GS PAPER II NEWS
Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
Why in News
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has refused to take Pakistan out of the ‘Grey List’ yet again.
Key Points
- Pakistan was retained on the grey list, or the list of countries under “increased monitoring”, by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), as the Paris-based UN watchdog judged it deficient in prosecuting the top leadership of UN Security Council designated terror groups.
- The FATF said despite completing 26 of the 27 tasks it had been handed, Pakistan’s failure to complete the last task on convicting terrorists and terror entities meant it would not be de-listed for now.
- The FATF handed down another six-point list of tasks, mainly on money laundering actions.
- The FATF encourages Pakistan to continue to make progress to address as soon as possible the one remaining Countering Finance of Terrorism related item by demonstrating that Terror Financing investigations and prosecutions target senior leaders and commanders UN designated terrorist groups.
Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
- The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog.
- It was established by the G-7 Summit that was held in Paris in 1989. Recognising the threat posed to the banking system and to financial institutions, the G-7 Heads of State or Government and President of the European Commission convened the Task Force from the G-7 member States, the European Commission and eight other countries.
- The inter-governmental body sets international standards that aim to prevent these illegal activities and the harm they cause to society. As a policy-making body, the FATF works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas.
- Currently, there are 37 member states and two regional organisations representing most major financial centers in all parts of the globe. Indonesia is its only observer state.
List of Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
- There are two types of lists in Financial Action Task Force (FATF):
- Black List: The Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCTs) countries comes under the blacklist. These countries support terror funding and money laundering activities. The FATF revises the blacklist regularly, adding or deleting entries.
- Grey List: Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put in the FATF grey list. This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.
Consequences of being in the FATF grey list
- Economic sanctions from IMF, World Bank and ADB;
- Problem in getting loans from IMF, World Bank, ADB and other countries;
- Reduction in international trade; and
- International boycott.
GS PAPER II
Smart City Mission
Why in News
Uttar Pradesh was ranked the best State, and Indore and Surat were jointly named the best cities by the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry for their work under the Smart Cities Mission.
Key Points
- At a virtual event to mark the sixth anniversary of the launch of the Smart Cities Mission, the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban (PMAYU), the Ministry announced that Uttar Pradesh had been ranked one, Madhya Pradesh was second and Tamil Nadu third in the India Smart Cities Awards 2020.
- 22% in terms of the total value of the projects proposed and 52% in terms of the total number of projects proposed by the 100 Smart Cities had been completed so far.
Smart City Mission
- In 2015, Government of India launched 100 Smart Cities Mission with the objective to integrate city functions, utilize scarce resources more efficiently, and improve the standard of living of citizens.
- The Mission aims to drive economic growth and improve quality of life through comprehensive work on social, economic, physical and institutional pillars of the city.
- The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development by creation of replicable models which act as lighthouses to other aspiring cities. 100 cities have been selected to be developed as Smart Cities through a two-stage competition.
- The Ministry of Urban Development has identified 24 key areas that cities must address in their ‘smart cities’ plan.
- Of these 24 key areas, 3 are directly related to water and 7 are indirectly related to water – Smart-meter management, leakage identification, preventive maintenance, and water quality modelling.
- Smart Cities Mission is one of the mechanisms that will help operationalize the nationwide implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) priorities like poverty alleviation, employment, and other basic services.
GS PAPER II
Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation
Why in News
Chandigarh was ranked best in Union Territories and second in all state and UTs after Orissa ranked first for effective implementation of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) in the country.
Key Points
- At a virtual event to mark the sixth anniversary of the launch of the Smart Cities Mission, the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban (PMAYU), the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs announced that Chandigarh is placed second after Odisha state.
- The Atal Mission for Rejuvenation & Urban Transformation (AMRUT) is the first focused national water mission and was launched on June 25, 2015, in 500 cities covering 60 per cent of the urban population.
- All cities having population above 1 lakh are covered under the mission.
Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)
- Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) was launched by Prime Minister of India in June 2015.
- With the focus to establish infrastructure that could ensure adequate robust sewage networks and water supply for urban transformation by implementing urban revival projects.
- The major components of AMRUT Mission were:
- Capacity building
- Reform implementation
- Water supply and management of sewerage and septage
- Drainage of stormwater
- Improvement in urban transport facilities
- Development of green spaces and parks.
- Rajasthan was the first state in the country to submit State Annual Action Plan under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).
- The scheme is dependent with public–private partnership (PPP) model.
GS PAPER III
Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework
Why in News
According to the cities’ readiness report on Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF), nine Indian cities have taken significant measures to mitigate climate change impacts and inculcate climate-sensitive approach to urban planning.
Key Points
- Ahmedabad, Indore, Pimpri Chinchwad, Vadodara, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Pune, Rajkot and Surat were adjudged top performers among 126 cities that participated in the second edition of the assessment, launched in September 2021.
- This year, the cities were assessed on five key themes (with 28 indicators): urban planning, green cover and biodiversity, energy and green buildings; mobility and air quality, water management and waste management.
- The performance was rated on five levels (1 to 5 stars). In urban planning and waste management themes, some cities have shown positive impact and were given five stars in performance level.
- But in mobility and air quality, water and energy themes, no city got five stars, indicating that a lot of work needs to be done.
- According to the report, 43 smart cities in India face poor air quality that poses serious health concerns.
- Indore, Surat and Visakhapatnam were adjudged top performers in the urban planning, green cover and biodiversity theme, in some measure because they not only took concrete steps to plan but set aside money and ensured implementation on the ground.
- Of the 126 cities, only 65 including Thane, Pune, Agra and Coimbatore meet the norms for 12-18% green cover.
- The report also underscored the absence of a road network for non-motorised transport (NMT), which along with use of public transport can reduce air pollution. It said 94 cities have less than 15% of the road network with NMT infrastructure.
- Six cities, Kalyan Dombivali, Mysore, Naya Raipur, Ranchi, stand out, with over 50% NMT infrastructure. This is important because studies show that close to 74% of people walk or rely on NMT transport for at least part of their daily commute.
GS PAPER III
Integrated Theatre Commands
Why in News
Recently, Chief of Defence Staff General held a meeting with the Vice Chiefs of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, and representatives of the Ministries of Home and Finance, National Security Council, Integrated Defence Staff, and Department of Defence, among others in the backdrop of concerns about the proposed model of the integrated theatre commands.
Integrated Theatre Commands
- The Integrated Theatre Command is a unified command under which all the resources of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force are pooled, depending on the threat perception.
- The commands could be geographical — like looking at a border with a particular country — or thematic, like a command for all maritime threats.
- Several nations in the world have theatre commands, including the United States and China.
- The idea of creating an integrated tri-Services command in India is not new — it had been recommended at various levels after the Kargil conflict.
- In 2021 Chief of Defence Staff General had suggested that the first of these commands, the Air Defence Command, could come up by the end of 2020. However, the process has been delayed due to multiple factors, including the Covid-19 pandemic.
The proposed commands are:
- A Maritime Theatre Command, which will take care of all the maritime security needs of the country on both the eastern and the western seaboards, and will include air strike assets and amphibian forces of the Army.
- An Air Defence Command, which will be mandated with air defence across the country and beyond. The fighter jets will have reconnaissance and surveillance assets as well.
- Two or three land-based commands are proposed. If there are two commands, there will be one each for India’s borders with China and Pakistan.
- As of now, the three forces have 17 commands between them. The Army has seven commands: Northern, Eastern, Southern, Western, Central, Southwestern and Army Training Command (ARTRAC).
- The Air Force has seven as well: Western, Eastern, Southern, Southwestern, Central, Training, and Maintenance commands.
- The Navy has three: Western, Eastern and Southern, of which Southern is largely about training.
- There are two existing tri-Service commands as well — the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), which is headed by rotation by officers from the three Services, and the Strategic Force Command, which is responsible for India’s nuclear assets.
GS PAPER III
Enhanced Pinaka Rocket
Why in News
Recently, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test fired extended range version of indigenously developed Pinaka rocket from a Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) on 24th and 25th June 2021 at Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.
Key Points
- Twenty-five Enhanced Pinaka Rockets were launched in quick succession against targets at different ranges. The enhanced range version of Pinaka Rocket System can destroy targets at distances up to 45 kms.
- All the flight articles were tracked by Range instruments including Telemetry, Radar and Electro Optical Tracking System deployed by ITR & Proof and Experimental Establishment (PXE).
- The rocket system has been developed jointly by Pune based Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) with manufacturing support from M/s Economic Explosives Limited, Nagpur.
- The development of Enhanced Pinaka system was taken up to achieve longer range performance.
Pinaka Rocket System
- The development of the Pinaka was started by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in the late 1980s, as an alternative to the multi-barrel rocket launching systems of Russian make, called like the ‘Grad’, which are still in use.
- After successful tests of Pinaka Mark-1 in the late 1990, it was first used in the battlefield during the Kargil War of 1999, quite successfully. Subsequently multiple regiments of the system came up over the 2000s.
- The Pinaka, which is primarily a multi-barrel rocket system (MBRL) system, can fire a salvo of 12 rockets over a period of 44 seconds.
- The Mark-I version of Pinaka has a range of around 40 kilometers and the Mark-II version can fire up to 75 kilometers. Over late 2010s, multiple successful tests of the Mark-II version have been carried out by the DRDO.