Daily PIB Analysis For UPSC/IAS | 29th & 30th November 2018 -

Table of Contents

Terrorist vs Martyr

One person’s terrorist is often another’s martyr.

Guru Tegh Bahadur’s martyrdom day: we reverentially remembered a saint and a martyr
2 days later, came the 10th anniversary of Mumbai’s 26/11 tragedy: horrible memory of the terrorist attack
Many in Pakistan mourned him as a martyr when he was hanged.
Hafiz Saeed, of Lashkar-e-Taiba, even led a prayer grieving his death, with thousands in attendance.
The Pakistan wing of Taliban and Al Qaida, not to forget David Headley, all commended Kasab, some even vowed to “complete his mission”.
When Nawaz Sharif suggested that Kasab may have had links in Pakistan, it even upset the Press Council in that country.
A little reflection tells us that the mere fact of dying for a cause does not distinguish a martyr from a terrorist.
More important criterion is whether one will kill for a cause, or not.
A true martyr does not physically attack anybody and, what is more, does not fight back, not even in self defence.
Guru Tegh Bahadur fits this definition perfectly.
He knew that a violent death awaited him, yet he went ahead to plead the cause of Kashmiris who came to him for help.
Imam Husayn, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, also died without offering any resistance.
He too was aware that he was heading towards dangerous terrain but he still felt he had to give peace a chance.
In the Christian faith, St Sebastian was a true martyr.
There he stood in the public square, with folded hands and bended knees, submitting quietly to stoning by a wild mob.
The Macabee brothers are martyrs for the Jews as they too refused to fight back even as they were tortured for observing their dietary taboos.
A terrorist, on the other hand, starts out to kill for a cause and if death should happen it is passed off as collateral damage.
It is true that Bhagat Singh killed John Saunders, a police officer, to avenge Lala Lajpat Rai’s death. He was on the run after that and successfully evaded the police for months.
Yet, very soon his views on the political necessity of violence changed and he practically asked to be arrested.
He did this by bursting a harmless bomb, little more than an elevated fire cracker, in the Assembly.
It hurt no one and he waited quietly for the police to take him away.
He soon realised that those who uphold the ideals of socialism and anticolonialism “do not throw bombs on innocent people”.
Today Bhagat Singh is rightly known as a martyr, not so much for his attack on Saunders as for his peaceful protest in the Assembly and subsequent surrender.
Bhagat Singh was not against British people but the colonial structure that some of them represented.
Unlike a terrorist, a martyr never considers an entire community to be the enemy.
This is light years away from how Al Qaida, or Taliban, trains jihadis.
For them, killing for a cause is the first order of business; it is a cherished value in itself.
Hate is much easier to nurture than compassion. This is why a terrorist can never rise to be a martyr.

UPSC

Shri Arvind Saxena has been sworn in as the Chairman, Union Public Service Commission.
The Oath of Office and Secrecy was administered by Prof. (Dr.) Pradeep Kumar Joshi, senior most Member of the Commission.
A student of Civil Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering and M.Tech. in Systems Management from IIT, New Delhi, Shri Saxena was selected for the Civil Services and joined the Indian Postal Service in 1978.
In 1988, he left the Indian Postal Service to join the Research & Analysis Wing of the Cabinet Secretariat, where he specialised in the study of strategic developments in neighbouring countries, including Nepal, China and Pakistan.
Shri Saxena is a recipient of awards for Meritorious Services (2005) and Distinguished Services (2012), conferred by the Prime Minister, in recognition of his exemplary work and unblemished service record in the R&AW.
– Arvind Saxena (R) being administered the Oath of Office and Secrecy as UPSC Chairperson by Union Public Service Commission’s senior most member Prof. (Dr.) Pradeep Kumar Joshi

Vice President

- 18th National Conference of Senior Citizens organized by the All India Senior Citizens Confederation (AISCCON), Hyderabad
- Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that India traditionally enjoyed a robust joint family system and the fast changing socio-economic conditions ware leading to its disintegration.
- The Vice President said that there was an inherent social security in our joint family system as it took great care of the elderly.
- With the emergence of nuclear families, the elderly were increasingly getting neglected and their dignity was also adversely affected.
- Whenever the family system fails in its duty to protect the elderly, the community, civil society and the government have to step in to fill the vacuum, he added.
- Apart from abandonment, the elderly also faced neglect, abuse, physical, verbal and emotional and other forms of violence, he added.
- Vice President said that currently, there were an estimated 10.5 crore elderly in India and by 2050 the figure would reach 32.4 crore.
- Worldwide, by 2050 every fifth person will be an elder person and there will be 64 countries including India where 30% of the population will be 60 plus, he added.
- Pointing out that more than 70% of our elders reside in rural areas, the Vice President said the rise in rural population of senior citizens was due to large scale migration of younger generation to urban areas.
- Shri Naidu said that out of the total population of the elders, 70% – that is around eight crore people – are below the poverty line.

He further said that the pension they receive from the government was inadequate. Even though the situation has improved with the recent Direct Benefit Transfer, we still have a long way to go, he added.

Vice President

19th Annual Conference of Indian Association of Private Psychiatry (IAPP), in Hyderabad
Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has called for putting in place a National Suicide Prevention Strategy to curb the tendency of youngsters and others to end their lives due to depression and frustration.
Vice President said that he was disturbed by news reports of suicide by youngsters, farmers and women.
Timely counseling and family support can prevent people suffering from depression from taking any extreme step, he added.
The Vice President said that Yoga, meditation and spiritualism will provide mental equilibrium and solace at times of depression.
Globally, more than 300 million people of all ages suffer from depression.
He further said that at least 13.7 per cent of India’s general population has been projected to be suffering from a variety of mental illnesses and 10.6 per cent of this requires immediate intervention.
In all, nearly 150 million Indians are in a need of active medical intervention, according to the National Mental Health Survey 2015-2016 submitted by NIMHANS to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Prime Minister

Prime Minister Modi, President Vladimir V Putin of Russian Federation and President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China, held a Trilateral Meeting in Buenos Aires.
The three leaders exchanged views on expanding mutual cooperation in international forums, and to encourage greater interaction among the three countries.
They agreed on the importance of reform and strengthening of multilateral institutions which have benefitted the world, including the United Nations, WTO and well-established as well as new global financial institutions.
The three leaders acknowledged the importance of cooperation in RIC format and have agreed to hold further such trilateral meetings on multilateral occasions.

Department of Space

ISRO’s PSLV-C43 successfully launched 31 satellites.
It injected India’s Hyper-Spectral Imaging Satellite (HysIS) into a 645 km sunsynchronous polar orbit.
Later, 30 foreign satellites were injected into their intended orbit after restarting the vehicle’s fourth stage engines twice.
HysIS is an earth observation satellite built around ISRO’s Mini Satellite2 (IMS-2) bus weighing about 380kg.
The mission life of the satellite is five years.
The primary goal of HysIS is to study the earth’s surface in both the visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Data from the satellite will be used for a wide range of applications including agriculture, forestry, soil/geological environments, coastal zones and inland waters, etc.
These foreign satellites launched are part of commercial arrangements between Antrix Corporation Limited and customers.
Dr Sivan said the main purpose of the HysIS is to exactly identify the objects on the surface of the earth with high precision and resolution.

Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare

2-day Global Agriculture & Food Summit-2018 at Ranchi
Shri Radha Mohan Singh has said that with the efforts of the government unprecedented progress has been made in the agriculture sector.
Foodgrain production in 2017-18 (4 th Advance Estimate) stood at 284.83 million tonne as compared to 255.59 million tonne average production in 2010-14.
Production of pulses also rose by 40%
Production of horticulture crops recorded 15.79% growth
Fisheries production under Blue Revolution 26.86%
Animal husbandry & milk production 23.80%
He said that in order to reduce the cost of production, Soil Health Card, use of neemcoated urea and schemes related to ‘per drop more crop’ are being targeted and implemented.
To promote organic farming, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) was initiated in 2014-15 and for north east Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCD-NER) was started.
He further said that National Agriculture Market (eNAM), a new market mechanism has been started in order to ensure remunerative price for the farmers’ produce while advancing towards ‘one nation one market’.
Till March 2018, the target of integrating 585 mandis with e-NAM has been achieved.
Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana has been started with an allocation of Rs 6,000 crore.

Ministry of Defence

Naval cooperation between India and the United Kingdom.
IN – RN exercise KONKAN-18 begins
Bilateral KONKAN exercise: series commenced in 2004, and since then has grown in scale.
The thrust of the exercise this year would be on Anti-Air warfare, Anti-Surface Warfare, Anti-Submarine Warfare, Visit Board Search and Seizure (VBSS) and Seamanship Evolutions.
The exercise is aimed at deriving mutual benefit from each others’ experiences and is indicative of the continuing cooperation between the two countries.

Ministry of Power

“8 States have achieved 100% saturation in household electrification under Saubhagya namely Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Bihar, J&K, Mizoram, Sikkim, Telangana and West Bengal. Thus total 15 States in the countrynow have 100 % household electrification.”
Saubhagya – ‘Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana’ was launched in September, 2017 with the objective to provide access to electricity to all the remaining households in the country.
The Minister informed that as many as 2.1 crore connections have been released under Saubhagya so far.
Minister adding that with the present pace of electrification, Nation is expected to achieve 100% saturation in the country by 31st December, 2018.