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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 27 said that assuming the G20 presidency was a huge opportunity for India and that the country must utilise it by focusing on global good. He said this during his monthly radio broadcast, “Mann Ki Baat”.
India will officially assume the G20 presidency from the current chair Indonesia on December 1. Speaking on the topic further, Prime Minister Modi said that India was capable of providing solutions to the varied challenges being faced globally.
India will assume presidentship of powerful grouping G20 on December 1. For India it is a huge opportunity. India must utilise opportunity of G20 leadership by focusing on global good and welfare.
Be it peace or unity, sensitivity towards environment or sustainable development, India has solution to challenges related to all such things.
He mentioned that he received a handwoven G20 logo woven by Yeldhi Hariprasad of Sircilla district in Telangana, along with a letter stating that it was a matter of great pride for India to host the G20 Summit next year..
The G20 comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the U.K., the U.S. and the European Union.
Prime Minister Modi also spoke about the power of music, and the spread of Indian music. He made a mention of Greek musician Konstantinos Kalaitzis, and played out the singer’s version of “Vaishnava Janato”, Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajan.
He said that the fame of Indian music had spread far and wide, with India exporting a large number of musical instruments to aficionados abroad, and Indian musical traditions in Guyana and other countries where centuries ago Indians had settled.
Egyptian President Sisi to be chief guest at Republic Day celebrations (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi will be the chief guest at the Republic Day in January 2023, the Ministry of External Affairs said on November 27, 2022.
Mr. Sisi will be the first such guest since 2020, as plans for guests in 2021 and 2022 were cancelled due to COVID-19. This is the first time that the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt will be the Chief Guest at our Republic Day.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sent a formal invitation to al-Sisi which was handed over to the Egyptian president by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on October 16.
Both countries are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year. Egypt has been invited as a 'Guest Country' during India's Presidency of G-20 in 2022-23.
India and Egypt enjoy warm and friendly relations based on civilisational and deep-rooted people-to-people ties.
Leaders of friendly nations have graced the Republic Day celebrations since 1950, when the then Indonesian President Sukarno was invited as the chief guest.
In 1952, 1953 and 1966, the Republic Day celebrations were held without a foreign leader as chief guest. In 2021, the then British prime minister Boris Johnson was invited as the chief guest but his visit had to be cancelled due to the rising COVID-19 cases in Britain.
This year, India had invited leaders of the five Central Asian Republics, who were to visit Delhi for the India-Central Asia Summit, as chief guests for the Republic Day celebrations.
However, the visit was cancelled due to rising COVID-19 cases in India. The India-Central Asia Summit was held in the virtual format.
States
Nitish launches ‘Har Ghar Gangajal’ scheme at Rajgir (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launched the ambitious ‘Har Ghar Gangajal’ scheme, under which piped Ganga water will be supplied to every household, at Rajgir in Nalanda district.
In the first phase of the ₹4,000-crore scheme under the government’s Jal, Jivan aur Hariyali mission, two districts of Nalanda and Gaya will be covered for supply of Ganga water. In the second phase, Ganga water will be reaching the adjoining Nawada district too.
About 7.5 lakh households in Nalanda, Gaya and the town of Bodh Gaya will start getting Ganga water from November 28. It is said to be the first of its kind project in the country to “store, treat and supply floodwaters of the Ganga that the State receives every year during monsoon season, to the districts of Nalanda, Gaya and Nawada”.
“The Ganga water which now has reached your household will not only be used for drinking but also for bathing, cooking and everything. The ground water-level too will be maintained through this.
The temples of the district and the newly opened Nalanda International University too will be getting the Ganga water under the scheme,” the Chief Minister said while launching the project.
Amid chants of Desh ka bhavi pradhan mantri (The country’s future Prime Minister) by the gathered audience, mostly the Janata Dal (United) workers, Mr. Kumar said, “Our government has worked for development of all religious sites: Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Sikhs Buddhists.”
Opinion
It’s time to discuss the depopulation (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
Two weeks ago, when the world population touched 8 billion, several headlines focused on how India was the largest contributor to the last billion and is set to surpass China as the world’s most populous nation by 2023. China’s population has begun to decline, while India’s population is expected to grow for another 40 years, they said. But missing in this conversation is the real threat of depopulation that parts of India too face, and the country’s complete lack of preparedness to deal with it.
By current United Nations estimates, India’s population will begin to decline only in 2063, by which time it will be just shy of 1.7 billion. The world’s population is expected to grow until 2086.
Given that China’s population has begun to decline, these estimates about India have led to alarmist calls for restrictions on family sizes. Such remarks have increasingly assumed an anti-Muslim tone.
On the other hand, demographers, policy experts and politicians in countries such as Japan, South Korea and Europe, which are experiencing falling fertility and nearing the inflection point of population declines, are beginning to talk about what the future holds and whether reversal is possible.
However, the global conversation around depopulation is missing some key elements. Without talking about equitable sharing of housework; access to subsidised childcare that allows women to have families as well as a career; and lowered barriers to immigration to enable entry to working-age people from countries which aren’t yet in population decline, the narrative can sometimes be tinged with anti-feminism and ethnic superiority. And that is precisely why India needs to step into and have this conversation.
Explainer
Toward legalising same-sex marriage (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
A Supreme Court Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on November 25, issued notices to the Centre and the Attorney General of India, seeking their response to two petitions filed by gay couples to allow solemnisation of same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act, (SMA) 1954.
The SMA provides a civil form of marriage for couples who cannot marry under their personal law, and both the recent pleas seek to recognise same-sex marriage in relation to this Act and not personal laws.
The first petition was filed by two men, Supriyo Chakraborty and Abhay Dang, who have been a couple for 10 years. Their petition argued that the SMA was “ultra vires” the Constitution “to the extent it discriminates between same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples”.
It stated that the Act denied same-sex couples both “legal rights as well as the social recognition and status” that came from marriage.
Senior Advocates Niraj Kishan Kaul and Menaka Guruswamy for the petitioners said that about 15 legislations which guaranteed the rights of wages, gratuity, adoption, surrogacy and so on were not available to LGBTQ+ citizens.
The petitioners emphasised that the SMA “ought to apply to a marriage between any two persons, regardless of their gender identity and sexual orientation”.
The other petition was filed by a same-sex couple of 17 years — Parth Phiroze Mehrotra and Uday Raj Anand. Their counsel, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, argued that the recognition of same-sex marriage was only a “sequel” or a continuation of the Navtej Singh Johar judgment of 2018 (decriminalising homosexuality) and the Puttaswamy judgment of 2017 (affirming the Right to Privacy as a fundamental right).
Mr. Rohatgi said the petition did not touch on personal laws but only sought to make the 1954 Act “gender-neutral”. Their plea pointed out that while Section 4 of the SMA permitted the solemnisation of marriage between any two persons, a subsequent section placed restrictions.
What is the PDS scam that has led to a SC listing controversy? (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
On November 21, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud agreed to hear the Nagrik Apurti Nigam (NAN) scam case in the Supreme Court, after a high-octane exchange last week between the Chhattisgarh Government and the Enforcement Directorate over the case’s listing in front of a fresh Bench with Justices M.R. Shah and Hima Kohli.
Justice Chandrachud will hear the case along with Justices Ajay Rastogi and S. Ravindra Bhat, also associate judges on an earlier bench headed by his predecessor Justice U.U. Lalit.
The Nagrik Apurti Nigam is Chhattisgarh’s nodal agency for procuring and distributing food grains under the Public Distribution System (PDS).
In 2015, when former Chief Minister and BJP leader Raman Singh was in power, the Opposition allegedthat the government was distributing sub-standard quality grains under the PDS and that officials had received kickbacks from rice millers to allow this.
The State’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) launched a probe into the matter. While conducting raids on the NAN’s office, the agency found unaccounted-for cash worth over ₹3 crore.
It also tested food samples distributed through fair-price shops for their quality, finding many samples of salt and rice unfit for human consumption.
It booked 27 persons in the case— including two IAS officers, now the main accused—Anil Tuteja and Alok Shukla (the Chairman and the Managing Director of NAN, respectively) alleging that they had allowed the distribution of sub-standard foodstuffs.
The ACB also found documents and devices showing transactions to beneficiaries. The ED also later started a money laundering probe in the case.
Text & context
What is blue bugging, and how is it used to hack Bluetooth-enabled devices (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Cyber Security)
Cybersecurity experts note that apps that let users connect smartphones or laptops to wireless earplugs can record conversations, and are vulnerable to hacks.
Even the most secure smartphones like iPhones are vulnerable to such attacks. Any app with access to Bluetooth can record users’ conversations with Siri and audio from the iOS keyboard dictation feature when using AirPods or Beats headsets, some app developers say.
Through a process called bluebugging, a hacker can gain unauthorised access to these apps and devices and control them as per their wish.
It is a form of hacking that lets attackers access a device through its discoverable Bluetooth connection. Once a device or phone is bluebugged, a hacker can listen to the calls, read and send messages and steal and modify contacts.
It started out as a threat for laptops with Bluetooth capability. Later hackers used the technique to target mobile phones and other devices.
Independent security researcher Martin Herfurt blogged about the threat of bluebugging as early as 2004. He noted that the bug exploited a loophole in Bluetooth protocol, enabling it to download phone books and call lists from the attacked user’s phone.
Bluebugging attacks work by exploiting Bluetooth-enabled devices. The device’s Bluetooth must be in discoverable mode, which is the default setting on most devices.
The hacker then tries to pair with the device via Bluetooth. Once a connection is established, hackers can use brute force attacks to bypass authentication.
They can install malware in the compromised device to gain unauthorised access to it. Bluebugging can happen whenever a Bluetooth enabled device is within a 10-metre radius of the hacker.
However, according to a blog by VPN service provider NordVPN, hackers can use booster antennas to widen the attack range.
News
India, Australia wargames to begin today (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
A bilateral training exercise between armies of India and Australia will kick-start in Rajasthan from Monday, the Defence Ministry said."Bilateral training exercise—Austra Hind 22— between contingents of the Indian Army and the Australian Army, is scheduled to take place at Mahajan Field Firing Ranges (Rajasthan) from 28 November to 11 December 2022.
This is the first exercise in the series of Austra Hind with participation of all arms and services contingent from both armies," the Ministry said in a statement.
The Australian Army contingent comprising soldiers from the 13th Brigade of the 2nd Division has arrived at the exercise location.
The Indian Army is represented by troops from the Dogra Regiment, it said. The aim of the exercise is to build positive military relations, imbibe each other's best practices and promote the ability to operate together while undertaking multi-domain operations in semi-desert terrain under a UN peace enforcement mandate.
This joint exercise will enable the two armies to share best practices in tactics, techniques and procedures for conducting tactical operations at company and platoon level for neutralising hostile threats.
Training on new generation equipment and specialist weapons including snipers, surveillance and communication equipment to achieve a high degree of situational awareness apart from casualty management, casualty evacuation and planning logistics at battalion/ company level are also planned.