INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS                                                                      

1. India helps Mongolia for its first petrochemical refinery                                     

2. Modi-Xi meeting, understanding ‘Informal Summits’                                          

ECONOMY                                                                                                                

1. India slips 10 places on Global Competitive Index                                             

2. Competition Commission of India (CCI)  receives first green channel combination                                                                                                        

3. Govt sets up high-level panel to check money laundering activities                  

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY                                                                  

1. India to work with China, Pakistan to gauge impact of climate change              

SECURITY                                                                                                                

1. India gets first Rafale fighter jet                                                                          

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

India helps Mongolia for its first petrochemical refinery

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

• India’s oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan is in resource-rich Mongolia for the commissioning of railway, road and power transmission infrastructure for the construction of country’s first petrochemical refinery.

More about refinery:

• The Mongol refinery project is the largest project undertaken by the government of India under its Lines of Credit (LoC) programme

• State-run Engineers India Ltd(SEIL) is the project management consultant for the development of the oil refinery.

• The project is expected to be built by 2022 at an approximate cost of $1.25 billion.

• The capacity of the refinery will be 1.5 million metric tons per annum, with diesel and gasoline as the primary products and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), fuel oil and jet fuel being produced as secondary products.

More in the news:

• New Delhi’s attempts to boost cooperation with Mongolia comes against the backdrop of China making inroads into South Asia—Sri Lanka and Nepal besides Myanmar—considered India’s periphery.

                                                                                                                         Source :- The Hindu Business Line

Modi-Xi meeting, understanding ‘Informal Summits’

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

• Chinese President’s proposed visit to India for the second Informal Summit is scheduled to take place in the Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu on October 11-12.

Informal Summit :

• Informal Summits act as supplementary exchanges to annual Summits and other formal exchanges such as the G20 Summit, EU-India Summit and the BRICS Summit among others.

• Informal Summits may not take place on a fixed annual or biennial schedule.

• They are impromptu in the sense that they take place when a need for them is perceived by the concerned nations.

• Informal summit allows for direct and free exchange of views between countries which may not be possible to do through formal bilateral and multilateral meetings as they are agenda driven where specific issues are discussed.

• China is not the only country with which India has had an Informal Summit.

• In May 2018,India had met Russia’s President for their first Informal Summit to discuss international matters in a broad and long-term perspective.

Significance of the summit :

• Informal summits allows for quietly discussing contentious issues away from the media glare and publicity.

• The absence of any formal joint communique also enables each side to spell out its own impressions of any outcomes.

• It also allows leaders to meet informally in order to know and understand each other better.           

                                                                                                                         Source :- Indian Express

ECONOMY

India slips 10 places on Global Competitive Index

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY- Growth, development and employment

Context :

• The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) compiled by the World Economic Forum(WEF) has been released.

Key Highlights :

• Singapore has replaced the US as the world’s most competitive country.

• The US was positioned at 2nd place and was followed by Hong Kong at third place and Netherlands and Switzerland at 4th and 5th places respectively.

• China was ranked at 28th position and was the highest ranked among BRICS nations.Vietnam showed higher improvements in the region and was ranked at 67.

• The report has also said that Asia Pacific was the most competitive region globally.It was followed by Europe and North America.

India Specific :

• India has moved down 10 places to rank 68th in 2019 from 58th in 2018 on the global competitiveness index.

• The index has flagged limited ICT (information, communications and technology) adoption, poor health conditions and low healthy life expectancy as the reasons.

• India is also among the worst-performing BRICS nations along with Brazil which is ranked even lower than India at 71st this year.

• In the overall ranking, India is followed by some of its neighbours including Sri Lanka at 84th place, Bangladesh at 105th, Nepal at 108th and Pakistan at 110th place.

• India was ranked high at 15th place in terms of corporate governance, while it is ranked second globally for shareholder governance.

• In terms of the market size, India is ranked third and has the same rank for renewable energy regulation.

• Besides, India has also punched above its development status when it comes to innovation which is well ahead of most emerging economies and on par with several advanced economies.

• According to the report, India also needs to work on its skill base, market efficiency, trade openness and worker protection rights.

• The ratio of female workers to male workers in India was 0.26.It was ranked at 128th place and was very low as compared to certain other developing countries.

why India ranked low in terms of competitiveness.:

• Information, communication and technology adoption in India has been weak;

• poor health conditions and low life expectancy           

                                                                                                                                                 Source :- Economic Times

Competition Commission of India (CCI)  receives first green channel combination

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has given its approval under the ‘green channel’ route to acquisition of Essel Mutual Fund by BAC Acquisitions Pvt Ltd, a Sachin Bansal-owned entity.

Green chanel :

• The green channel concept was recommended by the high level panel that reviewed the competition law.

• The Green Channel allows for automatic approval for certain Mergers and Acquisitions(M&As) or combinations based on specified criteria and pre-filing consultation.

• The process is aimed at sustaining and promoting a speedy, transparent and accountable review of combination cases to create a culture of compliance and support economic growth.

• Under the framework, green channel approvals can be availed in combinations where there are no horizontal overlaps, no existing or potential vertical relationships and no complementary business activities between the combining parties in which any of the combining parties hold shares or have control.           

                                                                                                                                                                   Source :- PIB

Govt sets up high-level panel to check money laundering activities

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - money-laundering and its prevention.

Context :

• Government has set up a 19-member Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee for better cooperation among government departments to curb money laundering.

More about the committee :

• The committee will be chaired by the revenue secretary.

• The 19-member Inter-Ministerial Co-ordination Committee (IMCC) has five secretaries, including from ministries of finance and external affairs, and chiefs of various regulatory authorities, as well as probe agencies.

• The committee will be tasked with operational cooperation between the government, law enforcement agencies, the Financial Intelligence Unit and other regulators.

• It will also ensure policy cooperation and consultations across authorities, and will develop policies to counter money laundering and terror funding.

                                                                                                                                                       Source :- The Hindu

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY  

India to work with China, Pakistan to gauge impact of climate change

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY : - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) will collaborate with meteorological agencies in China and Pakistan, among others, to provide climate forecast services to countries in the region to better gauge the impact of climate change on the Hindu Kush Mountains including the Himalayas.

• The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has proposed for establishment of regional climate centres in Islamabad, Delhi and Beijing.

Hindu Kush and Himalayan Range (HKH) :

• The Hindu Kush and Himalayan Range (HKH) is famously known as the earth’s “third pole” as it forms the largest area of permanent ice cover outside of the North and South Poles.

• The HKH region spans Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

• It is the source of ten major rivers, and is particularly sensitive to climate change.

• A recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has highlighted the threat to the HKH region from global warming.

• According to Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment, 36% of the glaciers along in the Hindu Kush and Himalaya range (HKH) could melt by 2100 even if global temperature rise is limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.           

                                                                                                                      Source :- The Hindu

SECURITY

India gets first Rafale fighter jet

GS PAPER - 03 SECURITY - Security challenges and their management in border areas; linkages of organized crime with terrorism Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate

Context :

• India received its first French-made Rafale fighter jet.

Background :

• India signed a €7.87-million deal in 2016 with France to buy the 36 planes.

• India is the fourth country after France, Egypt and Qatar, to fly the Rafale.

Rafale fighter jet:

• Rafale is a twin-engine medium multi-role combat aircraft.

• It is manufactured by the French company Dassault Aviation.

• The Rafale is referred to as an ‘omnirole’ aircraft by Dassault.

• It is the capability to perform several actions at the same time.

• It can carry out both air-to-ground as well as air-to-air attacks.

• The aircraft is also fitted with an on-board oxygen generation system (OBOGS).

• It suppresses the need for liquid oxygen refilling or ground support for oxygen production.

• Rafale also provides standoff capability when any country attacks India. An active electronically scanned array(AESA) radar enables the pilot to look 200 to 400 kms away.

• The aircraft also has Situational awareness capability in which Aircraft has got those sensors which enable the pilot to be aware situationally and detect the enemy Aircraft for which the Rafale has AESA radar.

                                                                                                               Source :- Livemint

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