Highlights
- India-Russia: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visited Moscow, signing a Protocol on Consultations for 2024-2028 and advancing agreement on future Kudankulam nuclear units.
- Banking regulation: RBI updated its list of Domestic Systemically Important Banks, moving SBI and HDFC Bank to higher capital buffer buckets.
- Tigers at altitude: West Bengal's Neora Valley National Park confirmed a population of more than 10 tigers at altitudes up to 10,509 feet, one of the world's highest tiger habitats.
- Women's suffrage milestone: Vatican City became the last state to grant women voting rights in October 2023, completing a process that began in 1893.
1. Jaishankar in Moscow: India-Russia special partnership
GS area: International Relations
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visited Russia in late December to renew bilateral ties:
- Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership: India and Russia upgraded their relationship to this level in 2010. It is India's highest bilateral designation.
- Protocol on Consultations: Signed for 2024-2028 covering military cooperation, economic trade, and energy collaboration.
- Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project: Agreement advanced for future nuclear units (Units 5 and 6) at the Kudankulam plant in Tamil Nadu. Russia's Rosatom is building the plant under a 1988 intergovernmental agreement.
- Defence dependence: Russia accounts for about 45 per cent of India's total defence imports by value, covering platforms including fighter jets, submarines, helicopters, and missiles.
- Trade targets: Bilateral trade target of $30 billion by 2025 and investment target of $50 billion.
- Challenges: India faces US pressure to reduce ties with Russia after the Ukraine invasion. Russia's growing closeness with China adds a complication.
Static linkage: India's foreign policy, India-Russia relations, nuclear energy.
2. Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant
GS area: Science and Technology, Economy
The Kudankulam plant is the largest nuclear power plant under construction in India:
- Location: Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu, on the Gulf of Mannar coast.
- Technology: VVER-1000 reactors, a Russian pressurised water reactor design.
- Current status (December 2023): Units 1 and 2 are operational. Units 3 and 4 are under construction. The agreement advanced in December 2023 covers Units 5 and 6.
- Total capacity (when complete): 6,000 MW from six units.
- Significance: Kudankulam is part of India's civil nuclear energy expansion following the India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement (123 Agreement) of 2008 which opened India to international nuclear commerce.
Static linkage: Nuclear energy, India's energy security, India-Russia relations.
3. Women's suffrage: Vatican City as the final frontier
GS area: Society, International Relations
Vatican City became the last state in the world to grant women voting rights in October 2023:
- Context: Pope Francis granted women the right to vote at the Synod of Bishops, a church governance body. Previously only cardinals (male) could vote.
- Global timeline: The women's suffrage movement gained international momentum after World War I and II. Between 1893 and 1960, 129 countries extended voting rights to women. New Zealand was first (1893).
- India: Indian women received voting rights at independence in 1947. Universal adult suffrage under Article 326 of the Constitution includes women without discrimination.
Static linkage: Social history, democratic rights, international relations.
4. Neora Valley National Park: highest-altitude tiger habitat
GS area: Environment, Ecology
Neora Valley National Park in West Bengal confirmed tigers at an altitude of up to 10,509 feet (about 3,203 metres):
- Location: Kalimpong district, West Bengal, in the eastern Himalayas.
- Established: 1986.
- Tiger population: More than 10 tigers confirmed.
- Altitude record: This rivals Pangolakha's 3,640-metre sighting in Sikkim (December 2023). Both sites demonstrate that tigers can occupy high-altitude Himalayan habitats.
- Biodiversity: Neora Valley is also habitat for clouded leopards, red pandas, and numerous high-altitude bird species.
Static linkage: Biodiversity, protected areas, high-altitude ecosystems.
5. Admiral's epaulettes redesigned
GS area: Culture, Defence
The Indian Navy's Admiral's rank insignia was redesigned:
- New design: Inspired by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's rajmudra (royal seal). Features an octagon, a golden button, an Indian sword, and crossed telescopes.
- Old design: Inherited from the Royal Navy with a crown and St George's Cross.
- Context: Part of the broader effort since the post-2019 period to replace colonial military symbols with indigenous ones. Earlier the Navy Day change to insignia was noted on 4 December 2023.
Static linkage: India's defence, culture, decolonisation of symbols.
6. Kuril Islands earthquake
GS area: Geography (physical)
A 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit the Kuril Islands:
- Kuril Islands: A chain of islands stretching from Japan's Hokkaido to Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.
- Geology: Located on the Pacific Ring of Fire. More than 100 volcanoes, of which 35 are active.
- Dispute: Japan and Russia dispute sovereignty over the southern four islands (called Northern Territories by Japan and South Kurils by Russia). This dispute has prevented a formal peace treaty between Japan and Russia since 1945.
Static linkage: Physical geography, Japan, Pacific Ring of Fire.
7. Briefly noted
- Neora Valley and Red Panda: Neora Valley is among the habitats of the red panda (Ailurus fulgens), a Schedule I species under India's Wildlife Protection Act. It is classified as Endangered by IUCN.
- SEBI's T+0 timeline: SEBI planned to begin optional T+0 settlement from April 2024. Market participants flagged that instant settlement would require deep integration between broking, banking, and depository systems.
Practice MCQs