Whatsapp 93125-11015 For Details
Escalating the face-off with the Opposition parties, which have been demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah over the security breach in Lok Sabha, as many as 14 Opposition MPs were suspended on Thursday for the remaining days of the Winter Session for disrupting Parliament proceedings.
While Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien was the only one to have been suspended from the Rajya Sabha, as many as 13 Opposition MPs, including nine from the Congress and the DMK’s Kanimozhi, were among those who were suspended from the Lok Sabha.
Though the DMK’s S.R. Parthiban was also initially suspended, the government withdrew his name after the Congress’s Karti Chidambaram and the BSP’s Danish Ali pointed out that the DMK MP was not even present in the House and was away in Chennai.
Allahabad High Court allows survey of Mathura’s Shahi Idgah mosque (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The Allahabad High Court allowed a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah mosque adjoining the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura.
The inspection will be done by a three-member team of advocate commissioners, and the modalities and composition of the commission will be decided on December 18.
The order comes at a time when the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is already conducting a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi after petitioners claimed it was a Hindu temple. The order of inspection of the Shahi Idgah was pronounced by Justice Mayank Kumar Jain.
The plea was filed on behalf of the Hindu deity, Bhagwan Shri Krishna Virajman and seven others, who in their original suit pending before this court, have claimed that the mosque was built over Krishna Janmabhoomi (birthplace) land, on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1670.
Editorial
COP28 — many a slippery slope ahead (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Much rested on COP28 in Dubai, a milestone event slated to take up the first five-yearly global stocktake with respect to goals set under the Paris Agreement to combat the climate crisis.
The global stocktake covers mitigation, adaptation, financing and other support to developing countries, for which a report of technical deliberations and a synthesis report had been prepared as inputs to the COP.
Based on the global stocktake review at COP28, countries would be required to submit raised emissions reduction targets by mid-2025 for finalisation at COP30.
The global stocktake input reports conveyed what is already known from all major scientific studies, i.e., the window for restricting global heating to 1.5° C above pre-industrial levels is rapidly closing.
Global average temperature rise is already dangerously close to that limit, having already touched it on many days this year. Severe heat waves, droughts, forest fires, floods and extreme rainfall are already being witnessed more frequently across the world, along with possible irreversible melting of polar and glacial ice and sea-level rise.
The urgency to rein in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions causing climate change was clearly top of the agenda in Dubai.
Opinion
Is India doing enough to tackle climate change? (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
In a historic first, all 198 signatories to the 28th United Nations’ Conference of the Parties (COP28) adopted an agreement to “transition away” from “all fossil fuels” as opposed to only coal, as was agreed upon at COP26, in Glasgow.
India had played a pivotal role in Glasgow in modifying the language from “phasing out” coal to “phasing it down”. Unsurprisingly, it supported the incumbent COP President Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber of the UAE when he proposed to “transition away” from oil and gas, as opposed to “phasing out”, as demanded by several developed countries and small island nations.
As the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, albeit with a drastically smaller per capita emission rate, should India set a higher bar to mitigate and adapt to climate change?
Explainer
Is Russia winning the Ukraine war? (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
It has been six months since Ukraine launched its much-anticipated counteroffensive with advanced weapons and training provided by the West.
The Eastern European country, having failed to make any major breakthrough in the battlefield, is now scrambling for more military assistance.
President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Washington earlier this week and is now touring European capitals to ensure that the aid keeps flowing in. Russia, on the other side, is keeping its defensive lines that cut across southern and eastern Ukraine more or less intact, and is on the offensive in parts, especially in Avdiivka in Donetsk.
With hard winter approaching, Kyiv is looking for a new strategy to alter what Ukrainian Generals call a “stalemate” and recapture the territories lost to Russia (roughly 20% of Ukraine).
In June, Ukraine launched its counteroffensive at three points on the about 1,000-km long frontline — two axes in the south towards Melitopol and Berdyansk and the third in the east towards Bakhmut in Donetsk, which Ukrainian troops had lost in May.
The main focus, however, was on the southern front where Ukrainian soldiers wanted to quickly cut through Russia’s formidable defence lines and link up with the Sea of Azov coast.
This would have allowed Ukraine to cut off Russia’s land bridge between the mainland and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
If the land bridge is gone, the only link between Crimea and the Russian mainland would be the Kerch Bridge across the Strait of Kerch, which was attacked twice by Ukrainians since the Russian invasion began in February 2022. In the east, the calculation was that Russia’s defence positions would be weak in Bakhmut where both sides suffered huge losses in the months-long battle.
News
Urgent need to control use of e-cigarettes, says WHO (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
E-cigarettes as consumer products are not shown to be effective for quitting tobacco use at the population level. Instead, alarming evidence has emerged on adverse population health effects, the World Health Organization.
It added there is an urgent need to control e-cigarettes to protect children, as well as non-smokers and minimise health harms to the population.
Children are being recruited and trapped at an early age to use e-cigarettes and may get hooked to nicotine,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement, while urging countries to implement strict measures to prevent uptake to protect citizens, especially children and young people.
The WHO said that e-cigarettes have been allowed on the open market and aggressively marketed to young people. Thirty-four countries have banned the sale of e-cigarettes, 88 countries have no minimum age at which e-cigarettes can be bought and 74 countries have no regulations in place for these harmful products.
In India, the possession of e-cigarettes and similar devices is a violation of the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarette Act, 2019, according to the Union Health Ministry.
Activist Ali Abu Awwad and pianist Daniel Barenboim win Indira Gandhi Peace Prize (Page no. 16)
(Miscellaneous)
Classical pianist Daniel Barenboim and peace activist Ali Abu Awwad have been named the winners of the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2023 for their efforts in bringing together the youth and people of Israel and the Arab world for a non-violent resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The international jury, headed by former Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, observed that Mr. Barenboim and Mr. Awwad have fostered meaningful, mutual social and cultural understanding, and peaceful public cooperation through the tools of music, dialogue, and people’s participation.
Mr. Barenboim is an Argentine-born classical pianist and conductor, renowned for performing with and directing some of the leading orchestras in the world. He is also known for his relentless endeavour in using music to foster harmony in West Asia.
World
U.S. House launches Republican impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to formalise an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, escalating Republicans’ battle with Democrats ahead of the 2024 election in a move Mr. Biden himself slammed as a “baseless” stunt.
Republicans, seizing on Mr. Biden’s son Hunter’s controversial international dealings, have yet to provide evidence of corruption by the President, and the Democratic-led Senate would be unlikely to convict him even if the inquiry did lead to an actual impeachment trial.
Regardless, the procedure guarantees Republicans a new, high-profile platform to attack Mr. Biden as he campaigns for re-election — and to distract from the federal criminal trials facing his almost certain challenger Donald Trump.
European Union agrees to open membership negotiations with Ukraine (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The European Union decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. European Council president Charles Michel called it “a clear signal of hope for their people and our continent.”
The decision was announced at a summit gathering leaders of the 27 EU countries. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the decision as “a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe”.
Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban insisted that the European Union should not yet start talks on Ukraine joining the bloc, a lone stand-out ahead of an EU summit that comes at a critical time for Kyiv in its war against Russia.
Mr. Orban is also blocking giving 50 billion euros ($54 billion) in financial aid for Kyiv from the EU budget, but signalled he could back long-term aid outside the EU budget, opening a door for some form of deal on that front.
Business
India’s net direct tax receipts rise 23.4% (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
India’s net direct tax collections had grown 23.4% to hit ₹10.64 lakh crore by November 30, attaining 58.34% of the Budget estimates for the year, the Finance Ministry.
The gross direct tax kitty by the end of last month had reached ₹12.67 lakh crore, a 17.7% rise over the same period of the earlier year. Refunds paid out to income tax payers had reached ₹2.03 lakh crore.
As of November 9, the gross direct tax collections stood at ₹12.37 lakh crore, while net collections were ₹10.6 lakh crore, 21.82% over last year. This suggests that while gross tax receipts rose ₹30,000 crore over the rest of November, the net kitty grew by ₹4,000 crore.