GS 2: Government Policies....
- One Rank, One Pension (OROP), or same pension, for same rank and for the same length of service, irrespective of the date of retirement was the basis for determining the pension and benefits of Indian Armed Forces till 1973.
- In 1973, the Indian National Congress (INC) government headed by Indira Gandhi terminated OROP
- OROP "implies that uniform pension be paid to the Armed Forces Personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service irrespective of their date of retirement and any future enhancement in the rates of pension to be automatically passed on to the past pensioners."
Financial Implications of OROP Implementation
- The current estimates vary between ₹ 8,000-9,000 crores
Other issues
- If OROP is implemented, other forces like CAPF (Central Armed Police Forces) might demand the same treatment.
Corporal punishment
Interview
- Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain in order to punish a person convicted of a crime or as retribution for a perceived offence.
Diclofenac
GS 3: Conservation; Hot topic for prelims
- The Central government gazette notification banning the use of multi-vial dose of Diclofenac comes as a shot in the arm for conservation of vulture population.
- The ban restricts the production to single 3 ml dose, thereby stopping production of injectable diclofenac of larger quantities that were being used for veterinarian purposes.
- Saving Asia’s Vulture’s from Extinction (SAVE), formed in 2011 has been battling for the enforcement of the ban.
- Vultures act as scavengers, which play a valuable role eating animal carcasses. They destroy pathogens, recycle nutrients and prevent contamination of water bodies.
- By consuming the carcasses, they act as anti-agents of parvo, brucellosis, tuberculosis, foot and mouth, rabies and anthrax.
- Of the 23 species of vultures worldwide, nine are present in India. Four are migrant species and five are resident species.
- Four of the species are critically endangered, one is endangered, three are near threatened and one is of least concern as per data available with the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Sunhak Peace Prize
Prelims: Most
unlikely. But if you are writing some local exam, this can be of use.
- Noted Indian agriculture scientist Modadugu Vijay Gupta was awarded first Sunhak Peace Prize
- He has done pioneering work in aquaculture in India and several other countries
- Sunhak Peace Prize, billed as an alternative to the Nobel Peace Prize
- He shared with the President of Kiribati Islands (A group of Islands in Central Pacific).
- The awards were presented by South Korean religious leader who instituted the awards to recognise and highlight the work of individuals making big efforts for the betterment of people.
India rebuffs Afghanistan on strategic meet
- Stung by Afghanistan’s security and strategic shift towards Pakistan in the past year, India has rebuffed another invitation from Kabul to revive the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) signed in 2011 to hold a meeting of the Strategic Partnership Council (SPC).
- India was the first country Afghanistan chose to sign a strategic partnership agreement with, despite the U.S. and Pakistan keen on doing so.
- India has so far given financial assistance worth over $2 billion to Afghanistan and has been involved in massive developmental efforts in this war-torn country.
India has significantly withdrawn from its strategic promises to
Afghanistan for the following reasons
- Barrage of attacks from the Taliban supported by Pakistan as a “backlash” to Indian presence have forced India to reconsider its strategic and military assistance.
- President Ashraf Ghani took charge in 2014, he made a decisive shift towards mending fences with the Pakistan Army.
Future hopes
- India’s development commitment remains robust, and Mr. Modi's visit is expected to take place once the Afghan Parliament is completed by the Indian Public Works Department by January 2016.
Seaweeds
GS 3: Food Processing (roughly)
- Popularly known as seaweeds, algae can be cultivated in seawater, including shallow and brackish waters.
- It has been of immense industrial, human and agricultural value since time immemorial and gained prominence during 13th century, after the discovery of agar-agar in Japan and Alginic Acid in the European continent.
- Substances of the seaweeds are being used as additives in food products and drugs to give them a smooth texture and help them retain moisture.
- They are also used in lipsticks, soaps, film, paint, varnish and buttons and of huge demand in the domestic and international markets.
- Algae cultivation is an opportunity to improve the living conditions of lakhs of fishermen and to earn foreign currency as well.
Chenchu people
Prelims: Social Geography
- Scheduled Tribe
- Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Odisha
- They are an aboriginal tribe whose traditional way of life has been based on hunting and gathering.
- The Chenchus speak the Chenchu language, a member of the Dravidian language family.
- Many Chenchus live in the dense Nallamala forest of Andhra Pradesh.
External debt increases in 2014-15
GS 3: External Sector of India
- India’s external debt increased by 6.6 per cent to $475.8 billion in 2014-15, compared to $446.3 billion at the end of the previous year, according to a report by the Department of Economic Affairs.
- The Department’s annual ‘India’s External Debt: A status report’ for 2014-15 shows that the country’s external debt has grown faster than its GDP, with the external debt-GDP ratio rising to 23.8 per cent.
- Most of this external debt is in the form of long-term debt.
- The increase in long-term external debt during the year was primarily on account of rise in commercial borrowings and NRI deposits.
- The share of short-term external debt in total external debt declined.
- Sovereign external debt increased.
- While saying that the country’s external debt position is still well within manageable limits, the report added that India compares well internationally on this front.
- Read standard books or view mrunal.org videos first.
PSBs need govt support for viability of social schemes: SBI
GS 3: Economy - Banking
- State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Arundhathi Bhattacharya on Friday said the government needs to think about ‘ways and means’ to sustain social security schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) in the long run and compensate public sector banks (PSBs) to make such initiatives commercially viable.
- The remarks from the chief of country’s largest lender comes a day after the Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan stressed on the need to compensate PSBs to maintain a level playing field as many of the private sector banks do not get pinched by such measures.
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