Connect to Current -Daily Current Capsules 14th March 2019

Defence
INDO-OMAN Joint Ex Al Nagah 2019

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the exercise)

What's the NEWS
• Indo Oman Joint Exercise Al Nagah III 2019, a joint military exercise between Indian and Royal Army of Oman (RAO), commenced at HQ Jabel Regiment, Nizwa, Oman

Know! more about the exercise

• The Omani contingent was represented by Jabel Regiment of the RAO while the Indian side was represented by troops of Tenth Battalion The Garhwal Rifles Regiment.

• The Indian Army and RAO contingents have been specifically selected for the exercise based on expertise and professional competence and will take part in the two-week-long event that will see them hone their tactical and technical skills in joint counter insurgency and counter terrorist operations in semi-urban scenario in mountainous terrain under UN mandate.
• Both sides will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well-developed tactical drills for neutralization of likely threats that may be encountered in such a scenario.

• Ex Al Nagah 2019 will contribute immensely in developing mutual understanding and respect for each other's military as also facilitate in tackling the worldwide phenomenon of terrorism.

Intellectual Property Rights
Cabinet approves proposal for accession of India to The Nice Agreement The Vienna agreement and The Locarno Agreement
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about these accession) + Mains ( GS III awareness in the field of IPR)

What's the NEWS

The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for accession of India to
(i) The Nice Agreement concerning the International classification of Goods and Services for the purposes of registration of marks

(ii) The Vienna Agreement establishing an International Classification of the figurative elements of marks, and

(iii) The Locarno Agreement establishing an International classification for industrial designs.

Know! the benefits of these accessions

• Accession to the Nice, Vienna and Locarno Agreements will help the Intellectual Property Office in India to harmonise the classification systems for examinational of trademark and design applications, in line with the classification systems followed globally.

• It would give an opportunity to include Indian designs, figurative elements and goods in the international classification systems.
• The accession is expected to instill confidence in foreign investors in relation to protection of IPs in India.

• The accession would also facilitate in exercising rights in decision making processes regarding review and revision of the classifications under the agreement.

Judiciary
No names removed based on draft NRC: Election Commission
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about NRC developments ) + Mains ( GS II internal security + GS III structure, organisation and functioning of the judiciary )

What's the NEWS
• The Election Commission of India (ECI) assured the Supreme Court that names have not been deleted from the Assam electoral roll on the basis of their exclusion from the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC), which was published in July last year.

Know! more about the developments
• A question looms large in the light of the preparation of the final NRC, to be published on July 31, 2019. What would happen to those who do not appear there but are included in the electoral roll?

• The court further directed the ECI to furnish details of the names included in the electoral roll on January 1, 2017, 2018 and 2019 in Assam.

• The Election Commission of India (ECI) has stated before the Supreme Court that exclusion of names of persons from draft National Registry of Citizens (NRC) in Assam will not affect their voting rights in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls provided their names feature in the electoral rolls.
Know! about the petition
• Petition before the Supreme Court Petition led by Gopal Seth and Susanta Sen, residents of Assam feared that people would lose their voting rights due to the ongoing exercise of National Registry of Citizens.

• The petition highlighted five categories of people: Persons whose names were deleted from the voter list which includes names of those appeared in the draft NRC published on July 30, 2018.

• People whose names were not included in the complete draft NRC, but they subsequently led claims for inclusion of their names in it.

• People who have been declared as foreigners by the foreigners' tribunal as well as the Guwahati High Court.

• The order which has been stayed by the apex court. People who had already been declared foreigners by the foreigners' tribunal and such declarations were set aside by the apex court.
• People whose names have not been included in the draft NRC, but other members of their families, including parents, have been included in the NRC and they have led their claims for the inclusion of their names.

• The Supreme Court asked the ECI to provide data about the addition and deletion of names from voters' list as revised in January for 2017, 2018 and 2019. The case for posted for further hearing on March 28

Economic Development
Data for the Index of Industrial Production (IIP)
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about IIP ) + Mains ( GS III economic developments)

What's the NEWS
• The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has released the data for the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for the month of January.

• The IIP data shows that: Industrial output growth stood at 1.7 per cent in January against the 2.6% growth recorded in December 2018.
• The CSO has revised the industrial production growth for December 2018 has been revised upwards from 2.4% to 2.6%.

• The growth of output of manufacturing sector moderated to 1.3% and the electricity generation rose a mere 0.8% in January 2019.
• The mining output rebounded 3.9% in January 2019, snapping 1% decline in December 2018.

• Capital goods output declined 3.2% in January 2019 and the output of intermediate goods also fell by 3.0% in January 2019.

• The output of primary goods increased by 1.4%, while that of infrastructure/ construction goods moved up 7.9% in January 2019 when compared to January 2018.

• The output of consumer durables moved up 1.8%, while that of consumer non-durable durables also rose 3.8% in January 2019 when compared to January 2018.

• Eleven out of the twenty-three industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during the month of January 2019 as compared to January 2018.

• The electricity generation output growth also improved to 5.8%, while mining output growth accelerated to 5.3% in April-January FY2019.

Know! about IIP
• Index of Industrial Production Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is a composite indicator that measures the changes in the volume of production of a basket of industrial products during a given period with respect to the volume of production in a chosen base period. The base year for the IIP is 2011- 12

Retail inflation rises to 4-month high of 2.57% in February 2019
The Central Statistical Office (CSO) has released the data of Inflation for the month of February 2019.

What's the NEWS
• The retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 1.97 per cent in January and 4.44 per cent in February 2018

• Retail inflation was at a four month high of 2.57 per cent in February 2019 due to costlier food articles.

Know! more about the CSO findings
• The retail inflation was highest since October 2018 when it stood at 3.38 per cent.

• Consumer Price Index-based inflation for January 2019 was revised down to a 19-month low of 1.97 per cent from an earlier estimate of 2.05 per cent.
• Food inflation at (-) 0.66 per cent in February 2019 was lower against 3.26 per cent in the same month last year.

• The consumer food price index increased by 0.15 per cent in February against January 2019.
• With the headline inflation reading at 2.57 per cent and industrial production growth on the downside at 1.7 per cent, economists see a case and space for one more rate cut of 25 bps by RBI in April to support growth.

Factoids
World Gold Council Report
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about GCR findings)

Know! about the findings of the report
• India has the 11th largest gold reserve and the current holding pegged at 607 tonnes.
• India's would have been at the tenth position had the list included only countries.
• International Monetary Fund (IMF) ranks third on the list with total gold reserves of 2,814 tonnes.

• The top spot is occupied by US gold reserves of 8,133.5 tonnes, followed by Germany with 3,369.7 tonnes.
• The third and fourth slot is occupied by Germany and France with reserves of around 2,400 tonnes each.

• China and Japan have more reserves of the precious metal when compared to India.
• The report notes that Gross purchases of 48 tonnes and gross sales of 13 tonnes led to an increase in global gold reserves by 35 tonnes on a net basis in January, with sizeable increases from nine central banks.

Know! about WGC

• The World Gold Council is the market development organisation for the gold industry and it aims to stimulate and sustain demand for gold, provide industry leadership, and be the global authority on the gold market.
• The members of the World Gold Council include gold mining companies

Prelims Practise Question

Consider the following statements
1. Index of Industrial Production Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is a composite indicator that measures the changes in the volume of production of a basket of industrial products by using the base year of 2015-16
2. The inaugural Joint Military exercise AL - Nagah between India and Oman military commenced at Jabel Regiment, Oman

Find the correct statement from the option given below
a. 1 only
b. 2 only
c. None
d. All

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