Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 3rd Dec 2021

Bengaluru residents complain about glitches in Sahaya 2.0 redressal app

ABOUT THE APP

• By Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike
• Citizens to register their grievances where the grievance modules of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, BESCOM, BWSSB, BMTC, BMRCL, BMRDA and BDA are integrated.
• Register their grievances against above mentioned departments through various sources like Text, Photos and Videos
• Citizens can view the status of the grievances on day to day basis
• Had launched the app in 2016 and upgraded it in 2020.

Chief Minister has sought the NITI Aayog’s assistance in getting special status for Andhra Pradesh

DETAILS

• Special Status and Special category status are both different
• Special Status
• Is guaranteed by the Constitution through an Act that has to be passed by 2/3rds majority in both the houses of Parliament.
• Empowers legislative and political rights while Special Category Status deals only with economic, administrative and financial aspects.​

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS

SPECIAL CATEGORY STATUS

• First introduced in 1969 when the 5th Finance Commission sought to provide certain deprived states with preferential treatment in the form of central assistance and tax breaks
• Granted by the Niti Aayog
• Criterion
  • Hilly and difficult terrain
  • Low population density
  • Presence of a sizeable tribal population
  • Strategic location along international borders
  • Economic and infrastructural backwardness
  • Non-viable nature of state finances

The Centre has extended the timeline for the implementation of the Smart Cities Mission to June 2023. Reason cited being Pandemic

ABOUT

• Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
• Launched in 2015
• Developing citizen-friendly and self-sustainable urban settlements
• First Target – 100 cities being developed between January 2016 to June 2018
• Minimum of five years is given for a city to be completed
• Aims to focus on innovative digital technologies interlinked with its ‘Digital India’, providing technology solutions such as surveillance systems to reduce crime and improve safety of residents
• Projects related to e-governance, mobility, integrated traffic management and solid waste management have been envisaged.
• process starts with the formation of an implementing agency, a special purpose vehicle (SPV), promoted by the state/Union Territory and the urban local body, with a 50% equity shareholding each. The SPV, formed as a limited company, is governed by the Companies Act, 2013.
• With the Centre preparing a 60-point action plan MoHUA has also begun work to finalise its recommendation for providing Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs) as a service to states and smaller cities

HISTORY – ART - CULTURE

Victory of India in 1971 war is being commemorated

ABOUT THE WAR

BACKGROUND

• Cause of concern – Issues of East Pakistan /Bangladesh
• Protest of East Pakistan
• Led by Sheikh Mujibur Rehman
• Announced six-point program for regional autonomy for East Pakistan
• Started East Pakistani Awami League party which secured a landslide win in Pakistan's 1970 election
• West Pakistani establishment called on the military to suppress dissenters in East Pakistan.
• Mujibur was arrested
• Awamis took refugee in India
• Influx of refugees proved burden to India
• India decides to intervene

WHY DID INDIA INTERVENE

Strategic Factors

• Hostile West Pakistan and East Pakistan on both sides of its borders.
• Intensified by the uncertainty in Sino-Indian relations that resulted in the 1962 war
• Appropriate to preserve long-term strategic interests.

Problem of Migrants

• Influx of migrants from East Pakistan on the domestic front has generated various problems in the border states.
• Resources were scarce
• Constant struggle over the use of these resources between locals and refugees
• Ethnic and social issues.

Economic Factors

• Spending immense resources on the economic front to accommodate those refugees
• India was not in a position to seek long-term spending capital
• Poor connectivity having a hostile East Pakistan hindered the growth of the north-eastern part of the country

HOW DID THE WAR END

• Pakistan conducted pre-emptive attacks on Indian airfields, including those in Agra, on 3 December 1971
• Indira Gandhi was PM of India
• India replied with retaliatory airstrikes against Pakistan the same night
• Coordinated air, land, and sea assaults were conducted on Pakistan from all fronts.
• Pakistan suffered a crushing defeat and it also led to over half of its population being deprived of the region
• Bangladesh, the new nation, was created
• Mujibur, who became the first President of Bangladesh, was liberated by Pakistan.
• In 1972, the Shimla Agreement between India and Pakistan was signed, acknowledging the independence of Bangladesh instead of the return of the Pakistani POWs.
• In July 2011, Indira Gandhi was awarded the Bangladesh Freedom Award posthumously by the Bangladesh government.

SHIMLA AGREEMENT

• Between Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the President of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
• On 2nd July 1972
• Withdraw soldiers
• Considered detailed blueprint For good neighbourly ties between India and Pakistan.
• Abjure conflict and confrontation that had in the past marred relationships and to work towards the establishment of permanent peace, friendship, and cooperation.
• Comprises a set of guiding principles agreed by India and Pakistan on a reciprocal basis, to be adhered to by both parties while maintaining relations with each other.

President of India Pays Homage to Dr Rajendra Prasad on His Birth Anniversary

About

• Born in Bihar on 3 December 1884.
• Went to the Chapra District School
• Won a scholarship to study at the University of Calcutta and joined the Presidency College in Calcutta.
• Completed his MA in Economics in 1907
• Was an active social activist and joined the Dawn Society and the Servants of India Society.
• Pursued a career as a teacher in various institutions following which he pursued a law degree.
• Won a doctorate in law from the Patna University
• In 1916 commenced his legal career in the Patna High Court.

ROLE IN FREEDOM MOVEMENT

• Started during his student days
• Attended an Indian National Congress session as a volunteer in 1906.
• Joined the organisation in 1911
• Inspired by the Mahatma
• Quit his legal career and jumped into the freedom movement
• Participated in the non-cooperation movement in 1920
• Deeply moved by Gandhi’s dedication and conviction.
• Active part in the rehabilitation work after the 1914 floods and the 1934 earthquake in Bihar
• Released two days after the earthquake after which he formed the Bihar Central Relief Committee.
• Became the Congress president in 1934 at its Bombay session
• Chosen president once again in 1939.
• 3 years in jail after the Quit India Movement.

POLITICS

• Jawaharlal Nehru Interim Government in 1946 - in charge of the Food and Agriculture Department.
• In December 1946 -  elected as the Constituent Assembly’s President.
• After the Constitution of India was ratified - chosen to be India’s first President.
• Remained president till 1962 for a period of 12 years( longest-serving president till date)
• Awarded Bharat Ratna in 1962

Literary Works

• Mahatma Gandhi and Bihar, Some Reminiscences
• Satyagraha at Champaran
• Atmakatha
• Division of India
• Since Independence

Indian-American Gita Gopinath, the chief economist of International Monetary Fund, is being promoted as IMF’s First Deputy Managing Director

ABOUT

• Born and brought up in India
• US citizen and an overseas citizen of India
• Pursued her PhD in Economics from Princeton University in 2001
• MA degrees from both the University of Washington and Delhi School of Economics.
• Undergraduate studies in Bachelors in Arts program from Delhi University.
• Worked as Professor in University of Chicago’s Graduate School , Harvard ,Ivy-league institute
• Co-editor of the American Economic review
• Co-director o
• f the International Finance and Macroeconomics Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
• Co-editor of the current Handbook of International Economics with Former IMF Economic Counsellor Kenneth Rogoff.
• Authored more than 40 research articles on a wide range of topics such as exchange rates, trade and investment, international financial crisis
• Served as the Economic Advisor to the Chief Minister of Kerala
• Visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
• Member of the economic advisory panel at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
• Served as a member of the Eminent Persons Advisory Group on G-20 Matters for India’s Ministry of Finance.
• Second Indian and first female chief economist in International Monetary Fund history, has been promoted as IMF’s First Deputy Managing Director
• Will IMF’s second-ranking official, replacing First Deputy Managing Director Geoffrey Okamoto who will leave the global lender in early 2022.
• In 2018 became the second Indian after former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan to be appointed as chief economist of the International Monetary Fund.
• Was serving as the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and Economics at Harvard University.