 Shankar IAS Academy, Admissions open for UPSC Coaching 2021-22. Classes starts on June 28th. For Admissions, contact 766776626. Welcome to the Hindu news analysis session by Shankar IAS Academy, dated 26th June 2021. The list of news articles for today's discussion is given for your reference along with the page numbers in various editions of the newspaper. Now, let us move on to the first topic. The first topic for today's discussion is IAC will be commissioned next year, says the Defense Minister Rajnath Singh. See, in this news article discussion, we shall be discussing about the indigenous aircraft carrier and the project SEBER. Both these are important topics and let us see them one by one. Let us begin with IAC. See, the IAC is also called as INS Vikrant. If you see, it is named after its predecessor which is the INS Vikrant. This INS Vikrant, which we are talking about the older one, is a procured carrier. It was India's first majestic class aircraft carrier. Know that it was formerly called Hercules and was acquired from Britain in the year 1957. This aircraft carrier was commissioned in the year 1961 as INS Vikrant. Later in the year 1997, Vikrant was decommissioned. Now, coming back to the newer one, this is the first airbase reinforced warship of India. Also, it is an indigenous aircraft carrier because it is the first aircraft carrier to be made in India. See, the IAC comprises nearly 75 percentage of indigenous content that is from design to the steels used in the construction to key weapons and sensors, etc. And it is informally called INS Vikrant II. See, this aircraft carrier is currently under construction and the trials are being conducted by the Kochin Shipyard Limited in Kochi, Kerala. And our defence minister has pointed out that it may be commissioned before 2023 or in the mid 2020 itself. This coincides with the 75th year of India's independence. Now, let us look into the specification. See, this aircraft carrier weighs up to 40,000 tons and can carry up to 40 aircrafts. Also, know that it will operate MIG-29K fighter aircrafts, Kamov-31 early warning helicopters and the soon to be inducted MH-60R multirole helicopters and the indigenously manufactured advanced light helicopters. Besides this, India is planning to develop its third aircraft carrier INS Vishal which is expected to be commissioned in the year 2030. With this information, now let us look into the project Seabird. See, this is a formidable project to remember. See, for starters, it is the largest naval infrastructure project for India. See, it is a $3 billion program and upon completion, the effort will provide the Indian Navy with its largest naval base on the western coast. Alongside, it will be the largest naval base east of Suez Canal. So, what is it exactly? See, it involves a creation of naval base at Karwar on the west coast of India. See, the aspirants can have a look at this in the map which is provided here. The green dot is the Karwar region that is where the creation of naval base is planned. And if you see, the aims is at providing fleet support and maintenance of warships. Note that the naval complex will be able to support several major warships and at least 30 vessels, submarines and yard crafts. In addition, the state of art naval air base will have a maintenance section which is said to be the part of the project. This naval base totally spread across 11,000 acres and mainly located on hilly terrains along the coastal region. Also note that a significant part of the project will also be carried out by reclaiming a part of sea. And so, it involves several technical and environmental challenges. The project, however, was delayed for some time as the land earmarked for it was a forest land. But later on, it was cleared after the visit of former Defense Minister Nirmala Sitaraman. This is all about the IAC. With this information in mind, now let us move on to the next topic for today's discussion. Now coming to the next news article, Pakistan to remain on FATF grilist. As we know, Pakistan has been a safe haven for UN-designated terror groups such as Laxary Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Al Queda, etc. Due to this, financial action task force has brought the country under its grilist. Now, recently, the FATF has decided to retain Pakistan on the grilist, also known as the list of countries under increased monitoring. Here, we must know that the FATF is a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog. Know that this FATF was established in the G7 Summit held in Paris in the year 1989. The FATF is the intergovernmental body that sets international standards to prevent illegal activities that may cause harm to the society. Also, the FATF works to generate the necessary political will in order to bring about a national legislation and regulatory reforms in these areas. Know that more than 200 countries and jurisdictions have so far committed to implementing the FATF recommendations. This would ensure a coordinated global response to prevent organized crime, corruption, and terrorism. In addition, they also held the authorities to go after the money of criminals dealing in illegal drugs, human trafficking, and other crimes. Apart from this, the FATF also works to stop funding for weapons of mass destruction. In order to do all these effectively, the FATF monitors the country to ensure they implement the FATF standards and they also hold countries to account if they find countries not complying with FATF standards. Currently, FATF comprises 37 member jurisdictions and two regional organizations. This represents most major financial centers in all parts of the globe. Know that India is a member of FATF, whereas Pakistan is not a member. Now, let us discuss about the FATF jurisdiction under increased monitoring. See, the countries that have been listed as grey list or countries under increased monitoring will work with FATF in order to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. The jurisdiction placed under increased monitoring will also commit itself to resolve the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed time frames. The identified strategic areas are nothing but the actions to be taken against the UN designated terrorists or steps to be taken to curb terror financing, etc. The countries that falls under this increased monitoring list are externally referred as the grey list. Those countries that are failing to address these strategic deficiencies after a specific time period will be listed under blacklist. Some of the grey list countries are like Pakistan, Mauritius, Myanmar, Syria, etc. There are only two blacklisted countries. They are North Korea and Iran. Till now, we saw about the FATF and the grey list. Now, let us know what are the implications of being listed as a grey list country? See, the grey listing will squeeze the country's economy by making it harder for the country to meet its foreign financing needs. Thus, future borrowing from organizations such as International Monetary Fund would be difficult. Also, the grey listing could downgrade the country's debt rating, making it more difficult to tap into the international bond markets. The listing would also discourage foreign investors and companies to do business in the country. Hence, this would further increase the economic and political instability in that country. These are few information related to the recent developments in FATF and the grey listing of Pakistan. With this information in mind, let us move to the next topic discussion. Our next news discussion is going to be based on this news article, which reports about the anniversary of urban missions. See, on 25th June 2021, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs organized an online event to commemorate the sixth year of three transformational urban missions. The three missions include the Smart City Mission, Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation and the Pradhan Mantri Avasiyajana Urban. Today, also marked the 45 years of establishment of National Institute of Urban Affairs, which is an autonomous body of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Note that, the body is tasked to bridge the gap between research and practice on issues related to urbanization. So, in this light, let us see in detail about the three transformative urban missions. The relevant syllabus covered by this news article is highlighted for your reference. Now, let us move on to the news article. First comes the Smart City Mission. As we know, cities are engines of growth for the economy of every nation, including India. With increasing urbanization, urban areas are expected to house 40 percent of India's population and contribute 75 percent of India's GDP and this proves the need for a comprehensive development of physical, institutional, social and economic infrastructure. Since they play a major role in improving the quality of life as well as in attracting people and investments to the cities, it enables a virtuous cycle of growth and development. See, there is no universally accepted definition of a smart city and its conceptualization varies from city to city and country to country depending on the level of developments. In case of India, the picture of smart city contains a wish list of infrastructure and services. Therefore, in order to provide for the aspirations and needs of the citizens, the urban planners aims at developing the urban ecosystem that is represented by four pillars of comprehensive development. It includes institutional infrastructure, financial infrastructure, social and economic infrastructure. The main objective of this mission is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and a decent quality of life to its citizens. Also, it aims to provide a clean and a sustainable environment and application of smart solutions. Hence, its purpose is to drive economic growth and improve the overall quality of life of people by enabling local area development and harnessing technology. Note that the smart city mission is operated as a centrally sponsored scheme and central government gives financial support to the mission. Then, an equal amount on a matching basis is contributed by the state or the urban local bodies. The core infrastructure elements in the smart cities would include adequate water supplies, assured electricity supply, solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and many more. An illustrative list of smart solutions is given below for your reference. The aspirants can go through it. Next comes the actual mission for urban rejuvenation and urban transformation. See, this mission aims to provide basic services to households and build amenities in cities that would help in improving the quality of life. The purpose of the mission is to ensure that every household has access to a tap with assured supply of water and sewage connections. Then, it aspires to increase the amenity value of cities by developing greenery and well maintained open spaces. In addition, it also aims to reduce the pollution by switching to public transport or constructing facilities for non-motorized transport. Similar to the smart city mission, this scheme is also implemented as a centrally sponsored scheme. Note that the components of AMROOT consist of capacity building, reform implementations, water supply, sewage and septage management, urban transports as well as development of green spaces and parks. And during the process of planning, urban local bodies will strive to include some smart features in the physical infrastructure components. That is all about urban rejuvenation and urban transformation. And finally comes the Pradhan Mantri Avas Yojana Urban. Note that the PMAY Urban is a flagship mission of Government of India being implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. This scheme addresses urban housing shortage among the economically weaker sections, lower income groups and medium income groups, including the slum dwellers. This is done by ensuring a PAKKA house to all eligible urban households by the year 2022. In addition, this scheme also adopts a demand-driven approach wherein the housing shortage is decided based on the demand assessments by states or union territories. Note that the mission promotes women empowerment by providing the ownership of houses in the name of female members or in joint name. In addition, the preference is also given to differently abled persons, senior citizens, persons belonging to SCs, STs or OBC communities, minority, single women, transgender and other weaker and vulnerable sections of this society. Hence, it can be said that this scheme adopts with various options to suit the needs of individuals based on geographical conditions, topography, economic conditions and many more. The scheme is also divided into four verticals as given in the image. The aspirants can have a look at it. With this information in mind, now let us come back to our article. See, the article mentions that the Ministry of Housing has announced Uttar Pradesh to be ranked one followed by Madhya Pradesh in the second place and Tamil Nadu in the third place for India's Smart City Award 2020. Alongside this, Indore and Surat were jointly named as the best cities by the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry for their work under the Smart Cities mission. And as per the official statement, 22% in terms of total values of the project and 52% in terms of total number of projects proposed by the Smart Cities have been completed so far. With this, we have come to the end of this topic discussion. So, in this article, we have a comprehensive discussion on the three transformative urban missions including Smart City Mission, Amrutt and Pradhan Mantri Avas Yojana Urban. With these take away points in the mind, let us move on to the next part of our news discussion. The fourth topic for today's discussion, Satankulam case CBI moves High Court. This article says that the Central Bureau of Investigation has approached the Madras High Court regarding the Satankulam Custodial Death case. See, the Satankulam is a panjayat in Toothukudi district of Tamil Nadu which was in news earlier for the custodial death of the father-son duo. In this context, let us discuss in detail about the roles and responsibilities of the CBI. The syllabus covered under this topic discussion is given for your reference. See, the Central Bureau of Investigation traces its origin to the Special Police Establishments. This Special Police Establishments was set up in the year 1941 by the Government of India. The functions of the SPE then were to investigate cases of bribery and corruption in the transaction with the war and supply departments of India. This was during the World War II where the superintendent of SPE was vested with the War Department. But after the World War II, the need for a central government agency to investigate the cases of bribery and corruption by the central government employees was felt. Thus, the Delhi Special Police Establishments Act was brought into force in the year 1946. This act transferred the superintendent of SPE to the Home Department. Also, its functions were enlarged to cover all departments of the Government of India. Know that the jurisdiction of the Delhi Special Police Establishments extended to all union territories as well. Here, we must know that the jurisdiction of SPE could be extended to stage with the consent of the state government concerned. Later, the SPE acquired its current name, the Central Bureau of Investigation through a Home Ministry's Resolution in the year 1963. In this year, 1963, the CBI was established by the Government of India with the view to investigate serious crimes related to defense of India, corruption in high places, serious frauds, etc. CBI also investigates hoarding, black marketing and profiteering in essential commodities which may have negative consequences in several states. See, initially, the offenses notified by the Center for CBI related only to corruption by the central government's servants. But with the setting up of large number of PSUs, that is, the public sector undertakings, the employees of these PSUs were also brought under the CBI's purview. Similarly, with the nationalization of banks in 1969, the PSBs and their employees also came within the ambit of the CBI. In addition to all these, you have to note that the superintendents of CBI related to investigations under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 lies with the Central Vigilance Commission. Whereas, in other matters, the superintendents lies with Department of Personal and Training under the Ministry of Personal Pensions and Grievances. After several years of establishment, today, CBI has grown into a multidisciplinary investigation agency with three divisions for investigations of crime. First one is Anti-Corruption Division. Next is the Economic Offences Division and the third division is the Special Crimes Division. Now, let us know about this one by one. The Anti-Corruption Division investigates under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. This investigation of cases are done against the public officials and employees of Central Government, PSUs, bodies controlled by the Government of India, etc. When coming to the Economic Offences Division, under the Economic Offences Division, the investigations of major financial crimes and serious economic frauds are carried out. This includes crimes related to fake Indian currency notes, bank frauds and cyber crime. The third division, which is the Special Crimes Division, investigates serious, sensational and organized crime under the IPC and other laws. This is mainly done on the request of the State Government or on the order of the Supreme Court and High Courts. Finally, know that the CBI needs the prior consent of State Government to exercise its power and jurisdiction in the State. But the Supreme Court and High Court can order the CBI to investigate such a crime anywhere in the country without the consent of the State. With this, we have come to the end of this topic discussion. Now, let us move to the final topic for today's discussion. Now, taking this news article, OFB federations threaten to go on in definite strike. This news article is regarding the decision of the Union Cabinet to split the Ordinance Factory Board organization into seven corporate entities. This move has been widely criticized by the recognized federations of defense civilian employees of the OFB. In this context, let us discuss about the Ordinance Factory Board and the possible implications of corporatization. The syllabus covered under this topic discussion is given for your reference. See, the Ordinance Factory Board, shortly termed OFB, is an umbrella body for the Ordinance Factories and Related Institutions in India. It includes a cluster of 41 factories, 9 training institutes, 3 regional marketing centers and 5 regional controllers of safety. Know that it is currently a subordinate office under the Ministry of Defense. Why is this OFB gaining so much significance? This is because a major chunk of weapon, ammunition and supplies not for just armed forces, but also for paramilitary and police forces comes from the OFB run factories. Its productions include civilian and military-grade arms and immunizations, explosives, propellant and chemicals for missile systems and many more. Hence, the efficient operation of OFB is very important to strengthen India's security system. But however, unfortunately, in the year 2019, a performance evaluation report by the CAG, that is the Comptroller and Auditor General, has listed few gaps in operational efficiencies of OFB. It includes such as higher overhead costs, higher indirect labor costs, delay in productions etc. Therefore, as a response to this report, the government constituted an empowered group of ministers under the Chairmanship of Defense Minister in September 2020. Know that this committee was constituted for the purpose of corporatization of OFB. Till now, we saw about the OFB and the recent developments. Now, let us know what is corporatization? See, the corporatization refers to restructuring or transformation of state-owned assets or organization into a corporation. These corporatized organizations from now on will have a board of directors, management and shareholders. But however, unlike the publicly traded companies, the government will be the only shareholder of the newly corporatized entity. In this fashion, the corporatization will result in the conversion of the OFB into a multiple 100% government-owned entities under the Companies Act 2013. Accordingly, the government has now decided to corporatize the OFB into 7 government-owned entities. But why it is done? Firstly, the newly corporatized entity will become a separate legal entity. Secondly, the management of a corporate entity will be given a financial autonomy. Thereby, the management itself will take control of inputs and issues related to production or service delivery. Thirdly, the organization will become subjected to the prevailing company law and accounting rules. Fourthly, the corporatized entity will receive the resource it needs to perform its function. Hence, all these features that we have discussed now are expected to bring in efficiency in operation. This is the major aim for corporatization. But however, there is another viewpoint from the employees and trade unions which must also be considered. According to them, the corporatization would eventually lead to privatization. That is, they feel that the corporatization is an initial stage followed by a transfer of ownership and management rights to the private player. The second factor is the fear of job loss. In addition, the federation and the union highlights the article 309 of the constitution. Accordingly, they mention that the employees were recruited as central government employees as per the said article. But there was no mention in their appointment letters that their status would be changed during the service period. These are the concerns which are put forward by the recognized federations and unions against this move by the government to corporatize ordinance factory board. This is all about the OFB and the center's move for corporatization. With this, we have come to the end of this topic discussion. Now, let us move to the prelims practice question session. Question number one, consider the following statements regarding the financial action task force. Statement one, it is an intergovernmental body established by the United Nations Security Council. Statement two, headquartered in New York, FATF is the Global Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Watchdog. Which of these statements given above is or are correct? The options given are option A, one only, option B, two only, option C, both one and two, option D, neither one nor two. See, in the first statement, it is said that FATF is an intergovernmental body, which is true. But it says this FATF is established by the United Nations Security Council. See, from our earlier discussion, we saw FATF is the intergovernmental body, but it was established in the G7 Submit held in Paris in the year 1989. So, the first statement is incorrect. Now, let us move to the second statement. It says the FATF is the Global Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Watchdog. The second part of the question is correct, but the first part which says it is headquartered in New York is wrong because it is headquartered in Paris in France. So, the second statement is also incorrect. So, the answer for this question is option D, neither one nor two. Since the question they asked is statements given above is or are correct? So, both these statements are incorrect. Hence, the answer is option D, neither one nor two. Now, coming to the second question, with reference to Central Bureau of Investigation, consider the following statements. Statement 1, CBI is a statutory body under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Statement 2, CBI needs the prior consent of state government to exercise its power and jurisdiction in the state. Which of these statements given above is or are correct? The options given are option A, one only, option B, two only, option C, both one and two, option D, neither one nor two. CBI is not a statutory body as it is not established by any act of the parliament. Although it continues to derive power from the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, it only functions as an attached office of Ministry of Personal Public Grievances and Pension. Hence, saying that CBI is a statutory body is incorrect. So, the first option can be eliminated. Now, the answer should be either B or D. From our earlier discussion, we saw Central Government can authorize CBI to investigate crimes in a state only with the consent of the concerned state government. Hence, the second statement is correct. So, the answer for this question is option B, two only. These are few main questions that are given for your practice and you may write and post them in the comment section for peer review. That's it for today's discussion. If you like the video, kindly press the like button, comment, share and subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy for further updates. Thank you. Contact 766-776-266.