26 October 2023

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

 1 – Lifetime Achievement Award in Honour of Satyajit Ray: GS I – Indian Culture

Context:

• The 54th International Film Festival of India will honour Hollywood actor and producer Michael Douglas with the prestigious Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award.

Concerning the award:

• The International Film Festival of India established the IFFI Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award, formerly known as the IFFI Lifetime Achievement Award.
• The laureate is recognised for their exceptional contribution to the expansion and advancement of international film.
• The award was first given out at the 30th IFFI in 1999.

Source The Hindu

2 – Yashaswini: Women’s Bike Yatra organised by CRPF: GS III – Internal Security

Context:

• Yashaswini is a women’s bike excursion organised by the CRPF.

Important information:

• In order to promote the ideas of Nari Sakti, Beti Bachao Beti Padao, unity, integrity, and women’s empowerment, the trip will include seventy-five bikers and pillion riders.
• The world-famous Statue of Unity in Gujarat will serve as its finale.
• The bikers who go by the name Yesheswini are flying the CRPF and our national flags to propagate the Force’s message. Ham hei rakshak desh ke.

Source The Hindu

3 – USS Dwight D. Eisenhower: GS II – International Issues

Context:

• The US Secretary of Defence declared that the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (CSG), equipped with nuclear weapons, has been ordered to relocate to the Eastern Mediterranean.

Why are US carriers stationed near the Israel-Hamas conflict?

• Carriers can serve as a reminder to others in the region of US backing for Israel, a longstanding friend.
• Any other actor would be deterred by it.

With reference to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower:

• It’s a US Navy carrier of the Nimitz class, which is an earlier ship named after a Commander in Chief from World War II.
• The largest warships in the world are the aircraft carriers of the Nimitz and the more recent Gerald R. Ford class, which are intended to last for about 50 years with only one mid-life refuelling.

Capabilities of the mission:

• operations for maritime security
• projection of expeditionary might
• forward-positioned fleet
• crisis management
• sea command
• disincentive
• fighting terrorism
• information management operations
• collaboration in security and
• opposing proliferation.
• It’s an aircraft carrier, meaning that it usually carries a variety of aircraft and defence equipment.

Position and competencies:

• They can scatter and cover a large region by acting as the main centres of command and control operations.
• They are able to fight with information.
• They are able to deploy and recover E2-Hawkeye observation aircraft, which manages the airspace, conducts surveillance, and provides early warnings on missile launches.
• It carries fighter jets, F-18s, capable of flying intercepts and hitting targets.
• The study also stated that they are equipped with helicopters that can be used to fly victims out or vital supplies in, and they have a hospital on board with physicians, surgeons, and other medical professionals. These are just a few of their many humanitarian skills.

Source The Hindu

4 – Women’s resolve to survive drives them: GS I – Women Empowerment

Context:

• Women will not give up, according to Narges Mohammadi, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Whether we are in jail or not, our drive to survive keeps us going.

About the quote:

• It alludes to her life and career as well as the status of women in Iranian society.
• The quotation makes a strong case for women’s continued resistance to patriarchy.
• It demonstrates the resilience and fortitude of women to persevere in the face of adversity and a variety of situations.
• The quote also reflects Mohammadi’s fight for Iranian women’s rights, which focuses on the global applicability of the feeling in feminist movements in other nations as well.

Narges Mohammedi: Who is she?

• Mohammadi was born in 1972 into a politically engaged family.
• Following the Iranian Revolution, which resulted in the country becoming a theocracy, her relatives were put in prison.
• Even as Mohammadi launched her engineering career, she used the 1990s to make her voice known by consistently publishing pieces in newspapers.
• She started working with the Defenders of Human Rights Centre in Tehran in 2003. Shirin Ebadi, the first Iranian woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in that same year, created the organisation.
• While she was temporarily recuperating at home following a medical issue, her novel “White Torture” was released.
• It featured interviews with other Iranian women who had experienced punishment and concentrated on solitary confinement.

The fight for women’s rights in Iran:

The case of Mahsa Amini:

• The months-long protest that followed Mahsa Amini’s passing in 2022 is the most recent illustration of Iranian women’s rights.
• Not only did women take to the streets to express their annoyance, but their actions were perceived as a protest against years of laws.
• Numerous ladies were reported to have set fire to their headscarves in public areas.
• To put things in perspective, women are required by law to cover up while they are in public. This includes donning a headscarf or hijab, which is meant to totally conceal the hair.
• Many Iranian women have disregarded the restriction, particularly those who live in cities.
• This is especially true for the younger generation, who are dressing in ways that defy conventional dress codes and sport loose scarves.
• Even though the administration violently put an end to the protests, the movement was able to get international attention.
• Shirin Ebadi has previously maintained that because Iranian women have higher levels of education than those of any other country in West Asia, Iran has the strongest feminist movement.
• More over 60% of university students are female, and they are involved in all significant facets of society.
• Nonetheless, Iran still downplays the lives and rights of women and discriminates against them.

After the Iranian Revolution, women protested:

• Following the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Iranian women also staged protests.
• Tens of thousands of women protested the law requiring them to wear headscarves.
• In actuality, it was the very first counterrevolution.
• It was about women’s rights in general, not just the hijab.
• Women have a long history of opposing authority and staging protests.

Source The Hindu

5 – India and the Indian Ocean Rim Association: GS II – International Issues

Context:

• The Council of Ministers (COM) of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), which recently met in Colombo, with the overarching topic of “Reinforcing Indian Ocean Identity.”

About IORA:

• Twenty-three nations from Africa, West Asia, South Asia, South East Asia, Australia, and littoral states in and surrounding the Indian Ocean are members of the Indian Ocean Rim Association.
• It rotates its membership every two years and meets once a year.
• This year, Sri Lanka succeeded Bangladesh as Chair, and India is Vice-Chair, hence the IORA troika is based in South Asia.

The participating nations are:

• Bangladesh, Australia, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
• Germany, Italy, South Korea, China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. and the United States.
• Although the Indian Ocean Region-Association for Regional Cooperation, or IORA, was established in 1997 in Mauritius, its origins may be traced back to a 1995 speech given by Nelson Mandela in Delhi.

Indian Ocean Region’s Significance:

Population:

• The area is home to 2.6 billion people, or one third of the world’s population.

Exchange:

• It is the conduit for 80% of the world’s oil commerce, 50% of containerized cargo, and 33% of bulk freight.
• The region generates $1 trillion in products and services in total, with intra-IORA commerce accounting for about $800 billion of that total.

China’s and other organisations’ challenges:

• Other regional groups in India, such as the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), have their own difficulties.
• Even though the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) has advanced, the United States, together with its allies Australia and Japan, continues to lead it.
• With organisations like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China-Indian Ocean Region Forum on Development Cooperation, China-South Asian Countries Poverty Alleviation and Cooperative Development Centre, which do not include India, China is aggressively attempting to enlist the help of its neighbours.
• IORA continues to be a safe haven for India and other regional nations hoping to avoid the ongoing threat of big-power tensions.
• Since Pakistan’s initial application in 2001, it has not been granted membership in IORA, which is based on consensus. Pakistan has not been granted MFN (most favoured nation) status to India.
• In addition, it renders the IORA a less divisive arena for India in comparison to organisations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Emphasis of IORA:

The seven areas of focus for the IORA are:

• security and safety at sea
• facilitate trade and investment
• fisheries administration
• catastrophe risk reduction
• scholarly, technological, and scientific;
• travel and cross-cultural interactions; and
• empowerment of women.
• In addition, the IORA manages a special fund that focuses only on climate change and awards project grants to members ranging from $80,000 to $150,000.

Source The Hindu