News Analysis

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23^rd October 2020 news analysis

> Govt. relaxes visa restrictions – The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday further relaxed visa restrictions enabling foreigners to come to India for various purposes, such as business, conference, employment, education, research and medical reasons.

Prelims – (Polity-citizenship)

Terms related to citizenship:

• NRI – Non-Resident Indians are those people living outside India.
• Persons of Indian Origin – are people of Indian birth, descent or origin who live outside the Republic of India.
• According to a Ministry of External Affairs report, there are 32 million NRIs and PIOs residing outside India.
• Overseas Citizen of India (OCI):
  • Due to increasing demand for dual citizenship, the Indian Government introduced an OCI card that authorised a foreign citizen of Indian origin to live and work in India for an indefinite period.
  • This includes a person who was previously an Indian citizen or whose parent, grandparent, or great grandparent is/ was an Indian citizen or one who is married to an Indian citizen or an existing OCI for at least two continuous years.
  • Anybody who has ever been a citizen of Pakistan or Bangladesh or who has worked in foreign military cannot be considered as an OCI.
  • The OCI card gives one permission to visit India multiple times for a lifelong period. OCIs enjoy similar economic, financial and education benefits as NRIs.
  • OCIs holding a card for more than five years and those who have been living in India for at least one year are eligible for Indian citizenship.

> Context: The U.S. State Department has proposed not to issue temporary business visas for H­1B speciality occupations, which allowed several companies to send tech professionals for a short stay to complete jobs on site. The move could affect hundreds of Indians.

Prelims – (IR, Economy)

What is H1B visa?

• The H-1B is a visa in the United States that allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations.
• A specialty occupation requires the application of specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent of work experience.
• The duration of stay is three years, extendable to six years; after which the visa holder may need to reapply.
• Laws limit the number of H-1B visas that are issued each year.

Mains (GS – III : Economy)

India, US & H1B Visa:

• The program is often criticized in India too, for causing a brain drain.
• But Indian workers migrating to the US have led to the dramatic expansion of India’s own technology industry and contributed to a growing skilled workforce in the country.
• More students switched to computer science and engineering fields because of better prospects and those who did not migrate helped boost the Indian IT services industry.
• Some H1B visa holders returned with additional knowledge to improve the sector.
• The increase in IT sector productivity allowed India to eventually surpass the US in software exports, the researchers said.
• Because immigration led to better technology being built, the overall productivity of other sectors increased and consumers of computer-related goods benefited from better software and hardware prices, a 1% decline for US IT products and a 7.4% decrease for Indian.

> Army chief commissions INS Kavaratti at Visakhapatnam – It is the last of four indigenously built ASW stealth corvettes

Prelims – (Defence, Security)

About INS Kavaratti:

• It is  the last of the four indigenously built Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) stealth corvettes.
• It is built under Project 28 (Kamorta class).
• It is built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE),Kolkata.
• The ship, named after the capital of the Lakshadweep group of islands, has been constructed using high-grade DMR 249A steel produced in India.
• The ship spans 109 metres in length, 14 metres in breadth with a displacement of 3,300 tonnes and is regarded as one of the most potent Anti­-Submarine Warships to have been constructed in India.

Location of kavaratti Island:

> The Editors Guild of India on Thursday said the sealing of the Srinagar offices of Kashmir Times was “reprehensible” and had disturbing implications for the media in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

(use this example to write about curb on right to freedom of expression-Article 19)

> Context: CPI­-IW base year revised to 2016 – New series not to affect dearness allowance given to government staff for now

Prelims – (Economy)

What is Consumer Price Index?

• A consumer price index measures changes in the price level of a weighted average market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households.
• CPI measures the change in prices paid by the ultimate consumers in the retail market.

CPI in India:

1. CPI for Industrial Workers – It tries to measure the alterations over a time period on the prices of a fixed basket of goods and services utilised by Industrial Workers. Apart from measuring inflation in retail prices, the CPI­IW is used to regulate the dearness allowance (DA) of government staff and industrial workers, as well as to revise minimum wages in scheduled employments.
2. CPI for Rural Labourer – The Labour Bureau compiles this data to revise minimum wages for agricultural labour in different States.
3. CPI for Rural Labourer

(All above Indices are compiled by Labour bureau)

4.CPI ( Urban Non-Manual Employees) – National Statistical Office (NSO) compiles this data.

> Nag anti­tank missile completes final user trial – It will now enter production phase

Prelims – (Defence, Security)

About Nag anti­tank missile:

• It is a third generation antitank guided missile (ATGM)
• Nag had been developed to engage highly fortified enemy tanks in day and night conditions.
• The missile has “fire and forget” and “top attack” capabilities with passive homing guidance to defeat all Main Battle Tanks (MBT) equipped with composite and reactive armour.
• This was launched from NAG Missile Carrier, NAMICA.