12 April 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
UK attack: Of 15 lookout notices, NIA withdraws 3 over ‘mistaken identity’
Page no-1
GS3- Role of External State and Non-state Actors in creating challenges to Internal Security
- Months after zeroing in on 15 suspects, publicly releasing their photographs, and issuing lookout notices for them for alleged involvement in the violence at the Indian High Commission in London during a protest on March 19 last year, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has now determined that at least three persons from Punjab were wrongly identified.
- The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued Look Out Circulars (LOCs) against 15 people, who were identified from five videos of the violence.
- These videos were procured by an NIA team during its visit to the United Kingdom in May last year to investigate the incident and a suspected terror link involving Pakistan’s ISI.
- In the videos, people can be seen gathering outside the Indian High Commission in London and subsequently indulging in violence.
‘Pegasus-like spyware’: Apple warns users in India, 91 more countries
Page no-1
GS3- Basics of Cyber Security
- iPhone maker Apple has issued a series of fresh notifications to users in 91 other countries, including India, cautioning them of 'mercenary spyware' including Pegasus malware that has stirred up significant controversy in recent times.
- These new alerts, also received by users in India, are part of cautionary measures warning owners about potential risks to their privacy and data security.
- In October 2023, Apple had sent a similar notification to political leaders across various parties in the country, including Congress's Shashi Tharoor, Aam Aadmi Party's Raghav Chadha, and Trinamool Congress' Mahua Moitra.
- The alert warned of a "potential state-sponsored spyware attack" targeting their iPhones.
A maritime bastion
Page no-10
GS3- Various Security Forces and Agencies and their Mandate
- A report in The Indian Express revealed the government’s expansive plans to transform the Andaman and Nicobar Islands into a genuine security sentinel to the east of peninsular India and a crucial node for peace and security in the Indo-Pacific.
- The report points to the rapid expansion of military infrastructure in the island chain that will allow the basing of advanced military platforms, improve communication and surveillance infrastructure, and the permanent deployment of troops.
- These plans mark the end of Delhi’s prolonged strategic neglect of these islands. Tucked away under the control of the Union Home Ministry, the islands were treated as closed territory, with limited access to the Indian mainland and no connection to the neighbouring South East Asian nations.
- The NDA government deserves credit for recognising the strategic and economic significance of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.
Decoding state budgets
Page no-11
GS3- Government Budgeting
- The ongoing election season has drawn sharp attention to India’s fiscal health.
- While the Government of India’s fiscal metrics are keenly dissected and well understood, the fiscal situation of state governments tends to be less scrutinised.
- However, the rise in market borrowings of state governments and key policy changes in recent years have rekindled an interest among market participants on the fiscal health of states.
- State budgets are a rich source of publicly available information on state government finances.
- A web of factors among states makes analysing their budgets both interesting and challenging.
- Additionally, the publication of monthly fiscal indicators by the CAG, albeit with modest lags, is useful in assessing emerging trends in state finances.
- Two additional sources of information are data on the states’ usage of ways and means advances and overdraft facilities extended by the Reserve Bank of India, and their market borrowings that are also facilitated by the latter.
India, Mauritius revise tax treaty, aim to plug evasion
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GS3- Money-Laundering and its prevention
- India has signed a protocol amending the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with Mauritius to plug treaty abuse for tax evasion or avoidance.
- The amended pact has included what is called the Principal Purpose Test (PPT), which essentially lays out the condition that the tax benefits under the treaty will not be applicable if it is established that obtaining that duty benefit was the principal purpose of any transaction or arrangement.
- In the amended protocol, Article 27B has been introduced in the treaty defining the ‘entitlement to benefits’.
- The PPT will deny treaty benefits, such as the reduction of withholding tax on interest royalties and dividends, where it is established that obtaining that treaty benefit is one of the principal purposes for the party engaged in the transaction.
Nehru in ‘haste’, a sceptical CEC: 4 yrs after freedom, first election
Page no-14
GS2- Salient Features of the Representation of People’s Act.
- India’s first Lok Sabha election, conducted over four months in 1951-52, began the democratic process by which the reins of the newly independent nation were put in the hands of its people.
- Votes were cast for 489 Lok Sabha and 3,283 state Assembly seats around the country.
- Besides the Indian National Congress led by Jawaharlal Nehru, others in the race included the Socialist Party, with Jayaprakash Narayan as one of its leaders; Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (KMPP) of J B Kripalani; Communist Party of india (CPI); Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS, the precursor of the BJP); Hindu Maha Sabha (HMS); Karpatri Maharaj’s Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad (RRP); and Tridib Choudhuri’s Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP).
Like Chital in Andamans: How invasive species threaten natural ecosystems
Page no-14
GS3- Conservation of wildlife
- In a bid to manage the teeming population of chital (spotted deer) in Ross Island (officially known as the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Island), the Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration recently sought help from the Wildlife Institute of India.
- Chital, native to mainland India, were introduced to the tiny island (0.3 sq km small) by the British in the early 20th century.
- Having no natural predators or competitors, and being good swimmers, chital swiftly spread across the Andamans.
Adjudicating Authority (PMLA)
Page no-14
GS2- Statutory, Regulatory and various Quasi-judicial Bodies
- The Adjudicating Authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) on Wednesday (April 10) confirmed the attachment of assets worth Rs 751.9 crore belonging to the Congress party-promoted National Herald newspaper.
- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had provisionally attached these properties in november 2023 in a PMLA case against Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) that publishes National Herald, and Young Indian (YI), that owns the newspaper.
