Read from our blog

Index

1. NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION (NATO)
2. WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO)
3. BRICS
4. G7 SUMMIT
5. BIMSTEC
6. 50 YEARS OF STOCKHOLM CONFERENCE
7. INDIA- ISRAEL- UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - USA (I2U2)
8. CHINA PAKISTAN ECONOMIC CORRIDOR (CPEC)
9. JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY
10. ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT
11. NAMSAI DECLARATION
12. PREVENTION OF MONEY LAUNDERING ACT (PMLA)
13. AMENDMENTS TO FLAG CODE OF INDIA
14. STATE EMBLEM OF INDIA
15. FIELDS MEDAL
16. INDIA IN UNESCO PANEL ON INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE
17. ASHA
18. TOUR OF DUTY

Marathon Current Affair YouTube Session June & July 2022 by Shashank Sir Success Mantra | CLICK HERE

1. NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION (NATO)

Why in news?

NATO Summit was held recently in Madrid (Spain) amid Russia-Ukraine War.

About NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two North American.

• The headquarter of the organization is located in Brussels, Belgium.
• Official language: English & French
• Secretary General: Jens Stoltenberg
• NATO was created for collective defence on 4 April 1949
• NATO's Command Structure is under the authority of the Military Committee, NATO's highest military authority composed of the Chiefs of Defence of all 30 member countries.
• The most recent member states to join NATO were Montenegro on 5 June 2017 and North Macedonia on 27 March 2020.
• Purpose:

The organization acts as a collective security alliance with the aim of providing mutual defense through military and political means if a member state is threatened by an external country. (Article 5 of the NATO charter).

• Article 5: has been invoked once, by the United States, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
• Founders: Its 12 founding members are the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal.

Finland and Sweden are on the cusp of joining NATO

Story of NATO Expansion:

• The Soviet Union responded to NATO by creating its own military alliance with seven other Eastern European communist states in 1955, dubbed the Warsaw Pact.
• But after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a number of former Warsaw Pact countries became NATO members. This includes Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia among others.
• The most recent additions were Montenegro in 2017 and North Macedonia in 2020, bringing the total number of NATO member states to 30.
• NATO's Open door policy (Article 10 of the charter), allows any European country that can enhance and contribute "to the security of the North Atlantic area" to join
• China has been named in the NATO’s document for the first time.

For the first time, four Indo-Pacific countries Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea joined a NATO summit, to deepen cooperation and address global challenges.

Marathon Current Affair YouTube Session June & July 2022 by Shashank Sir Success Mantra | CLICK HERE 

2. WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO)

Why in News?

12th Ministerial Conference of the WTO was held recently.

The Ministerial Conference is the WTO’s top decision-making body and usually meets every two years.

About WTO

The World Trade Organization is the only international organization that deals with the rules of trade between countries.

Founded in 1995, the WTO is run by its 164 members, and all decisions are taken through consensus and any member can exercise a veto.

• It is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), a group founded in 1948 whose rules created the modern multilateral trading system.
• Headquarters Geneva, Switzerland
• Official languages English, German, French, Spanish
• Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
• The 12th Ministerial Meeting (MC12) of World Trade Organization (WTO) members concluded with first major deal in nearly 9 years. (“Geneva Package”)
• In 2013, at the Bali Ministerial Meet, members had signed WTO’s first trade deal on a peace clause on public stockholding for food security purposes and trade facilitation agreement.

3. BRICS

Why in News?
XIV BRICS Summit

The 14th BRICS Summit was hosted by China in virtual format. India was represented by PM Modi.

 Theme of BRICS Summit - "Foster High-quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development”

About BRICS:

• BRICS brings together 5 major emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
• Headquarter: Shanghai
• The notion behind the coinage of BRICS was that the nations' economies would come to collectively dominate global growth by 2050.
• Recently, Iran and Argentina have applied to join the BRICS mechanism. This could be the first expansion of the group since South Africa was included in 2010.
• Concrete progress made by BRICS
• Establishment of the New Development Bank (NDB) and Contingent Reserve Arrangements (CRA): The agreement for the establishment of the BRICS NDB as well as CRA worth US$ 100 billion each during the sixth Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil in July 2014.
• NDB, headquartered in Shanghai, has been established with the purpose of mobilising resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging and developing countries.
• The CRA intends to provide liquidity through currency swaps in response to actual or potential short-term balance of payments crisis.

2023 BRICS South Africa (TBD)

Head of State

1. Brazil – Jair Bolsonaro (President)
2. Russia – Vladimir Putin (President)
3. India – Narender Modi (Prime Minister)
4. China – Xi Jinping (President)
5. South Africa – Cyril Ramaphosa (President)

Marathon Current Affair YouTube Session June & July 2022 by Shashank Sir Success Mantra | CLICK HERE

4. G7 Summit

Why in News?

48th G7 Summit

48th G7 Summit was held at Elmau, Germany from 26-28 June 2022. Besides the member countries, the summit was joined by the Leaders of Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa, as well as Ukraine.

About G7

• The G7 is an informal forum of leading industrialized nations, which dominate global trade and the international financial system
• Members and Partners: It includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States as core members.
• In the recent summit for example, India was invited along with Argentina, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa as guests.
• Russia joined G7 in 1998, creating the G8, but was excluded in 2014 for its takeover of Crimea.
• The EU is not a member of the G7 but attends the annual summit About LIFE Campaign At the recent G7 summit, India also highlighted Global Initiative for LIFE (Lifestyle for Environment) campaign with a goal to encourage an ecofriendly lifestyle.
• The idea of LIFE was introduced by the PM during the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), 2021 at Glasgow.
• The Mission seeks to create an ecosystem that will reinforce and enable environmentally friendly behaviors to be self-sustainable.
• Its vision is to live a lifestyle that is in tune with our planet and does not harm it. People living such a lifestyle are called “Pro-Planet People (P3)”.
• Recently at the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Davos Agenda 2022, PM Modi introduced the "P3 movement" that underlines India's climate change commitments.
• At the G-7 summit in Germany, PM Modi participated in two sessions on: Investing In A Better Future: Climate, Energy, Health Food Security Gift Diplomacy Continuing with his efforts to highlight India’s soft power on the global stage, PM Modi gifted a variety of products to heads of governments at the G7 meet Distinct artistic products identified with different UP regions featured heavily in the PM’s gift choices.

E.g., a gulabi meenakari brooch and cufflink set to US President Joe Biden o Gulabi Meenakari is a GI-tagged art form of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

• A piece of pure silver is moulded into a base form, and the chosen design is embossed in the metal. Pieces of black pottery from Nizamabad were gifted to Japanese PM.
• To celebrate the shared Ramayana links between India and Indonesia, the PM gifted a lacquerware Ram Darbar to Indonesian President.
• The GI-tagged lacquerware art-form has its roots in the temple town of Varanasi in UP.

5. BIMSTEC

Why in News?

25th Founding Day of BIMSTEC

Establishment   6 June 1997

The BIMSTEC uses the alphabetical order for the Chairmanship.

It is an economic bloc with Permanent Secretariat at Dhaka, Bangladesh.

• Out of the 7 members,
  • Five are from South Asia –
    • Bangladesh
    • Bhutan
    • India
    • Nepal
    • Sri Lanka
  • Two are from Southeast Asia –
    • Myanmar
    • Thailand

Genesis of BIMSTEC?

• This sub-regional organization came into being in 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration.
• Initially, it was formed with four Member States with the acronym ‘BIST-EC’(Bangladesh, India, Sri-Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation).
• It became renamed ‘BIMST-EC’in 1997, following the inclusion of Myanmar.
• With the admission of Nepal and Bhutan in 2004, the name of the grouping was changed to ‘Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation’ (BIMSTEC).

Distribution

• Bangladesh- Trade investment and development
• Bhutan – Environment and Climate Change
• India – Security and Energy
• Myanmar – Agriculture and Food security
• Nepal – People to People Connect
• Sri Lanka – Science and Technology
• Thailand – Connectivity

Marathon Current Affair YouTube Session June & July 2022 by Shashank Sir Success Mantra | CLICK HERE 

6. 50 YEARS OF STOCKHOLM CONFERENCE

Why in news?

Recently, Stockholm+50 meeting was held at Stockholm, Sweden to commemorate the 50 years since the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (also known as the Stockholm Conference), which made the environment a pressing global issue for the first time.

Stockholm+50 theme: A healthy planet for the prosperity of all — our responsibility, our opportunity

About Stockholm Conference, 1972

• The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm was held in June, 1972.
• The idea of the Stockholm Conference was first proposed by Sweden. That’s why it's also termed the “Swedish Initiative”
• This was the first global convergence on the planetary environment.
• The theme was ‘Only One Earth’.
• It aims to creating a common governance framework for the planetary environment and natural resources.
• 70 out of 122 participant countries which were developing and poor countries adopted the Stockholm Declaration.
• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been established by the United Nations General Assembly in pursuance of the Stockholm Conference.

7. INDIA- ISRAEL- UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - USA (I2U2)

Why in news?

Recently, the first Leaders’ Summit of I2U2 (India, Israel, United Arab Emirates, and United States) was held virtually.

About I2U2

• I2U2 was first mentioned in October 2021, following the Abraham Accords between Israel and UAE, to deal with issues concerning maritime security, infrastructure, and transport in region.
• The I2U2, referred to as the ‘West Asian QUAD’.

Abraham Accords

• Abraham Accords is a series of peace agreements between Israel and several Arab countries, UAE being the first. In 2020, it was mediated by USA between UAE, Bahrain and Israel.
• The name “Abraham” refers to the great father of the faith of the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Marathon Current Affair YouTube Session June & July 2022 by Shashank Sir Success Mantra | CLICK HERE 

8. CHINA PAKISTAN ECONOMIC CORRIDOR (CPEC)

Why in news?

China and Pakistan have decided to invite interested third country to join the CPEC project and are also planning to expand CPEC projects to Afghanistan.

About CPEC Project

• CPEC is a 3,000-km long route of infrastructure projects connecting Pakistan’s Gwadar port in Balochistan to China’s northwestern Xinjiang region.
• CPEC is a part of China’s most ambitious project ‘Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
• The BRI, launched in 2013, aims to link Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Gulf region, Africa and Europe with a network of land and sea routes.

String of pearls (debt trap policy)

9. JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY

Why in news?

Recently, the Orissa High Court became the first in the country to publish an annual report that gives insights into the performance of the state’s judiciary

Marathon Current Affair YouTube Session June & July 2022 by Shashank Sir Success Mantra | CLICK HERE 

10. ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT

Why in News

The President is elected by the members of an electoral college through single transferrable vote. (proportional representation)

• 16^th Election and 15^th President

The Indian President is elected through an electoral college system

The elections are conducted and overseen by the Election Commission (EC) of India (324)

• The electoral college is made up of all the elected members of theUpper and Lower Houses of Parliament (Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs), and the elected Members of the Legislative Assemblies of States and Union Territories (MLAs). [Delhi, Pondicherry and Jammu and Kashmir]
• 50 electors as proposers and 50 electors as seconders required as of 1997 policy and money to be deposited is 50,000.

Under Article 62(1) of the Constitution, an election to fill a vacancy caused by the expiration of the term of office of the President shall be completed before the expiration of the term (5 years).

• 15^th President, Draupadi Murmu
• Tribal leader and former Jharkhand Governor
• 2nd women President of India and the first tribal woman President of India
• Nilkantha Award for Best MLA in 2007
• She comes from Santhal Tribe
• Dialect is Kherwari
• Script- Ol-Chiki (recognized as of 8^th Schedule)

Eligibility

• The candidate should be an Indian citizen.
• Should have completed the age of 35 years.
• Should be qualified for election as a member of the Lok Sabha.
• Should not hold any office of profit under the Union Government or any state government or any local or other authority.
• The President should not be a member of any house of Union or State legislature.
• Can be elected twice Dr Rajendra Prasad.
• Die into office: Zakir Hussain, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.

Eligible for Re-Election (Article 57), Impeachment (Article 61) on grounds of violation of constitution.

11. Namsai Declaration

Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments signed the Namsai Declaration to end inter-state border conflict by this year.

• Both states decided to restrict the number of disputed villages to 86 instead of 123.
• The states of Assam and Arunachal share an 804.1 km long border.
• After Arunachal Pradesh got statehood in 1987, a tripartite committee was appointed which recommended that some areas be transferred from Assam to Arunachal.
• Assam opposed this and the matter is in the Supreme Court.

Marathon Current Affair YouTube Session June & July 2022 by Shashank Sir Success Mantra | CLICK HERE 

12. PREVENTION OF MONEY LAUNDERING ACT (PMLA)

• Supreme Court upheld the core amendments made to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. (encted in 2005)
• The PMLA was enacted in response to India’s global commitment ( Vienna Convention)to combat the menace of money laundering. 
• Amendments to PMLA provided Enforcement Directorate (ED) extensive powers of summons, arrest and raids, and makes bail provisions difficult while shifting the burden of proof of innocence onto the accused rather than prosecution.
• Vijay Madanlal Choudhary Vs Union of India case
• Reversed: Nikesh Tarachan shah

What is the Enforcement Directorate?

• It is a financial investigation agency under Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance.
• It was established in 1956 with its Headquarters at New Delhi.
• In 1956, an ‘Enforcement Unit’
• In 1957, this Unit was renamed as‘Enforcement Directorate’.
• It is responsible for enforcement of Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) and certain provisions under PMLA, 2002.
• FEMA is a civil law while PMLA is criminal law.
• In 2021, Parliament has passed a bill to extend the tenure of director of ED to a maximum of five years.
• Sanjay Kumar Mishra former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, New Delhi was appointed as ED chief in the rank of Secretary to Government of India, from October 2018

13. AMENDMENTS TO FLAG CODE OF INDIA

Recently, the centre amended the Flag Code of India.

• The amendment allows the national flag to be flown both in day and at night if it is displayed in the open or on the House of a member of the public. Earlier, the tricolour could be hoisted only between sunrise and sunset.
• The Flag Code of India was earlier amended in December 2021, allowing the use of polyester, apart from cotton, wool, silk and khadi for making hand-spun, hand-woven and machine -made flags.
• The amendment is brought with regards to the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign.
• Har Ghar Tiranga is a campaign under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to encourage people to bring the
• Tiranga home and hoist it to mark the 75th year of India’s independence.
• Department of posts have been tasked with utilising its reach and manpower across the country by making the people aware of the importance of the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ Campaign.

The Flag Code of India, 2002

• It was brought into effect on January 26th, 2002.
• The National Flag was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on 22nd July 1947.
• Size and shape of the national flag: It shall be rectangular. It can be of any size but the ratio of the length to the height of the national flag should be 3:2.
• Designed by: Pingali Venkayya

Marathon Current Affair YouTube Session June & July 2022 by Shashank Sir Success Mantra | CLICK HERE 

14. STATE EMBLEM OF INDIA

• Recently, a cast of State Emblem was constructed atop the new Parliament building- the Central Vista Project.
• The History behind the State Emblem
• The Lion Capital was erected by Mauryan Emperor Ashoka during the year 250 BC to mark the spot where Buddha
• imparted Dharmachakra Pravartana (first sermon after Enlightenment, explaining the Four-Noble Truths).
• The National Emblem is the graphic representation of the Lion Capital that originally sits at the top of the Ashoka
• Pillar at Sarnath, along with the National Motto written below it.
• Five students of renowned artist Nandalal Bose created the emblem. Among them were Jagdish Mittal, Kripal Singh
• Shekhawat, Gauri Bhanja and Dinanath Bhargava.
• Why did the Constituent Assembly embrace the Sarnath pillar as the national emblem?
• It was felt that the pillar epitomised the power, courage and confidence of the free nation.
• The emblem depicts a two-dimensional sculpture with the words Satyameva Jayate (truth alone triumphs) written below it, taken from the Mundaka Upanishad, written in Devanagari script.
• PIC Vision

Features Of National Emblem

• The adopted version of the State Emblem of India consists of:
• The profile of the Lion Capital showing three lions mounted on the abacus with a Dharma Chakra in the centre;
• a bull on the right and a galloping horse on the left,
• outlines of Dharma Chakras on the extreme right and left.
• The bell-shaped lotus was omitted.
• The motto Satyameva Jayate, written in Devanagari script below the profile of the Lion Capital, is part of the
• State Emblem of India.

15. FIELDS MEDAL

• Fields Medal is often described as Nobel Prize in mathematics.
• The name of the award honours the Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields
• First awarded 1936
• Presented by International Mathematical Union (IMU
• It is administered by International Mathematic Union (IMU), an international non-governmental and non-profit scientific organisation to promote international cooperation in mathematics.
• It is awarded every four years to mathematicians under age of 40
• Honour carries a physical medal of 14K gold. There is also cash award of Canadian dollars 15,000.
• Fields Medal Symposium is organised by Fields Institute, Toronto, Canada.
• CM 2022 was originally planned to be held in Saint Petersburg, Russia, but was moved online following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The award ceremony for the Fields Medals and prize winner lectures took place in Helsinki, Finland and were live-streamed
• 2022: 1- Hugo Duminil-Copin 2- June Huh(K) 3- James Maynard 4- Maryna Viazovska(UKR)
• From its history since 1936, the Fields Medal has had two female recipients, Maryam Mirzakhanifrom Iran, in 2014, and Maryna Viazovska from Ukraine, in 2022

16. INDIA IN UNESCO PANEL ON INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE

• India has been elected a member of the Intergovernmental Committee of UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) for the 2022-2026.
• India has served as a member of ICH Committee twice — from 2006 -2010 & from 2014-2018.
• Earlier, in November 2021, India was re-elected to the executive board of UNESCO for 2021-25.
• Committee consists of 24 members and is elected according to principles of equitable geographical representation and rotation

UNESCO:

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO;

• It has 193 member statesand 11 associate members,
• Headquartered at the World Heritage Centrein Paris, France, 
• UNESCO was founded in 1945 as the successor to the League of Nations's International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation.
• It pursues this objective through five major programme areas: education, natural sciences, social/human sciences, culture and communication/information.
• Head: Audrey Azoulay
• After the signing of the Atlantic Charter and the Declaration of the United Nations, the Conference of Allied Ministers of Education (CAME) began meetings in London which continued from 16 November 1942 to 5 December 1945. 
• UNESCO admitted Palestine as a member in 2011.

Marathon Current Affair YouTube Session June & July 2022 by Shashank Sir Success Mantra | CLICK HERE