GENERAL STUDIES -3 (SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY)

1.India’s third lunar odyssey commenceswith perfect launch

Ambitious mission: The rocket carrying Chandrayaan-3 lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Friday. PTI

Spacecraft enters elliptic parking orbit; soft landing likely on August 23;

India’s third moon mission, Chandrayaan-3, was successfully launched onboard a Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM-3) rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 2.35 p.m. on Friday.

This is India’s second attempt at soft-landing robotic instruments on the lunar surface after the previous attempt, Chandrayaan-2, failed in 2019. Thus far, only three countries, the U.S., Russia and China, have successfully soft-landed on the moon.

Speaking to reporters after the launch, ISRO Chairman S. Somanath said the next 42 days are crucial. “The landing is currently planned on August 23 at 5.47 p.m. IST, if everything goes as per plan,” he said.

Hailing the launch, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “Chandrayaan-3 scripts a new chapter in India’s space odyssey. It soars high, elevating the dreams and ambitions of every Indian.”

GENERAL STUDIES -2 ( INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS )

2.Jaishankar raises ‘outstanding issues’ along LAC with China’s top diplomat

Talking through: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar meets with Chinese diplomat Wang Yi, who heads the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, in Jakarta on Friday. ANI

External Affairs Minister meets Wang Yi along the sidelines of East Asia Summit in Jakarta; in earlier meetings with Chinese side, Jaishankar had called for Beijing to take forward disengagement of troops in the two remaining friction points

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday discussed “outstanding issues” along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi along the sidelines of the East Asia Summit (EAS) in Jakarta.

Friday’s meet was Mr. Jaishankar’s third high-level engagement with the Chinese side in recent months, following bilateral talks during visits by Foreign Minister Qin Gang to India for the G-20 Foreign Ministers’ meet in March and for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation gathering in May.

In both meetings with Mr. Qin, Mr. Jaishankar underlined the importance of peace on the LAC as a prerequisite for normalcy in the broader relationship, and called for China to take forward disengagement of troops in the two remaining friction points.

A third meeting between the two Foreign Ministers was expected in Jakarta, but Mr. Qin did not travel because of reported health reasons. Instead, his predecessor, Wang Yi, who was promoted last year to the Politburo and also heads the ruling Communist Party’s Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, attended the Jakarta meetings.

“Just concluded meeting with Director Wang Yi of the Office of the CPC Central Commission for Foreign Affairs,” Mr. Jaishankar said on Friday in a message on Twitter. “Discussed outstanding issues related to peace & tranquility in border areas. Our conversation also covered EAS/ARF [ASEAN Regional Forum] agenda, BRICS and the Indo-Pacific.”

Frank discussion

In May, Mr. Jaishankar said following his meeting with Mr. Qin that both sides had a “frank” discussion on the border, and India had made it clear that relations with China were not normal and could not be normal if peace in border areas was disturbed.

Mr. Qin responded by calling on both countries “to draw experience and lessons from history” and “steer bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective”, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said then. Mr. Qin also called on both sides “to consolidate existing outcomes, strictly abide by relevant agreements and protocols, work to ease and cool down the border situation, and maintain sustained peace and tranquility in the border areas.”

However, Indian officials say the Chinese military has continued to drag its feet in the slow-moving negotiations to restore peace and complete disengagement in all seven friction areas that have seen tensions following multiple Chinese transgressions in April and May 2020.

Both sides have disengaged in five areas, creating buffer zones in some of them, even as tens of thousands of troops still remain deployed in forward areas close to the LAC.

GENERAL STUDIES – 2 ( INTERNATIONAL RELATION )

3.Indian contingent marches in Paris to Sare Jahan Se Accha

In sync: Indian troops march during the Bastille Day military parade in Paris on Friday.AP

The strains of Sare Jahan Se Accha rang through the Champs-Élysées on Friday as a 242-member Indian military contingent marching in France’s Bastille Day parade saluted chief guest Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron. Welcoming the Prime Minister, Mr. Macron said India was “a giant in world history, with a decisive role to play in the future, a strategic partner, a friend”.

Both the marching contingent and the band have historical connections to France, being some of the oldest units of the Indian Army. They fought in both World Wars, with many members laying down their lives in battlefields here and being decorated for their sacrifices.

“This July 14, soldiers and Rafale aircraft from India are marching and flying alongside our troops. We honour the memory of those who fought with the French in the First World War. We shall never forget,” Mr. Macron said on Twitter.

The parade began with a flypast by French aircraft, showing the colours of the French national flag, followed by a formation of three Rafale fighter jets of the Indian Air Force and a French Air Force Rafale. The marching contingents began as the flypast ended.

The Indian Army contingent, comprising 68 marching personnel from the Punjab Regiment and 38 band members from the Rajputana Rifles, was led by Captain Aman Jagtap.

World War memories

Troops of the Punjab Regiment took part in both World Wars, as well as in post-independence operations. In the First World War, they were awarded 18 Battle and Theatre Honours. The Rajputana Rifles is the seniormost rifle regiment of the Indian Army and took part in some of the bloodiest battles of both the World Wars.

The Naval contingent comprised four officers and 64 sailors, and was led by Cdr. Vrat Baghel, a specialist in gunnery and missile warfare.

The Indian Navy was also represented by INS Chennai, an indigenously designed and constructed guided missile destroyer, which is on deployment to France from July 12 to 16. The ship’s crew represented India at the Bastille Day celebrations at Brest, a port city in northwestern France, the Navy said.

The IAF contingent comprised four Rafale fighters, two C-17 Globemasters, and 72 IAF personnel. The IAF observed that many Indians — including Welinkar, Shivdev Singh, H.C. Dewan and Jumbo Majumdar — fought over the skies of France during the two World Wars.

The IAF’s marching contingent was commanded by Squadron Leader Sindhu Reddy, a helicopter pilot who has extensively flown the Alouette-III.

GENERAL STUDIES – 2 ( GOVERNANCE )

4.Data Protection Bill poses severe restrictions to RTI Act, NCPRI cautions govt.

The Bill seeks to amend the Act by severely restricting its scope and adversely

An upcoming amendment to the Right to Information Act, 2005 is set to remove the legal basis allowing government agencies to share personal information in public interest, a move that activists have warned would dilute the transparency law.

In the version of the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill cleared for introduction in Parliament, a copy of which was reviewed by The Hindu, there exists a section that would eliminate the majority of Section 8(1)(j) of the 2005 law.

According to that section, personal information cannot be disclosed under the RTI Act “which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless … the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information”. The data Bill would remove all these caveats, prohibiting government agencies from sharing private information of any kind, regardless of the public interest it may entail.

The National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI), which has been among the major pressure groups advocating for transparency since 1996, wrote to Members of Parliament raising alarm on this change. “The Bill seeks to amend the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 by severely restricting its scope and adversely impacting the ability of people to access information,” said the letter, signed by NCPRI co-convenor Anjali Bhardwaj and other activists.

“It is well established that access to granular information, including personal information, is critical to empower people to undertake collective monitoring and ensure they are able to access their rights and entitlements,” NCPRI said in a note accompanying the letter.

“This principle is well recognised and has been adopted in various welfare programmes and schemes. The proposed Bill will potentially place impediments and restrictions on such public disclosures.”