UPSC Key- March 10, 2023: Know about India-Australia, Financial Action Task Force and Semiconductors

Ram Chandra Paudel elected new President of Nepal

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: General Studies II: India and its neighborhood- relations.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- In an election overshadowed by political instability, Nepal elected Ram Chandra Poudel as its President Thursday (March 9). With the vote of 214 lawmakers of Parliament and 352 provincial assembly members, Poudel, 78, secured a comfortable victory over rival Subas Chandra Nebmang. The total number of voters for the election of the President is 882, consisting of 332 Members of the Parliament and 550 members of the provincial assemblies of the seven provinces.

• Personality in News- Ram Chandra Poudel

• Who is Ram Chandra Poudel?

• How powerful is Nepal’s president?

• For Your Information- Before being elected as the President, Ram Chandra Poudel served as Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister, cabinet minister, and Speaker. He spent years of his life fighting for democracy in the country. He played an active role in the Satyagraha of 1985, People’s Movement part I of 1990 and People’s Movement part II of 2006. He spent 12 years in jail fighting against the autocratic Panchayat regime, which was in place from 1961 to 1990 and concentrated all powers in the hands of the King. Poudel was elected to the House of Representatives from Tanhu district for the first time in 1991. Thereafter, he represented Tanhu for six consecutive terms. In 2020, he was honoured with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun from Japan, for his role in strengthening Nepal-Japan ties.

• Compare and contrast Role of President of Nepal with President of India

• Why Nepal is important for India?

• Nepal under Ram Chandra Poudel-Know in brief

• India-Nepal Bilateral Relations and Shared Heritage-Know in detail

• What is India’s Neighbourhood First Policy?

• India’s Neighbourhood First Policy and Nepal-Connect the dots

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Nepal presidential polls today; all eyes on hearing for pleas seeking PM’s trial

‘Politically exposed persons’ brought under new PMLA rules, more disclosures for NGOs

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies II: Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

• General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

• General Studies III: Money-laundering and its prevention.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Widening the ambit of reporting entities under money laundering provisions, the government has amended rules to incorporate more disclosures for non-governmental organisations and defined “politically exposed persons” (PEPs) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in line with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

• What is politically exposed persons (PEPs)?

• How government has defined “politically exposed persons” (PEPs)?

• Politically exposed persons (PEPs) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)-Why?

• What do the changes imply?

• ‘The amendments assume significance ahead of the proposed FATF assessment of India, which is expected to be undertaken later this year’- Why FATF assessment of India?

• What is the significance of the FATF-related changes?

• What is the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)?

• How many lists are there under Financial Action Task Force (FATF)?

• Do You Know-There are 40 FATF recommendations that cover seven areas and provide a framework of measures to help countries tackle illicit financial flows through laws, regulations and operational measures to ensure authorities can take action to detect and disrupt financial flows that fuel crime and terrorism. The recommendations are divided into seven areas: anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist financing; policies and coordination; money laundering and confiscation; terrorist financing and financing of proliferation; preventive measures; transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons and arrangements; powers and responsibilities of competent authorities and other institutional measures; and, international cooperation.

• What is FATF GREY list?

• What Is Money Laundering?

• How Money Laundering works? What do you understand by placement, layering and integration?

• Money Laundering and its impact? What influence does money laundering have on economic development?

• How does fighting money laundering help fight crime?

• Steps Taken by Government of India to Prevent Money Laundering

• Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA)-Key Points

• What are the other changes in the PMLA rules?

• Prevention of Money-Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2012-Key Highlights

• Know the efforts taken at international level to combat Money Laundering like The Financial Action Task Force, the 1990 Council of Europe Convention and the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) etc

• Know the Efforts taken by International Monetary Fund’s fight against Money Laundering (ML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT)

• Directorate of Enforcement (ED)-Role and Function

• ED comes under which Ministry or Organisation?

• For Your Information-In a notification dated March 7, the Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance brought in The Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Amendment Rules, 2023, which prescribe disclosures of beneficial owners beyond the current requirement of KYC norms through documents such as registration certificates and PAN by reporting entities such as financial institutions, banking companies or intermediaries. The new clause in the rules for PMLA compliance defines “Politically Exposed Persons” (PEPs) as individuals who have been “entrusted with prominent public functions by a foreign country, including the heads of States or Governments, senior politicians, senior government or judicial or military officers, senior executives of state-owned corporations and important political party officials”.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Amendments to PMLA rules and its impact on ‘politically exposed persons’, NGOs

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

Justice in a grey zone

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Syed Ata Hasnain Writes: Indian Army’s record is guided by imperative of fairness to the people in the proxy conflict zone and also to its own soldiers. Respecting this fine balance requires leadership skills

• Quick Recall-AN ARMY court has recommended life imprisonment for a Captain over the killing of three men at Amshipora in J&K’s Shopian district in 2020. The sentence, however, will be finalised only after higher Army authorities confirm it, they said. Captain Bhoopendra Singh, alias Major Bashir Khan, was court-martialled after a Court of Inquiry and a subsequent summary of evidence found that troops under his command exceeded their powers under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in the incident. On July 18, 2020, Imtiyaz Ahmed (20), Abrar Ahmed (25) and Mohammed Abrar (16), all labourers hailing from Jammu’s Rajouri district, were shot and branded as terrorists by troops under the officer’s command in Shopian district. The J&K Police set up a Special Investigation Team, which filed a chargesheet against three persons, including Captain Singh, for “staging” the encounter.

• “What needs to be understood by the public and civilian officials dealing with such cases is that in a counter-terrorism environment, the Army is called to conduct operations because these are outside the capability of all others”-What have you understood?

• “The rule of law is equally applicable to soldiers and prosecution on flimsy evidence cannot be a norm for the sake of public appeasement”-Analyse the statement

• The Amshipora case-What happened exactly?

• How is Indian Army court-martial done?

• What is the process in the military?

• Is there any legal recourse available for accused?

• Do You Know-Under section 164 of the Army Act, the accused can file a pre-confirmation petition as well as one post- confirmation. A pre-confirmation petition will go to the Army Commander, who may look into its merits. The accused can also file a post-confirmation petition, but this must be filed with the government since the officer is cashiered his ranks are removed and he is dismissed from service — after confirmation of the sentence by the Army commander. After these options have been exhausted, the accused can approach the Armed Forces Tribunal, which can suspend the sentence.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍J&K court martial: How armed forces punish their personnel for crime

THE IDEAS PAGE

Taking from poor, giving to rich

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies II: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Aditya Kuvalekar Writes: Most governments, regardless of their ideology, implement policies that redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor in varying degrees. It is in this regard that I find the recent proposals in favour of the return to the Old Pension System (OPS) the most puzzling.

• “The OPS is a “pay-as-you-go” scheme where the contributions of current government employees are used to fund the pension liabilities of past government employees”-How far you agree?

• By the way, what is the Old Pension Scheme (OPS)?

• Why the old pension scheme was discontinued?

• What were the concerns with the Old Pension Scheme (OPS)?

• What was planned to address this situation?

• What was the origin of the New Pension Scheme?

• What is the difference between the old and new pension schemes?

• Why have some employees criticised the New Pension Scheme?

• What is the argument over the financial burden of OPS?

• Why is the OPS both bad economics and bad politics?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Why the Old Pension Scheme is both bad economics and bad politics

EXPLAINED

The India-Australia relationship

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- After a visit to the cricket stadium in Ahmedabad with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese tweeted about the fierce but friendly sporting rivalry between the two nations. “At the heart of this contest is genuine respect, reflecting the affection and friendship between our peoples…On the field, Australia and India are competing to be the best in the world. Off the field, we are co-operating to build a better world,” Albanese, the first leader of his country to make a bilateral visit to India since Malcolm Turnbull in 2017, posted.

• Why the first in-person India-Australia Annual Summit is significant?

• Examine India and Australia bilateral relationship in detail

• The India-Australia bilateral relationship-What history says?

• Strategic ties between India-Australia-How they have evolved?

• India, Australia and China-Examine

• For Your Information-Ties between Australia and China were strained after Canberra in 2018 banned Chinese telecom firm Huawei from the 5G network. Later, it called for an inquiry into the origins of Covid-19, and slammed China’s human rights record in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. China responded by imposing trade barriers on Australian exports, and by cutting off all ministerial contact. India has been facing an aggressive Chinese military along the border. New Delhi and Canberra have been assessing the Chinese challenge since 2013.

• How has the Quad impacted trade relations between India and Australia?

• India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (INDAUS ECTA)-Key Proposals

• Do You Know-India is one of the top sources of skilled immigrants to Australia. As per the 2021 Census, around 9.76 lakh people in Australia reported their ancestry as Indian origin, making them the second largest group of overseas-born residents in Australia. To celebrate India@75, the Australian government illuminated more than 40 buildings across the country, and Prime Minister Albanese issued a personal video message.

• What did PM Albanese say about Australian universities setting up campuses in India?

• What is the new ‘Maitri’ scholarship?

• Defence cooperation between India and Australia-Know in detail

• How do Australia and India working together to combat climate change?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍India a top-tier security partner, open Indo-Pacific is our need: Australia PM

📍PMs take to the field, recall a Sydney double century: All in a day’s play

What happens if you don’t link PAN and Aadhaar by March 31

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies II: Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.

• General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has asked all taxpayers to link their permanent account number (PAN) with their Aadhaar by March 31, 2023. Any non-compliance will mean that the PAN will become inoperative from April 1, 2023. Capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) too on Wednesday directed investors to link their PAN with their Aadhaar by the end of this month to continue doing transactions in the securities market.

• What is the rationale behind linking PAN with Aadhaar?

• Know about Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

• How Aadhar and UIDAI related?

• Aadhar is issued by whom?

• Unique identification and Aadhar-How this unique identification are achieved?

• Aadhar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019-key provisions

• Aadhar, Data sovereignty and Data protection

• Who needs to link PAN with Aadhaar?

• Who is not required to link PAN with Aadhaar?

• What will happen if PAN is not linked with Aadhaar?

• And why has SEBI made it mandatory for investors to link PAN with Aadhaar?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Sebi asks investors to link PAN with Aadhaar by March 31

ECONOMY

India, US to sign MoU on semiconductors: Official

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-India and the US on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on semiconductor supply chain and innovation partnership during the Commercial Dialogue 2023 here, the commerce ministry said. On the invitation of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, the US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo visited Delhi between March 7 and 10. During this visit, the India-US Commercial Dialogue was re-launched on March 10 to discuss cooperation for unlocking new trade and investment opportunities between the two countries, it said.

• What is semiconductor?

• What is the most basic component of a semiconductor chip?

• Semiconductors are the foundation of nearly every modern electronic gadget. Where does India stand in the semiconductor industry?

• The Government of India has undertaken several initiatives to promote electronics manufacturing-Know the important
schemes

• What are the current challenges of the semiconductor industry in India?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Government undertakes several initiatives to promote electronics manufacturing in India

📍Placing semicon diplomacy at the heart of India’s foreign policy

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