DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

15^th January 2022

No.	Topic Name	Prelims/Mains
1.	ABOUT THE REGIONAL RAPID TRANSIT SYSTEM	Prelims & Mains
2.	ABOUT THE COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY	Prelims & Mains
3.	ABOUT THE KEN BETWA RIVER INTERLINKING PROJECT	Prelims & Mains
4.	ALL ABOUT THE SEDITION LAW	Prelims & Mains
5.	ABOUT THE SUPERSONIC MISSILE ASSISTED TORPEDO SYSTEM	Prelims Specific

 

1 – ABOUT THE REGIONAL RAPID TRANSIT SYSTEM: 

GS III

Topic – Infrastructure related issues

• About:
• The Delhi–Meerut RRTS is a semi-high-speed rail line connecting Delhi, Ghaziabad, and Meerut that is currently under construction.
• It is one of three rapid-rail routes planned as part of the National Capital Region Transport Corporation’s Regional Rapid Transport System (RRTS) Phase-I project (NCRTC).
• The route between Delhi and Meerut will be covered in roughly 62 minutes at a top speed of 160 km/h (99.42 mph) (1.03 h).
• These aerodynamic RRTS trains will be lightweight and thoroughly air-conditioned, thanks to their radiating stainless steel outer body.
• For ease of entry and egress, each automobile will have six automated plug-in type broad doors, three on each side.

• Source – The Hindu

2 – ABOUT THE COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY:

GS II

Topic – International Organizations

• What exactly is CTBT:
• The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) prohibits any nuclear explosions – anywhere, at any time, by anyone.
• The Geneva Conference on Disarmament negotiated the Treaty, which was then approved by the United Nations General Assembly. On September 24, 1996, it was made available for signature.
• The Treaty shall enter into force once it has been ratified by all 44 states specified in Annex 2 to the Treaty. At the time the Treaty was negotiated and adopted, these countries had nuclear weapons.
• The Treaty has yet to be signed by India, North Korea, and Pakistan.
• What does it mean to have a “zero yield”:
• A “zero yield” test ban, which would prohibit supercritical hydro-nuclear testing but not sub-critical hydrodynamic nuclear tests, has been classified as a full test ban.
• What is the significance of the CTBT:
• The CTBT is the final impediment to the development of nuclear weapons.
• It prevents the development of new nuclear weapons as well as the advancement of existing nuclear weapon systems.
• The Treaty establishes a legally enforceable prohibition on nuclear testing. The Treaty also aids in the prevention of human suffering and environmental damage from nuclear testing.
• Source – The Hindu

3 – ABOUT THE KEN BETWA RIVER INTERLINKING PROJECT:

GS III

Topic – Environmental Conservation & Water Conservation related issues

• Background:
• On the occasion of World Water Day 2021, Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat signed a tripartite agreement with the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to begin work on India’s first major river interlinking project, which will connect the Ken and Betwa Rivers.
• Due to disagreements between the two governments over water sharing, the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) was signed nearly 18 years after the project’s conception.
• About the Project:
• The Ken-Betwa initiative is a collaboration between Ken and Betwa.
• The project intends to move excess water from the Ken river in MP to Betwa in UP in order to irrigate the drought-prone Bundelkhand region, which is stretched across districts in both states, primarily Jhansi, Banda, Lalitpur, and Mahoba in UP and Tikamgarh, Panna, and Chhatarpur in MP.
• Important facts:
• The Ken and Betwa rivers are tributaries of the Yamuna that originate in MP.
• Ken meets Yamuna in the Banda district of Uttar Pradesh and Betwa in the Hamirpur district of Uttar Pradesh.
• The Betwa river is crossed by the dams Rajghat, Paricha, and Matatila.
• The Panna Tiger Reserve is located along the Ken River.
• Source – The Hindu

4 – ALL ABOUT THE SEDITION LAW:

GS II

Topic – Government Policies & Interventions

• What exactly is sedition:
• “Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the government established by law in shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, or with fine.”
• Do we require a proper definition of sedition:
• For far too long, the sedition legislation has been a source of contention. Governments are frequently chastised for using Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to prosecute vociferous critics of their policies.
• As a result, this Section is viewed as a restriction on people’s freedom of expression, and it falls short of the Constitution’s provisions for justifiable restrictions on freedom of speech in Article 19.
• Since the colonial British overlords enacted the statute in the 1860s, it has been the subject of heated discussion. Several prominent liberation fighters, including Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, were charged with sedition.
• It is the “prince among the political provisions of the Indian Penal Code designed to restrict the citizen’s liberty,” according to Mahatma Gandhi.
• It was “very offensive and obnoxious,” according to Nehru, and “should have no place in any body of laws that we might pass.” “The sooner we get rid of it, the better,” Nehru replied
• Relevant Supreme Court decisions include:
• The Kedar Nath Singh vs State of Bihar case (1962): In the Kedar Nath Singh vs State of Bihar case (1962), a five-judge Supreme Court constitutional bench laid out some guiding principles when dealing with offences under Section 124A of the IPC.
• The court decided that comments expressing disapproval of the government’s activities without provoking public disruption through acts of violence would not be punished.
• The Supreme Court clarified in Balwant Singh versus State of Punjab (1995) that just screaming slogans, in this case Khalistan Zindabad, did not constitute sedition.
• The sedition legislation is clearly being misunderstood and abused to silence opposition.
• Source – The Hindu

5 – ABOUT THE SUPERSONIC MISSILE ASSISTED TORPEDO SYSTEM:

Prelims Specific Topic

• SMART is a lightweight anti-submarine torpedo system with missile assisted release for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) activities far beyond torpedo range.
• When launched from a warship or a truck-based coastal battery, SMART operates similarly to a regular supersonic missile.
• With a two-way data link from the warship or an airborne submarine target detection system, it covers the majority of its flight in the air at lower altitudes and delivers the exact location of the hostile submarine to correct its flight path midway.
• The missile will eject the torpedo system into the water when it approaches the submerged submarine, and the autonomous torpedo will begin travelling towards its target to destroy the submarine.
• Torpedoes are self-propelled underwater weapons that can be launched from a submarine, a surface vessel, or an aeroplane and are designed to explode when they come into contact with the hulls of surface boats and submarines.
• Varunastra is the first indigenously built heavyweight ship to fire an anti-submarine torpedo.
• Importance:
• Enhances the country’s strategic marine capabilities.
• A huge development in anti-submarine warfare stand-off capability.
• Project 28, a class of anti-submarine warfare corvettes now in service with the Indian Navy, was approved in 2003. INS Kamorta, INS Kadmatt, INS Kiltan, and INS Kavaratti are among them.
• The Indian Navy’s Project 75 involves the construction of six Scorpene-class assault submarines (Kalvari, Khanderi, Karanj, Vela, Vagir and Vagsheer).

• Source – The Hindu