Daily PIB Analysis For UPSC/IAS – 9th & 10th Apr’18

Table of Contents

PMO

Central Public Sector Enterprises, CPSEs conclave in New
Delhi.
Addressing CPSEs’ conclave Prime Minister Narendra Modi
has said, CPSEs, can play a pivotal role in developing a
New India.
5P formula — Performance, Process, Persona,
Procurement and Preparation.
The Prime Minister said, decision making should bestreamlined and there should be a pool of qualifiedpeople.
Innovation in enterprise should become a driving factor and unique incentive models have to be brought to
encourage workers in CPSEs.
The Prime Minister said, many successful privatecompanies cannot sustain for more than two decades because they do not adopt the latest technologies.

Cauvery Water dispute

The Supreme Court today refused to grant time to theCentre to file its draft scheme for the implementation ofits judgement in the Cauvery Water dispute case.
The court asked the Centre to file it by the 3rd of May.
Declining the Centre’s plea, the top court said there is
no escaping this task.

Verdict of Supreme Court in 2018

The court said that it has considered the Cauvery Water
Disputes Tribunal award and decided the water share for
states, which has to be complied with.
The Apex court also directed competent authorities inTamil Nadu and Karnataka to maintain peace in theirstates till the court finally approves the scheme forimplementation of its judgment on Cauvery waterdistribution
The apex court said that once the Centre devises a draft
scheme, it will take the views of the state of Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry and Kerala, before
approving the scheme.

Defence

Nirmala Sitharaman today said there is a growing
interest among various countries in Indian missiles and
the government wants to sell them to friendly nations.
The Minister said, she will address the defence attaches
posted in Indian missions abroad to encourage them to
market capabilities of Indian manufacturing experts.
The Government has signed a major contract for
procurement of over 1.86 lakh Bullet Proof Jackets for
the Army under Make In India Initiative.
• The Defence Ministry, said these jackets have
contemporary and state-of-the-art specifications with
added protection level and coverage area.

President

President Ram Nath Kovind and his Equatorial Guinean
counterpart Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo held
delegation level talks in the capital Malabo this
afternoon.
They reviewed entire gamut of bilateral relations and
discussed ways of expanding that.
Agreements: traditional system of medicine, medicinal
plants, Information and Technology and Health.
President Ram Nath Kovind has promised strengtheningthe co-operation between India and Swaziland.
Parliament of Swaziland today, Mr Kovind said, India is ready to support the country as per its developmental priorities.
He said both countries can work together to buildcapacities in agriculture, public health and telecom and IT sector.
After concluding his visit to Swaziland, President Ram
Nath Kovind reached Zambia this evening on the final leg
of his three-nation visit.
Mr Kovind was received by his counterpart Edgar Chagwa
Lungua at Kenneth Kaunda Airport Lusaka and accorded
a ceremonial reception.
A guard of honour was also accorded to the President.
The President will have delegation level talks with the
Zambian side tomorrow. A number of agreements will be
signed after the talks.

NITI Aayog

The first meeting of NITI Forum for North East- a unit of
NITI Aayog took place at Agartala in Tripura.
The meeting was inaugurated by Minister for
Development of North East Region (DoNER) Dr Jitendra
Singh and Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Dr. Rajiv Kumar.
It offers opportunity for healthy synergy between
ministry of Northeast, Northeastern council and NITI
Aayog
Dr. Singh further added that there is a rise of 21 percent
in fund utilization in Northeast during last three years.
He also said that during the regime of Modi Governmentlandmark decisions such as; Amendment in Indian ForestAct for Bamboo, 100 percent central funding of NorthEastern projects, North East Tourism DevelopmentCouncil etc.

WTO

China has filed a complaint with the World Trade
Organisation, WTO, challenging US President Donald Trump’s
tariff hike on imported steel and aluminum.
The trade body said today that China has requested 60 days
of consultations with the US on the steel and aluminum
dispute.
If that fails, the next step could be for Beijing to request a
ruling from a panel of trade experts.
Beijing says Trump’s decision to impose additional duties of 25
per cent on steel and 10 per cent aluminum violate
international trade rules

Defence Procurements and Upgradation

October 2017: Sergeant Milind Kishor died after two AK47
bullets shot by Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists pierced his
“bulletproof” helmet worn by him during a weeklong
gun-battle in Kashmir.
CRPF soldier was killed when a Jaish-e-Mohammad
terrorist’s bullet penetrated his “bulletproof” jacket
during a counter-insurgency operation in the valley.
Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan Singh of the bomb disposal
squad died defusing an explosive manually.
Defence Procurements and Upgradation
Some of these deaths could possibly have been avoided
with better protection equipment and the defence
ministry’s order to finally procure 1.86 lakh desperatelyneeded
modern bulletproof jackets for the Army’s
infantry soldiers is long overdue.
Political parties and sudden patriotism: when soldier is
killed in a terror attack or a counter-insurgency
operation against Pakistan-sponsored terrorists in
Kashmir
When it comes to equipping soldiers who lay down their
lives for the nation, patriotism often amounts to little
more than lip-service.
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved
procurement of the bulletproof jackets during the
Manmohan Singh-led UPA-2 government in 2009.
•In 2014, the parliamentary standing committee on
defence headed Major General (retd.) BC Khanduri
rapped the government for delays and an emergency
procurement of 50,000 jackets was made in 2016.
The Rs.639 crore deal signed now with a domestic
private company, SMPP Pvt. Ltd., is a welcome move but
a lot more needs to be done to upgrade our defence
weaponry and safety gear.
We cannot allow bureaucratic delays and political
callousness to cost our soldiers their lives and the system
must move much more urgently to ensure timely
delivery of crucial defence equipment.