Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

S.NO.

NEWS ITEM

SYLLUBUS

ESSENCE OF THE ARTICLE

1.

NSA talks on
a)
track: officials
(Pages 1 and 12)

I.R

a) Official said the recent series of provocations from

across the border will not derail the talks between NSA
Ajit Doval and his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz,
scheduled for August 23 and 24.

2.

India accepts
a)
invitation to
victory parade in
Beijing (Page 12)

I.R

a) Ending weeks of speculation, India has accepted

Chinas invitation to a military parade in Beijing on
September 3 to celebrate the end of World War II.

3.

Mullah Omar: a a)
myth of
convenience (Page
10)

International a) The dismantling of the Mullah Omar myth was

expected to create some fragmentation in the jihadi
networks but the fracturing is proving to be difficult than
anticipated (as events in Afghanistan show), following
the US taking a back seat in the region.

4.

Ranil warns
a)
against divisive
politics (Page 14)

International a) Sri Lankas United National Party leader and PM

Ranil Wickremesinghe said his government would not
allow anyone to indulge in divisive politics.

5.

Yuan makes its

a)
first market move
(Page 11)
b)

a) Chinas desire to be a world economic leader is

International legitimate, but too tight an embrace of global finance
could kill the very stability that has marked the countrys
Economy
rapid ascent.

6.

Germany gives a)
yes to Greek
bailout (Page 14)

a) Germanys Parliament strongly approved a third

International bailout for Greece, removing a key hurdle to providing
new loans to the country and keeping it from defaulting
on its debts in as little as 24 hours.

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

7.

IS beheads 82a)
year-old
archaeologist of
Palmyra (Page14)

International a) The Islamic State group has beheaded the 82-yearold retired chief archaeologist of Palmyra, who refused to
leave the ancient city when the jihadists captured it.

8.

Govt treads warily a)

on RTE Act
amendments
b)
(Page 13)

National

9.

India Post, 10
a)
others get nod for
payments banks
(Pages 1 and 15)

Economy

a) The Reserve Bank of India gave approval in

principle for 11 entities to set up payments banks.

10.

Early experiments a)
with technology
(Page 11)
b)

National

a) The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment

(Indias first attempt to use technology as an educational
tool) celebrates its 40th anniversary this month.

S.NO.

1.

NEWS ITEM

NSA talks on
a)
track: officials
(Pages 1 and 12)

Polity

S&T

a) The Centre has decided to adopt the slower but more

safer route of getting written demands from all State
govts before amending the RTE 2009, to revoke the nodetention provision in elementary school (till Class VIII)
despite the unanimous outcry for its revocation.

SYLLUBUS

I.R

BACKGROUND

IMPORTANT POINTS

a) India Pakistan
relations

d)

a) Official said the recent

series of provocations from
across the border will not derail
Border disputes
the talks between NSA Ajit
Doval and his Pakistani
Hurriyat conference
counterpart Sartaj Aziz,
scheduled for Aug 23 and 24.
Kashmir issue

e)

Terrorism

b)
c)

b) They were reacting to

Pakistans invitation of Kashmiri
separatist leaders to a reception
hosted for Aziz at the Pak High

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

Commission on Aug 23. After a

meeting of Hurriyat leadership
in Srinagar, the chairpersons of
moderate and hard-line factions
confirmed their acceptance of
the invitation, and added that
the Hurriyat supports the IndiaPakistan talks.
c) Since the last formal talks
with Pakistan in 2012, India has
added 15 new names to a fresh
list of fugitives to be handed
over to neighbouring country
during the NSA-level talks
scheduled on Aug 23. India has
also prepared a 1000-page
dossier on Udhampur attack
accused Mohammad Naved,
which will be shared with Pak.
d) India has also formulated a
strategy to dismiss any
comparison between Samjhauta
Express blast and the Mumbai
terror attack citing the role of
state actors in latter incident.
e) Official said deportation of
Dawood Ibrahim and speedy
trial in the 26/11 Mumbai terror
attack case are some of the key
issues to be raised by NSA Ajit
Doval with his counterpart
Sartaj Aziz during the talks.

2.

India accepts
a)
invitation to
victory parade in
Beijing (Page 12)

I.R

a) India China
relations
b)

India Japan

a) Ending weeks of
speculation, India has accepted
Chinas invitation to a military
parade in Beijing on Sept 3 to
3

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

relations
c)

celebrate end of World War II.

World War II

b) China has invited the US,

the UK, Germany, Russia, even
d) 1952 Peace Treaty Japan and other nations to the
parade to commemorate the
e) International Military
70th anniversary celebrations of
Tribunal
what it calls the victory of the
anti-fascist forces.
c) India was cautious in
accepting invitation, weighing
in consequences on its bilateral
ties with Japan. Relations
between India and Japan have
been strengthened over time,
even after the war when the
International Military Tribunal
(for the Far Easts trials of
Japanese war crimes committed
during the WW-II) was set up.
d) India submitted a judgment
which said the defendants were
not guilty. India also did not
sign the 1952 peace treaty,
opting to sign a separate peace
treaty with Japan; so Tokyo and
New Delhi have an independent
relationship.

3.

Mullah Omar: a
myth of
convenience
(Page 10)

a)

International

a)

Taliban

a) Mullah Omar emerged on

Afghan scene in 1994 (leading
b) Taliban Afghan
the Taliban) to free Kandahar of
government peace talks factional warlords and open up
the road from Spin Boldak on
c) Afghanistan situation
Pakistan-Afghanistan border to
Kandahar, and later, on to Herat.
d) Afghanistan
His military success surprised
Pakistan relations
even his ISI sponsors. Thus
4

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

e) Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI)

began the exercise in mythmaking.

f) Tehreek-i- Taliban
Pakistan (TTP)

b) In 1996, Mullah Omar took

on title of Amir ul Mumineen
(Commander of the Faithful)
g) Islamic Movement of
when he donned the cloak of
Uzbekistan (IMU)
Prophet before a large assembly
of Afghans in Kandahar. It
enhanced his legitimacy to lead
the jihad against the regime of
Afghanistan President
Burhanuddin Rabbani. The
endorsement of his new title by
the al-Qaeda, added to the myth.
c) His statements strongly
opposed US and foreign
presence in Afghanistan, were
critical of Afghanistan President
Hamid Karzai, maintained
ambivalence about Talibans
political office, based in Doha
(Qatar) and declined to anoint a
successor. All this coincided
perfectly with the ISI agenda
and Mullah Omars legend
continued to grow.
d) Both Pakistans former
military ruler (General Pervez
Musharraf) and General Ashfaq
Kayani (his successor as army
chief) had a healthy dislike for
Karzais Pashtun nationalism.
Even though cracks were
emerging within the Taliban as
Karzais High Peace Council
chaired by Rabbani continued to
reach out to those willing to
talk, episodic statements from
5

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

Mullah Omar troubled the

process and maintained a front
of Taliban unity. In December
2011, Rabbani was killed by a
suicide bomber for which the
Taliban claimed responsibility.
e) A power struggle in
Taliban was underway since
2012 when Mullah Akhtar
Mansour tried to expel Mullah
Abdul Qayum Zakir from his
position of military commander
but failed. Hardliners led by
Mullah Abdul Rauf Khadim (a
former Guantanamo Bay
detainee) were attracted by the
emergence of the IS which
gradually occupied large areas
of territory in Iraq and then in
Syria, with Abu Bakr alBaghdadi establishing a
caliphate and posing a direct
challenge to Mullah Omar.
f) Meanwhile, the emergence
of regional shuras like the
Miranshah shura led by
Jalaluddin Haqqanis son
(Sirajuddin) and the Peshawar
shura led by Qari Baryal and
Mullah Abdul Latif also
weakened Mullah Omars Quetta
shura.
g) The year 2014 marked a
transition year in Afghanistan.
The US ended its combat role
and President Ashraf Ghani
took over from Karzai after a
controversial election. In
6

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

Pakistan, its Chief of Army

Staff General Raheel Sharif
launched Operation Zarb-e-Azb
against elements of the TTP and
the IMU.
h) Ghani needed to ensure
stability and realised that it
could only happen with the ISIs
cooperation. Hence the
overtures to Pakistan - his much
publicised call on Gen. Sharif at
the General Headquarters in
Rawalpindi during his two-day
official visit to Pakistan in Nov
2014, the withdrawal of request
for Indian military hardware,
sending Afghan military officers
for training, handing over of
TTP leader Latifullah Mehsud,
and a cooperation agreement
between intelligence agencies in return for the ISIs support for
a peace process with the
Taliban.
i) Chinese backing for the
process became evident when a
round of secret talks was held
between Afghan envoys and
Taliban representatives in the
northwestern Chinese city of
Urumqi (and facilitated by
Pakistan) before the Murree
meeting but there was no let-up
in the Taliban offensive. Mullah
Akhtar Mansour (who is close
to ISI) was managing dialogue
but it needed legitimacy.
j)

Hence the Ramzan

7

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

endorsement attributed to
Mullah Omar but it proved to be
too much for those who were
opposed to the talks and felt
offended that Mullah Omars
myth was being shamelessly
exploited. The myth was no
longer useful and dismantling it
had become necessary. The only
way out was to acknowledge
Mullah Omars death and get
Mullah Mansour anointed the
new leader.
k) Under the circumstances,
the next round of talks with the
Afghan authorities has been
postponed even as Mansour
tries to consolidate his support
base with help from the ISI and
the Haqqani group. The
dismantling of the Mullah Omar
myth was expected to create
some fragmentation in the jihadi
networks but the fracturing is
proving to be messier than
anticipated.
l) Ghani was losing patience
and had conveyed his
unhappiness to Pakistan PM
Nawaz Sharif, questioning
Pakistans commitment to the
dialogue. Ghani demanded that
the Quetta shura be put under
house arrest, restrictions placed
on the sale of fertilizer in the
Federally Administered Tribal
Areas region to prevent its
diversion for bomb making,
counter-terrorism operations
8

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

extended against the Haqqani

network, and condemnation of
Taliban spring offensive, etc.

4.

Ranil warns
a)
against divisive
politics (Page 14)

International

a) Sri Lankas internal

issues
b) United National
Party (UNP)
c) Tamil National
Alliance (TNA)

a) Sri Lankas UNP leader and

PM Wickremesinghe said his
govt would not allow anyone to
indulge in divisive politics.
b) He said the govt would
arrive at a consensus and build a
framework through which we
will do our politics. There
would be district development
coordination boards (headed by
lawmakers) to carry out
decentralised development.
Besides, the country would have
Gram Rajya committees.
Members of civil society would
be included in advisory
councils.
c) TNA will support the UNP,
which has emerged as the single
largest party in the Parliament
election in Sri Lanka.

5.

Yuan makes its a)

first market move
(Page 11)
b)

International
Economy

a) Chinas currency
devaluation
b) Peoples Bank of
China (PBOC)
c) International
Monetary Fund (IMF)
d) Special Drawing
Rights (SDRs)

a) China sprang a surprise on

world markets last week. The
Chinese currency renminbi (less
formally known as yuan) lost its
value against the US dollar by
nearly 3 percent between Aug
11 and 13. This was its sharpest
weekly fall in over 2 decades.
With the devaluation, Chinas
manufactured products are
going to get cheaper.
9

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

e)

Currency war

b) The devaluation
announcement came within
days of Chinas export figures
g) Asian Infrastructure
for July recording a negative
Investment Bank (AIIB)
growth, due mainly to the slow
h) Chinas One Belt One pickup in demand from
developed-country markets.
Road project
Some commentators argued that
the Chinese action might cause
a new global currency war
(where other countries too
devalue their currencies to
compete with China) as had
happened during the Great
Depression of the 1930s.
f)

Global depression

c) The PBOC (Chinas central

bank) soon stepped in to clarify.
It said that the devaluation
marked the transition to a
flexible, more market-based
system of determining Chinas
exchange rates. In contrast, the
system that existed until now
was one in which the value of
Chinese currency (especially in
relation to the US dollar) had
largely been fixed by the govt.
d) If PBOCs claims are true,
it is likely to be a component of
a larger, national strategy to
internationalise the renminbi.
China wants to see the renminbi
emerge as a currency for
international trade and finance,
like the dollar. It also plans to
build Shanghai into a global
financial centre, rivalling New
York. As a preliminary step,
China is trying to get renminbi
10

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

included in basket of currencies

in IMFs SDR. IMF has set a
precondition that China should
remove restrictions on foreign
capital flows and shift to a
flexible exchange rate system.
Expectedly, the IMF welcomed
PBOCs announcement.
e) It is to be noted that China
has had strict controls on
foreign capital movements
across its borders, at least until
recently. Such controls have
been effective in filtering out
volatile, short-term capital
flows, which are often harmful
to the economy, while at the
same time encouraging FDI. In
contrast, India has (over the
years) liberalised its capital
account substantially, attracting
relatively large volumes of
short-term capital flows.
f) Chinas remarkably fast
export-led economic growth
during the 2000s occurred in an
enabling environment provided
by a stable exchange rate and
tight capital controls. In fact, the
stability in Chinas currency rate
has been a factor that helped
other East Asian economies to
achieve steady and fast growth.
g) However, all this has come
at a cost. To maintain a stable
exchange rate, China has been
investing a significant part of its
foreign exchange earnings in
11

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

US treasury bonds, despite their

very low returns. Thus, China
has been effectively transferring
a share of its hard-earned
savings to US. This has fuelled
consumption demand in the US,
helping it overcome the
problems caused by trade and
government-budget deficits.
h) Chinas strategy to break
free of its mutually dependent
relationship with the US has
multiple points. One, China
aims to derive its future growth
more from domestic markets
and services rather than from
exports of cheap manufactured
goods. Two, China is trying to
strategically deploy its large
foreign exchange assets into
initiatives such as AIIB and
ambitious One Belt One Road
project. It would also like to
replace dollar-zone in East Asia
with a viable renminbi zone.
i) Chinas economic and
investment growth has slowed
down in recent months. It has
flowed billions of dollars into
investments in infrastructure
and other basic industries,
especially after the 2008 global
economic downturn. But this
has not been matched by rising
demand for these industries
(either domestic or foreign),
leading to the creation of excess
capacities. The slowdown in
China is threatening economic
12

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

prospects in many other parts of

the world too, particularly in
countries that are suppliers of
commodities to China.
j) In these trying times, what
China should perhaps do is to
implement policies that favour
real wage increases and greater
income distribution, thereby
boosting domestic consumer
demand. Chinas claims to a
leadership role in the world
economy are legitimate. But in
staking these claims, it should
avoid getting into a deeper
embrace with global finance.
k) Meanwhile, India has a
large trade deficit with China,
accounting for as much as a
quarter of Indias overall trade
deficit. With the devaluation of
the yuan, imports from China
are going to climb up,
worsening Indias deficit.
l) The continuing stagnation
in demand for Chinese goods
(especially from developed
countries) underlines the
importance of domestic markets
for economic growth in India as
well. Therefore, like China,
India too needs policies that
enable better employment
creation, greater redistribution
of incomes, and rejuvenation in
domestic demand.

13

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

a)
6.

Germany gives a)
yes to Greek
bailout (Page 14)

Greek debt crisis

International

a) Germanys Parliament
strongly approved a third
bailout for Greece, removing a
key hurdle to providing new
loans to the country and keeping
it from defaulting on its debts in
as little as 24 hours.
b) The approval is among the
last due from parliaments across
Europe after which Greece is
expected to get the first
instalment of its new 86 billion
euro ($95 billion) loans
package. The country needs the
cash to make a debt repayment.

a)
7.

IS beheads 82- a)
year-old
archaeologist of
Palmyra (Page
14)

International

Islamic State (IS)

a) The Islamic State group

Syria and Iraq crisis has beheaded the 82-year-old
retired chief archaeologist of
c) Palmyra
Palmyra, who refused to leave
the ancient city when the
d) UNESCO World
jihadists captured it.
Heritage sites
b)

b) A UNESCO World Heritage

site famed for well-preserved
Greco-Roman ruins, Palmyra
was seized from government
forces in May amid fears IS
might destroy its priceless
heritage as it had done in other
parts of Syria and Iraq.

8.

Govt treads
a)
warily on RTE
Act amendments b)
(Page 13)

National

a) Right to Education
Act (RTE)

Polity
b) Central Advisory
Board of Education
(CABE)

a) Centre has decided to adopt

the slower but more safer route
of getting written demands from
all State govts before amending
RTE 2009, to revoke the nodetention provision in
elementary school (till Class
14

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

c) Continuous and
Comprehensive
Evaluation (CCE)

VIII) despite the unanimous

outcry for its revocation.
b) Some States want the nodetention policy to be revoked
in one go though the CABE
Committee on Assessment and
Implementation of CCE in the
context of the No-Detention
Provision under the RTE Act is
in favour of having such a
provision till Class V.

9.

India Post, 10
a)
others get nod for
payments banks
(Pages 1 and 15)

Economy

a)

Payments banks

b)

Financial inclusion

c)

RBI

a) The RBI gave approval in

principle for 11 entities to set up
payments banks.
b) Payments banks will take
deposits and remittances, but
will not advance loans.
c) The RBI said all selected
applicants had the reach and the
technological and financial
strength to service previouslyexcluded customers across the
country.
d) Finance Minister said this
would not only ensure that
money was brought into the
banking system, but also enable
banks to reach out to more
people in rural areas.

10.

Early experiments a)
with technology
(Page 11)
b)

National
S&T

a) Satellite Instructional a) The Satellite Instructional

Television Experiment
Television Experiment
(SITE)
celebrated the 40th anniversary
of its launch on August 1. US
15

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

b) Indo-US Space
partnership
c)

NASA

d)

ISRO

developed the technology for a

powerful direct broadcasting
satellite using a large 9-metre
antenna but had little use for it
in a country already saturated
with TV coverage.

e) Indian National
Satellite System (INSAT) b) India needed to take the
reach of a communication
network to rural areas. SITE
was where Indias need
intersected with American
technology, where its problems
found a solution.
c) Marking the first major
India-US partnership in space,
SITE used NASAs first direct
broadcasting satellite to beam
television programmes to
remote Indian villages.
Antennae measuring 3 metres, a
far cry from todays DTH dish
antennae, were used to receive
signals.
d) In 1975, when television
was a rarity even in urban India,
TV sets for community viewing
were set up in schools or
Panchayat centres in 2400
villages in six States - Bihar,
Orissa, Madhya Pradesh,
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and
Rajasthan.
e) SITE incorporated ISROs
commitment to an applicationoriented approach where
technology would be used to
solve the real problems of the
16

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

country. The choice of the areas

and the villages for TV sets was
indicative of its dedication to
use technology to help the most
disadvantaged.
f) SITE used a foreign
satellite, but the hardware (like
the earth stations for uplinking
programmes to the satellite; the
TV sets; and the special directreception equipment) was
designed and made in India.
Maintaining television sets and
sophisticated equipment in
remote areas posed
extraordinary challenges, as did
the involvement of many
organisations and State govts.
g) SITE was intended as an
experiment that would provide
inputs for an operational
system, and indeed resulted in
much learning that proved
invaluable for the INSAT.
h) SITE had been preceded
(in 1969) by the launch of
Krishi Darshan, a programme
on agriculture broadcast using
community TV sets to 80
villages around Delhi on
Doordarshan.
i) The hypothesis that
communication (television in
particular) could lead to the
adoption of new agricultural
practices was first tested
through Krishi Darshan with
17

Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 20-08-15

success. SITE further tested and

validated the feasibility of direct
television reception in remote
areas, culminating in an
operational system.

18