Today's GK(17-8-13)

U.S. spy planes took off at least four times from an Indian airbase in Odisha for spying missions against the Chinese, according to a newly declassified history of the CIA’s U-2 spy plane programme, obtained by the National Security Archive (NSA) under the Freedom of Information Act.

The U.S.’s action was not borne out of affection for India but was dictated by two factors — first, the losses suffered in flying over the Soviet Union forced it to shift its spying assets to east Asia and, second, it had to keep a close eye on the Chinese, who were active in disputes with Taiwan and involved in the Korean peninsula.

According to other accounts, this cooperation in overflight, refuelling and basing led to the CIA transferring hi-tech equipment to India after the base closed in 1967 to keep an eye on China’s western region that was out of bounds for U.S. spy planes.

The first deployment of U.S. pilots and ground handlers to the Charbatia airbase ended in May 1964 with the death of Jawaharlal Nehru. It resumed a few months later and the archives record at least three flights in the post-Nehru phase, in addition to the one before his death.

The U.S. detachment stayed on at Charbatia till 1967 and served as an adjunct to the main operational base for American spy planes in Thailand.

Were more flights undertaken from this base?

According to the NSA, this might be the case because a lot of details are missing.

The information gleaned from aerial surveillance was yet another aspect of the close India-U.S. intelligence cooperation in the run-up to the 1962 India-China war and later. The secret surveillance flights began after Nehru allowed the Intelligence Bureau to join hands with U.S. agencies in the area of technical intelligence.

This permission was preceded by an eight-paragraph agreement signed by U.S. President John F Kennedy and President S. Radhakrishnan in June 1963.

According to the CIA, “Charbatia was still not on in early 1964, so on 31 March 1964 Detachment G staged another mission from Takhli. The first mission out of Charbatia did not take place until 24 May 1964. Three days later Prime Minister Nehru died, and further operations were postponed.

“The pilots and aircraft left Charbatia, but others remained in place to save staging costs. In December 1964, when Sino-Indian tensions increased along the border, Detachment G returned to Charbatia and conducted three highly successful missions, satisfying all requirements for the Sino-Indian border region. By this time, however, Takhli had become the main base for Detachment G's Asian operations, and Charbatia served merely as a forward staging base. Charbatia was closed out in July 1967,” said the report.

The India-U.S. cooperation in the area of intelligence, and its limitations — though not the spy plane flights — were also detailed by the late B. Raman.

“The U.S. intelligence, with the approval of John F. Kennedy, agreed to supply the required equipment and train IB officers who would be using this equipment. However, it imposed a condition that this equipment would be used only for the collection of technical intelligence from China and not from Pakistan,” he wrote in The Kaoboys of RAW , an account of his days with the Research and Analysis Wing.

PM Manmohan Singh: No question of going back to 1991 crisis

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday ruled out the possibility of India witnessing a repeat of the 1991 balance of payments crisis and also reversing the path to globalisation of the economy.

"There is no question of going back to 1991 ( balance of payment crisis). At that time foreign exchange in India was a fixed rate. Now it is linked to market. We only correct the volatility of the rupee," he said.

In 1991, Singh said, the country had only foreign exchange reserves for 15 days. "Now we have reserves of six to seven months. So there is no comparison. And no go question of going back to 1991 crisis."

Prime Minister steps in to clear Mylan's $1.6 billion deal

PM Manmohan Singh on Friday paved the way for clearing pending foreign investment proposals, including Mylan's deal to acquire Strides Acrolab for $1.6 billion (around Rs 10,000 crore), and overruled the stiff opposition put up by the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP).

"There are some concerns particularly in regard to oncology injectibles, some of the vaccines where we feel that critical needs must be met at all costs... The present proposals before the FIPB, or as approved by it, will go through under the existing policy. And if there are safeguards required, that will be discussed," commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said after a meeting convened by the Prime Minister.FIPB's clearance to 12 proposals, involving investments of around Rs 350 crore had been put on hold as DIPP insisted that the FDI policy be reviewed. On the department's insistence, the government had for the first time reduced the flexibility offered to investors in the pharma sector and mandated that all transactions in existing Indian drug companies should be vetted by FIPB, if the acquisition involved transfer of over 49% stake. The change took place after promoters of Indian companies such as Ranbaxy and Piramal Healthcare sold their shares to global pharmaceutical companies. DIPP has argued that such deals would impact availability of affordable drugs in the country.

 

Petrol, diesel to cost more as rupee falls

Be ready for another round of fuel price hike as oil firms are considering a proposal to increase prices of petrol for the seventh consecutive time and diesel for the eighth consecutive time. Petrol price is likely to cost Re 1 more per litre and diesel price is likely to go up by 50 paise a litre later this month as the global crude price increased to 108.5 per barrel and the Indian rupee closed higher at 61.71 on Friday, making imports costlier.

"Yes, we have started making losses on petrol due to falling Indian rupee and there is a case for revision. For diesel, the government has allowed an increase of 50 paise every month till we reach the market prices, but it is not helping as rupee has depreciated very strongly in the last few months and we need a lump sum revision to the tune of Rs 2-3 per litre in diesel ," said director of an oil firm. "There is a need to revise fuel prices. We have proposed to the ministry to allow a lump sum increase in diesel price and the proposal is in consideration ," said R S Butola, chairman , IndianOil.

In rupee terms, the crude price increased to Rs 6680.5 per barrel on August 15 as compared to 6588 per barrel on August 13, making a strong case for a fuel price hike. This was mainly due to a sharp price increase in dollar terms, besides rupee depreciation.

India's handicrafts exports grew 10 per cent year-on-year to about USD 205 million in July 2013 owing to rising demand from markets like the US, China and Latin America.

In July last year, these exports stood at USD 185.88 million, according to the data provided by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH).

"There has been an increase in the number of orders from emerging markets like China, Latin America and Africa," EPCH executive director Rakesh Kumar said.

Researchers working in the Rio Abajo Nature Preserve in western Puerto Rico, on 15 August 2013, revealed that one of the most endangered bird species of the world, Puerto Rican parrot, made a comeback in the Puerto Rico territory of the US.

The researchers revealed that there were 400 parrots in captivity as well as over 100 tracked in the forests across the island. Earlier, the population of these parrots dropped down to merely 13. The counting took place under the Rio Abajo parrot reintroduction program.

The researchers found the wild nest with the eggs of Puerto Rican parrot, the first discovery of this kind in 42 years. Though the eggs did not hatch, but it was nothing unusual and it indicated that the captive parrots were procreating in the wild and building nests.

It is important to note that the Puerto Rican parrot is the only remaining native parrot as well as one of the 30 species of Amazon parrots that are found in America.

Characteristics of Puerto Rican parrots

• The Puerto Rican parrots have red foreheads and turquoise feathers under the wings.
• These parrots can grow to around one foot in length.
• These parrots are known for their secrecy and mate usually for the life, thereby reproducing just once in a year.

In the year 2013, record 51 baby Puerto Rican parrots were born in the captivity in Rio Abajo forest. Earlier, in the year 2011, there was a record of 34 new born Puerto Rican parrots. The goal of the researchers is to release these parrots in the forests with attached temporary radio collars. However, some of these parrots are either very weak or very aggressive, which is why they are kept in the captivity.

Why did the number decline?

It is important to note that according to the scientists; around 1 million Puerto Rican parrots lived in pre-colonial times. Due to the destruction of their natural habitat in late 1800s, the number of these parrots declined considerably. The habitat was destroyed because of clearing of the forests in the 1800s for the purpose of plantation of sugarcane, coffee and citrus.

By the 1950s, there were merely 200 parrots left in the forest and in 1975, this number reached to record low, i.e., just 13. It is worth noticing that very few species of the world have reached so close to extinction.

It was in the year 1989 that the number of Puerto Rican parrots grew to around 50. However, the Hurricane Hugo killed half of these parrots again and thus the second reserve was created in order to make them less vulnerable. The third reserve is under plan in the Western Puerto Rico.

The captive breeding programme was started off in the year 1972. The first baby Puerto Rican parrot was born in the year 1979 as a result of this. Since then, the success rate of this programme has grown. Nevertheless, the Puerto Rican parrots are still in the list of engendered species of birds.

Senior IPS officer Dilip Trivedi on 17 August 2013 was appointed the Director General of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. He succeeded Pranay Sahay who retired on 31 July 2013. CRPF is India’s largest paramilitary force.

Dilip Trivedi is a 1978-batch officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre. He is currently serving as the Special Director General of the Border Security Force at its headquarters in Delhi. He has served in various positions in the state police and has also served in the Union government as ADG of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.

CRPF has three-lakh police personnel at present. It carries out a variety of internal security duties and is the mainstay for anti-Naxal operations in India.

CRPF

The Central Reserve Police Force came into existence as Crown Representative’s Police on 27 July 1939. It became the Central Reserve Police Force on enactment of the CRPF Act on 28th December 1949. It has completed 60 years of glorious history. The Force has grown into a big organization with 207 Bn, (including 181 executive Bns, 2 Mahila Bns, 10 RAF Bns, 6 CoBRA  Bns,  2 DM  (NDRF) Bns, 5 Signal Bns and 1 Special Duty Group),  37 Group Centres,   11 Training Institutions, 2 CWS, 7 AWS, 3 SWS, 4 Composite Hospitals of 100 bed and 17 Composite Hospitals of 50 bed.

The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry on 17 August 2013 notified imposition of a minimum export price (MEP) of 650 US dollars per tonne on onion to curb shipments and control rising prices. Export of onion shall be permitted subject to a MEP of 650 US dollars per Metric Ton FOB (free on board) or as notified by DGFT (Directorate General of Foreign Trade) from time-to-time.

In May 2012, the Union government had scrapped fixing MEP, which is a benchmark price below which onion cannot be exported. Onion prices have soared to 80 rupees per kg in the major cities of the country.

India has exported 6.39 lakh tonnes during April-July period of this fiscal compared with 6.94 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period. Production stood at 16.6 million tonnes in 2012-13.

Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat are the main producing regions of the kitchen staple.

Rafael Nadal of Spain defeated Canada's Milos Raonic 6-2 6-2 in the final of the men's Rogers Cup on 11 August 2013 in Montreal, Canada. This is the Nadal’s third Rogers Cup title. He was also won Rogers cup in 2005 and 2008.

With this victory Rafael Nadal completed his 25th ATP World Tour Masters title and lifted his eighth tour-level trophy of the season.

According to the new ATP world rankings which was released on 12 August 2013, Rafael Nadal is raised to third rank and Milos Raonic rose to tenth rank and also became the first Canadian to be ranked in the top 10 on the ATP Tour.

About the Rogers Cup

Rogers Cup presented by National Bank is a prestigious professional annual tennis tournament organized by Tennis Canada. This Tournament has been conducting since 1881 for the men and 1892 for the women.

The men's competition is a Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour. The women's competition is a Premier 5 tournament on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour. The competition is played on hard courts.

Former Bengal Cricketer and Coach Kalyan Mitter passed away on 16 August 2013 in Kolkata. He was 79. Kalyan Mitter's first class career spanned from 1953 to 1969 during which he played 51 matches for Bengal and Bihar during which he scored 1698 runs and also took 50 wickets.

Kalyan Mitter was also associated with women's cricket and its development in the West Bengal.

An aggressive right-hand batsman and an off-spinner,  Kalyan Mitter coached Bengal (1992-94) and during his last season (1993-94).

Kalyan Mitter also served as a curator for Bengal in the mid-90s, and in the first season of the IPL. He was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award by the Cricket Association of Bengal in 2011.

The 3rd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs was held in New Delhi on 23-24 July 2013. The Indian delegation was led by Gautam Bambawale, Joint Secretary (East Asia) and comprised of representatives of the Ministries of External Affairs, Defence and Home Affairs as well as members of the Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.

The Chinese delegation was led by Ouyang Yujing, Director General, Department of Boundary and Oceanic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and comprised of representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and National Defence of the People’s Republic of China.

The talks were held in a constructive and forward-looking atmosphere. The two delegations reviewed recent developments in the India-China border areas with the objective of enhancing peace and tranquility between the two countries. They discussed additional confidence building measures between the two sides. They also consulted on measures to improve the functioning of the Working Mechanism and make it more efficient.

The two delegations further discussed the possibility of introducing an additional route for the Kailash-Manasarovar Yatra. The 4th meeting of the Working Mechanism will be held in China at a mutually convenient time.

Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences in Beijing and the University of Chicago revealed on 15 August 2013 that a fossil of the oldest known ancestor of modern rats was unearthed in China. The newly named species is called Rugosodon eurasiaticus. The recent fossil was found in Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation in eastern China.

Facts about Rugosodon eurasiaticus

• Rugosodon eurasiaticus is a responsive creature with ability to climb, burrow as well as eat anything.
• The species had flexible ankles which helped it for tree-climbing.
• It also had sharp teeth which were used to gnaw not just plants, but also the animals.
• The creature had the body mass of about 65 to 80 grams (2.3-2.8 ounces).
• The newly discovered species is one of the oldest ancestors in the multituberculate family.
• The adaptations like these enabled the ancient rat-like rodents known as multituberculates become one of the longest living mammals in the history.
• The multituberculate are believed to have originated 160 million years ago, i.e., during the Jurassic Period. It is believed that they lived for around 100 million years during the dinosaurs’ age and then the modern rodents overcame.
• The abilities of this species led to their diversification as well as evolution in the range of tree-dwelling and plant-eating mammals which followed thereafter.
• The name of this fossil came from Latin rugosus for wrinkles and odon for tooth. Eurasiaticus meant its widespread territory.
• The fossil is quite like the ones found in Portugal, which indicated towards the fact that the relatives of the species were found across the entire Eurasian continent.