Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE
Topics Covered
- India – France Relationship
- Aadhaar Card
- Facts for Prelims
1 . India – France Relationship
Context: India-France defence ties take a bigger leap.
About the News
- India and France have announced a “defence industrial roadmap” for cooperation on defence production, for future collaboration on “co-design and co-development” of military hardware, as well as key agreements on space cooperation.
- Macron’s visit caps a milestone year for India-France ties — the 25th anniversary of their strategic partnership.
- The India-France Strategic Partnership, the first that India signed with any western country, has seen considerable progress in bilateral, regional and international contexts.
Major pillars of cooperation:
- Defence: India and France have had a strong and robust defence partnership. Bilateral defence cooperation between the two sides is reviewed under Annual Defence Dialogue (Defence Minister level) and High Committee on Defence Cooperation (Secretary level). A DRDO office was opened in the Embassy in 2023 for strengthening technology cooperation. The procurement of Rafale jets as part of India’s air power is a testament to the deep defence ties. The India France joint defence exercises have also grown in scope and complexity over the years.
- Space: There’s a rich history of cooperation in the field of space for over 50 years between ISRO and the French Space Agency, Centre National D’Etudes Spatiales (CNES). France remains a major supplier of components and equipment for the Indian space programme.
- Civil Nuclear Cooperation: During the PM’s visit to Paris in July 2023, both leaders welcomed the progress made during discussions related to the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP). However, the progress here has been slow, though the first pact was agreed in 2008. The two sides have also agreed to establish a partnership on Small Modular Reactors (SMR) and Advanced Modular Reactors (AMR).
- Economic: France is one of the largest investors in India with FDI inflow of US$ 659.77 million for FY 2022-23 (as of June 2023) and a cumulative FDI stock of $10.76 billion from April 2000 to September 2023. There are over 70 Indian companies employing over 8,000 employees in France. For FY 2023-24 (till August 2023), Indian exports to France totaled $3.06 billion and imports from France totaled $2.36 billion. India’s main exports include engineering goods, petroleum products, pharmaceutical products, electronic equipment and ready-made garments. The main imports from France are aviation products, machine equipment, electrical equipment and chemical products.
- Digital: In July 2023, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) was launched from the Eiffel Tower, offering secure and convenient transactions for Indian visitors and NRIs. C-DAC and M/S Atos, an European multinational IT service and consulting company based in France, have developed 14 supercomputers for India so far, including the fastest supercomputer Param Siddhi at 4.6 petaflops/second.
- Education: It is estimated that there are about 10,000 Indian students in France. An agreement on mutual recognition of degrees was signed in 2018.The Indo French Campus for Health was also launched in 2022 to offer double degrees. A scheme that allows Indian students to stay in France up to two years after finishing their Masters degree, to look for jobs, was renewed in October 2022. In July 2023, it was agreed to increase the number of Indian students in France to 30,000 by 2030. During PM’s visit, France announced the issuing of a five-year Schengen visa to Indian alumni who have completed at least one semester of their Master’s degree in France, a first for alumni from any country.
- Community in France: Mainland France has an estimated 1,19,000 Indian community (including NRIs) members, largely originating from erstwhile French colonies of Puducherry, Karaikal, Yanam, Mahe and Chandernagore and the States of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Punjab.
- Tourism: About 2.5 lakh French travelled to India in 2019 while about 7 lakh Indians went to France for tourism. Rajasthan continues to lead among all Indian destinations for French tourists. Foreign tourist arrivals into Rajasthan are growing at a double digit since 2016.
- Support on international fora: France has continued to support India’s claim for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council and the reforms of the United Nations. France’s support was vital in India’s accession to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) and Australia Group (AG). France continues to support India’s bid for accession to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). India and France have resolved to work together for adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in the UN.
Challenges
- Strategic Priorities:
- India and France may have differing strategic priorities, especially in terms of regional security and alliances.
- Varied perspectives on certain global issues, such as responses to conflicts or international interventions, could strain the relationship.
- Geopolitical Interests:
- Both countries have diverse geopolitical interests that may not always align.
- Global Issues Consensus: Achieving consensus on critical global issues, such as climate change, may require negotiations and compromise.
2 . Aadhaar Card
Context: Union govt. makes it clear that Aadhaar card no proof of citizenship, birth date.
About the news
- New Aadhaar cards and PDF versions of the identity document have started including a more explicit disclaimer that they are “a proof of identity, not of citizenship or date of birth”, signalling to government departments and other organisations not to use it for those purposes.
- Aadhaar card has never been proof of citizenship as foreign nationals are also eligible to obtain one if they have been living in India for 180 days.
- The IDs also include a warning that authenticating them offline needs to be done by scanning the QR code on the reverse side of the document, or by using an XML file issued to residents by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which administers Aadhaar.
About Aadhaar
- It is a 12-digit unique identity number that can be obtained voluntarily by all residents of India, based on their biometrics (10 finger prints, 2 iris prints and photo of face) and demographic data.
- The data is collected by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a statutory authority established in January 2009 by the Government of India, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, following the provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, benefits and services) Act, 2016.
Supreme Court Rulings
- Aadhaar is the subject of several rulings by the Supreme Court of India.
- On 23 September 2013, the Supreme Court issued an interim order saying that “no person should suffer for not getting Aadhaar”, adding that the government cannot deny a service to a resident who does not possess Aadhaar, as it is voluntary and not mandatory.
- The court also limited the scope of the programme and reaffirmed the voluntary nature of the identity number in other rulings.
- In 2017 the Indian Supreme Court delivered a landmark verdict affirming the right to privacy as a fundamental right, overruling previous judgments on the issue.
- In 2018, the top court upheld the validity of the Aadhaar system.
- In the 2018 judgment, the Supreme Court nevertheless stipulated that the Aadhaar card is not mandatory for opening bank accounts, getting a mobile number, or being admitted to a school.
Uses of Aadhaar
- Curbing Leakages through Targeted Delivery:All social welfare programmes where beneficiaries are required to be confirmed before the service delivery, stand to benefit from UIDAI’s authentication services. This will result in curbing leakages and ensuring that services are delivered to the intended beneficiaries only. Examples include subsidized food and kerosene delivery to Public Distribution System (PDS) beneficiaries, worksite attendance of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) beneficiaries, etc.
- Improving Efficiency and Efficacy: With the Aadhaar platform providing accurate and transparent information about the service delivery mechanism, government can improve disbursement systems and utilize its scarce development funds more effectively and efficiently.
- For Residents: Aadhaar system provides single source offline/online identity verification across the country for the residents. Once residents enroll, they can use their Aadhaar number to authenticate and establish their identity multiple times using electronic means or through offline verification, as the case may be. It eliminates the hassle of repeatedly providing supporting identity documents each time a resident wishes to access services, benefits or subsidies.
3 . Facts for Prelims
Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM)
- Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is a lunar lander mission of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
- The main purpose of Japan’s first lunar surface mission was to demonstrate precision lunar landing. During its descent the lander recognized lunar craters by applying technology from facial recognition systems, and determined its current location from utilizing observation data collected by the SELENE (Kaguya) lunar orbiter mission.
- Mission Objectives: Demonstration of the accurate lunar landing techniques embodied in a small explorer
- Acceleration of the study of the moon and other planets using the lighter exploration system.
Rat hole mining
- Rat-hole mining or Rat mining is a process of digging employed in North East India to extract coal, where a narrow hole is manually dug by extraction workers.
- The practice is banned by the National Green Tribunal however, the techniques are still employed by artisanal mining operations in several parts of India, especially in Meghalaya.
- This technique is basically of two types:
- Side cutting method which is generally followed on slopes of hills by navigating through coal seams deposited on the rock layers and visible on the outer surface of rock and generally in darkish brown or black banded.
- Box cutting method which involves digging a round shape or square shape pit with a width of 5 square metre and depth of 400 feets. The method is followed in North Eastern India to extract coal.