Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 23 February 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

Jat protest turns ugly

• Even after the Centre’s assurance on reservation for the Jats, the agitation in Haryana doesn’t seem to die down.

• Three more persons were killed in police firing during protests in Sonipat district, even as the State government said the situation was returning to normality.

• The death toll in the State has gone up to 16 and 183 persons have been injured. So far, 320 cases have been filed and 102 persons have been arrested.

• The State Cabinet meeting, chaired by the Chief Minister, is reported to have witnessed a heated exchange of words between some Ministers.

• The Cabinet decided to give full compensation for the damage to private property, both residential and commercial.

• The Cabinet also decided to introduce a Bill for reservation in the coming session of the Assembly.

Three of the finest soldiers died in Kashmir

• The Army lost three of its finest soldiers, two young oicers and a jawan from the Para Special Forces in the deadliest fidayeen at- tack in the Srinagar area in many years. It was not an iso- lated incident, but part of a disturbing trend of the Army losing some of its finest soldiers as the Kashmir violence flares up yet again.

• While statistics may hide much of it, the reality is that the Army has lost many of its most experienced counter- insurgency operatives in recent months because of a host of actors, including the return of fidayeen attacks.

• Among the possible reasons being discussed in intelligence circles is the role of dubious sources planting wrong information on Army units operating in the Valley.

• Earlier this month, two jawans were killed in a 22-hour gunfight in the Chowkibal forest in Kupwara.

• Lance Naik Mohan Nath Goswami, another para commando who was awarded Ashok Chakra this Republic Day, was killed in September last year along with another commando. A month later, four more soldiers were killed in the district.

• In November last, Colonel Santosh Mahadik, commanding officer of 41 Rashtriya Rifles, was grievously injured in Kupwara, not very far from where the earlier casualties occurred, and died later.

• A police officer of the Special Operations Group was also killed in the operations.

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:: INDIA and WORLD ::

Principle of sovereign equality should guide the India-Nepal relations, said Oli

• Asserting Nepal’s sovereignty, visiting Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli on Monday said that ties be- tween India and Nepal should be based on the “principle of sovereign equality”.

• “Our cultural connections are deep. Pashupatinath and Bishwanath, Janakpur and Ayodhya, Lumbini and Bodhgaya and many more are icons of our shared civilization and our relationship should not be judged on the basis of agreements and treaties”, Mr. Oli said

• Mr.Oli’s comments came a day after he defended Nepal’s new Constitution, which he described as a “living dynamic document” that had emerged out of a long process of democratic struggle to end discrimination.

• His assessment of the constitutional democratic process went against India’s viewpoint.

• Reflecting the Indian concern for the democratic process in Nepal, External Afairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said India was playing the role of an “elder brother”.

• “India’s role of an elder brother is not similar to the Western concept of a Big-Brother”.

• Mr. Oli asked India to make most of the opportunities provided by Nepal and partner the new development process.

:: INTERNATIONAL ::

Islamic State’s is deepening its reach in Africa

• The Islamic State’s branch in Libya is deepening its reach across a wide area of Africa, attracting new recruits from countries like Senegal that had been largely immune to the jihadist propaganda — and forcing the African authorities and their Western allies to increase efforts to combat the fast-moving threat.

• The U.S. air strikes in northwestern Libya, which demolished an Islamic State training camp and were aimed at a top Tunisian operative, underscore the problem.

• The more than three dozen suspected IS fighters killed in the bombing were recruited from Tunisia and other African countries, and were believed to be re- hearsing an attack against Western targets.

• Even as U.S. intelligence agencies say the number of IS fighters in Iraq and Syria has dropped to about 25,000 from a high of about 31,500, partly because of the U.S.-led air campaign there, the group’s ranks in Libya have roughly doubled in the same period, to about 6,500 fighters.

• More than a dozen U.S. and allied officials spoke of their growing concern about the militant organisation’s expanding reach from Libya and across Africa on rules of anonymity because the discussions involved intelligence and military planning.

• IS leaders in Syria are telling recruits travelling north from West African nations such as Senegal and Chad, aswell as others streaming up through Sudan in eastern Africa, not to press on to West Asia.

• The IS in Libya is now the most dangerous of the group’s eight affiliates, counter-terrorism officials say.

• About half a dozen senior IS lieutenants have arrived from Syria in re- cent months to build up the franchise.

• New U.S. and allied intelligence assessments say IS commanders in Libya are seizing territory there, starting to tax its residents and setting up quasi-government institutions.

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:: BUSINESS and ECONOMY ::

Government wants to bring growth reforms through budget

• The Union Budget for 2016-17 will primarily focus on stimulating growth without deviating too much from the fiscal deficit target set by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his previous Budget.

• Mr. Jaitley had set a fiscal deficit target of 3.9 per cent of GDP for 2015-16, paring it further to 3.5 per cent for 2016-17 and 3 per cent for 2017-18.

• However, with the economic recovery still tentative and private sector investments remaining elusive, there has been a growing clamour for the government to relax its deficit targets in order to pump prime the economy via enhanced public investments.

• Given the fiscal constraints, it is the government’s endeavour to present a budget which is growth oriented and maintains the momentum of growth and tries to develop on it.

• For Budget 2016-17, the government invited suggestions from citizens through Twitter for the firsttime, even conducting a series of polls to gauge public priorities and expectations from the budget.

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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