Beating Retreat Ceremony

Prelims Only | Trivia | Mains Paper 1: Arts & Culture

Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:
Prelims level: Beating Retreat Ceremony
Mains level: Not Much
The Beating Retreat ceremony recently took place at Vijay Chowk. The ceremony, which takes place on January 29 every year, marks the culmination of the four-day Republic Day celebrations.

What is the Beating Retreat function?
- ‘Beating Retreat’ marks a centuries old military tradition, when the troops ceased fighting, sheathed their arms and withdrew from the battlefield and returned to the camps at sunset at the sounding of the Retreat.
- The military tradition began in 17th century England, when King James II ordered his troops to beat drums, lower flags and organise a parade to announce the end of a day of combat.
- The ceremony was then called ‘watch setting’ and took place at sunset after firing a single round from the evening gun.
- The ceremony is currently held by Armed Forces in the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and India, among others.
How did it begin in India?
- Beating the Retreat’ has emerged as an event of national pride when the Colours and Standards are paraded.
- The ceremony traces its origins to the early 1950s when Major Roberts of the Indian Army indigenously developed the unique ceremony of display by the massed bands.
- Section D (Ceremonials) at the Ministry of Defence conducts the event.
- The ceremony consists of musical performances by the bands, who each year play Indian and western tunes.
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No-fly List

Prelims Only | Security Issues | Mains Paper 3: Various Security Forces, Agencies & Their Mandates

Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:
Prelims level: No-fly List
Mains level: Not Much
Four airlines in India have banned a stand-up comedian from taking flights after he allegedly heckled television news anchor on-flight.

No-Fly List
- In 2017, the government issued rules for preventing disruptive behaviour by air travellers and laid down guidelines for a no-fly list.
- As per the rules, a complaint of unruly behaviour needs to be filed by the pilot-in-command, and this is to be probed by an internal committee to be set up by the airline.
- During the period of pendency of the inquiry, the rules empower the concerned airline to impose a ban on the passenger.
- The committee is to decide the matter within 30 days, and also specify the ban duration.
- Any aggrieved person, upon receipt of communication of a ban from the airline, may appeal within 60 days from the date of issue of the order, to an Appellate Committee constituted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Three categories of unruly behaviour:
- Level 1 refers to behaviour that is verbally unruly, and calls for debarment up to three months;
- Level 2 indicates physical unruliness and can lead to the passenger being debarred from flying for up to six months;
- Level 3 indicates life-threatening behaviour for which the debarment would be for a minimum of two years.
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Indian Navy Updates

[pib] Operation Vanilla

PIB Prelims Only | Security Issues | Mains Paper 3: Various Security Forces, Agencies & Their Mandates

Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:
Prelims level: HADR, Op Vanila
Mains level: NA
Indian navy will perform HADR operations in Madagascar under ‘Operation Vanilla’.

Operation Vanilla
- Indian Navy Ship Airavat whilst mission deployed in the Southern Indian Ocean has been diverted to Antsiranana based on request recieved from Madagascar.
- The ship will undertake Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) mission as part of ‘Operation Vanilla’.
- It has been launched to provide assistance to the affected population of Madagascar post devastation caused by Cyclone Diane.
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Foreign Policy Watch: India-Middle East

Oslo Peace Accord

Prelims Only | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Important International Institutions

Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:
Prelims level: Oslo Peace Accord, West Bank
Mains level: Palestine-Israel conflicts
Palestinian officials threatened to withdraw from key provisions of the Oslo Accords, which define relations with Israel, if U.S. President Donald Trump announces his Middle East peace plan next week.

The Oslo Peace Accord
- The Oslo Accords were a landmark moment in the pursuit of peace in the Middle East.
- Actually a set of two separate agreements signed by the government of Israel and the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)—the militant organization established in 1964 to create a Palestinian state.
- The negotiations between Israel and the PLO that ultimately led to the Oslo Accords began, in secret, in Oslo, Norway, in 1993.
- The Oslo Accords were ratified in Washington, D.C., in 1993 (Oslo I) and in Taba, Egypt, in 1995 (Oslo II).
- Sometimes called Oslo II, the interim agreement set out the scope of Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza.
- The interim pact was only supposed to last five years while a permanent agreement was finalised but it has tacitly been rolled over for more than two decades.
A final nail in the coffin
- World powers have long agreed that Jerusalem’s fate should be settled through negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
- The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state and believe Trump’s plan buries the two-state solution that has been for decades the cornerstone of international Middle East diplomacy.
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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Species in news: Natrialba Swarupiae

Prelims Only Species | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:
Prelims level: Natrialba Swarupiae, Sambhar Lake
Mains level: Not Much
- Scientists at the National Centre for Microbial Resource — National Centre for Cell Science (NCMR-NCCS) in Pune have reported a new archaeon (a kind of microorganism), which they discovered in Sambhar Salt Lake in Rajasthan.
- The new archaeon has been named Natrialba swarupiae, after Dr Renu Swarup, secretary, Department of Biotechnology, for her initiative in supporting microbial diversity studies in the country.
Archaea
- Archaea (singular archaeon) are a primitive group of microorganisms that thrive in extreme habitats such as hot springs, cold deserts and hypersaline lakes.
- These slow-growing organisms are also present in the human gut, and have a potential relationship with human health.
- They are known for producing antimicrobial molecules, and for anti-oxidant activity with applications in eco-friendly waste-water treatment.
- Archaea are extremely difficult to culture due to challenges in providing natural conditions in a laboratory setting.
- As archaea are relatively poorly studied, very little is known about how archaea behave in the human body.
- The organism has potential gene clusters that helps maintain the metabolism of the archaea to survive in extreme harsh conditions.
Search and discovery
- Sambhar Lake has been poorly studied for microbial ecology studies.
- With a salt production of 0.2 million tonnes per annum, it is also a hypersaline ecosystem which provides an opportunity for microbial ecologists to understand organisms that thrive in such concentrations.
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Banking Sector Reforms

Specialized Supervisory and Regulatory Cadre (SSRC)

Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Effects Of Liberalization On The Economy, Changes In Industrial Policy and their effects on Industrial Growth

Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:
Prelims level: Specialized Supervisory and Regulatory Cadre (SSRC)
Mains level: Governance of RBI
The RBI has decided to recruit 35% of the specialised supervisory and regulatory cadre from the market while the remaining 65% will be recruited via internal promotions.

Specialized Supervisory and Regulatory Cadre (SSRC)
- The SSRC will comprise officers in Grade B to Executive Director level.
- In Nov. last year RBI decided to reorganize its regulation and supervision departments.
- It merged the three regulatory departments (department of banking, non-banking and cooperative bank) into one and did likewise for the three supervisory departments.
- As a result, there is only one supervisory department which looks after supervision of banks, NBFCs and cooperative banks and only one regulatory department for these three.
- The move is aimed at dealing more effectively with potential systemic risk that could come about due to possible supervisory arbitrage and information asymmetry.
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ISRO Missions and Discoveries

Vyom Mitra: ISRO’s half-humanoid

Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:
Prelims level: Vyoma Mitra
Mains level: Various functions of Vyoma Mitra in ISRO's unmanned missions
ISRO unveiled its first ‘woman’ astronaut during the event ‘Human Spaceflight and Exploration’.

Vyom Mitra
- The AI-based robotic system is being developed at a robotics lab at the VSSC in Thiruvananthapuram.
- Vyom Mitra will be used for an unmanned flight of ISRO’s GSLV III rocket in December 2020, which, along with a second unmanned flight in July 2021.
- This will serve as the test of ISRO’s preparedness for its maiden manned space mission, Gaganyaan, being targeted for 2022 to mark 75 years of India’s independence.
Functions of the humanoid
- Vyommitra, equipped with a head, two arms and a torso, is built to mimic crew activity inside the crew module of Gaganyaan.
- Attaining launch and orbital postures, responding to the environment, generating warnings, replacing carbon dioxide canisters, operating switches, monitoring of the crew module, receiving voice commands, responding via speech (bilingual) are among its functions listed.
- It will have a human-like face, with lips synchronised for movement to mimic speech.
- Once it is fully developed, Vyommitra will be able to use equipment on board the spacecraft’s crew module, like safety mechanisms and switches, as well as receive and act on commands sent from ground stations.
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Police Reforms – SC directives, NPC, other committees reports

Blue Corner Notice

Prelims Only | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Important International Institutions

Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:
Prelims level: ‘Blue Corner’ notice
Mains level: Cooperation measures for International policing
Interpol has issued a Blue Corner notice to help locate an infamous fugitive self-styled godman weeks after the Gujarat Police sought the agency’s intervention for this.

‘Blue Corner’ notice
- According to the Interpol website, “Notices are international requests for cooperation or alerts allowing police in member countries to share critical crime-related information.”
- There are seven types of notices — Red Notice, Yellow Notice, Blue Notice, Black Notice, Green Notice, Orange Notice, and Purple Notice.
- The Blue Notice is issued to “collect additional information about a person’s identity, location or activities in relation to a crime.”
Blue notices a/c to CBI
- The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) website refers to Blue Notices as ‘B Series (Blue) Notices’.
- It says, “The ‘B’ series notices are also called ‘enquiry notices’ and may be issued in order to have someone’s identity verified; to obtain particulars of a person’s criminal record; to locate someone who is missing or is an identified or unidentified international criminal or is wanted for a violation of ordinary criminal law and whose extradition may be requested.”
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Capital Markets: Challenges and Developments

InvITs and REITs

Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Effects Of Liberalization On The Economy, Changes In Industrial Policy and their effects on Industrial Growth

Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:
Prelims level: InvITs and REITs
Mains level: Not Much
Markets regulator SEBI has put in place a framework for the rights issue of units by listed REIT and InvITs.

What are InvITs and REITs?

Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvIT)
- An Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvITs) is like a mutual fund, which enables direct investment of small amounts of money from possible individual/institutional investors in infrastructure to earn a small portion of the income as return.
- InvITs work like mutual funds or real estate investment trusts (REITs) in features.
- InvITs can be treated as the modified version of REITs designed to suit the specific circumstances of the infrastructure sector.
- They are similar to REIT but invest in infrastructure projects such as roads or highways which take some time to generate steady cash flows.
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT)
- A REIT is roughly like a mutual fund that invests in real estate although the similarity doesn’t go much further.
- The basic deal on REITs is that you own a share of property, and so an appropriate share of the income from it will come to you, after deducting an appropriate share of expenses.
- Essentially, it’s like a group of people pooling their money together and buying real estate except that it’s on a large scale and is regulated.
- The obvious pitch for a REIT is that it enables individuals to generate income and capital appreciation with money that is a small fraction of what would be required to buy an entire property.
- However, the resemblance to either mutual funds or to owning property ends there.
- According to Indian regulation on REITs, these are meant to primarily own finished and rented out commercial properties –– 80 per cent of the investments must be in such assets. That excludes a real estate that is under development.
Why need InvITs and REITs?
- Infrastructure and real estate are the two most critical sectors in any developing economy.
- A well-developed infrastructural set-up propels the overall development of a country.
- It also facilitates a steady inflow of private and foreign investments, and thereby augments the capital base available for the growth of key sectors in an economy, as well as its own growth, in a sustained manner.
- Given the importance of these two sectors in the country, and the paucity of public funds available to stimulate their growth, it is imperative that additional channels of financing are put in place.
What did SEBI rule?
- SEBI said the issuer will have to disclose objects of the issue, related-party transactions, valuation, financial details, review of credit rating and grievance redressal mechanism in the placement document.
- The SEBI had first notified REITs and InvIT Regulations in 2014, allowing setting up and listing of such trusts which are popular in some advanced markets.
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Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

Persons in news: Warren Hastings and his Impeachment Case

Prelims Only | | Mains Paper 1: Modern Indian History

Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:
Prelims level: Warren Hastings
Mains level: Read the attached story
Donald Trump’s impeachment trial started in the US Senate. A precedent being discussed is that of the Warren Hastings case — the famous failed attempt by the British Parliament to impeach India’s first governor-general.

Warren Hastings
- Warren Hastings, the first governor-general of Bengal (and the first de facto Governor-General of India), is considered among the most significant colonial administrators to have ruled India.
- First as the governor of Bengal (1772-1774) and then as Governor-General (1774-1785), Hastings strengthened British rule in India and made profound changes in administration.
- Hastings’s conduct while in office was called into question after he returned to Britain in 1785, most prominently by Edmund Burke, the noted British parliamentarian and philosopher.
What was his impeachment case?
- In 1786, impeachment proceedings were initiated against Hastings, probing his alleged mismanagement, mistreatment of natives, and personal corruption while in India.
- William Pitt, the then British Prime Minister, first defended Hastings, but then joined the chorus against him.
- Hastings’s argued that ‘Western’ standards of legality could not be applied in the East.
- But Burke insisted that under the Law of Nature, people in India were entitled to the same protection as those in Britain.
- In 1795, however, the House of Lords acquitted Hastings, and the impeachment failed.
- Burke warned that such a verdict would live in “perpetual infamy”, and the trial gave rise to a wider debate on the role of the East India Company in India.
Back2Basics

Warren Hastings and his major works

From 1772, Warren Hastings served as Governor-General of Fort Williams and the regulating act was passed after his arrival.

Important events under his rule :
- Hastings abolished the Dual System that had been established by Robert Clive. In the Dual System, the company had Diwani rights (rights to collect revenue) and the Nizam or Indian chiefs had the administrative authority.
- The judicial powers of the Zamindars were abolished. Civil and criminal courts were established. Two appellate courts were established at Calcutta, one for civil (Sadar Diwani Adalat) and one for criminal (Sadar Nizamat Adalat) cases.
- Hastings abolished the system of dastaks which were misused by company officials and traders earlier.
- He implemented several reforms in all walks of administration. The Regulating Act 1773 and Pitts India Act, 1784 were important acts passed during his tenure.
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Type: Prelims Only

Back2Basics