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(VIDEO) China: The Doors Are Opening - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

(VIDEO) China: The Doors Are Opening -

Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Topic of Discussion: China: The Doors Are Opening - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate
Expert Panel Name : Srikanth Kondapalli, Professor, Chinese Studies, JNU Nitin Desai, Former Chief Economic Adviser, GoI; Ashok Sajjanhar, Former Diplomat; V.K. Mishra, Executive Vice Chairman, India China Trade Centre; Frank Rausan Pereira (Anchor)

Courtesy: Rajya Sabha TV

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(VIDEO) Africa Outreach - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

(VIDEO) Africa Outreach - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Topic of Discussion: Africa Outreach - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate
Expert Panel Name : Ruchita Beri, Senior Research Associate, IDSA,Virendra Gupta, Former Ambassador,Prof. Ajay Kumar Dubey, Centre for African Studies, JNU , Frank Rausan Pereira (Anchor)

Courtesy: Rajya Sabha TV

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Was the SC right on the anti-atrocities law : Important Topics for UPSC Exams

Was the SC right on the anti-atrocities law : Important Topics for UPSC Exams

Why in News?

  • In a recent judgment by a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court in S K Mahajan vs State of Maharashtra Case, Supreme Court placed certain requirements on investigating agencies and the courts before taking action against the suspects in cases filed under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989.

  • The Violent protest against the Supreme Court Judgement, caused the loss of 9 lives, shows both state and centre were unaware of the scale and intensity of the agitation.  

Chronology of Events

  • In 2006, an employee, from a Scheduled Caste, with the technical education department of the government of Maharashtra, was given an adverse entry by his superior officers in Annual performance appraisal and confidential report, offended by this, he filed a criminal complaint under the Atrocities Act against the two officers.

  • The investigating officer requested for prosecution sanction against the two accused in December 2010, which was denied by the director of technical education in January 2011 and the complainant then filed an FIR under the SC/ST Act against the director in March 2016 for denying sanction that was beyond his authority, later the director approached the High Court in May 2017 for anticipatory bail and for quashing the FIR but did not get relief.

  • He then approached the Supreme Court in 2017, and on 20 March 2018, the apex court delivered the order that has led to this huge outburst of public anger and lawlessness.

Supreme Court Judgement

  • Supreme Court ruled that instead of an immediate arrest in a case of alleged harassment, a preliminary inquiry must first be conducted by a deputy superintendent of police within seven days of an incident before taking any action.

  • Supreme Court directed that for the arrest of those accused under the Act who are public servants, approval of the appointing authority is required, and for all other accused, the approval of the SSP.

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(VIDEO) What’s Wrong With Our Banks? - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

(VIDEO) What’s Wrong With Our Banks? -

Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Topic of Discussion: What’s Wrong With Our Banks? - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate
Expert Panel Name : Subodh Kaushik, Former General Manager, Punjab National Bank,T.K. Arun, Editor, Opinion, Economic Times, Dr. Arvind Virmani, Former Chief Economic Advisor, GoI , Frank Rausan Pereira (Anchor)

Courtesy: Rajya Sabha TV

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Motivation for UPSC EXAMS

Motivation for UPSC EXAMS

Civil Services is the dream of many students. No wonder, there is a great competition for this examination, given the prestige and power linked to the profile of a civil servant. However, a large majority of students are struggling without any proper guidance. Thus, at UPSCPortal we have come up with an initiative to guide the aspirants, in their journey through the IAS, IPS exam.

We have started with a series called- Getting Started with Civil Services Examinations, to guide you in your preparations. Every other day, we would come up with motivational and informative articles, discussing the various aspects of the civil services examination, and the possible motivation & strategies, that a candidate might choose to get success.

Casting a fresh nuclear deal : Important Topics for UPSC Exams

Casting a fresh nuclear deal : Important Topics for UPSC Exams

Why in News?

  • Around a decade has passed since the memoranda of understanding were signed, the India-U.S. civil nuclear deal remains defunct as there are no indicators yet of any solid contract between a US firm and the Indian authorities to create a reactor.

  • Westinghouse’s recent visit (in Feb 2018) to India in order to reopen negotiations to revive plans for the Kovvada nuclear project in Andhra Pradesh has been opposed by civil society groups from various countries.

Indo-US Nuclear deal

  • It is also known as the 123 Agreement or U.S.–India Civil Nuclear Agreement.

  • Joint statement (July 18, 2005) by then Indian PM Manmohan Singh and then U.S. President George W. Bush, under which India agreed to separate its civil and military nuclear facilities and to place all its civil nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards set the framework for this agreement, and in exchange, the United States agreed to work toward full civil nuclear cooperation with India

Status of Nuclear Reactors under India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement

  • In 2009, both GE-Hitachi and Toshiba-Westinghouse had begun talks on techno-commercial agreements for six reactors each in India, but GE-Hitachi’s plans were shelved after it rejected the Obama-Modi agreement in January 2015, saying GE would not accept the compromise formula on supplier liability. Although other firms have stipulated that they would accept the liability offer, but none has put that on writing.

  • Toshiba-Westinghouse then carried the baton to realise the India-U.S. civil nuclear deal, an agreement between Indian stakeholders and Westinghouse was supposed to have been reached by July 2017 but the company ran into major financial troubles in 2017 and after a near-bankruptcy, Toshiba sold Westinghouse for just $4.6 billion and this further resulted into multiple inordinate delays.

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(VIDEO) Economic Challenges In Last Fiscal - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

(VIDEO) Economic Challenges In Last Fiscal -

Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Topic of Discussion: Economic Challenges In Last Fiscal - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate
Expert Panel Name : A.K. Bhattacharya, Editorial Director, Business Standard,Nitin Desai, Former Chief Economic Adviser, GoI,Prof. Aman Agarwal, Director, Indian Institute of Finance Frank Rausan Pereira (Anchor)

Courtesy: Rajya Sabha TV

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Draft National Forest Policy 2018 : Important Topics for UPSC Exams

Draft National Forest Policy 2018 : Important Topics for UPSC Exams

News:

Seeking to replace the country’s 30-year-old national forest policy, the Centre has come out with a new draft policy which calls for promoting urban greens, public private partnership models for afforestation, strengthening forest fire prevention measures and plantations in catchment areas to rejuvenate water bodies among many proposals to protect India’s green cover.

Background

Currently National forest policy of 1988 is being followed.

The new policy is in line with the present realities of climate change , wildlife and forest management.

It seeks to raise the country’s forest cover from 25% to 30%.

Additional Info

Forest survey of India -  Organisation for conducting forest surveys, studies and research to periodically monitor the changing situation of land and forest resources and present the data for national planning, conservation and sustainable management of environmental protection as well for the implementation of social forestry projects.

It works under Government of India Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

It is headquartered in Dehradun.

It publishes  biennial "The State of Forest Reports". According to 2017 report, In terms of area, Madhya Pradesh  has the largest forest cover followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Maharashtra.

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(VIDEO) Fake or News? : What Next - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

(VIDEO) Fake or News? : Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Topic of Discussion: Fake or News? : What Next - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate
Expert Panel Name : Abhigyan Prakash, Senior Executive Editor, NDTV India,Nitin Desai, Member, News Broadcasting Standards Authority,Satya Prakash, Legal Editor, The Tribune,Sushant Sareen, Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, Frank Rausan Pereira (Anchor)

Courtesy: Rajya Sabha TV

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Malimath Committee Recommendations : Important Topics for UPSC Exams

Malimath Committee Recommendations : Important Topics for UPSC Exams

Context:

Government has decided to review the recommendations of Malimath committee on India’s criminal justice system

WHAT is Criminal justice system?

Criminal justice system refers to the collective institutions through which an accused offender passes until the accusations have been disposed of or the assessed punishment concluded. The criminal justice system is essentially an instrument of social control.

Parts of criminal justice system :

  1. Law enforcement (Police , Sheriffs etc)
  2. Adjudication  (Courts : judges, prosecutors , defense lawyers)
  3. corrections (prison officials, probation officers, and parole officers)

(VIDEO) SC/ST Act: What Next - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

(VIDEO) SC/ST Act: What Next - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Topic of Discussion: SC/ST Act: What Next - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate
Expert Panel Name : S.S. Jodhka, Professor, Sociology, JNU,Udit Raj, MP, Lok Sabha, BJP,Prof. Rajkumar Falwaria, Dalit Activist; Frank Rausan Pereira (Anchor)

Courtesy: Rajya Sabha TV

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A Perfect storm in the cotton field : Important Topics for UPSC Exams

A Perfect storm in the cotton field : Important Topics for UPSC Exams

Bt cotton stands for Bacillus thuringiensis cotton as the strains of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis present in Bt cotton produce over 200 different Bt toxins, each harmful to different insects and thus protecting the cotton crop against the attacks of insects. But despite this, India is the only Bt cotton-growing country facing the problem of pink bollworm infestation at present.

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Why in News?

  • The government had cut royalties that local seed companies pay to Monsanto, for the second time in two years.

  • In February 2018, anti-trust regulator, the Competition Commission of India, decided to probe into anti-competitive practices by Monsanto. At the centre of all this is the pink bollworm infestation plaguing cotton farmers.

Status of Cotton Cultivation in India

  • When Monsanto introduced Bt cotton in India, the technology was so popular that cotton farmers shifted to it en masse and as there was no open-pollinated Bt option, they were also forced to shift en masse to hybrids.

  • From 2002 to 2011, the area under cotton hybrids rose from 2% in north India and 40%  elsewhere to 96% across the country.

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(VIDEO) The Korea Summit - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

(VIDEO) The Korea Summit - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Topic of Discussion: The Korea Summit - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate
Expert Panel Name : Harsh V Pant, Head, ORF’s Strategic Studies, Smita Sharma, Deputy Editor, The Tribune, S.R. Tayal, Former Diplomat; Frank Rausan Pereira (Anchor)

Courtesy: Rajya Sabha TV

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