Newspaper Notes | 1-2 October 2023 | UPSC CSE

(Important Topics Notes - Shashank Sajwan)

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1. September rainfall washes of India’s monsoon deficit

• Despite the driest August in a century India has dodged a drought this year,
due to heavy rainfall in September.
• India received 94% of the expected rain from June to September 30.
September 30 is counted as the last day for monsoon rainfall.
• This is below the forecast of 96%, but still within the error margin of the
forecast models of the India Meteorological Department rainfall which says
96% to 104% of the long-term average is considered normal.
• The Northwest India got its expected quota while the northeast and eastern
parts of India posted an 18% deficit. Southern India saw an 8% deficit while
Central India got close to its expected quota.
• Overall, about 9% of the country received excess rainfall with 18% seeing
deficient rainfall.

Static takeaway: IMD forecasts have an error margin of +/- 5%.

2. Kazan meet makes no headway on equal rights in Afghanistan

• India took part in the nine nation Moscow format meeting which included
the Taliban’s acting foreign minister as an invite in the Russian city of Kazan.
• Special envoys from Pakistan, Russia, China, Iran, Central Asian states also
took part in the meeting.
• The regional grouping repeated its previous demands that the Taliban form
a truly inclusive government and accord equal rights and freedom to all
Afghans including women.
• However, it failed to make a headway on the issue or extract any promise
from the Taliban representatives on a timeline for government formation or
on restarting girl’s education.
• India had closed its embassy when the Taliban took over in August 2021 but it
reopened it as a technical mission in June 2022.

Static takeaway: The Moscow format is one of the several dialogue

platforms on Afghanistan — which began before the Taliban
takeover of Kabul. It consists of Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran,
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and
India.

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3. Argentina, India sign Social Security agreement

• India and Argentina signed an agreement to ensure legal rights of

professionals in each other’s domain that will assist in risk free international
mobility.
• The Social Security agreement is aimed at ensuring rights of the growing
number of Indian nationals employed in various Indian and international
concerns in Argentina as well as for Argentine nationals seeking
employment in India.
• It has created a legal framework which will enable professionals on both sides
to claim old age and survivor’s pensions.
• It also safeguards permanent and total disability pension for employed
persons as well as to legislations in Argentina concerning contributory
benefits of the Social Security system.

Static takeaway: India-Argentina relations were elevated to the level

of Strategic Partnership in 2019 during the State Visit of the President
of Argentina. India established a Trade Commission in Buenos Aires in
1943, which later became one of its first embassies in South
America.

4. Army project Udbhav to rediscover ‘Indic heritage of statecraft’ from ancient texts

• Indian army has started an initiative named Project Udbhava to rediscover

the profound Indic heritage of statecraft and strategic thoughts derived
from ancient Indian texts in collaboration with the United Service Institution
of India.
• The USI will conduct a Military Heritage Festival on October 21 and 22 to
appoint future thought leaders with the dynamics of comprehensive national
security.
• The project vows to explore India’s rich historical narratives in the realms of
statecraft and strategic thoughts.

Static takeaway: United Service Institution of India (USI) is a national

security and defence services think tank based in New Delhi, India. It
describes its aim as the "furtherance of interest and knowledge in the
art, science and literature of the defence services".

5. Is there a TB drugs shortage in India?

• TB drug shortage began last year when Refampicin – a medicine used for
treating drug sensitive TB – was not available in many parts of India.
• Since June this year three important medicines used for treating drug
resistant TB – Linezolid, Clofazimine and Cycloserine – too faced a stockout.

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 • A PIB press release said that some media reports alleging shortage of anti tb
drugs in India are vague and ill-informed without any specific information on
the availability of such medicines in stock.

6. Oil firms raise ATF and commercial LPG prices

• Oil companies raised the price of commercial cooking gas and the price of
aviation turbine fuel.
• The price of domestic LPG cylinder remains unchanged.
• The revision in rates of ATF is expected to lead to a rise in airfares ahead of
the festive season. Airlines attribute approximately 40% of the ticket price to
fuel costs.

Static takeaway: ATF also known as Jet fuel is a colourless,

combustible, straight-run petroleum distillate liquid. Its principal
uses are as jet engine fuel. There are currently two main grades of ATF
are in use in civil commercial aviation: jet A-1 and jet A, both are
kerosene type fuels.

7. India’s statistical performance on the global stage

• The World Bank’s compilation of statistical performance indicators ranks

India 67 among 174 countries in 2019.
• The World Bank compiles SPI to assess the performance of national statistical
systems across 174 countries.
• It is based on the assessment of five dimensions which are data use, data
services, data products, data sources and data infrastructure. The latest
available scores are from 2019.
• The pillar wise scores show India’s lower performance in the data use and
data product pillars.
• India celebrates its election to the United Nations Statistical Commission but
India’s own official statistical system has come under scrutiny within the
country recently.
• The report however underscores India’s superior performance in censuses
and surveys in comparison to administrative data.

Static takeaway: The UN statistical Commission was established in

1947 and is the highest body of the global statistical system. It brings
together the Chief Statisticians from member states from around the
world. The Commission consists of 24 member countries of the
United Nations elected by the United Nations Economic and Social
Council based on an equitable geographical distribution.

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8. The largest climate action lawsuit against 32 countries

• 6 young people from Portugal are suing 32 European governments including

the UK, Russia and Turkey at the European Court of human rights in France’s
Strasburg.
• They began arguing that their governments have failed to take sufficient
action against the climate crisis thus violating their human rights and
discriminating against young people globally.
• The nations have thus violated people’s fundamental rights protected under
the European Convention on human rights including the right to life, the
right to be free from inhuman or degrading environment, etc.
• Countries so far have rejected any relationship between climate change and
its impact on human health. The Portuguese and Irish governments have
dismissed these concerns as future fears arguing that there is no evidence to
show climate change poses an immediate risk to their lives.

Static takeaway: European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), is a

judicial organ established in 1959 and is charged with supervising the
enforcement of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms

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