Current Affairs for Civil Services and other state level exams. for more query please contact us: 9454721860 and also visit our website : www.iasnext.com and follow for more on instagram and facebook

1. D A I L Y N E X T
C A P S U L E W I L L
H E L P Y O U T O
P R O V I D E
C U R R E N T
A F F A I R S
D A I L Y T O P I C
D A I L Y M C Q
R E C E N T
C A S E S
V A C A N C Y
U P D A T E S
2nd floor, shahar plaza, munshi pulia, indira nagar, lucknow
Feel Free to call us at:
9454721860
Follow us on:

2. www.iasnext.com
Who is Veer Savarkar?
Reference News:
Central Information Commissioner
(CIC) Uday Mahurkar recently said the era of
V D Savarkar, known as the architect of
Hindutva ideology, has already set in in India
and that his personality is above Bharat
Ratna, the highest civilian honour.
What’s the issue?
A quote attributed to Savarkar has been going around in academic circles which shows that
Savarkar supported Jinnah’s two nation theory.
 However experts are of the opinion that while Jinnah wanted partition, Savarkar
wanted Territorial Integrity of India.
 Jinnah wanted minority representation while Savarkar wanted Majority rule.
 Jinnah wanted residuary powers to reside in the provinces but Savarkar wanted them to
reside in Centre.
 Jinnah wanted reservation in recruitment to civil/public service while Savarkar wanted
merit to be the sole criterion.
Who is Veer Savarkar?
Born on May 28, 1883 in Bhagur, a city in Maharashtra’s Nashik.
Nationalism and social reforms:
 Formed a youth organization- Mitra Mela, this organization was put into place to bring
in national and revolutionary ideas.
 He was against foreign goods and propagated the idea of Swadeshi.
 He championed atheism and rationality and also disapproved orthodox Hindu belief. In
fact, he even dismissed cow worship as superstitious.
 He also Worked on abolishment of untouchability in Ratnagiri. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar
also compared his work to Lord Buddha.
 Vinayak Savarkar was a president of Hindu Mahasabha from 1937 to 1943.
 When congress ministries offered resignation on 22nd oct 1939, Hindu mahaasabha
under his leadership cooperated with Muslim league to form government in provinces
like Sindh, Bengal and NWFP.
 In Pune, Savarkar founded the “Abhinav Bharat Society”.
 He joined Tilak’s Swaraj Party.
 He founded the Free India Society. The Society celebrated important dates on the
Indian calendar including festivals, freedom movement landmarks, and was dedicated
to furthering discussion about Indian freedom.

3. www.iasnext.com
 He believed and advocated the use of arms to free India from the British and created a
network of Indians in England, equipped with weapons.
Important works:
1. Book- The History of the war of Indian Independence.
2. An armed revolt against the Morley-Minto reform.
3. Two-nation theory in his book ‘Hindutva’.
What is J&K’s Roshni Act?
Context:
A year after the High Court struck down
the Roshni Act, the Jammu and Kashmir
government has now begun an exercise to
retrieve the land granted under this Act to
beneficiaries.
Background:
There are allegations related to irregularities in the implementation of the Jammu and
Kashmir States Land (vesting of ownership to the occupants) Act, also known as Roshini
Act, which has now been declared null and void.
 On November 1, 2020, the Union Territory administration cancelled all land transfers
that took place under the JK State Land (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act,
2001.
About the Roshini Act:
Enacted in 2001, the law sought to regularise unauthorised land.
The Act envisaged the transfer of ownership rights of state land to its occupants, subject to
the payment of a cost, as determined by the government.
 The government said the revenue generated would be spent on commissioning
hydroelectric power projects, hence the name “Roshni”.
 Further, through amendments, the government also gave ownership rights of
agricultural land to farmers occupying it for free, charging them only Rs 100 per kanal
as documentation fee.
Why it was scrapped?
 In 2009, the State Vigilance Organisation registered an FIR against several government
officials for alleged criminal conspiracy to illegally possess and vest ownership of state
land to occupants who did not satisfy criteria under the Roshni Act.
 In 2014, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) estimated that against
the targeted Rs 25,000 crore, only Rs 76 crore had been realised from the transfer of
encroached land between 2007 and 2013, thus defeating the purpose of the legislation.

4. www.iasnext.com
 The report blamed irregularities including arbitrary reduction in prices fixed by a
standing committee, and said this was done to benefit politicians and affluent people.
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC):
Context:
The Reserve Bank of India has been
working on a phased implementation
strategy for a CBDC and the pilot may be
launched by the end of this year.
The financial advisory services firm has
listed four major use cases of CBDC in the
Indian context. This includes:
1. ‘Fit-for-purpose’ money used for social benefits and other targeted payments in a
country. For such cases, the central bank can pay intended beneficiaries pre-
programmed CBDC, which could be accepted only for a specific purpose.
2. CBDCs could be used for faster cross-border remittance payments. International
collaboration among the major economies of the world, including India, could help
create the necessary infrastructure and arrangements for CBDC transfer and
conversion.
3. Payment instruments could be made available for payment transactions to be made
via CBDC. Furthermore, universal access attributes of a CBDC could also include an
offline payment functionality.
4. Instant lending to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in India can be
possible with the help of CBDC.
Need for CBDC:
1. An official digital currency would reduce the cost of currency management while
enabling real-time payments without any inter-bank settlement.
2. India’s fairly high currency-to-GDP ratio holds out another benefit of CBDC — to the
extent large cash usage can be replaced by CBDC, the cost of printing, transporting and
storing paper currency can be substantially reduced.
3. The need for inter-bank settlement would disappear as it would be a central bank
liability handed over from one person to another.
What is the CBDC or National Digital currency?
A Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), or national digital currency, is simply the digital form
of a country’s fiat currency. Instead of printing paper currency or minting coins, the central
bank issues electronic tokens. This token value is backed by the full faith and credit of the
government.

5. www.iasnext.com
SC Garg Committee recommendations (2019):
1. Ban anybody who mines, hold, transact or deal with cryptocurrencies in any form.
2. It recommends a jail term of one to 10 years for exchange or trading in digital currency.
3. It proposed a monetary penalty of up to three times the loss caused to the exchequer
or gains made by the cryptocurrency user whichever is higher.
4. However, the panel said that the government should keep an open mind on the
potential issuance of cryptocurrencies by the Reserve Bank of India.
Challenges in rolling out National Digital Currency:
1. Potential cybersecurity threat.
2. Lack of digital literacy of the population.
3. Introduction of digital currency also creates various associated challenges in regulation,
tracking investment and purchase, taxing individuals, etc.
4. Threat to Privacy: The digital currency must collect certain basic information of an
individual so that the person can prove that he’s the holder of that digital currency.
“Atmosphere & Climate Research-Modelling Observing Systems & Services (ACROSS)”
scheme:
Context:
Cabinet committee on Economic
Affairs (CCEA) has approved a
scheme called Atmosphere &
Climate Research-Modelling
Observing Systems & Services
(ACROSS) to be continued for next
five years.
What will the citizens achieve from the successful roll-on of this scheme?
1. With improved forecasts, it will be easy for predicting the timings, intensity, frequency
of disasters like cyclones, heat waves, thunderstorms, excessive rainfall etc., that is
progressively growing uncertain with increasing climate change.
2. Increasing programmes will drive the employment benefits and provide the much-
needed opportunities to learn in a sphere that remains neglected for long.
3. It will provide an impetus to utilizing the sizable number of scientific and technical
talents available therein, along with most vital administrative support for sustaining the
same.
ACROSS Scheme:
 ACROSS scheme pertains to the atmospheric science programs of the Ministry of Earth
Sciences (MoES).

6. www.iasnext.com
 It addresses different aspects of weather and climate services, which includes warnings
for cyclone, storm surges, heat waves, thunderstorms etc.
 Each of these aspects is incorporated as nine sub-schemes under the umbrella scheme
“ACROSS” and is implemented in an integrated.
ACROSS is an umbrella scheme with eight sub-schemes encompassing the programmes for
greater understanding of atmospheric science. These eight master schemes are as follows:
1. Commissioning of Polarimetric Doppler Weather Radars (DWRs).
2. Upgradation of Forecast System, Weather & Climate Services.
3. Atmospheric Observations Network.
4. Numerical Modelling of Weather and Climate.
5. Monsoon Mission III.
6. Monsoon Convection.
7. Clouds and Climate Change (MC4).
8. High Performance Computing System (HPCS).
Benefits of the Scheme:
 The scheme will provide improved weather, climate and ocean forecast and services,
thereby ensuring transfer of commensurate benefits to the various services.
 It will also provide a sizable number of scientific and technical staff along with requisite
administrative support, thereby generating employment.
 To ensure last-mile connectivity of the weather based services to the end -user, a large
number of agencies like the Krishi Vigyana Kendras of ICAR, Universities and local
municipalities are roped in thus generating employment opportunities to many people.
Implementation:
Implemented by MoES in collaboration with the India Meteorological Department (IMD),
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), National Centre for Medium Range Weather
Forecasting (NCMRWF) and the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services
(INCOIS).
Hydrogen-enriched compressed natural gas (HCNG):
Reference News: .
There is an increased push for adopting
“Hydrogen-enriched compressed natural gas
(HCNG).” This comes in the backdrop of India’s
National Hydrogen Energy Mission in the works,
which may mandate fertilizer, steel and
petrochemicals industries to shift to green
hydrogen use.

7. www.iasnext.com
Background:
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has also developed specifications (IS 17314:2019) of
Hydrogen enriched Compressed Natural Gas (H-CNG) for automotive purposes, as a fuel.
What is HCNG?
The blending of hydrogen with CNG provides a blended gas termed as HCNG.
 It can be used in place of gasoline, diesel fuel and propane (C3H8) / LPG and its
combustion produces fewer undesirable gases.
Advantages of HCNG:
 HCNG reduces emissions of CO up to 70%.
 Enables up to 5 % savings in fuel.
 First step towards future Hydrogen economy.
 Engines can be calibrated to release lower amounts of NO.
 Engines need minimum modification to run on HCNG.
 Ideal fuel for high load applications and heavy-duty vehicles.
 Better performance due to higher Octane rating of H2.
Disadvantages of using HCNG:
 Determining the most optimized H2/ NG (Natural Gas) ratio.
 It requires new infrastructures for preparing HCNG.
 Many steps need to be taken for commercializing it at a large scale.
 Current cost of H2 is more than the cost of Natural Gas. So, HCNG’s cost is more than
CNG.
The Iran-US deadlock over nuclear capability
Reference News:
After a gap of five months, Iran, Russia,
China and the European countries
resumed negotiations in Vienna to revive
the 2015 nuclear agreement, known as
the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
(JCPOA), that had sought to restrict Iran’s
nuclear programme.
 As Iran has refused to hold direct talks with the U.S., European officials will shuttle between
the Iranian and American delegations, exchanging talking points and seeking common
ground.
What were the terms of the nuclear agreement?
 The 2015 agreement sought to cut Iran off a possible path to a nuclear bomb in return for
the lifting of economic sanctions.

8. www.iasnext.com
 Iran maintains that its nuclear programme is peaceful, a claim disputed by many
international powers.
 At the time of the agreement, Iran had two nuclear enrichment plants— Natanz and
Fordow — that were enriching uranium at a higher purity than what’s required for a civilian
programme, and had almost 20,000 centrifuges.
 Typically, low-enriched uranium, with less than 5% concentration of the fissile isotopes U-
235, is used in nuclear power plants. While uranium with 20% and more purity is used in
research reactors, the fuel with 90% purity is used in bombs. Centrifuges are used to enrich
uranium.
 Reduce Purity & Stockpile: According to the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to cut its stockpile of
enriched uranium by 98% to 300 kg and keep them at a low purity level of 3.67%.
 Open to Inspection: Restrictions were introduced on the number of centrifuges it could
keep and Iran agreed to open all its facilities to the inspection of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA).
 These measures meant that even if Iran reneged on the promises and decided to make a
bomb, it would take at least one year (the breakout period) to manufacture enough highly
enriched uranium and centrifuges to do so.
 In return for Iran signing the agreement, the US administration under Obama lifted
sanctions on Iran.
What triggered the current crisis?
 US withdrawal from deal: In May 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump, Barack Obama’s
successor, unilaterally pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear deal despite the UN certification
that Iran was complying with all the terms of the agreement.
 Criticism of Inadequate Measures: Critics of the deal in USA as well as in Saudi Arabia and
Israel argued that the agreement was inadequate to address Iran’s growing influence in the
region.
 Scope for Rise of Iran: Critics of agreement argued that the lifting of the sanctions would
leave Iran economically more powerful and raise its geopolitical profile, which would pose
fresh challenges to America’s allies in West Asia.
 US need for new Items in Negotiation: The Trump administration also wanted to negotiate
Iran’s ballistic missile programme as part of a new agreement.
 Breakdown of deal & return of Status quo: After pulling out of the JCPOA, the U.S.
reimposed sanctions on Iran and then invited Iran for talks. Iran, on the other side, not just
refused to talk with the Trump administration, but also resumed its nuclear programme.
Where do talks stand now?
 Joe Biden, during the campaign, had promised to revive the nuclear deal. After his election,
he appointed a special envoy for Iran.
 Indirect talks with Iran through Europeans started immediately. But no agreement was
reached after six rounds in Vienna.

9. www.iasnext.com
 A change of Government in Iran made matters more complicated. Now, the Iranian
delegation, appointed by the new Government of President Ebrahim Raisi, has come
forward for talks, which has raised hopes for a breakthrough. But there still are several
thorny issues.
o Iran has substantially stepped up its nuclear activities since 2019. It has installed more
than 1,000 more advanced centrifuges at its plants, which can enrich uranium more
quickly.
o Iran has also started enriching uranium to 20% purity or more, which is a technical step
away from the weapons grade level.
o In February, Iran scuttled the IAEA’s oversight of its nuclear sights, but agreed to keep
recording devices in place that would allow the agency to continue to monitor the
plants.
o In recent months, Iran removed the IAEA camera from a factory in Karaj, outside
Tehran, that makes equipment for centrifuges.
o According to some reports, the advances Iran made in its nuclear programme
has reduced the current breakout time (to make nuclear bomb) to as little as a month,
from a year when the deal was alive.
What future prospects does the negotiations hold?
 The Biden administration has said that it was ready to take necessary steps to revive the
JCPOA, including removing sanctions, but it wants Iran to return to the agreement first —
which means
o Iran should stop enriching uranium
o Ship out the highly enriched fuel as well as the centrifuges
o Open the nuclear sites for international inspection.
 Iran also says it’s ready to return to the deal but it wants the U.S. to remove all the
sanctions first and give assurances to Iran that a future American leader would not go back
on the promises as Mr. Trump did.
 As a result, the talks have reached a stalemate.
 In Vienna, the challenge is to find some common ground so that at least the process of
reviving the deal can begin. Time is running out for all parties with Iran moving fast with its
nuclear programme.