Table of Contents
HM
• Union Minister Kiren Rijiju today said, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, AFSPA,
may be withdrawn from areas where security situation improves.
• Mr Rijiju said, since the security scenario in the Northeast has improved in the last
four years, AFSPA has been removed from many areas and government is hopeful
that with further improvement, it may be lifted from the remaining few areas in the
near future.
• The AFSPA has been completely withdrawn from Meghalaya but is in force in
Nagaland, Assam and three districts in Arunachal Pradesh.
India-Afghanistan
• Unidentified armed men abducted six Indians and one Afghan employee of an
Indian infrastructure company in Baghlan province.
• They were abducted while travelling to the area, where the company owns an
electricity sub-station contract.
• The incident happened in Bagh-e-Shamal village of the provincial capital Pul-eKhomre.
• No group has so far claimed responsibility for the abduction.
Kathua
• Supreme Court transferred the trial in the Kathua gang rape and murder case to
Pathankot in Punjab from Jammu and Kashmir.
• It also vacated the stay on the trial of the case.
• Trial should be fast-tracked and conducted on a day-to-day basis to avoid any delay.
• It ordered in-camera hearing in the case.
• The trial will be in accordance with the provisions of Ranbir Penal Code, that is
applicable in Jammu and Kashmir.
• The Supreme Court today struck down amendment in Uttar Pradesh legislation
allowing former Chief Ministers of the state to continue occupying government
accommodations even after demisting office.
• The apex court said that once such persons demit public office, there is
nothing to distinguish them from the common man.
Ayushman Bharat
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi today reviewed preparations for launch of
Health Assurance programme under Ayushman Bharat.
• Top officials of the Health Ministry, NITI Aayog, and PMO briefed him on various
aspects of the scheme.
• Mr Modi has stressed on providing maximum benefit to the poor and
marginalized sections of society under the scheme.
• Ayushman Bharat programe has twin missions.
• The first is to create a network of 1.5 lakh Health and Wellness Centres across the country
to deliver comprehensive primary healthcare close to the community.
• It aims at providing insurance cover to 40 per cent of India’s population for secondary and
tertiary care, including hospitalization costs.
• The Scheme has the benefit cover of 5 lakh rupees per family per year.
• The target beneficiaries under the scheme will be over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families.
• A beneficiary will be allowed to take cashless benefits from any public and private
em paneled hospitals across the country.
One Stop Centers
• The Center has approved setting up of hundred additional One Stop Centers in nine
states to help violence affected women.
• The purpose of these centers is to facilitate integrated services for violence affected
women such as police assistance, medical aid, psycho-social counselling and legal aid.
• The Ministry of Women and Child Development has so far set up 182 Centers
under the scheme since April, 2015.
• Over one lakh 30 thousand women affected by violence have been assisted at these
centers in 33 States and Union Territories.
Russian Election
• Vladimir Putin was sworn in as President of Russia for a historic fourth term at a
ceremony in the Kremlin today.
• Mr Putin has extended his almost two-decade rule by another six years.
• The 65-year-old for almost two-decade in power, is on course to become the longest serving
Russian leader since Joseph Stalin after his victory in elections.
• Mr Putin has promised to use his fourth term to revitalize the country’s economy and
improve living standards, however, he is also beset with a host of delicate international
disputes.
Defence Minister
• Nirmala Sitharaman said, the death of a tourist who was targeted by stone-pelters
in Kashmir was highly condemnable.
• 22-year-old R Thirumani, a resident of Chennai was killed in a stone-pelting
incident near Narbal in Kashmir.
• She also said, armed forces have to be firm with terrorists and described the
Kashmir issue as very sensitive and nuanced.
Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas
• Dharmendra Pradhan has said that India needs to increase the share of Gas in its
energy basket to pursue economic growth.
• There is a huge market for gas and clean fuel in India and transforming into a gas
based economy will ensure climate justice for all.
• The Minister suggested that petroleum products should be brought under the
purview of GST to bring uniformity.
Vice President’s
• India and Guatemala today agreed to support each other’s candidature for Non Permanent
Membership in the United Nations Security Council.
• Guatemala will support India’s candidature for UNSC membership for
2021-22 while New Delhi will do so for 2031-32 for Guatemala.
• Shri Naidu’s visit is highest level from either side since establishment of
diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1972.
JCPOA
• US President Donald Trump’s stand on the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and US,
Russia, China, France, Germany and UK.
• The essence of the deal is that these countries will periodically suspend
erstwhile economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for the latter capping its
nuclear weapons programme.
• Sanctions will effectively kill the deal.
• Iran’s trading partners, including India, will be in a dilemma as companies that do
business with Iran will lose access to the American market which is the world’s
largest.
• Collapse of the deal will have far-reaching geopolitical and economic implications.
• On the geopolitical side, it will feed into North Korea’s fears just when the Korean
peninsula began to witness a thaw in the relationship between the two Koreas.
• In South Asia, Iran has emerged as an important channel through which
Pakistan’s strategic hold over Afghanistan is being offset.
• India’s investment in Iran’s Chabahar port, for example, serves that purpose.
• On the economic side, making it difficult for Iran to sell oil will lead to further
hardening in international crude prices, which will adversely impact the global
economy.
• Therefore, nurturing the Iran nuclear deal is in the entire world’s interest.
• President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal appears to
have put regime change at the very center of the new American power play
against Tehran.
• The other case for abandoning the deal was that the agreement has emboldened
the Iranian regime to project its power way beyond its borders much to the
discomfort of many Arab governments.
• Two key members of Trump’s foreign policy team — Secretary of State Michael
Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton — are known to have long
favoured regime change in Iran.
• The President accused Iran of funding “its long reign of chaos and terror by
plundering the wealth of its own people.” He warned Tehran that if it persists with
its nuclear ambitions, “It will have bigger problems than it has ever had before”
• Obama avoided being drawn into questions about the nature of the Islamic
Republic and focused on the challenge of Iran’s nuclear weapons programe.
• Nor is there any guarantee that external pressure will produce desired
consequences within Iran.
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