under the Ministry of Agriculture and It was
founded in October 1958 with its Head Quarter in New
Delhi.
It has four regional offices at Delhi ,
Mumbai , Chennai and Kolkata with 28
zonal offices in different states.
FCI
It stands for Food Corporation of India. It was set up on
14th Jan,1965. Its HQ is now in New Delhi ,but previously
it was at Chennai.
Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS) or Bhavantar
Bhugtan Yojana
PDPS is proposed to cover all oilseeds for
which minimum support price (MSP) is
notified.
In this, direct payment of the difference between the
MSP and the selling/modal price will be made to pre-
registered farmers selling their produce in the notified
market yard through a transparent auction process.
All payments will be done directly into the registered
bank account of the farmer.
PILOT OF PRIVATE PROCUREMENT &STOCKIST
SCHEME (PPPS)
The cabinet also decided that the participation of private
sector in procurement operation needs to be piloted on the
basis of the learnings the ambit of private participation in
procurement operations.
EXPENSES CONCERNING THE SCHEME
The cabinet has decided to give additional government
guarantee of Rs..16,550 crore, making it Rs.45,550
crore in total.
CONCLUSION
The NITI Ayog recommended that steps be taken to
improve “facilities at procurement centres, such as drying
yards, weighing bridges, etc. should be provided to the
farmers.
More Storage should be set up and maintained
properly for better storage and reduction of wastage.
The procurement centres should be in the village itself
to avoid transportation costs.
However, the government’s announcements to ensure
that farmers get the benefit of the MSP have done little to
reinforce the procurement infrastructure which was a key
recommendation of the Centre’s NITI Aayog.
(Scan the QR code to watch video.)

Tribute to former PM Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee . A new
scheme named ‘Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojna’ for
Insured Persons (IP) covered under the Employees’ State
Insurance Act, 1948 has been approved by the ESIC.
ESIC (Employees’ State Insurance Corporation)
The person who is insured under ESIC can avail Atal
Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana.
Its aims are to the financial aid people who lost jobs
because of the changing employment patterns.
Insured persons covered under the Employees’ State
Insurance Act, 1948 for the period of two years
continuously.
Details of the scheme:
The benefit of the scheme will be payable in cash directly to
the bank account of insured persons in case of
unemployment.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ONGOING SCHEME
The ongoing Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan
Yojana(RGSKY) benefits formal sector workers registered
with the ESIC.
RGSKY introduced in 2005.
Difference between RGSKY and Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan
Yojana is that RGSKY will help when the industry is
stopped working while in Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana
it will help a person's when it's contract is terminated from
the industry and the person is unemployed again.
The money will be paid from their own contribution towards
ESI scheme, in cash through bank account transfer.
The scheme will be applicable to all factories and
establishments employing at least 10 workers.
Workers will be able to draw 47% of their total
contributions towards ESIC after remaining unemployed for
at least three months from the date of leaving their previous
jobs.
About Employee State Insurance (ESI)
It is a self-financing social security and health insurance
scheme for Indian workers.
It is managed by Employees’ State Insurance
Corporation (ESIC) according to rules and regulations
stipulated there in the ESI Act 1948.
It is a statutory autonomous corporation under the Ministry
of Labour and Employment.
(Scan the QR code to watch the video)
NOTES :

( Click on the image above to watch the video)
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is now
covered under the RTI Act and answerable to the people
of the country under its mechanism, the Central
Information Commission ruled recently.
This decision is taken by the Central Information
Commission (CIC)
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION (CIC)
•The Central Information Commission has been constituted
with effect from 12-10-2005 under the Right to
Information Act, 2005.
POWERS OF CENTRAL INFORMATION
COMMISSION (CIC)
• The Commission has certain powers and functions
mentioned in sections 18, 19, 20 and 25 of the RTI Act,
2005.
• These broadly relate to adjudication in the second appeal
for giving information, direction for record keeping, suo
motu disclosures receiving enquiring into a complaint on
the inability to file RTI etc;
imposition of penalties and Monitoring and Reporting
including preparation of an Annual Report.
• The decisions of the Commission are final and binding.
BCCI IS NOT HAPPY
•The BCCI has always held the opposite view: that it did
not come under the ambit of RTI.
•Lodha Committee (for BCCI) Recommended that BCCI
should come under RTI.
SOME FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• The Government of India does not administer the Indian
cricket team.BCCI develops it.
• BCCI does not depend on the Government of India for
its finances.
• BCCI had avoided taxes on its income, claiming
exemption as a
charitable organization.
• Although the Income Tax Department withdrew this
exemption in 2007-08, BCCI only paid tax amounting to
₹41.9 crore (US$5.8 million) against its tax liability of
₹413 crore (US$58 million) in the 2009-10 financial year.
On 12 September 2006 BCCI, announced that it will spend
₹ 1,600 crores over the subsequent one year to upgrade
the cricket stadiums around the country.
HOW did IT happen?
•The commission, the top appellate body in RTI matters,
went through the law, orders of the Supreme Court, the Law
Commission of India report, submissions of the Central
Public Information Officer in the Ministry of Youth Affairs
and Sports to conclude that the status, nature and functional
characteristics of the BCCI fulfill the required conditions of
Section 2(h) of the RTI Act.
INFORMATION COMMISSIONER SRIDHAR
ACHARYULU
• The matter came before him as the Ministry of Youth
Affairs and Sports did not give a satisfactory response to an
RTI applicant, Geeta Rani, who had sought to know the
provisions and guidelines under which the BCCI has
been representing India and selecting players for the
country.
• Acharyulu directed the BCCI to put in place, within 15
days, online and offline mechanisms to receive applications
for information under the RTI Act.
THE VERDICT
• “The BCCI should be listed as an NSF(National Sports
Federation) covered under the RTI Act.
•The RTI Act should be made applicable to the BCCI along
with its entire constituent member cricketing associations,
provided they fulfill the criteria applicable to the BCCI, as
discussed in the Law Commission’s report,” he said.
Note :
We can't expect much from BCCI on the RTI Act.
This is a brave decision by CIC and it should be
appreciated.
(Scan the QR code to watch video.)
NOTES:

Concerns around the corporate governance-
Refers to a set of rules y which a firm is controlled or
governed. The frim will benefit out of it. If not, the govt will
loose
What is the issue-
● Growing concerns around companies of private and
public sectors-
● Calls for a greater examination of the roles of
directors and audit firms. Some incidents to show
the challenges
● ICICI bank- the manager and CEO requested for an
early retirement, was based on allegations against
her regarding the conflict of interest between
Videocon group.
● ILNFS- a subsidiary has incurred a large loss, the
audit report did not mention the name, disclosure
was not made
● Corporate governance is weak
● Status of the firm
Concerns-
Turmoil in private sector banks- top banks of private sectors
are facing problems, weaker bank boards, they derive rules
for the banks, when it is weak corporate governance will be
weak
Bad loan crisis in PSBs- mounted with NPAs, serious bank
loan crisis, chronic capitalism and weak governance.
Overstating and understating in books- profit and loss
account and bank sheets, it is here that the company’s
profile is accessed, reflects the financial position of the
banks, overstating means in case of profit, books will show
more than the actual amount; understating happens with bad
loans, grown 5-10 times but not reflected in the book of
accounts. Major challenges to the governance
Audit reports- must picture original reflection, ILNFS was
an issue of cash-flow but reports showed improper audits
Uday Kotak Committee-
Separation of roles: listed companies on stock exchange
with more than 40% shareholding, there should be separate
roles of MD and CEO. Roles and responsibilities should be
properly defined, no duplication should be there. Part of the
promoter cannot be adopted as director.
Mandatory disclosure- consolidated quality results should be
disclosed
Augmenting board strength and diversity- board of
Directors, top 2000 listed companies have to mandatorily
have a six-director board, 1000 companies should have a
woman director in six.
Number of directorships- maximum is 8 listed companies.
Way Ahead-
Rating of audit firms: it is because of improper auditing that
the over or under statement happens, audit firms should be
rated which will result in list of preferences. Low
performing firms can perform better
Audit reports- provided value added reports, financial
positions, performance of the company will be known
Independent Audit committees: help in overcoming the
corporate shocks, preparing for shocks professionally
Missing talent in critical positions- this issue needs to be
addressed, filled by talented and skilled managers to better
govern the firm.
Tenure of top management- long tenures of top management
can be damaging, top posts should be re-examined, proper
mechanisms should be found out
(Scan the QR code to watch video)
NOTES:

Electricity Amendment Bill-
Expected to come up in the Winter session
Union cabinet has already prepared the draft bill
Aim is to revive the power sector
There are shortcomings in the sector
This bill will amend the 2003 Electricity Act
About the Bill-
Changes to the Act of 2003- some provisions would be
changed,
Increase reliability-
Reduce risk-
Failing of PPAs- Power Purchase Agreements, address these
issues as well, PPA is a contract between the generator and
purchaser, price of the purchase, time and term of the
contract are important things. Distribution company
The agreement is broken by the distribution company,
sometimes. When the agreement is broken, sufferers will be
generators. Power producing will be at loss.
Investment become NPAs- loans for which the due is more
than 90 days. Mounting of NPAs will create bank crisis.
Key changes made in the bill-
Penalties for failure to honor PPAs- PPA will be broken, in
such cases penalties will be awarded to companies, penalty
can be up to 10 million bucks per day
Phasing out of cross subsidization- because of subsidy there
will be some losses arising. Second group will be highly
charged, industrial purchases of power are highly charged,
some loses will arise out of households. This is an issue for
the industrial sectors.
Government is planning to phase out the subsidization for
the households. This is highly apolitical call. The houses
will end up paying high bills.
Fairer pricing system will be one advantage.
More output generation
Sustainable power sector will be generated
Impact
Increase in tariffs to households and the farmers
NOTES:

What is the news-
Odisha govt. launched its own food security scheme on
Gandhi Jayanti, 2018- not a part of NFSA.
Targets to benefit 25 lakh people who were left out at the
NFSA – only 78% is benefitted out from the NFSA.
Details-
Background:
2008- 1kg of rice for INR 2/month
2013- Price of rice reduced to INR 1.
2014- NFSA implemented but many people were denied the
right
Present state government in 2014 election campaign had
promised to introduce the state’s own food security scheme
Highlights of the scheme-
Beneficiaries will get 5 kg of rice per person per month at 1
rupees/kg- same provision like the NFSA in 2013
Distribution is carried out through e-POS device- designated
fare price shop
25 lakh beneficiaries under SSFS
443.5 crore per year government spending
Significance of the scheme-
Universal coverage- provide food security to the left out
category
Food and nutrition security
Criticism- vote bank politics because election is due next
year. Odisha govt. should have better scheme to include
those 25 lakh in NFSA.
Concerns regarding SFSS-
Fiscal consolidation- to bring down the expenditure of state
or central govt. here it is state govt. of Odisha. Narrow the
fiscal deficit, such a scheme will add on to the concern.
Centre is providing subsidy. Expenses on cost of
procurement, on distribution, on storage, on administration,
etc. all the expenses will come to the state as well.
Identification of beneficiary- the 25% has to be covered.
The identification is difficult. Might lead to
duplication.Widening of fiscal deficit for the state govt.
Leakages- PDF has its own leakages. The food scheme of
Odisha might also incur loss. The intention will get diluted.
NOTES:

Google to help the Election Commission in
2019
This is an important topic for Mains General Studies Paper 2
under the topic :
Salient features of the Representation of People's Act.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
Our current Chief Commissioner O.P.Rawat recently said
"How Google can help election commission"
Google Representatives met a committee which is
under election commision of India.
Under the act of Section 126 (election silence)
Section 126 (election silence) is part of Representation
of the People Act, 1951.
BASICS :
The Election Commission (EC) has set up a 14-member
committee to suggest changes in Section 126 of the
Representation of the people(RP) Act, which prohibits poll
campaign in the last 48 hours leading to voting, in the
wake of media expansion.
The committee chaired by Deputy Election
Commissioner Umesh Sinha.
Name of committee: Umesh Sinha Committee.
The INTERNET has a very big role to play in our daily
life and Election Commission (EC) of India has said that
any kind of new campaign or advertisement should not
take place before 48 hours. It is quite possible to stop the
campaign offline but doing this online is a difficult task .
Umesh Sinha Committee took help from Google .
Google said it will help election commission.
Notes
The candidate has to declare to the Election
Commision about how much money he/she is going
to spend on the campaign.(Online /Offline both)
Candidate should give detail about the there advertisements
to EC's Media Certification and Monitoring
Committee.EC's Media Certification and
Monitoring Committee will certify the political
advertisements whether it should run or not.
It is said that advertisements certified or not certified both
should not run before 48 hours of the election.
Apart From the Google, the Election Commission
committee"Umesh Sharma" talked to Them.
They are supporting the Election Commission
and will remove all kinds of political
advertisements.
Online Advertising Market Share (Worldwide
data)
Google 44.1%
Facebook 3.1%
Yahoo/Microsoft 12.3%
Aol. 1.5%
Others 39%
India's Online Advertising Market Share data is not yet
released but it is said that Google has a 60% sharein Indian
Advertisement.
Google will bring great transparency to political
Advertisements.
Google assurance was very much required as it covers a
very large part of Online Advertising Market Share in
India.
NOTES:

SECTION 377
Very important for Mains Paper 2 and for Prelim.
Governance - mechanisms, laws, institutions & Bodies
constituted for the protectio& betterment of these
vulnerable sections.
6 SEPTEMBER 2018 has been a historic date for our
country.
HISTORIC DECISION BY SC
India joins 125 nations where homosexuality is legal as
SC decriminalizes gay sex.
The Supreme Court decriminalized consensual intercourse
between persons of the same sex and read down Section
377 of the Indian Penal Code, thus providing a huge
boost to the LGBTQ community of India.
Important for prelims.
In this case Navtej Singh Johar(petitioner) v. Union of
India homosexuality is legal.
72 countries and territories worldwide still continue to
criminalize same-sex relationships
LGBTQ??
Lesbian – Refers to a homosexual woman or a
woman who is sexually attracted to other women.
Gay – Refers to a homosexual man or a man who is
sexually attracted to other men.
Bisexual – A person who experiences
sexual attraction to both men and
women.
Transgender - a person who is assigned to the male sex
but identifies as a woman may be a transgender person.
Conversely, a person who has been assigned
the female sex at birth and who identifies as a
man instead is also a transgender person
ISN’T ‘HIJRA’ JUST THE INDIAN TERM
FOR TRANSGENDER?
The Indian Hijra community itself is
over 4,000 years old.
Although many of them have biological and sexual
identities same as the above-mentioned globally recognized
LGBT identities. Cultural and behavioral differences
make it imperative for their recognition as an the
identity of their own.
WHAT DOES ‘QUEER’ MEAN AND HOW IS IT
DIFFERENT FROM LGBT IDENTITIES?
Now, when the bracket is extended, you arrive at ‘Q’ or
Questioning/Queer/Genderqueer. People who identify as
queer feel their gender and/or sexual identities falls outside
the categories of man or woman.
They would either consider themselves as falling
between the two or wholly different from them.
OBSERVATIONS (Imp For Mains Exam)
The court recognized sexual orientation as a “natural and
inherent” biological phenomena, and not a matter of
choice.
(Imp) As per Section 377 , it was a punishable act to
have intercourse with any man, woman or animals against
the order of nature, meaning homosexuality and
bisexuality were both outlawed.
Section 377
The rule was first enacted in 1861 under the British rule,
previous to that there was no law governing sexual
intercourse in India.
What the verdict means is that the LGBT community
would be able to indulge in consensual sex freely.
There is an exception though, the supreme court has
rightfully protected animals under against attempts by
humans who have intercourse with them, that shall still
remain under the purview of crime.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID :
Writing for himself and Justice Khanwilkar, the Chief
Justice has raised the individual’s identity to the pedestal
of divinity— sans identity, the name is only a denotative
term and the sustenance of identity is the filament of life.
Means an identity of the individual should not be
crushed.
The destruction of individual identity would tantamount to
the crushing of dignity, which encapsulates privacy,
choice,freedom of speech and other expressions.
Attitudes and mentalities have to change to accept distinct
identities of individuals, who must be respected for who
they are, and not compelled to become who they are not.
NOTES
The sexual orientation of each individual in the
society must be protected on an even platform, for
the right to privacy and the protection of sexual
orientation lies at the core of the fundamental
rights guaranteed by Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the
Constitution.
Judgment
The Court found that the criminalization of sexual acts
between consenting adults violated the Right to Equality
guaranteed by the Constitution of India.

While reading the judgment, Chief Justice Misra
pronounced that the Court found that "criminalizing carnal
intercourse" to be"irrational, arbitrary and manifestly
unconstitutional.“
The court ruled that LGBTs in India are entitled to all
constitutional rights, including the liberties
protected by the Constitution of India.
INDIAN EQUAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS HAVE
UNDERTAKEN A LONG AND ARDUOUS
JOURNEY TO DECRIMINALISE SAME-SEX
RELATIONSHIPS.
They had tasted their first victory when the Delhi
High Court in July 2009 decriminalized
homosexuality among consenting adults. However,
in December 2012 the Supreme Court, quashing the
High Court order, held that the order was legally
unsustainable.
In 2015, the Lok Sabha voted against the introduction of a
private member's Bill to decriminalize homosexuality,
proposed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, indicating that
the BJP led NDA
Government was not in a hurry to legalize
homosexuality.
NOTES
Soon after a group of well known LGBT rights activists, N
S Jauhar, journalist Sunil Mehra, chef Ritu Dalmia,
hotelier Aman Nath and business executive Ayesha
Kapur approached the
SC which agreed to reconsider the issue.
The petition claimed their rights to sexuality, sexual
autonomy, choice of sexual partner, life, privacy,
dignity, and equality, the other fundamental rights
guaranteed under Part- III of Constitution, are violated
by Section 377.
(Scan the QR code to watch video))
NOTES:

THE 2018 MPI (Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index)
Paints a picture of multidimensional poverty across 104
developing countries, covering 74 per cent of the global
population.
ABOUT MPI
Jointly developed by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human
Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of
Oxford, the 2018 global MPI casts light on who is
multidimensionally poor, where do they live and how
they are deprived.
A new report shows the percentage of Indians living in
poverty is half what it was a decade ago.
But child poverty around the world is still rife, affecting
nearly two-thirds of those under 18 in sub-Saharan
Africa.
MULTIDIMENSIONAL POVERTY INDEX 2018
In the decade between 2005-06 and 2015-16, India has
halved its Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) from
54.7 per cent to 27.5 per cent.
According to MPI 2018 released by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty
and Human Development Initiative, there are 271 million
fewer poor people in India in this period.
FINDINGS OF THE REPORT
364 million Indians continue to experience acute
deprivations in health, nutrition, schooling and
sanitation
About 196 million MPI poor people in India, accounting
for more than half of all multidimensionally poor in India,
live in the four states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh
and Madhya Pradesh.
Just over one in four multidimensionally poor people in
India are under ten years of age.
Traditionally disadvantaged groups, in terms of castes,
religions etc, continue to be the poorest though they have
experienced the biggest decadal reduction in MPI About
the world report
Maximum to minnimum poor people in different
regions :
Sub Saharan Africa (41.6%)
South Asia 40.6%
Arab states 10%
East Asia and the Pacific 8.8%
Latin America and the Caribbean 3.9%
Europe and Central Asia 0.3%
MULTIDIMENSIONAL POVERTY INDEX How It Is
Made!
Health
Child Mortality
Nutrition
Education
Years of schooling
School attendance
Living Standards
Cooking fuel
Toilet
Water
Electricity
Floor
Assets
Govt have initiated many programmes to help poor like
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri UJJWALA Yojana
.
NOTES:

(click on the image above to watch the video)
Oxfam World Inequality Index
What is the news
India has been ranked among the bottom 10 countries in the
latest report- UK has released the report
147/157- current rank of India, among bottom most 10
countries, inequality index is very high
What is the Oxfam World Inequality Index-?
UK based charity organization
Commitment to reducing inequality index
Based on three indicators- government’s social spending,
tax and labor rights
Critical in reducing inequality
Highlights about India-
Ranked 147/157 countries analyzed
Less commitment to reduce inequality
If inequality reduced by a one-third, more than 170 million
will move out of poverty
Government spending on health, education and social
protection is low
Relatively higher subsidies are provided to the private sector
Giving more focus on development than growth, aimed at
increasing the well-being and improvement
Tax structure of India-
Looks reasonably progressive on paper- tax rate would
increase with taxable amount increase
Under collection- due to tax evasion, taxes are a major form
of revenue, government can make more expenditure,
inequalities will come down
Govt can spend more on education, health and well-being.
Social sector can be improved
Labor Rights- poor performance of labor rights and respect
for women is very less in workplace, firms prefer to employ
male, gender disparity
Women are engaged in agricultural and informal activities
Lacks union organization
Lack of enforcement of human rights
Enabling working environments, proper payments for work
done, due to informalization
Contract-based works are highly informal
Lesser social spending than the average- in health,
education, well-being, more inequality, bring vulnerable
into the mainstream
Global picture-
Topped by Denmark- high and progressive taxation
Japan- top-ranking Asian country
South Korea- 56
Progressive countries- S.Korea, Namibia, Uruguay,
Ethipoia, Chile and Indonesia
Recommendations-
All countries should develop national inequality action plans
to achieve the UN’s SDGs on reducing inequality.
NOTES:

What is PDS-
Flagship food security program- govt. will procure from
farmers and store it for later purpose. It is then transferred to
the people. Food grains are available to the people at
affordable prices
Suffers from various insufficiencies-
One major criticism- leakages
Target is to reach out to the lower classes of the economy
It is not reaching actual beneficiary, idea of DBT was
implemented, and subsidy amount will be credited to the
beneficiaries
DBT-
Cut administrative cost
Reduce leakages
Food of choice
Monthly transfers are made to the credit of the beneficiaries.
Targeted beneficiaries will directly get amount on their
credit
Beneficiaries can buy food grains of their choice
Risks in DBT-
Poor implementation- sometimes the vulnerable households
can be excluded, benefits may not be reaching the
beneficiaries
Inadequate transfers- transfer is made in rupees so it can be
adequate, market prices will be higher than the subsidized
price.
Financial inclusions- many bank accounts are not functional,
around 60% are non-functional, there should be formal bank
account for beneficiary
Reduction in the impact of policy goals- providing food
commodity, ensure food security, it is assured through
availability and accessibility of food grains, the money
credited can be used to purchase of non-food grains.
Dissolve the entire policy
Inflation- prices may vary, inflation is not taken into account
in DBT, prices are constant, lesser purchase of food grain
because market prices are higher, DBT process will get
complicated, food and fuel have volatile prices, entire
process would become complicated
Comparison- DBT and PDS
DBT- quality and choice; money is transferred, choices will
be increased
PDS- lower price, higher quality- households will get food
grains at lower price and the quantity will be high
Choice based PDS can be an answer to both DBT and PDS
Features of choice based PDS-
Choice for e-POS- electronic point of sale, choice of
households can be captured in these machines and
allocations can be made easily, govt. can provide MSP to
households, risks are also there
Choice based approach-people living in different parts
require different commodities, food requirements are
different, govt. can address this issue
Beneficiary welfare- improves this welfare, more choices
than PDS, and lead to welfare
Reduce political and ethical risks- dilemma will be resolved
between PDS and DBT
Economic viability of PDS dealers improve- more
economically viable, allow them to stock other food
products too, will have more food grains available for them
Impact of food consumption and nutrition- huge impact on
food consumption, pattern will improve
NOTES:

The Criminalization of Politics Supreme Court Verdict
Above topic is important for PRELIMS Exam but very
important for MAINS perspective for the topic
CIVIL SERVICES MAINS GENERAL STUDIES PAPER
2
Topic: Indian Constitution -historical underpinnings,
evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions, and
basic structure.
Topic: Salient features of the Representation of People's Act
SUPREME COURT ON CRIMINALISATION OF
POLITICS
The Supreme Court's constitutional bench, in its judgment in
CASE NAME: PUBLIC INTEREST FOUNDATION &
OTHERS vs UNION OF INDIA.
WHAT SUPREME COURT SAID
Supreme Court delivered its much-awaited pronouncement
on the petitions asking it to bar politicians facing heinous
criminal charges — like rape, murder, and kidnapping —
from contesting elections.
A five-judge bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said
that the Court cannot play the role of Parliament.
The bench pronounced that it is not in a position to enable
disqualification of candidates who face criminal charges.
It has, however, provided a slew of directions to curb the
criminalization of politics.
First, while filing their nominations, the candidates must
declare if there are pending criminal cases against them in
courts.
Second, political parties are also responsible for putting up
details of criminal cases filed against their candidates on
their websites.
Third, Parliament must legislate on the matter to ensure
that candidates with criminal antecedents do not enter public
life or become lawmakers.
Fourth, while filling the nomination forms, candidates must
declare their criminal past and the cases pending against
them in bold letters.
Lastly, political parties should publicise the background of
their candidates via the electronic media and issue
declarations.
The recommendations, though welcome, have practical
issues.
CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
Attorney General K K Venugopal had submitted that fast-
track courts to try the charges against the candidates were
“the only solution”.
The Representation of People Act also recognizes this in
principle, requiring the high courts to decide on election
petitions within six months.
COURT'S LOST CHANCE?
Section 8 of the Representation of People Act, 1951, bans
convicted politicians.
But those facing trial, no matter how serious the charges, are
free to contest elections.
NOTES
An affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court in March by
the Centre also testifies to the shortcomings of the
RPA's(Representation of People Act ) disqualification
clause:
There are more than 3800 criminal cases against 1765
MP's and MLA's across the country, of which 3045 cases
are pending.
(Scan the QR Code to the watch video)
NOTES:

Status of Poverty in India according to latest report-
MDPI- It stands for Multi-dimensional poverty index. it is a
measurement of poverty, developed by UNDP and OPHDI
OPHDI- Oxford poverty and human development initiative
Takes into account many dimensions, measures beyond the
income- deprivation of households
Dimensions involved- health, education and standard of
living
Indicators that measure-
Health- nutrition and child mortality
Education- adult literacy and child enrolment
Standard of living- cooking fuel, drinking water, electricity,
toilet floor assets.
Recent findings- MDI has been updated
● More than 270 million Indian moved out of
poverty.
● Poverty rate has almost reduced to half between
2006-2016
● High economic growth, economic liberation
adopted since 1991
● Real MPCE increased
● Monthly per capita consumption expenditure-
expenditure of household increased.
Health and Education parameters- policies like
BetiBachaoBetiPadhao, Mid-day meal
Standard of living- policies like SBM, MNGREGA,
UJJWALA have uplifted standard of living
Concerns-
Lesser share of spending on health and education as a share
of GDP
In 2016-17, 364 million individuals were living in multi-
dimensional poverty (MDP)
19% vulnerable to MDP and 9% vulnerable to severe MDP
Existing issues in measuring poverty-
Suresh Tendulkar committee report of 2009
Income based
Poverty can be based on health, education and SOL.
Govt. has introduced BPL + programs
Govt. has the income plus approach
Measures to be taken-
Skill development- job and skill mismatch has to be
rectified
Digitization- better targeting is possible, leakage can be
minimized.
Welfare programs
Focus on outcomes
Improve HH income- with household improvement, SOL is
improved.
NOTES:

Sabarimala Temple Verdict by Supreme Court
Sabarimala
Sabarimala is a Hindu pilgrimage centre located at the
Periyar Tiger Reserve in the Western Ghat mountain
ranges of Pathanamthitta District.
It is very important Hindu pilgrimage specially in
southern part of India.
It is one of the largest annual pilgrimages in the world
with an estimated 45–50 million devotees visiting every
year.
BASICS
The shrine at Sabarimala is an ancient temple of
Ayyappan also known as sasta and Dharmasasta.
In the 12th century, Manikandan, a prince of
Pandalam dynasty, meditated at Sabarimala temple and
became one with the divine.
Manikandan was an avatar of Ayyappan.
AYYAPPAN – HINDU GOD
Belief - the deity is a ‘naishtika brahmachari’ (eternal
celibate)
PURITY
• The devotees are expected to follow a Vratham (41-
day austerity period) prior to the pilgrimage.
• This begins with wearing of a special Mala (a chain
made of Rudraksha or Tulasi beads is commonly used,
though still other types of chains are available.).
• During the 41 days of Vratham, the devotee who has
taken the vow, is required to strictly follow the rules that
include follow only a lacto-vegetarian diet
(In India, vegetarianism is synonymous with lacto-
vegetarianism), follow celibacy, follow teetotalism, not
use any profanity and have to control the anger, allow
the hair and nails to grow without cutting.
WHO RUNS THE TEMPLE?
•The temple, dedicated to Lord Ayyappa, is one of the
most famous temples in Kerala.
•The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) manages the
temple.
•They argued that only women of a certain age are barred
from entering the temple and that it is okay to wait till 50
to enter the holy shrine.
THE ISSUE OF DISCRIMINATION - 1991
In 1991, the Kerala High Court restricted entry of women
above the age of 10 and below the age of 50 from
offering worship at Sabarimala Shrine as they were of
the menstruating age.
THE SABARIMALA CASE
•A group of five women lawyers has challenged Rule
3(b) of the Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship
(Authorisation of Entry) Rules, 1965, which authorises
restriction on women “of menstruating age”.
•Senior Advocate Indira Jaising, who represented the
petitioners, said the restrictions went against Articles 14,
15 and 17 of the Constitution.
• She argued that the custom is discriminatory in nature
and stigmatised women, and that women should be
allowed to pray at the place of their choice.
KERALA GOVT’S STANCE
While the Kerala government had opposed the entry
of women in 2016, it told the SC during the hearing this
year that it was in favour of allowing women to pray at
the temple.
Advocate Jaideep Gupta, representing the state
government, said it would support the entry of women of
all ages to the temple.
SABARIMALA VERDICT
The Supreme Court in September 2018 allowed women
of all ages in the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in
Kerala.
The five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief
Justice Dipak Misra, in a 4:1 verdict, said banning the
entry of women in Sabarimala temple is gender
discrimination and the practice violates the rights of
Hindu women.
OBSERVATIONS
While Justices R F Nariman and D Y Chandrachud
concurred with the CJI and Justice A M Khanwilkar,
Justice Indu Malhotra gave a dissenting verdict.
OBSERVATIONS OF JUSTICE INDU MALHOTRA
•Justice Malhotra, the only woman on the bench, said that
the petition does not deserve to be entertained.
• She was of the view that it is not for courts to determine
which religious practices are to be struck down except in
issues of social evil like ‘Sati’.
Adding that the issue is critical to various religions, she
said, “Issues of deep religious sentiments should not be
ordinarily be interfered by the court.
The Sabarimala shrine and the deity is protected by
Article 25 of the Constitution of India and the religious
practices cannot be solely tested on the basis of Article
14.”
“Notions of rationality cannot be invoked in matters
of religion,” said Justice Malhotra, adding: “What
constitutes essential religious practice is for the
religious community to decide, not for the court.
NOW WHAT?
The temple is open for worship only during the days of
Mandalapooja (approximately 15 November to 26
December), Makaravilakku or"Makara Sankranti"

(14 January) and Maha Vishuva Sankranti (14 April),
and the first five days of each Malayalam month.
(Scan the QR Code to watch video)
NOTES:

SC/ST Promotion Supreme Court Verdict
UPSC PERSPECTIVE
Civil Services Mains General Studies Paper 2 under the
topic Indian Constitution - historical underpinnings,
evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions, and
basic structure.
BOOST TO SC/ST QUOTA IN PROMOTIONS
Constitution Bench made it easy for SC/ST to get
reservation in promotion for government job.
BACKGROUND OF THE PREVIOUS JUDGEMENTS
1992 CASE
(Indra Sawhney & Others Vs Union Of India (Mandal
case)(OBC Reservation))
Supreme Court said SC/ST will get reservation in promotion
for government job. No creamy layer test for SC/ST.
Creamy layer test is present in OBC .
RESERVATION IN PROMOTIONS
Supreme Court Article 16 (4) .
Stopped the reservation in the promotion for SC/ST in the
job.
Since 1950 there is reservation in promotion.
Indra Sawhney & Others Vs Union Of India
Why Reservation?
SC/ST should get a good start at the institute.
The reasoning was that reservation exists to create a level -
playing field, to remedy unequal starting positions, thereby
removing the justification for promotion quotas.
The court used the light of Article 335 to justify this.
So, in 1992 reservation in promotion for government job for
SC/ST got stopped.
GOVERNMENT CAME INTO ACTION
Article 16 (4A)
1995 again reservation in promotion in the job again
started .
M NAGARAJ CASE
2006: 77th Amendment .Reservation in JOB promotion
will continue.
Supreme Court THE CONDITIONS
Article 16(4A) is fine but
Three conditions must be followed
1. The state has to show that the person is really backward.
2. The state have to show that the top admin of beaurocracy
has lack of SC/ST people.
3. Proof that administration's efficiency is not disturbed
while providing reservation in promotion for SC/ST in
government job .
PRESENT JUDGEMENT SEPTEMBER 2018
Supreme court in the present judgement
(Jarnail Singh vs Lachhmi Narain Gupta)
There is no need to revisit the judgment of M Nagaraj case
by 7 judge bench.
VERDICT 2018
1. The person is really backward or not . (State has no need
to show this)
2. Department's condition is deteriorating or not is also not
important.
3. However, states will have to back it with data to show
their inadequate representation in the cadre
Supreme Court :Quota in the promotion, OK but keep out
creamy layer among SCs, STs
NOTES:

National database on sexual offenders-
India has launched the National Database on Sexual
Offenders.
It has become the 9th
country in the world to implement this
Objectives of the NDSO-
● NDSO will maintain the database of convicted
sexual offenders
● Database includes names, photographs, residential
addresses, fingerprints, DNA samples, PAN and
Aadhar numbers
● The data is maintained by National Crime Records
Bureau
● Made available to only Law enforcement agencies
Features of NDSO-
● Database- contain more than 4.5 lakhs cases, first-
time offenders along with repeat offenders, details
compiled from prisons across the country
● Classification of offenders- according to criminal
history
● Period of data storage- depend on category a
convicted falls, period depends on crime
● Juvenile offenders
● System
● Appeals
● Data
● Arrested and charge sheeted- the information will
be stored except a limited access to the data
What are the concerns?
● Access- general public will not have access. The
only law enforcement agency can know the records
● Classification- sexual offenses are classified.
● Under-reporting: offenses are committed by people
known to the victim. According to NCRB, in 2015,
out of 34,651, 33,098 are cases of offenders who
are known to the victims. This leads to under
reporting of the issues.
● Violence- data breach
● Discrimination- the details included and the data is
breached, this is against the law. All these concerns
need to be addressed.
NOTES:

Status of Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan or SBA in Rajasthan-
Implementations of SBA in Rajasthan show that there are its
own limitations in the state. There is a long way to go in
achieving the goal.
According to Ministry of Drinking water and Sanitation-
86.8 million Household now has latrines- constructed under
SBA. Subsidies were provided to construct latrines
Sanitation access is provided to 94% in rural areas-
5, 07,369 open defecation free villages
Swacch Bharat cess- 16, 400 crore fund was collected by the
govt. and utilized for implementing SBA
25 states and UTs free of open defecation
Ground Reality in Rajasthan-
ODF- Open defecation free, people use latrines instead of
open defecation, every household has toilets. Target has to
be met within a particular period. Many vulnerable
households did not get toilets, the usage is in questions
Inclusion- houses constructed after 2012 were exempted
from providing subsidies
Self-declaration: it is the local officials who make this
declaration. Pressure was there from high officials.
Coercions-built toilets out of compulsions and did not use it
later. Construction and usage should be met. There was a
pressure from the govt. to construct toilets but no usage was
there
Awareness creation-5% should be used for spreading
information. Only 0.5% was used for spreading information.
Very poor
Manual Scavenging- this has been reported. Some areas are
not open defecation free
Issues with survey of Ministry-
Ministry’s MIS- Management Information System, the
latrine construction survey is evaluated and not the usage.
According to this survey, it is very high. But no usage
according to the survey
National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey-
Quality Council of India- the latrine use was 90%. PHR has
different opinions
NFHS- evaluation in Ajmer. Found out that open defecation
is 39% in 2018. But this was declared ODF in the month of
July 2016. The data contradicts.
Indian Institute of Health Management and Research
University- 4893 household survey was taken in October
2016. 49% was open defecation in Jaipur. Six months later,
the state govt. declared the state ODF. Usage was not taken
into account, only construction was considered.
What steps should be taken-
Proper enforcement of laws on municipal solid wastes,
protection of water sources and pollution control- according
to SBA, 3/4th
households have door-to-door municipal
collection. But ground reality is different, more chances of
waste generation, waste volumes continue to grow in reality
Manual scavenging- many areas of Rajasthan are not ODF.
Funds should be given for rehabilitation.
Open defecation- govt. should reach out to areas where
people defecate in the open. More focus should be given in
these areas. Vision should be broader and target should be
achieved.
NOTES:

C. INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
STATUS OF ROHINGYAS
7 Rohingya deported to Myanmar, Supreme Court gave the
approval of the deportation.
BASIC - WHO ARE ROHINGYA
Rohingya are Muslims living in Arakan region of
Myanmar.
Myanmar government don't see them as a proper citizen
hence they have not been given proper citizenship in
Myanmar.
40,000 Rohingya don't have citizenship in Myanmar
hence they have difficulty in finding the job and in other
services too.
WHY ROHINGYAS FLED MYANMAR?
They have Indo- Tabitayan(facial features) ethnicity
causes the problem here, developing countries are
frequently seen with the problem of ethnicity which creates
fighting among the individuals.
Fighting in people due to there Race causes difficulty in
finding the job and in other services too for them.
The Whole Rohingya case:(Violence case (spark))
Rape of an Indo Tabitayan ethnicity girl happens and the
rumours are spread that Rohingya's people raped her .so,
there is clash/riots.
Rohingya are running from their country after this clash
Rohingya ran to Bangladesh because they have ancestral
roots in Bangladesh.
They ran to different countries as well.
They entered India through boats via West Bengal.
40,000 Rohingya are presently in India.
They are mainly spread all over India but the ratio is quite
high in Jammu.
Rohingya in India are mainly living in the states of Jammu
and Kashmir, Telangana, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and
Rajasthan.
Rohingya's illegally entered India.
For example :
People(illegal immigrant) from Mexico enter into the USA
for getting jobs and other services (of the local people), s the
president of USA is planning to build the wall against them.
Similarly, Rohingya people entered India.
NUMBERS?
Rohingya people are having bad intentions?? are they
linked to any terrorist activities.
REFUGEES AND INDIA
● Most of the Rohingya Muslims living in India are
registered with the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), better known as
UN Refugee agency.
● International organisations have appealed to India not to
deport the Rohingyas.
But, the government has stated that its decision to deport
Rohingyas concerns the state of security.
NOTES
India does not have a refugee specific law and the matter
falls under the Foreigners Act of 1946, enacted by the
Central Legislative Assembly.
The Foreigners Act makes undocumented physical presence
of a foreigner in India a crime. It also empowers the
government to detain a foreigner living illegally in the
country till that person is deported.
PROBLEM
Myanmar have not registered them as the citizen of
Myanmar .How will Indian government deport them.
ISSUES OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS :
An illegal immigrant ( without any document)
Refugee (At the time of calamity)
India has fundamental rights for foreigners too.
Under the article :protection of life and personal liberty
(Article 21)
WHY 7 ROHINGYAS WERE DEPORTED?
The Rohingya Muslims from Rakhine province on
Myanmar’s western coast started arriving in sizeable
numbers in India’s northeast in late 2011.
NOTES:

GS2
UPSC PERSPECTIVE
MAINS GENERAL STUDIES PAPER 2 under the topic
India and its Neighbourhood- Relations.
AGARTALA-AKHAURA
RAILWAY PROJECT
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with his
Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina, Chief Minister
of Tripura Biplab Kumar , Chief Minister of West Bengal
Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the commencement of work
for the Agartala-Akhaura railway project through video
conferencing.
A HUGE PROJECT
FOR BOTH
COUNTRIES
It will get over by 2019 very good project for the
north eastern part of our country.
NOTES
500 MW additional power supply from
India to Bangladesh: It will be
transferred through existing Bheramara
(Bangladesh)-Baharampur (India)
interconnection. With completion of this
project, India will be supplying around
1.16 Gigawatts of power to Bangladesh.
This project announced during his PM
Modi’s visit to Bangladesh in 2015.
AKHAURA–AGARTALA RAIL LINK(Very important
for prelims UPSC )
The railway project was conceptualized in 2010. Later, both
the countries had signed MoU on this railway project in
2013. It is expected that railway line will become
operational in 2019. The railway project consists of
constructing 15.054 km long railway line.
It will provide another link in the cross-border
connectivity between two countries by connecting
Akhaura in Bangladesh with capital city of Tripura,
Agartala through Nischintapur in Indo-Bangla
border.
It will help to develop socio-economic as well as
cultural bond between two neighbouring countries
TRIPURA TO BECOME GATEWAY TO ASEAN
COUNTRIES
Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. 1
Observer – Papua New Guinea.
BIG PLANS(UPSC MAINS ANSWER WRITING)
Tripura would be turned into ‘HIRA’, which is acronym
for development in Highways, i-ways or Internet
Services, Roadways and Airways.
NOTES
Referring to eight states of the northeast, PM had said the
region would be developed into ‘Astalaxmi’.
NOTES:

U.S Sanctions on Chinese Military
The U.S has imposed a sanction (Punishment) on China
because it bought military weapons from Russia.
A DANGEROUS SCENARIO
The US imposed sanctions Thursday against China's
military for its purchases of Russian military equipment in a
move US officials said is meant to punish Moscow for its
"malign activities," including attacks on American
elections.
The USA is doing this because Russia took the side of the
Republican party in the elections and recently China has
bought equipment from Russia ,so sanction on China.
NOTES
"Today's actions are not intended to undermine the military
capabilities or combat readiness of any country," the State
Department said in a statement, "but rather to impose costs
on Russia in response to its interference in the United States
election process, its unacceptable behaviour in eastern
Ukraine, and other malign activities."
The punishment is given to Russia but the pain is felt by
China .
What will happen after sanction?
The growth of the Chinese military will stop.
Big companies(like Google , Apple) were about to trade in
China but now they are stepping back for any trade in
China.
REASON FOR PUTTING SANCTION ON CHINA
• The US says China has contravened US sanctions on
Moscow introduced over Russian actions in Ukraine and
alleged interference in US politics.
• China recently bought 10 Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter
jets and S400 missiles.
• Beijing has not joined in the sanctions imposed on
Moscow by the US and its Western allies since 2014.
• Its forces took part in giant Russian war games held earlier
this month.
COUNTERING AMERICA'S ADVERSARIES
THROUGH SANCTIONS ACT
The Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions
Act, CAATSA is a United States federal law that imposed
sanctions on Iran, North Korea, and Russia. The bill was
passed during the 115th Congress, 98–2 in the Senate.
On August 2, 2017, President Donald Trump signed it into
law while issuing two statements simultaneously that he
believed the legislation was "seriously flawed"
THE CHINESE RESPONSE
"We strongly urge the US side to correct the mistakes
immediately and revoke the so-called sanctions.
Otherwise, the US has to bear the consequences of it."
WHAT OTHER REACTION HAS THERE BEEN?
• Russia has also criticised the sanctions on the Chinese
military, warning the US against "playing with fire".
• "It would be good for them to remember there is such a
concept as global stability which they are thoughtlessly
undermining by whipping up tensions in Russian-American
ties," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in a
statement.
The US do not have any official power to put sanctions on
any country, but US is doing this because it has a lot of
gold deposits and the value of the dollar is very high.
US economy is the biggest .
Dollar is used in every transaction.
The US is misusing its power.
The US has given warning to India. US may put sanction on
India if India deals with Russia for S-400.
Not to buy defence system from Russia.
What India can do?
1. Not to buy S-400
2. Stand with Russia and China.
India needs help from the US.
If the US puts sanction on India then it will be very bad
for the Indian Economy.
NOTES:

INDO-BANGLA PIPELINE PROJECT
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh
counterpart Sheikh Hasina on September 18, 2018 jointly
launched the construction of India-Bangladesh Friendship
Product Pipeline.
Pipeline is from India to Bangladesh
Project through video conferencing.
• The project will go a long way in strengthening the Indo-
Bangla ties. It is a new milestone in the history of
cooperation between India and Bangladesh.
• Both the sides had entered into an agreement for the
construction of the pipeline in April 2018 during Foreign
Secretary Vijay Gokhale's visit to Dhaka.
INDIA-BANGLADESH FRIENDSHIP PRODUCT
PIPELINE PROJECT
• The 130-kilometre pipeline will connect Siliguri in West
Bengal in India and Parbatipur in Dinajpur district of
Bangladesh.
• The six-kilometre Indian leg of the pipeline project will
be implemented by the Assam-based Numaligarh Refinery
Limited and the remaining 124kilometres of the pipeline
project will be implemented by BangladeshPetroleum
Corporation.
•The capacity of the pipeline will be 1 million metric tons
per annum.
MAJOR MILESTONE
• Bangladesh would initially receive 2.5 lakh tonnes of
diesel every year and it would gradually be increased to 4
lakh tonnes.
• The project will replace the existing practice of sending
diesel by rail covering a distance of 510 kilometres.
• The estimated project cost will be Rs 346 crore and it will
be completed in 30 months time.
• This will be the first such pipeline through which refined
diesel will be supplied to Parbatipur depot from
Numaligarh of Assam in India.
BANGLADESH TO PROVIDE INDIA ACCESS TO
KEY PORTS
• Bangladesh Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina has approved draft agreement allowing India to
use its Chittagong and Mongla ports to transport cargo
to and from its North eastern states.
AGREEMENT ON SEA PORTS FOR
TRANSPORTING GOODS
• Under this agreement, India can transport goods as per
capacity of two sea ports.
NOTES :
• Under it, India will have to follow General Agreement on
Tariff and Trad (GATT) and Bangladeshi regulations, pay
customs duties and buy tax equivalent bonds to transport
freight. India will also pay fees for using infrastructure of
Bangladeshi land ports. To keep track of cargo new modern
tracking system will be used.
• The agreement will be effective for five years, but it can be
extended for another five years automatically. However, any
side can cancel the agreement after giving six months’
notice and suspend deal. Standard Operational Procedure
(SOP) will be prepared for implementing this agreement.
The SOP will be prepared after consulting with various
stakeholders.
IMPORTANCE OF BANGLADESH
According to global firepower index ECONOMY OF
BANGLADESH
The market-based economy of Bangladesh is the 42nd
largest in the world in nominal terms, and 31st largest
by purchasing power parity; it is classified among the
Next Eleven emerging market middle income economies
and a Frontier market.
NOTES:

India to buy Four Russian Frigates for 2.2 Billion dollars
- Made in India
INDIA RUSSIA HIGH IN INVESTMENT
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that India and
Russia should consider raising the overall investment target
to $50 billion because the target of $30 billion set for
2025 has already been met.
MAJOR PROJECTS IN PREVIOUS YEARS
• ONGC Videsh Ltd in 2001 bought a 20 per cent stake in
the Sakhalin-1 project in Far East Russia.
OVERCOMING THE TRADE GAP BY INVESTMENT
SUSHMA SWARAJ VISIT
• Meeting prepared the groundwork for the annual India-
Russia bilateral summit between Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin,
to be held in New Delhi next month.
• Russia is one of only two countries with which India holds
annual bilateral summits, the other being Japan.
• The Indian Minister also said that both sides have agreed
to organise the first-ever India-Russia Business Summit
involving major companies from both countries in early
October in India.
THE PARTNERSHIP
•The India-Russia bilateral relationship was elevated to
Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership in 2010.
•Modi and Putin have already met twice this year -- at an
informal summit in the Russian resort city of Sochi in May
and then on the sidelines of the BRICS (Brazil,Russia,
India, China and South Africa) Summit in SouthAfrica
in June.
Major defence deal between India and Russia.
NOTES
• Two weeks after India significantly upgraded its defence
ties with the United States through the Comcasa
(Communications Compatibility and Security
Agreement), the Modi government has cleared the way for
one of the biggest purchases from Russia — $2.2-billion
frigates deal.
• Financial sanctions by the US have complicated purchase
of weapons from Moscow as Indian banks are unable to
transfer money to defence companies in Russia.
•An alternative arrangement, to pay in Indian rupee instead
of the standard US dollar, is being worked out to partly deal
with the matter.
DETAILS OF THE DEAL
• The agreement will allow India to procure four new
warships from Russia for the Navy.
• The deal will also involve building two of the ships at the
Goa shipyard.
• The deal has been processed as 2+2 scheme. (2 will come
from Russia and two will be made in India(from
scratch))
• In this scheme, the technology will be transferred to Goa
Shipyard to construct two of the frigates from scratch.
• The Indian-made warships are expected to cost 30-50%
more than the direct Russian import due to the cost of
building infrastructure and transfer of technology.
THE DETAILS
After Crimea fallout, Russia and Ukraine suspended all
defense ties which rendered the underconstruction
Admiral Grigorovich class frigates of limited operational
use to Russian Navy until they were re-engined with
Russian alternative which is expected to be ready only by
2020.
NOTES
•India’s defense acquisition council has sanctioned$75
million for acquiring M7N.1E gas turbine engines from
Ukraine for powering the two Grigorovich class frigates
that are expected to soon arrive in India from Russia.
•India had agreed to purchase the two frigates Admiral
Butakov and Admiral Istomin.
NOTES:

Putin In India | S-400 | Space Exploration
VLADIMIR PUTIN VISIT TO INDIA
Vladimir Putin is the second most powerful person in the
world according to the Forbes magazine.
UPSC PERSPECTIVE
Above topic is essential for both prelims and mains under
the topic Civil services mains general studies paper 2
Sub Topics : Bilateral, regional and global groupings and
agreements involving India and /or affecting India's
interests.
IMPORTANCE
Russian President(Vladimir Putin) visits more frequently to
India and this is the 3rd meeting in 2018.
India finally signed the deal to purchase s-400 .
LOW KEY ANNOUNCEMENT
The deal for S-400 missile system was signed by Joint
Secretary (Land Systems) from Indian Defence Ministry
and Director General ROE (Rosoboronexport).
Under COMCASSA, USA has warned countries not to
do any deal with Russia, whoever will do the deal with
Russia, the USA will put sanction on that country.
Previously it was seen that China did deal with Russia and
the USA have put sanction on China.
India has friendly relations with the USA.
USA did not put sanctions on India after this deal.
This is a huge diplomatic victory for India.
RELIANCE OFF-SET CLAUSE?
S-400 is a NO Offset clause.
It is government to the government initiative.
LIST OF PACTS SIGNED
Space Exploration
More on Space – Along with assistance to India ‘s ambitious
‘Gaganyaan’ project, Russia has also agreed to set up data
collection ground stations for India’s recently developed
navigation system NaVIC.
RAILWAYS
The MoC includes the implementation of a ‘speed-
upgradation project’ in the Nagpur-Secunderabad section,
installation of a single traffic-control centre for efficient
management of rail traffic at the local level, efficient
practices in freight and cargo operations, development of
multi-modal terminals and a mutual exchange of the
advanced technologies used by the two countries.
AGRICULTURE
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Indian
Potash Ltd and producers of phosphate-containing fertilisers
PhosAgro Friday announced joint investments in mineral
fertiliser production in Russia and India.
ECONOMY
Russia and India also agreed upon encouraging the use of
national currencies while engaging in bilateral trade.
Trade between Russia & India will reach $30bn by 2025
THE BIG INVITATION (significant)
Vladimir Putin invites Modi to 2019 Vladivostok
Economic Forum also known as the Eastern Economic
Forum.
NOTES:

WHY IS CHINA BETTING ON AFRICA?
● Because of excellent growth opportunities (raw
materials required for manufacturing) available in
African countries China is emphasizing to
increase its investment.
● If the product is manufactured then China requires
different markets where it can export those
products in African countries.
● In 2015, China’s President Xi Jinping announced
a plan to invest $60billion in development projects
across Africa.
● The benefits for African nations include the
reduction of poverty, an increase in health
infrastructure and industrialisation.
Why China investing
● By investing in such a development project China
increases the influence in the region and control
the political power, Economic power of a
particular country.
● China also increases its presence in African
countries.
Amount of investments made by China
● Before the 21st
century, there is less priority to
African countries.
● Early 21st
century China emphasizing more in
African countries both Saharan & sub-Saharan
countries.
Foreign Direct Investment in Africa (2005)
● China has made an investment of over $300
million
● China investment is seeing not only in
infrastructures like coastal railway or
Hydropower dam but also emphasize promoting
industrialization in African countries like Cement
plants. The purpose is to improve the level of
industrialization.
1.2
China emerged as African’s largest trading partner
1.3
One Built One Road
One Built One Road initiative is China wants to explore the
markets available in different part of the world.
Earlier China is an export-oriented economy. China mainly
exports the products to the developed world (U.S.A,
Europe).
Because of adoption or protest nest policy i.e. country are
increasing tariff and non-tariff barrier. If China has a
dependency on this developed world then its economy
would be affected. So, China is searching for an alternative.

Raw Material in African Countries -> Petroleum, Oil,
Natural Gas, Coal, Diamond etc
Strategic point of view
● Some African countries have an important
strategic location because some of the sea routes
are used by ships to reach to different countries.
● If China has a presence/influence in the countries
then China can easily control the sea route which
again provides a huge strategic advantage to
China.
● If China able to control the sea route then it can
impact on India’s economy because by controlling
China limit the exporting in India.
● Increase in China presence in African countries
will result in neo-colonialism.
● China is investing in infrastructure in African
countries because Africa provides minerals to
China that increase dependency of African
countries on China.
● The Chinese-African relationship looks simple and
based on Chinese exploitation of African resources;
however, the relationship is very complex and
multi-layered.
● By increasing the economic activities in African
countries China is trying to connect different
developing economies across the world.
(Scan the QR Code to watch video
NOTES:

World's Longest Sea Bridge
CHINA IN THE NEWS AGAIN
In 2018 China President Xi Jinping officially disclose the
world’s longest sea bridge connecting with Hong Kong,
Macau and mainland China. It hooks with three important
regions Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge(HKZMB or
HZMB).
STRUCTURE
Government start working according to China’s People
decision. The bridge starts from Zhuhai and Macau
Boundary, passes from Dual 3-lane carriageway then go to
undersea tunnel (7km long) that comprises of two circles
which are basically an Island chained with dotted line i.e
underwater tunnel and reach to Hong Kong link road. Main
bridge and tunnel length are 30 km.
CHINESE ENGINEERING
● The submerged tunnel is 6.7-kilometer (4-mile) to
avoid the busy shipping paths over the Pearl River
Delta.
● The tunnel runs between two artificial islands,
each measuring 100,000 square meters (1 million
square feet) and located in relatively shallow
waters.
SOME POINTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
It will shear the travel time between Hong Kong and Zhuhai
from three hours to just 30 minutes The bridge designed
in such a way that it deals with a magnitude eight
earthquake, a super typhoon and strikes by super-sized
cargo vessels was built using 400,000 tonnes of steel,
enough to build 60 Eiffel Towers.
ARE HONG KONG AND MACAU PART OF CHINA?
The Special Administrative Regions are Hong Kong and
Macau, two relatively independent regions within the
People's Republic of China that maintain separate
administrative, legal and judicial systems from the rest of
the country.
CRITICISM
The critics called the bridge a 'white elephant' and a
'blood and sweat project', as more than 600 workers were
injured and 10 died during construction.
(Scan the QR Code to watch the video)
NOTES:

India and China to Sign Internal Security Cooperation
Agreement.
NOTES
Zhao Kezhi, China’s Minister of Public Security and
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh are slated to discuss
various aspects of security cooperation between the two
countries.
For the first time, India and China will sign an internal
security cooperation agreement next week, marking a new
beginning in bilateral relations.
While Mr. Singh is the head of eight central armed police
forces with a combined strength of about 10 lakh
personnel, Mr. Zhao is responsible for day-to-day law
enforcement in China and commands about 19 lakh
personnel.
The scheduled meeting may lead to a future India-China
agreement on the exchange of sentenced prisoners, another
official said.
Currently, India does not have an extradition treaty with
China, nor a pact to exchange each other’s sentenced
prisoners.
There are at least 10 Indians in Chinese prisons and an
equal number of Chinese citizens in Indian prisons.
This will help in the improvement of relations between
India and China hence we can see more agreements
between India and China in the coming future.
THE AGREEMENT
The proposed pact is expected to cover areas of intelligence
sharing, exchange programme, sharing of best practices,
cooperation in disaster mitigation.
INTERESTING TIMES - CLOSER INDIA CHINA
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi
Jinping held an informal summit in Wuhan, China, in April
this year which helped repair bilateral ties.
CHINA NEEDS INDIA IN THE TRADE WAR
China seeks help from India to fight US trade
protectionism.
GOLDEN RULE OF GEOPOLITICS
There are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends,
only permanent interests.
( Scan the QR code to the watch video )
NOTES:

US Fed Rate Hike
The current affair was that-
US federal Reserves raised interest rates for a 3rd
time this
year
It is a rising cause of concern for India
Effects of interest rise-
Investment- investing in dollar will give more return. Since
interest rates are high. The return and the risk in concerned.
US economy is providing more return. Foreign companies
invest in equity. It can be withdrawn anytime. Foreign
portfolio investors will put out their capital from Indian
market and invest in Indian market. Because of more return.
Indian economy is providing low return. Demand of Indian
rupee will fall. Leads to deprivation of Indian economy.
Imports- the value of dollar increases. Leads to
strengthening of dollar. Import bills will be expensive.
Crude oil price will increase. Expensive imports.
CAD- excess of value of imports over exports. Weakening
of rupee bill will lead to widening of CAD
Domestic inflation- it will lead to cost-push inflation. Cost
of production increases as supply comes down. It leads to
negative impact on the economy. GDP will come down.
Economic Scenario-
● RBI/MPC- meet the differential in US economy
and Indian economy. Reserve bank will increase
the interest rate. Provide better returns. Loans will
become expensive. Negative impact on economy.
Private investment comes down. Fiscal burden for
government. Production comes down because of
absence of capital.
● Reserves- there are obligations from RBI. Further
bring down the reserves RBI holds
● Balance of payment- chances of increase in capital
flow. Negative impact on country’s finance
situation.
● Protectionism- increase in custom duty and imports
will become expensive. Reduce the supply of
imported commodities. Cost of commodities will
increase. Focus on enhancing the capacity of
domestic producers.
RBI must make smart policies to control the economy.
NOTES:

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