“Dream big and dare to fail.” – Norman Vaughan
ORANGE COLOUR: Important for Prelims.
RED COLOUR: Important for Mains.
BLACK COLOUR: Must Read !
BLUE COLOUR : Important Links/Survey.
PINK COLOUR: Reports/Themes/Summits.
Page Contents:
Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 4th Dec 2020
Today's Must Read Articles :IIT 2020 GLOBAL SUMMIT
Speak for all religions, India tells UN
HEADLINES:
Speak for all religions, India tells UN
WHY IN NEWS:
Condemn bigotry against non-Abrahamic faiths too, it says
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 2 : International Organisations
ISSUE:
- The remarks were made at a ‘Culture of Peace’ session organised by the UN General Assembly.
INDIA’S STAND
- At the outset, let me state that we fully agree that anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and anti-Christian acts need to be condemned.-Ashish Sharma.
- India firmly condemns such acts.
- Ashish Sharma is the First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN.
- However, UN resolutions on such important issues speak only of these three Abrahamic religions together.
CULTURE OF PEACE
- “Culture of Peace” sessions are organised by the UN General Assembly.
- The UN has organised such sessions each year since 1997.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- The UN, however, has condemned such acts.
- The General Assembly adopted a resolution without a vote condemning the Taliban for destroying cultural artefacts, including the Buddhist sculptures in Bamiyan.
SOURCES: THE HINDU | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 4th Dec 2020
Not using masks flouts fundamental rights: SC
HEADLINES:
Not using masks flouts fundamental rights: SC
WHY IN NEWS:
Bench also flags neglect of physical distancing norms
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 2 : Judiciary
ISSUE:
- The bench noted that the COVID-19 arrangements are well-intentioned but disproportionate and harsh.
- SC noted – Gujarat HC went to extent of directing people who do not wear masks to be sent for community service at COVID-19 care centres in the State.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- Lack of will on the part of the authorities to enforce COVID-19 norms was stark.-Justices Shah and R. Subhash Reddy
SOURCES: THE HINDU | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 4th Dec 2020
U.S. tightens visa rules for CCP members
HEADLINES:
U.S. tightens visa rules for CCP members
WHY IN NEWS:
Fresh curbs: Travel visas for party members will also be limited to a single entry under the new law.
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 2 : IR
ISSUE:
TIGHTENING VISA RULES FOR CCP MEMBERS
- The new policy, which took immediate effect, limits the maximum duration of travel visas for party members.
- It limits their families to one month.
- Travel visas for party members will also be limited to a single entry rather than multiple entries as was possible before.
- No current visas would be revoked as a result of the policy changes.
‘TO PROTECT THE NATION’
- The new visa policy could affect the travel of roughly 270 million people.
- According to U.S. government estimates based on a Communist Party membership of 92 million.
- In practice, it might be difficult to determine who, apart from high-level officials, belongs to the party.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- This is a move certain to further exacerbate tensions between the two countries.
- The new visa rules add to the conflict, now years long, between the two countries on trade, technology and much else.
SOURCES: THE HINDU | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 4th Dec 2020
India’s first homes for transgender children
HEADLINES:
Two homes for trans children in Bengaluru
WHY IN NEWS:
Govt.-run facilities, the first in country, will accommodate 50 children each
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 1 : Society
ISSUE:
SAFE SPACE
- India’s first homes for transgender children in need of care and protection will soon be established in Bengaluru.
- The Ministry of Women and Child Development gave its nod for the project last week.
- The two government-run homes for transgender children will be established in Bengaluru Urban.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- Children in need of care and protection include orphans, abandoned children, street children, child labourers and child victims of abuse.
SOURCES: THE HINDU | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 4th Dec 2020
U.S. Senate clears Bill on immigrant visas
HEADLINES:
U.S. Senate clears Bill on immigrant visas
WHY IN NEWS:
The Act will benefit a large number of Indian IT professionals in the U.S.
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 2 : Indian Diaspora : IR
ISSUE:
NEW LEGISLATIONS
- The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed a Bill that eliminates the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrant visas .
- It has also raises it for family-based visas.
- This legislation will hugely benefit hundreds of thousands of Indian professionals in America who have been waiting for years to get their green cards.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act comes as a big relief to Indian IT professionals who come to the U.S. on H-1B work visas.
- Their current waiting period for the Green Card or permanent residency is running into decades.
- The provision will facilitate removal of the massive backlog of Indian IT professionals in the US.
SOURCES: THE HINDU | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 4th Dec 2020
‘Carefully monitoring’ Brahmaputra : India
HEADLINES:
‘Carefully monitoring’ Brahmaputra developments: India
WHY IN NEWS:
Beijing had said it was its ‘legitimate right’ to develop hydropower projects on the lower reaches of the river
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 1 : 2 : Rivers : IR
ISSUE:
NEW DAM BY POWERCHINA
- The river Brahmaputra is known as Yarlung Zangbo in Tibet.
- Officials from the company were eyeing the enormous potential of the river’s “Great Bend” just across the border from Arunachal Pradesh in Tibet’s Medog county.
SOURCES : BBC
- The proposed new dam is also likely to be a run-of-the-river hydropower project that will not divert water, but will be the first on the lower reaches.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- It remains unclear whether technical feasibility studies will allow construction to go ahead.
- As POWERCHINA is not the first company to propose a downstream dam and previous projects did not take off.
SOURCES: THE HINDU | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 4th Dec 2020
‘Convicted legislators can’t be barred for life from polls’
HEADLINES:
‘Convicted legislators can’t be barred for life from polls’
WHY IN NEWS:
Centre responds in affidavit to Supreme Court
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 2 : Election : RPA
ISSUE:
BARRING CONVICTED LEGISLATORS FOR LIFE
- The government said disqualification under the Representation of the People Act of 1951 for the period of the prison sentence and six years thereafter was enough for legislators.
- The Centre’s stand differs from that taken by the Election Commission, which endorsed a life ban as necessary to “champion the cause of decriminalisation of politics”.
THE CASE
- The case is a plea by Supreme Court advocate Ashwini Upadhyay.
- There should not be any discrimination of one from the other.
- While a public servant or a government employee is debarred for life on conviction for offences under the Indian Penal Code, money laundering law etc.
- A legislator is “only disqualified for the same offences for a specified period.
IASbhai WINDUP:
REPLY FROM THE MINISTRY
- The Ministry however countered that legislators are not bound by specific “service conditions”.
- They are bound by propriety, good conscience and interest of the nation.
SOURCES: THE HINDU | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 4th Dec 2020
Iran moves to step up nuclear enrichment
HEADLINES:
Iran moves to step up nuclear enrichment
WHY IN NEWS:
New law halts UN inspections, gives a month to countries to ease sanctions
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 2 :IR
ISSUE:
IRAN’S NEW LAW-ENRICHMENT OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES
- Under the new law, Tehran gives one month to the deal’s European parties to ease sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors.
- Iran has step up uranium enrichment beyond the limit set under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal, if sanctions are not eased in a month.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- The law pushed by hardline lawmakers would make it harder for U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office on January 20, to rejoin the agreement.
- Mr. Biden has said he would return to the pact and would lift sanctions if Tehran returned to “strict compliance with the nuclear deal”.
- This came in retaliation for the killing last week of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, which Tehran has blamed on Israel.
SOURCES: THE HINDU | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 4th Dec 2020
Court upholds levy of GST on lottery, gambling
HEADLINES:
Court upholds levy of GST on lottery, gambling
WHY IN NEWS:
“The inclusion of actionable claim in definition “goods” as given in Section 2(52) of CGST Act, 2017 is not contrary to the legal meaning of goods and is neither illegal nor unconstitutional,” the apex court held.
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 2 : Judiciary
ISSUE:
SUNRISE ASSOCIATES VS. GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI
SUNRISE ASSOCIATES VS. GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI- SC judgment (Sunrise Associates Vs. Government of NCT of Delhi) that held that lotteries were merely actionable claims and cannot be defined as ‘goods’.
- It said that the GST Council wrongly viewed lotteries as “goods” while they were only “actionable claims”.
- An authorized dealer for sale and distribution of lotteries organised by State of Punjab, contended that the law was violative of the fundamental rights.
THE VERDICT
- SC ruled that the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the notifications issued there under bringing lottery and gambling under the GST net are valid.
- “The inclusion of actionable claim in definition “goods” as given in Section 2(52) of CGST Act, 2017 is not contrary to the legal meaning of goods and is neither illegal nor unconstitutional.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- According to judges, it is well settled that the courts have very limited role to play with regard to taxing policy of the legislature.
SOURCES: IE | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 4th Dec 2020
UN decides cannabis not a dangerous narcotic
HEADLINES:
UN decides cannabis not a dangerous narcotic, India too votes to reclassify
WHY IN NEWS:
The decision taken by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) on Wednesday at its ongoing 63rd session will lead to changes in the way cannabis is regulated internationally.
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 2 :3 :International Organisation : Narcotics : Health
ISSUE:
DECRIMINALISING MARIJUANA
- The decision taken by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) on Wednesday at its ongoing 63rd session will lead to changes in the way cannabis is regulated internationally.
UN COMMISSION ON NARCOTICS AND DRUGS
- “The CND zeroed-in on the decision to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
- Earlier it was listed alongside deadly, addictive opioids, including heroin.
- Twenty-seven of the CND’s 53 Member States — including India, the United States and most European nations — voted “Yes” on the motion to delete cannabis.
- Twenty-five countries, including China, Pakistan, and Russia, voted “No”, and there was one abstention – Ukraine.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- CND has opened the door to recognizing the medicinal and therapeutic potential of the commonly-used but still largely illegal recreational drug.
- Currently, over 50 countries allow medicinal cannabis programmes, and its recreational use has been legalised in Canada, Uruguay and 15 US states.
- The Vienna-based CND, founded in 1946, is the UN agency mandated to decide on the scope of control of substances by placing them in the schedules of global drug control conventions.
SOURCES: IE | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 4th Dec 2020
Army reforms: Deputy Chief of Strategy post
HEADLINES:
Army reforms: Govt approves Deputy Chief of Strategy post
WHY IN NEWS:
Current DGMO Lt Gen Paramjit Singh is likely to be appointed the first Deputy Chief (Strategy).
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Defence
ISSUE:
THIRD DEPUTY CHIEF OF ARMY
- The new Deputy Chief (Strategy) will head operations, intelligence, perspective and information warfare.
- Two new offices, for Perspective Planning and Strategic Communication, which will also be headed by director generals of Lt Gen-rank, will also come under the new Deputy Chief.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- The need for the creation of the single-point advice person for the Vice Chief was felt during the standoff with China in Doklam in 2017.
SOURCES: IE | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 4th Dec 2020
DISCOVER MORE : Important Daily Current Affairs for UPSC PRELIMS 2021
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for Daily Current Affairs , Editorial Analysis & Answer writing video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
