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• India-U.S. defence relationship

• Three agreements
1. Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement
(COMCASA)
2. “HOTLINES”: between Defence & Foreign ministers of both sides
3. First tri-services military exercises

• COMCASA is the third of four “foundational”, or enabling,

agreements signed by India after more than a decade of
negotiations, and is perceived as an inevitable consequence of the
large amount of U.S. defence hardware it has been purchasing.
• U.S. decision to include India in the top tier of countries entitled
to Strategic Trade Authorisation (STA-1)

• Indo-Pacific region & debt-financing: clearly aimed at Beijing

• Trade: India did not receive a clear-cut assurance of its GSP

(Generalised System of Preferences) status. USA expects, that we
should buy more from them.

• No public statement was made on Chabahar port

• No firm commitment about Russia

•-
 Handover of Chabahar port on track
• India on Friday said Iran has stuck to the agreed time frame in
its plans to hand over the operational responsibility of a part of
the Chabahar port to an Indian entity in October.

• The development came a day after official sources indicated

that the U.S. would give a ‘carve-out’ to India’s investment in
the project. “They have moved as per schedule so far and we
hope the hand-over will happen as agreed,” said an official.

• The positive observation came a day after Iran’s Transport

Minister said here that Tehran would proceed with handing over
the responsibility of running the port to an Indian company in a
month.
• COMCASA to help keep a watch over Indian Ocean
• The foundational agreement Communications Compatibility and Security
Agreement (COMCASA) which India concluded with the U.S. at the 2+2 dialogue
will enable Indian military to get a better picture of the Indian Ocean Region
(IOR) which is seeing increasing Chinese movements, officials said.
• “With CISMOA [COMCASA is an India-specific version of CISMOA], Indian armed
forces will get to fully exploit the capability of the military platforms procured
from the US. For instance, the P-8I reconnaissance aircraft of the Navy which
have emerged as a major force multiplier are currently operating at limited
capacity,” a defence official said.
• As a consequence of CISMOA, India will get access to Combined Enterprise
Regional Information Exchange System, or CENTRIXS, which is the secure
communication system network of the US.
• Navy ships with CENTRIXS on board can communicate securely with the U.S. Navy
when needed and can benefit from the wider situational picture of the region as
they have a large number of ships and aircraft deployed.
•-
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 Post office solutions
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the India Post Payments
Bank (IPPB)

• Specifications
✓Deposits of up to ₹1 lakh from customers
✓Cannot use these funds to give out loans

• Rural and unorganised sectors

• The payments bank will also have a digital platform that is
expected to make financial services more accessible even from
remote locations.

• Challenge: profit
• The first wave of new payments banks that commenced business last
year — Airtel, Paytm and Fino — have not exactly set the market on
fire.

• Banks have traditionally stayed away from the business of pure

deposit banking, unless customers have been willing to pay for these
services, for a good reason.

• To generate revenues, it plans to charge fees on money transfers and

other financial services while investing idle customer deposits in safe
government securities in order to earn interest.
•-
•-
 Important News
SC orders Rajasthan to file report on Alwar lynching
• The victim, Rakbar Khan, had died of injuries while police officers allegedly took
time off to herd his cows to a gaushala before taking him to hospital.

• Can India take SAHI road to urban mobility?

• “Safe, Adequate, Holistic Infrastructure or SAHI.”
• While mobility is critical to preserving our planet, road transport accounts for
one-fifth of global CO2 emissions. This threatens to choke cities and raise global
temperatures.
• Leaders fail to agree on Idlib truce
• The Presidents of Turkey, Iran and Russia on Friday failed to agree on a ceasefire
that would forestall a Syrian government offensive in rebel-held Idlib province
which the UN fears could cause a humanitarian catastrophe involving tens of
thousands of civilians.
• Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Iran’s Hassan Rouhani,
meeting in Tehran for a summit of key foreign players in Syria’s war, agreed in a
final statement that there could be no military solution to the conflict and it
could only end through a negotiated political process.
•-
Input shortage may hit small, medium-sized rubber units
• The financial health of small and medium players in the Indian rubber industry
may suffer a setback due to the impending shortage in natural rubber following
floods in Kerala, according to Vikram Makar, senior vice-president, All India
Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA).

• Mr. Makar, who was in the city to promote the India Rubber Expo 2019, said that it
was possible that the overall profitability of these units may be hit.

• Natural rubber producers of Kerala, which produces 85% of India’s natural rubber,
are bracing for a 25% crop loss (over last year) in the wake of the unprecedented
rains over last few months, according to the United Planter’s Association of South
India (UPASI).
‘Help India reduce oil bill’
• Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Friday appealed to the
industry to invest in public transport propelled by alternative fuel and electricity
to help the country reduce its oil import bill.
• “Our import bill is nearly ₹8 lakh crore. This is a big challenge for the economy.
So, our government has taken a decision for alternative fuels like ethanol,
methanol, bio-diesel, compressed natural gas and electricity. We are ready for
anything that is a substitute for imports, cost-effective, pollution free and
indigenous,” Mr. Gadkari said at the Move Summit organised by the NITI Aayog.
• The Minister said initiatives need to be taken to curb pollution and that two-
wheelers alone consume 60% of petrol in India.
• “What the consumer needs, what the society needs, what the country needs is
very important... I want you to look at public transport on alternative fuel and
electricity,” he said.
 Vocabulary
• Flagrant: (of something considered wrong or immoral) conspicuously or
obviously offensive.
खलु ा, ज्वलंत, धोर, दष्ु ट
• Heteronormative: denoting or relating to a world view that promotes
heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation.

• Dissipated: (of a person or way of life) overindulging in sensual

pleasures, squander or fritter away
व्यस्त, नष्टचररत्र, भ्रष्टाचरण, ऐयाश
• Expropriation: The action by the state or an authority of taking property
from its owner for public use or benefit.
ज़ब्त, बिगलाव
• Concomitantly
Map based answer
Map based quiz
 Answers-
1. Maternal Mortality Ratio has reduced by 22 per cent in
which nation?
1. Nigeria
2. China
3. Malaysia
4. India
2. Which Indian public authority has launched its online RTI
Portal?
1. Election Commission of India
2. National Green Tribunal
3. Indian Council of Agricultural Research
4. Airports Authority of India
 Questions-
1. Who has signed a pact with Myanmar for the return of the
Rohingya Community?
1. Bangladesh
2. India
3. UN
4. US
2. President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated a 73 km long
National Highway in which state?
1. Mizoram
2. Tripura
3. Arunachal Pradesh
4. Sikkim
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