The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has hailed the unwavering dedication, courage and determination of NSG personnel on the occasion of NSG Raising Day.
About National Security Guard (NSG):
It is a special force in India that has primarily been utilized for counter-terrorism activities.
It is an elite force providing a second line of defense for the nation.
Its members are also known as Black Cats because of the black drill cotton coveralls and balaclavas, or helmets, they wear.
It was raised in 1984,following Operation Blue Star and the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
It was created by the Cabinet Secretariat under the National Security Guard Act of the Indian Parliament in 1986.
It was modelled on the pattern of the SAS of the UK and the GSG-9 of Germany.
The Union Ministry for Home Affairs exercises administrative and operational control over NSG.
Its motto is Sarvatra Sarvottama Suraksa.
Its headquarters are located in New Delhi.
The head of the NSG, designated as Director General (DG), is selected by the Home Ministry.
All the selected DGs have been officers from the Indian Police Service (IPS).
The NSG's specific goals include:
Neutralization of terrorist threats
Handling hijacking situations in the air and on land.
Bomb disposal (search, detection, and neutralization of IEDs).
PBI (Post Blast Investigation)
Hostage Rescue
VIP Security
It is designed to be employed as a specialized counter-terrorism force "only in exceptional situations," not to take over "functions of the State Police Forces or other paramilitary forces."
The teams of NSG work on a basic philosophy of swift and speedy strike and immediate withdrawal from the theatre of action.
The force is task-oriented and has two main elements in the form of the Special Action Group (SAG), comprising Army personnel, and the Special Ranger Group (SRG), comprising personnel drawn from the Central Armed Police Forces and State Police Forces.
The NSG also has a National Bomb Data Centre (NBDC) that maintains a centralized database of bombing activities reported in India and abroad.
The NBDC collects, collates, analyses, and evaluates all terrorist bombing activities and disseminates relevant information to concerned law enforcement agencies.
International Relations
Topic: Multilateral Organizations
2. Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
Why in the news?
India’s External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar arrives in Islamabad, Pakistan to address the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting and is expected to repeat concerns raised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at past SCO summits over terrorism and extremism in the region, as well as connectivity and transit issues.
About Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO):
It is a Eurasian political, economic, international security and defense organization established by China and Russia in 2001.
It is the world's largest regional organization in terms of geographic scope and population, covering approximately 24% of the area of the world (65% of Eurasia) and 42% of the world population.
As of 2024, its combined nominal GDP accounts for around 23%, while its GDP based on PPP comprises approximately 36% of the world's total.
The SCO is the successor to the Shanghai Five, formed in 1996 between the People's Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
In June 2001, Uzbekistan joined it.
In June 2017, it expanded to eight states, with India and Pakistan.
Iran joined the group in July 2023, and Belarus in July 2024.
The SCO is governed by the Heads of State Council (HSC), its supreme decision-making body, which meets once a year.
The organization also contains the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS).
As of 2023, the SCO is primarily centered on security-related concerns, describing the main threats it confronts as being terrorism, separatism and extremism. It has addressed regional human trafficking and weapons trafficking and created terrorist blacklists.
Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS):
It is a permanent body of the SCO and is intended to facilitate coordination and interaction between the SCO member states in the fight against terrorism, extremism and separatism.
The main functions of SCO-RATS are coordination and information sharing.
As a member, India has actively participated in the activities of SCO-RATS.
Topic: Multilateral Agreements
3. Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement
Why in the news?
A regional partnership of 10 countries said an agreement on the equitable use of water resources from the Nile River basin has come into force despite the notable opposition of Egypt.
Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania have ratified the accord. Egypt and Sudan declined to sign, while Congo abstained. Kenya has not yet deposited its ratification documents with the African Union.
Tensions in the region have increased, stemming in part from Ethiopia’s construction of a $4 billion dam on the Blue Nile, a key tributary of the Nile River. Egypt fears the dam will have a devastating effect on water and irrigation supplies downstream unless Ethiopia takes its needs into account.
About Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement:
It replaces colonial agreements from 1929 and 1959 that gave Egypt veto powers over Nile usage.
It introduces Article 14b, ensuring no significant effect on water security for any Nile Basin State.
It is negotiated among nine Nile Basin countries (Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda) and later ratified by five nations (Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda) and South Sudan acceded.
Egypt and Sudan opposed the agreement, particularly Article 14b, citing concerns about water security.
Nile River:
It is one of the world’s longest rivers, stretching approximately 6,695 kilometers.
It originates from Lake Victoria.
Its basin includes parts of Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Congo (DRC), Kenya, and Egypt.
It forms an arcuate delta as it flows into the Mediterranean Sea.
Its principal tributaries include the Blue Nile, Atbara and White Nile.
Topic: East Asia
4. Korean peninsula
Why in the news?
In a symbolic display of anger in the Korean peninsula, North Korea blew up the northern sections of unused road and rail routes that once linked it with South Korea, with the rivals exchanging threats days after the North claimed that the South flew drones over its capital Pyongyang.
About Korean peninsula:
It is situated in East Asia.
Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel; in 1948, two states declared independence, both claiming sovereignty over the entire region:
North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) in the north
South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) in the south
The region is bordered by China to the north and Russia to the northeast, across the Amnok and Duman rivers.
It is separated from Japan to the southeast by the Korea Strait.
The peninsula extends southwards for about 1,100 km. from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan to the east and the Yellow Sea (West Sea) to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the two bodies of water.
To the northwest, the Amnok River separates Korea from China and to the northeast, the Duman River separates it from China and Russia.
Notable islands include Jeju Island, Ulleung Island, Dokdo.
Geography
Topic: Lakes
5. Pangong Lake
Why in the news?
Satellite images show the construction of a Chinese settlement near the Pangong Lake- a strategically located lake that separates India and China. The settlement is located 38 km. east of the Line of Actual Control (LAC)- where border skirmishes happened between India and China in 2020.
About Pangong Lake:
It is also known as Pangong Tso Lake.
It is a long narrow, endorheic (landlocked) lake situated at a height of more than 14,000 ft. (4,350 m.) in the Ladakh Himalayas.
It is the world's highest saltwater lake.
India holds one-third of the 135 km-long boomerang-shaped Pangong lake.
One-third of the Pangong Lake lies in India and the other two-thirds in China.
It is also known to change colors, appearing blue, green, and red at different times.
Endorheic lake:
It is a type of lake that does not have an outlet to a river or ocean. Instead, water in an endorheic lake remains within its basin, either through evaporation or seepage into the ground.
As a result, endorheic lakes tend to have high salinity or mineral content since the water does not flow out, allowing minerals to accumulate over time.
Ladakh Himalaya:
It forms a high altitude desert between Greater Himalayan ranges and Karakoram Ranges.
The Indus and its tributaries are major rivers flowing through the terrain.
Topic: Physical Geography
6. Atmospheric Rivers
Why in the news?
According to a new study published in Science Advances, University of California, atmospheric rivers have shifted about 6 to 10 degrees toward the two poles over the past four decades and that’s changing weather patterns around the world.
The shift is worsening droughts in some regions, intensifying flooding in others, and putting water resources that many communities rely on at risk. When atmospheric rivers reach far northward into the Arctic, they can also melt sea ice, affecting the global climate.
About Atmospheric Rivers:
These are long, concentrated regions in the atmosphere that transport moist air from the tropics to higher latitudes.
They are responsible for 90 percent of the movement of moisture from the tropics toward the poles.
They are the largest transport mechanisms of freshwater on Earth.
They form when large-scale weather patterns align to create narrow channels, or filaments, of intense moisture transport.
Ten or more atmospheric rivers can be happening at once across the globe.
A well-known and strong one is the Pineapple Express, with moisture transported from the tropical Pacific around Hawaii to the US and Canadian West Coasts.
Typically,250 to 375 miles wide, atmospheric rivers can stretch more than a thousand miles long.
They are more frequent on the East Coast than they are on the West Coast.
They primarily occur during the winter of the respective hemisphere, when extratropical cyclones are most prevalent.
The average atmospheric river carries an amount of water vapor roughly equivalent to the average flow of water at the mouth of the Mississippi River (second-longest river in North America).
When atmospheric rivers run up against mountains or run into local atmospheric dynamics and are forced to ascend, the moisture they carry cools and condenses, so they can produce intense rainfall or snowfall.
While they are an incredibly important source of rainfall, they can also bring flash flooding, mudslides, and landslides, sometimes killing people and destroying property.
When atmospheric rivers pass over land, they can cause conditions similar to those of hurricanes with intense and rapid rainfall, cyclone-force winds, and significantly increased wave heights.
Topic: Physical Geography
7. Swell Waves
Why in the news?
The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) in Hyderabad, an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, has issued extensive advisories for swell waves for Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands as well as parts of coastal areas in Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Daman and Diu, and Puducherry.
INCOIS advises halt in beach activities due to swell wave surges
About Swell Waves:
A swell is the formation of long wavelength waves on the surface of the seas. These are composed of a series of surface gravity waves.
Swell waves organize themselves into groups of similar heights and periods, and then travel long distances without much change.
They occur not due to the local winds, but rather due to distant storms like hurricanes, or even long periods of fierce gale winds.
During such storms, huge energy transfer takes place from the air into the water, leading to the formation of very high waves. Such waves can travel thousands of km. from the storm center until they strike shore.
Swells have a narrower range of frequencies and directions than locally generated wind waves, because swell waves have dispersed from their generation area, have dissipated and therefore lost an amount of randomness, taking on a more defined shape and direction.
These waves can propagate in directions that differ from the direction of the wind, in contrast to a wind sea.
Their wavelengths may rarely exceed more than 150 m. Swell wavelength, also, varies from event to event. Occasionally, swells which are longer than 700 m occur as a result of the most severe storms.
It occurs without precursors or any kind of local wind activity and as a result.
In India early warning systems like the Swell Surge Forecast System launched by the Indian National Centre for Ocean InformationServices (INCOIS) in 2020 — gives forewaring seven days in advance.
Science and Technology
Topic: Industrial Processes
8. Haber-Bosch Process
Why in the news?
A hundred million tonnes of nitrogen are now removed from the atmosphere and converted into fertilizer via the Haber-Bosch process, adding 165 million tonnes of reactive nitrogen to the soil.
The Haber-Bosch method allowed industries to develop cheap synthetic fertilizers, which was a critical component in the sevenfold rise in the world’s food supply during the 20th century. But environmentalists have said the utility of fertilizers can’t be taken for granted.
About Haber-Bosch Process:
It is a process that fixes nitrogen with hydrogen to produce ammonia (NH3), a critical part in the manufacture of plant fertilizers.
The process was developed in the early 1900s by Fritz Haber and was later modified to become an industrial process to make fertilizers by Carl Bosch.
It is considered by many scientists and scholars as one of the most important technological advances of the 20th century.
It was the first of the processes developed that allowed people to mass-produce plant fertilizers due to the production of ammonia.
It was the first industrial chemical process to use high pressure for a chemical reaction.
Working:
It directly combines nitrogen from the air with hydrogen under extremely high pressures and moderately high temperatures.
A catalyst made mostly from iron enables the reaction to be carried out at a lower temperature than would otherwise be practicable.
The removal of ammonia from the batch as soon as it is formed ensures that an equilibrium favouring product formation is maintained.
The lower the temperature and the higher the pressure used, the greater the proportion of ammonia yielded in the mixture.
Catalyst:
It is a substance that speeds up a chemical reaction, or lowers the temperature or pressure needed to start one, without itself being consumed during the reaction.
Catalysis is the process of adding a catalyst to facilitate a reaction.
Government Schemes
Topic: Taxation
9. Vivad Se Vishwas scheme
Why in the news?
The Income Tax department came out with a guidance note on direct tax Vivad Se Vishwas scheme 2024. The note, in the form of FAQs, answers various questions relating to who would be eligible to avail the scheme as well as the taxes to be paid.
About Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme 2024 (VSV 2.0):
It aims to reduce ongoing litigations related to income tax.
Its primary goal is to provide a cost-effective mechanism for settling disputed issues, thereby alleviating the burden of litigation on taxpayers and the judicial system.
It enables taxpayers and the Income Tax Department to resolve disputes through a streamlined appeals process.
It provides a mechanism for filing appeals across various appellate forums, including the Joint Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals), the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), and higher courts.
It covers appeals, writ petitions, and special leave petitions pending as of July 22, 2024, and will waive penalties and interest for settlements, ensuring no prosecution will be initiated for cases resolved under the scheme.
It also covers cases with objections filed before the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) where no final assessment order has been issued and pending revision applications before the Commissioner.
Certain cases are excluded from eligibility, including those involving searches, prosecutions, and undisclosed foreign income.
Tax payers under specific legal restrictions or serious offenses will also not benefit from the scheme.
Direct Tax:
It is directly levied on individuals and entities based on their income or profit earned without any intermediary.
This results in the taxpayer or the person on whom the liability of paying such direct tax is imposed, to pay/discharge such liability by himself.
Levies like income tax, corporation tax, etc. fall under the ambit of direct taxes.
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