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Arvind Kejriwal (born 16 August 1968) is an Indian politician and a former bureaucrat who is the current and 7th Chief Minister of Delhi since February 2015. He was also the Chief Minister of Delhi from December 2013 to February 2014, stepping down after 49 days of assuming power. Currently, he is the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party, which won the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections with a historic majority, obtaining 67 out of 70 assembly seats. In 2006, Kejriwal was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership in recognition of his involvement in the grassroots level movement Parivartan using right to information legislation in a campaign against corruption. The same year, after resigning from Government service, he donated his Magsaysay award money as a corpus fund to found the Public Cause Research Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO).Before joining politics, Kejriwal had worked in the Indian Revenue Service as a Joint Commissioner of Income Tax in New Delhi. Kejriwal is a graduate in Mechanical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur. In 2012, he launched the Aam Aadmi Party, which won in the 2013 Delhi Legislative Assembly election. Following the election, he took office as the Chief Minister of Delhi on 28 December 2013. He resigned 49 days later, on 14 February 2014, stating he did so because of his minority government's inability to pass his proposed anti-corruption legislation due to a lack of support from other political parties.On 14 February 2015, he was sworn in as Chief Minister for a second term after his party's victory in the Delhi Legislative Assembly electionArvind Kejriwal was born in an upper middle-class educated Agrawal family in Siwani, Bhiwani district, Haryana on 16 August 1968, the first of the three children of Gobind Ram Kejriwal and Gita Devi. His father was an electrical engineer who graduated from the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra. Kejriwal spent most of his childhood in north Indian towns such as Sonipat, Ghaziabad and Hisar. He was educated at Campus School in Hisar and at a Christian missionary Holy Child School at Sonipat.In 1985, he took the IIT-JEE exam and scored All India Rank (AIR) of 563.He graduated from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, majoring in Mechanical engineering. He joined Tata Steel in 1989 and was posted in Jamshedpur. Kejriwal resigned in 1992, having taken leave of absence to study for the Civil Services Examination. He spent some time in Calcutta (present-day Kolkata), where he met Mother Teresa, and volunteered with The Missionaries of Charity and at the Ramakrishna Mission in North-East India and at Nehru Yuva Kendra.CareerArvind Kejriwal joined the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) as an Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax in 1995, after qualifying through the Civil Services Examination.In November 2000, he was granted two years' paid leave to pursue higher education on condition that upon resuming his work he would not resign from the Service for at least three years. Failure to abide by that condition would require him to repay the salary given during the leave period. He rejoined in November 2002. According to Kejriwal, he was not given any posting for almost a year, and kept getting his salary without doing any work; so, after 18 months, he applied for leave without pay.For the next 18 months, Kejriwal was on sanctioned unpaid leave.In February 2006, he resigned from his position as Joint Commissioner of Income Tax in New Delhi.The Government of India claimed that Kejriwal had violated his original agreement by not working for three years. Kejriwal said that his 18 months of work and 18 months of unpaid absence amounted to the stipulated three-year period during which he could not resign and that this was an attempt to malign him due to his involvement with the Indian anti-corruption movement. The dispute ran for several years until, in 2011, it was resolved when he paid his way out of the Service with the help of loans from friends.Kejriwal paid ₹ 927,787 as dues, but stated that this should not be considered as an admission of fault.After joining politics, Kejriwal claimed in 2013 that he had chosen public service over earning crores as an Income Tax Commissioner. This led to a controversy, with the IRS association pointing out that he has never been promoted to the rank of Commissioner of Income Tax.Anti-corruption activismParivartan and KabiraIn December 1999, while still in service with the Income Tax Department, Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and others found a movement named Parivartan (which means "change"), in the Sundar Nagar area of Delhi. A month later, in January 2000, Kejriwal took a sabbatical from work to focus on Parivartan.Parivartan addressed citizens' grievances related to Public Distribution System (PDS), public works, social welfare schemes, income tax and electricity. It was not a registered NGO - it ran on individual donations, and was characterised as a jan andolan ("people's movement") by its members.Later, in 2005, Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia launched Kabir, a registered NGO named after the medieval philosopher Kabir. Like Parivartan, Kabir was also focused on RTI and participatory governance. However, unlike Parivartan, it accepted institutional donations. According to Kejriwal, Kabir was mainly run by Sisodia.In 2000, Parivartan filed a public interest litigation (PIL) demanding transparency in public dealings of the Income Tax department, and also organised a satyagraha outside the Chief Commissioner's office.Kejriwal and other activists also stationed themselves outside the electricity department, asking visitors not to pay bribes and offered to help them in gettingIn 2001, the Delhi government enacted a state-level Right To Information (RTI) Act, which allowed the citizens to access government records for a small fee. Parivartan used RTI to help people get their work done in government departments without paying a bribe. In 2002, the group obtained official reports on 68 public works projects in the area, and performed a community-led audit to expose misappropriations worth ₹ 7 million in 64 of the projects.On 14 December 2002, Parivartan organised a jan sunvai (public hearing), in which the citizens held public officials and leaders accountable for the lack of development in their locality.In 2003 (and again in 2008), Parivartan exposed a PDS scam, in which ration shop dealers were siphoning off subsidised foodgrains in collusion with civic officials. In 2004, Parivartan used RTI applications to access communication between government agencies and the World Bank, regarding a project for privatisation of water supply. Kejriwal and other activists questioned the huge expenditure on the project, and argued that it would hike water tariffs ten-fold, thus effectively cutting off the water supply to the city's poor. The project was stalled as a result of Parivartan's activism. Another campaign by Parivartan led to a court order that required private schools, which had received public land at discounted prices, to admit more than 700 poor kids without fee.Along with other social activists like Anna Hazare, Aruna Roy and Shekhar Singh, Kejriwal came to be recognised as an important contributor to the campaign for a national-level Right to Information Act (enacted in 2005).He resigned from his job in February 2006, and later that year, he was given the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership, for his involvement with Parivartan. The award recognised him for activating the RTI movement at the grassroots, and empowering New Delhi's poor citizens to fight corruption.By 2012, Parivartan was largely inactive. Sundar Nagri, where the movement was concentrated, suffered from irregular water supply, unreliable PDS system and poorly done public works.Calling it "ephemeral and delusionary in nature", Kejriwal noted that Parivartan's success was limited, and the changes brought by it did not last long.Public Cause Research FoundationIn December 2006, Kejriwal established the Public Cause Research Foundation in December 2006, together with Manish Sisodia and Abhinandan Sekhri. He donated his Ramon Magsaysay Award prize money as a seed fund. Besides the three founders, Prashant Bhushan and Kiran Bedi served as the Foundation's trustees. This new body paid the employees of Parivartan.Kejriwal used the RTI Act in corruption cases in many government departments including the Income Tax Department, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the Public Distribution System and the Delhi Electricity Board.Jan Lokpal movementIn 2010, Kejriwal protested against corruption in the Commonwealth Games. He argued that the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) did not have any powers to take any action against the guilty, while CBI was incapable of launching an unbiased investigation against the ministers who controlled it. He advocated appointment of public ombudsman - Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states.In 2011, Kejriwal joined several other activists, including Anna Hazare and Kiran Bedi, to form the India Against Corruption (IAC) group. The IAC demanded enactment of the Jan Lokpal Bill, which would result in a strong ombudsman. The campaign evolved into the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement. In response to the campaign, the government's advisory body - the National Advisory Council - drafted a Lokpal Bill. However, the NAC's Bill was criticised by Kejriwal and other activists on the grounds that it did not have enough powers to take action against the prime minister, other corrupt officeholders and the judiciary. The activists also criticised the procedure for selection of Lokpal, the transparency clauses and the proposal to disallow the Lokpal from taking cognisance of public grievances.Amid continuing protests, the Government constituted a committee to Draft a Jan Lokpal Bill. Kejriwal was one of the civil society representative members of this committee. However, he alleged that the IAC activists had an unequal position in the committee, and the government appointees kept ignoring their recommendations. The Government argued that the activists could not be allowed to blackmail the elected representatives through protests. Kejriwal retorted that democratically elected representatives could not be allowed to function like dictators, and asked for a public debate on the contentious issues.The IAC activists intensified their protests, and Anna Hazare organised a hunger strike. Kejriwal and other activists were arrested for defying a police directive to give a written undertaking that they will not go to JP Park. Kejriwal attacked the government on this and said there was a need for a debate over police power to detain and release people at will.In August 2011, a settlement was reached between the Government and the activists. Besides the government, the Jan Lokpal movement was also criticised by some citizens as 'undemocratic' on the grounds that the ombudsman had powers over elected representatives. Arundhati Roy claimed that the movement was not a people's movement; instead, it was funded by foreigners to influence policy making in India. She pointed out that the Ford Foundation had funded the Emergent Leadership category of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, and also donated $397,000 to Kejriwal's NGO Kabir. Both Kejriwal and Ford Foundation termed the allegations as baseless, stating that the donations were made to support the RTI campaigns. Besides, several other Indian organisations had also received grants from the Ford Foundation.Kejriwal also denied the allegations that the movement was a plot against the ruling Congress by the RSS, or that it was an upper-caste conspiracy against the Dalits.By January 2012, the Government had backtracked on its promise to implement a strong Jan Lokpal, resulting in another series of protests from Kejriwal and his fellow activists. These protests attracted lower participation compared to the 2011 protests.By mid-2012, Kejriwal had replaced Anna Hazare as the face of the remaining protestors.In 2015 during the second term of AAP government in Delhi the Jan Lokpal Bill was passed by the assembly awaiting presidents approvalPolitical viewsKejriwal discussed his views on corruption and the state of the Indian democracy in his book Swaraj. He advocates for a decentralisation of government and the involvement of the panchayat in local decisions and budgets. He claims that foreign multinational corporations have too much power in the decision making process of the central government and that the politicians at the Centre are not being held accountable for their actions and inaction after their election.Personal lifeIn 1995, Arvind married Sunita, a 1993-batch IRS officer. She took voluntary retirement in 2016 as Commissioner of Income Tax in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. The couple have a daughter named Harshita, and a son named Pulkit. Kejriwal is a vegetarian and has been practising the Vipassanā meditation technique for many years.He is diabetic.. In 2016, Kejriwal underwent a surgery for his persistent cough problem.Awards and recognitions2004: Ashoka Fellow, Civic Engagement2005: Satyendra K. Dubey Memorial Award, IIT Kanpur for his campaign for bringing transparency in Governance2006: Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership2006: CNN-IBN Indian of the Year in Public Service2009: Distinguished Alumnus Award, IIT Kharagpur for Eminent Leadership2009: Awarded a grant and fellowship by the Association for India's Development.2010: Policy Change Agent of the Year, Economic Times Awards along with Aruna Roy2011: NDTV Indian of the Year along with Anna Hazare[2013: CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2013-Politics2013: Foreign Policy magazine top 100 global thinker, November 2013[2014: Kejriwal was featured in Time's 2014 Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.2016: Ranked 42nd position on the list and is the sole leader from India.[90] Among world's 50 greatest leaders by Fortune2017: A documentary titled An Insignificant Man on the political journey of Arvind Kejriwal was released.

We have a telegram channel - Prelims Specific Notes for IAS - where we daily provide the hindu and PIB analysis with Page numbers of the Hindu articles and background information.THE HINDU PRELIMS SPECIFIC ANALYSIS 20th SEPTEMBER 2019INDEXDISQUALIFICATION OF MPS/MLAS, 10TH SCHEDULE, WHIP, ARTICLE 190, 191 (Pg 1, The Hindu)ACCESS TO INTERNET IS A BASIC RIGHT, SAYS KERALA HIGH COURT (Pg 1, The Hindu)KEELADI-AN URBAN SETTLEMENT OF SANGAM AGE ON THE BANKS OF RIVER VAIGAI (Pg 1, The Hindu)AYUSHMAN BHARAT - PRADHAN MANTRI JAN AROGYA YOJANA (AB-PMJAY) (Pg 4, The Hindu)KARTARPUR CORRIDOR (Pg 6, The Hindu)NATIONAL NUTRITION MISSION (POSHAN ABHIYAAN) (Pg 9, The Hindu)GREEN BONUS (Pg 10, The Hindu)EINSTEIN VS NEWTON (Pg 10, The Hindu)INDIA-U.S. TRADE DIFFERENCES (Pg 12, The Hindu)PROJECT SENTINEL (Pg 14, The Hindu)INTERCONNECT USAGE CHARGES (IUC) (Pg 15, The Hindu)DUST CLOUD FROM ASTEROID COLLISION TRIGGERED ICE AGE (Pg 22, The Hindu)EIGHT GROWING CHALLENGES FOR THE WORLD’S CHILDREN (Pg 22, The Hindu)DISQUALIFICATION OF MPS/MLAS, 10TH SCHEDULE, WHIP, ARTICLE 190, 191 pg 1Context: A Delhi MLA was disqualified from the assembly.AnalysisTenth Schedule of the Constitution for DefectionThe Tenth Schedule was inserted in the Constitution in 1985.The law applies to both Parliament and state assemblies.A member incurs a disqualification under the defection law if:He voluntary gives up the membership of the political party on whose ticket he is elected to the House;He votes or abstains from voting in the House contrary to any direction given by his political; party;Any independently elected member joins any political party; andAny nominated member joins any political party after the expiry of six months.The disqualifications under the 10th schedule are decided by the Chairman in the case of Rajya Sabha/Legislative Council and Speaker in the case of Lok Sabha/Legislative Assembly (and not by the President or Governors).The decision of the Chairman/Speaker in this regard is subject to judicial review.The law allows a person to be sworn in as Minister and provides six months for the person to be elected to either of the Houses. “If MLAs are disqualified for defection, they cannot become Ministers till they are successfully elected as legislators.”A member disqualified under Tenth Schedule cannot be appointed Minister till the date on which the term of his office as such member would expire or till the person is elected to either of the Houses, whichever is earlier.Are there any exceptions under the law?Yes, legislators may change their party without the risk of disqualification in certain circumstances.The law allows a party to merge with or into another party provided that at least two-thirds of its legislators are in favour of the merger.In such a scenario, neither the members who decide to merge, nor the ones who stay with the original party will face disqualification.Various expert committees have recommended that rather than the Presiding Officer, the decision to disqualify a member should be made by the President (in case of MPs) or the Governor (in case of MLAs) on the advice of the Election Commission.This would be similar to the process followed for disqualification in case the person holds an office of profit (i.e. the person holds an office under the central or state government which carries a remuneration, and has not been excluded in a list made by the legislature).Is there a time limit within which the Presiding Officer has to decide?The law does not specify a time-period for the Presiding Officer to decide on a disqualification plea.Given that courts can intervene only after the Presiding Officer has decided on the matter, the petitioner seeking disqualification has no option but to wait for this decision to be made.Article 190: Vacation of seats(1) If a person becomes member of both Houses of the legislature of a State, then he has to vacate his seat in one House or the other.(2) If a person becomes member of the legislatures of two or more States, then that persons' seat in the Legislatures of all such States shall become vacant, unless he has previously resigned his seat in the Legislatures of all but one of the States.(3) If a member of a House of the Legislature of a State(a) becomes subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned in clause (1) or clause (2) of Article 191 (discussed ahead); or(b) his resignation is accepted by the Speaker or the Chairman, as the case may be:If from information received or otherwise and after making such inquiry as he thinks fit, the Speaker or the Chairman, as the case may be, is satisfied that such resignation is not voluntary or genuine, he shall not accept such resignation.(4) If for a period of sixty days a member of a House of the Legislature of a State is without permission of the House absent from all meetings thereof, the House may declare his seat vacant:Provided that in computing the said period of sixty days no account shall be taken of any period during which the House is prorogued or is adjourned for more than four consecutive days.Clause (1) or clause (2) of Article 191 of Constitution of India "Disqualifications for membership"(1) A person shall be disqualified for being chosen as, and for being, a member of the Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council of a State-(a) if he holds any office of profit (being a Minister either for the Union or for such State is not office of profit).(b) if he is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court;(c) if he is an undischarged insolvent;(d) if he is not a citizen of India, or has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a foreign State, or is under any acknowledgement of allegiance or adherence to a foreign State;(e) if he is so disqualified by or under any law made by Parliament.(2) if he is so disqualified under the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection).WhipA whip is the instruction issued by political parties to vote according to the party line in a legislature.Violation of the party whip could lead to expulsion under the Anti Defection Act.A whip is of three kinds.A one-line whip is non-binding, and merely serves to inform the members of the vote.A two-line whip seeks attendance in the legislature during the vote.A three-line whip is a clear-cut directive, to be present in the legislature during the vote and cast vote according to the party line.The Tenth Schedule mandates that a legislator is liable for defection if he or she “votes or abstains from voting in such House contrary to any direction issued by the political party to which he belongs or by any person or authority authorised by it in this behalf.In India, under the anti-defection law, a three-line whip can be violated only by more than one-third of a party's strength in the legislature.Though the office of whip is not officially recognised in the standing orders, there has been a long tradition to give them a place in the Parliamentary form of government.The whip plays a crucial role in ensuring the smooth and efficient conduct of business on the floor of the House.Vaiko gets one-year jail term in 2009 sedition caseMarumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko is set to file his nomination papers for a Rajya Sabha seat from Tamil Nadu.The conviction will not disqualify him from the electoral contest, as he has been sentenced only to a one-year term.Only a sentence of two years and above will attract disqualification provisions under the Representation of the People Act.Sedition, or Section 124A of the IPC, is not one of the offences that entail disqualification, regardless of the length of the prison term.ACCESS TO INTERNET IS A BASIC RIGHT, SAYS KERALA HIGH COURT pg 1The Kerala High Court held that the right to have access to the Internet is part of the fundamental right to education as well as the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution.The Court asked the college to re-admit a student who had been expelled from the college hostel for using her mobile phone beyond the restricted hours.Even the Human Rights Council of the United Nations has found that the right of access to Internet is a fundamental freedom and a tool to ensure right to education.Note: Study Article 21 in detail from M. Laxmikant.KEELADI-AN URBAN SETTLEMENT OF SANGAM AGE ON THE BANKS OF RIVER VAIGAI pg 1Context: In a major turning point in the cultural historiography of the ancient Sangam Age, the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department (TNAD) has stated that the cultural deposits unearthed during excavations at Keeladi in Sivaganga district could be safely dated to a period between 6th century BCE and 1st century CE as also confirmed by the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) Dating.AnalysisThe results from the fourth excavations suggest that the “second urbanisation [the first being Indus] of Vaigai plains happened in Tamil Nadu around 6th century BCE as it happened in Gangetic plains.”The society in Keeladi had used animals predominantly for agricultural purposes.Techniques in measuring radiocarbon in samplesThere are two techniques in measuring radiocarbon in samples—through radiometric dating and by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS).The two techniques are used primarily in determining carbon 14 content of archaeological artifacts and geological samples.Although both radiocarbon dating methods produce high-quality results, they are fundamentally different in principle.Radiometric dating methods detect beta particles from the decay of carbon 14 atoms while accelerator mass spectrometers count the number of carbon 14 atoms present in the sample.Accelerator Mass SpectrometryMass spectrometers detect atoms of specific elements according to their atomic weights.They, however, do not have the sensitivity to distinguish atomic isobars (atoms of different elements that have the same atomic weight, such as in the case of carbon 14 and nitrogen 14—the most common isotope of nitrogen).How Does AMS Work?AMS dating involves accelerating the ions to extraordinarily high kinetic energies followed by mass analysis.Accelerator Mass Spectrometry AdvantagesThe greatest advantage that AMS radiocarbon dating has over radiometric methods is small sample size.Accelerator mass spectrometers typically need sample sizes lesser than conventional methods by a factor of 1,000.Unlike, radiocarbon dating, which is a destructive process, because of its ability to analyze samples even in minute amounts, accelerator mass spectrometry is the method of choice for archaeologists with small artifacts and those who cannot destroy very expensive or rare materials.Due to the sensitivity of accelerator mass spectrometers, carbon dating small particles like blood particles, a grain, or a seed have been made possible.Accelerator mass spectrometry also takes less time to analyze samples for carbon 14 content compared to radiometric dating methods.AMS measurements usually achieve higher precision and lower backgrounds than radiometric dating methods.Aside from archaeology and geology, AMS dating is also used in other fields like biomedical research and ocean sciences research.Disadvantages of AMS Radiocarbon DatingEstablishing and maintaining an accelerator mass spectrometer costs millions of dollars.Due to the small sample sizes involved, control of contaminants is also difficult.Carbon-14Carbon-14 is continually formed in nature by the interaction of neutrons with nitrogen-14 in the Earth’s atmosphere; the neutrons required for this reaction are produced by cosmic rays interacting with the atmosphere.Because carbon-14 decays at a constant rate, an estimate of the date at which an organism died can be made by measuring the amount of its residual radiocarbon.The carbon-14 method is used for dating fossils and archaeological specimens from 500 to 50,000 years old.Sangam Period - 300 BC - 200 ADThe Sangam Age constitutes an important chapter in the history of South India.According to Tamil legends, there existed three Sangams (Academy of Tamil poets) in ancient Tamil Nadu popularly called Muchchangam.These Sangams flourished under the royal patronage of the Pandyas.It is believed that there existed three Sangams.The First Sangam had flourished at Then Madurai and the Second Sangam at Kapadapuram.Since these two places were eroded into the Indian Ocean, the Pandyan kings had established the Third Sangam at Madurai.Many scholars did not believe the existence of Three Sangams.However, the Sangam literature, which we possess now, might have been composed during the period of the Third Sangam.Hence, the Sangam Age that we come to know denotes only the Third Sangam.Based on the literary, epigraphic and archaeological sources, it is established by scholars that the Sangam Age flourished from Third Century B.C. to Third Century A.D.Sangam Age SourcesLiterary SourcesThe Sangam literature chiefly consists of Tholkappiyam, Ettuthogal and Pathuppattu.Tolkappiyam authored by Tolkappiyar is the earliest of the Tamil literature. It is a work on Tamil grammar but it provides information on the political and socioeconomic conditions of the Sangam period.During the post-Sangam period, the Pathinen Kilkanakku or the Eighteen Works was composed.The twin epics - Silappathigaram and Manimegalai - also belonged to the post- Sangam period.All these literature help us to know the society, economy and culture of the ancient Tamils.EpigraphyThe Asokan Edicts refer to the Chera, Chola and Pandya kingdoms.The Hathikumba Inscriptions of the Kalinga king , Kharavela also mentions the three Tamil Kingdoms.The Kalugumalai inscriptions help us to know about ancient Tamil scripts called Tamil Brahms.The Tirukkovalur inscriptions refer to the local chieftains and the tragic end of the Tamil Poet, Kapilar.ExcavationsSeveral monuments of this period have been brought to light by the excavations conducted at various places in Tamil Nadu.CoinsThe Tamil Kings of the Sangam period issued gold and silver coins but they are not found in large numbers.However, Roman coins made of gold and silver are found all over Tamil Nadu.These coins further confirm the trade relations between Tamil country and Rome during the Sangam Age.Foreign AccountsGreek and Roman writers had mentioned about the society and economy of the Sangam Tamils in their accounts.Megasthanes in his book Indica also referred to the three Tamil Kingdoms.AYUSHMAN BHARAT - PRADHAN MANTRI JAN AROGYA YOJANA (AB-PMJAY) pg 4Context: Ola drivers to get healthcare benefits under Ayushman Bharat.KARTARPUR CORRIDOR pg 6Context: Punjab CM demanded immediate withdrawal by Pakistan the proposed facilitation charge of $20 per visitor to the historic Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib, saying it was against the basic spirit of Sikh ideology.AnalysisRecently, Pakistan agreed to give year-long visa-free access for Indian pilgrims to the holy Gurdwara of Kartarpur Sahib.It was agreed to allow visa-free travel for the Indian passport-holders and OCI card-holders seven days a week.Throughout the year, 5,000 pilgrims will be allowed to visit the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara per day.The pilgrims will be allowed to travel as individuals or in groups and also on foot.AnalysisLocated across river Ravi in Pakistan, barely six kilometers away from Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur, Punjab (India), is Kartarpur Sahib, one of Sikh community’s most sacred sites.What makes Kartarpur Sahib so special?It has been established in 1522 by Guru Nanak Dev, the Sikh Guru.It was here that he drew his last breath, spending the last 18 years of his life.All about the corridorSpanning across a length of about 6 km, 2 km on the Indian side and 4 km on the Pakistan side of the border, putting the total length at roughly 6 km, Kartarpur corridor will help thousands of devotees from India visit the sacred shrine in Pakistan.Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had first suggested the corridor when he took the bus trip to Lahore in 1999.Guru Nanak (1469-1539) and his teachingsBorn at Talwandi (Nankana Sahib in Pakistan), he travelled widely before establishing a centre at Kartarpur (Dera Baba Nanak on the river Ravi).He emphasised the importance of the worship of one God.He insisted that caste, creed or gender was irrelevant for attaining liberation.He himself used the terms nam, dan and isnan for the essence of his teaching, which actually meant right worship, welfare of others and purity of conduct.His teachings are now remembered as nam-japna, kirt-karna and vandchhakna, which also underline the importance of right belief and worship, honest living, and helping others.Thus, Baba Guru Nanak’s idea of equality had social and political implications.This might partly explain the difference between the history of the followers of Baba Guru Nanak and the history of the followers of the other religious figures of the medieval centuries, like Kabir, Ravidas and Dadu whose ideas were very similar to those of Baba Guru Nanak.Significance of Sultanpur Lodhi (Kapurthala)Sultanpur Lodi is a sacred Sikh pilgrimage site associated with the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, who lived here for 14 years.It is here that he gained enlightenment at the end of the 15th century.It is said he disappeared into the waters of the Bein rivulet, reappearing three days later as the enlightened Guru.His first words were as simple as they were true: ‘There is no Hindu, no Mussalman’.The grounds of the Gurdwara Ber Sahib here mark the spot where Guru Nanak entered the rivulet.Guru Granth SahibBefore his death in 1539, Baba Guru Nanak appointed one of his followers as his successor.His name was Lehna but he came to be known as Guru Angad, signifying that he was a part of Baba Guru Nanak himself.Guru Angad compiled the compositions of Baba Guru Nanak, to which he added his own in a new script known as Gurmukhi.The three successors of Guru Angad also wrote under the name of “Nanak” and all of their compositions were compiled by Guru Arjan in 1604.To this compilation were added the writings of other figures like Shaikh Farid, Sant Kabir, Bhagat Namdev and Guru Tegh Bahadur.In 1706, this compilation was authenticated by Guru Tegh Bahadur’s son and successor, Guru Gobind Singh.It is now known as Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of the Sikhs.The number of Baba Guru Nanak’s followers increased through the sixteenth century under his successors.They belonged to a number of castes but traders, agriculturists, artisans and craftsmen predominated.This may have something to do with Baba Guru Nanak’s insistence that his followers must be householders and should adopt productive and useful occupations.Langar: Common kitchenNirguna bhaktiIt is devotion to and worship of the Divine as formless.Kabir, Ravidas and Nanak were the chief followers of the Nirgun cult.NATIONAL NUTRITION MISSION (POSHAN ABHIYAAN) pg 9Context: India is unlikely to meet targets set under the ambitious Poshan Abhiyaan or National Nutrition Mission (NNM) for reduction in prevalence of stunting, underweight, low birth weight and anaemia in women and children by 2022 if there is no progress achieved in improving the rate of decline observed between 1990 and 2017, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study 1990-2017.The report is a joint initiative of Indian Council of Medical Research, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.Poshan Abhiyaan, the world’s largest nutrition programme, expected to benefit 10 crore people and launched in 2018.Note: Poshan Abhiyaan or National Nutrition Mission (NNM) was covered in detail on 17th August.GREEN BONUS pg 10In the last week of July this year, 11 Himalayan States of India met in Dehradun demanding a “green bonus”, or a payment for environmental services they provide to the nation.The assembled Chief Ministers argued that the Himalayan States, stretching from Jammu and Kashmir (which was still a State then) to Tripura (which most people would not really include in the Himalayan region) paid a developmental price for maintaining forests, rivers, and other environmental goods which helped the rest of the country.EINSTEIN VS NEWTON pg 10Context: An editorial.AnalysisEinstein’s general theory of relativity is the most accurate theory of gravity available to us at present.Einstein was certainly not the first one to make contributions to our understanding of gravity.More than two centuries prior to him, Isaac Newton had proposed a universal law of gravitation.However, Newtonian theory of gravity, though remarkably accurate most of the times, had its limitations.When gravity was extremely strong or when the motions involved were extremely fast, the calculations became imprecise.For example, the theoretical calculation of the orbit of Mercury — the planet closest to the Sun — turned out to have a small disagreement with the actual observations of Mercury’s motion.Einstein’s theory not only predicted the orbit of Mercury accurately, but also predicted a number of interesting phenomena not anticipated earlier.Einstein’s description of gravity was radically different from that of Newton.Newton assumed the existence of an absolute space and universal time.According to Einstein, space and time are part of a single entity called ‘space-time’.What we identify as space or time heavily depend on the frame of reference of the observer. However, space-time is universal.And gravity is the manifestation of curved space-time. Any massive object would curve the space-time around it.It is hard to imagine a curved space-time, an entity that spans four dimensions — three spatial dimensions and the time.Typically, we can see the curvature of a surface when we have access to a higher dimension. For example, we see the curvature of the surface of a football because we have access to a third spatial dimension.It is impossible to directly observe the curvature of the space-time since we don’t have access to a fifth dimension. However, it is possible to infer the curvature of a space without accessing extra dimensions.All the familiar axioms of Euclidean geometry cease to be valid on curved spaces. For example, according to Euclidean geometry, two parallel lines always remain parallel. However, this is not true, for example, on the Earth’s surface.Consider lines of constant longitude: on the equator, meridians are parallel to each other; but on the poles all of them meet.Thus, one could do a measurement to check whether lines that are originally parallel remain parallel. If they don’t, this is an evidence that the space-time is curved.Several astronomical observations conducted in the last century confirm that space-time is indeed curved in the presence of massive objects.Einstein himself was not well-versed in the geometry of curved spaces. Here, Einstein turned to his friend, mathematician Marcel Grossmann, to master the necessary techniques and tools.INDIA-U.S. TRADE DIFFERENCESIndia and the United States are expected to announce the resolution of some of their trade differences on:medical equipment caps,ICT (Information Communication Technology) tariffs,market access for agricultural products, andare in discussions on restoring India's GSP (Generalized System of Preferences) status anda future Free Trade Agreement (FTA).PROJECT SENTINEL PG 14Context: The United Arab Emirates joined a U.S.-led maritime coalition aimed at protecting international shipping in and near the Strait of Hormuz following alleged Iranian attacks on oil tankers there.AnalysisEurope needs to keep the Persian Gulf open to guarantee the flow of oil and ensure its economic security.However, on this issue, France and Germany have refused to join the American plan called “Project Sentinel” to protect vessels in the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf and the narrow Strait of Hormuz waterway that separates the gulfs and acts as a transit point for a fifth of the world's oil exports.UAE joined it after attack on Saudi oil installations.Saudi Arabia joined the coalition a day before.Australia, Bahrain and the United Kingdom also are taking part.However, Washington has been unable to persuade its other European NATO allies to come aboard.Many of those countries are still angry over President Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran.INTERCONNECT USAGE CHARGES (IUC) pg 15Context: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) proposal on deferring the implementation of the zero interconnect usage charges (IUC) regime, if implemented, is likely to benefit Vodafone Idea, as the ailing telco will get some revenue from the interconnect fee.The zero IUC regime was to kick in from January 2020.However, TRAI cited the lack of migration on 4G and the imbalance of off-net traffic between operators as reasons for reconsidering the applicable date.AnalysisInterconnection usage charges (IUCs) in telecom are the charges paid by a telecom services provider whose subscriber makes a call to the service provider whose subscriber receives the call.The reduction in Interconnection usage charges is likely to yield consumer benefits.Interconnection usage charges (IUCs) work as a disincentive for deployment of new technologies such as VoLTE, or Voice over Long-Term Evolution, and migration to Internet Protocol networks by operators, wherein there are no interconnection charges.DUST CLOUD FROM ASTEROID COLLISION TRIGGERED ICE AGE pg 22The cataclysmic asteroid impact off Mexico's coast that doomed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was not the only time an astronomical event shaped the history of life on Earth.Scientists said dust spawned by a gigantic collision in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter 400 million years earlier triggered an ice age on Earth that ushered in a significant increase in marine biodiversity.The event, occurring when life was concentrated in the seas and far before vertebrates first walked on land, set in motion evolutionary changes in invertebrates fundamental to marine ecosystems as they adapted to global cooling.The cooling event unfolded gradually, enabling marine life during the Ordovician Period to adapt, unlike the sudden impact that erased the dinosaurs.EIGHT GROWING CHALLENGES FOR THE WORLD’S CHILDREN pg 22Context: In an open letter, the UNICEF sounds the alarm on major growing and future challenges facing children.AnalysisThe letter outlines eight growing challenges for the world’s children:prolonged conflicts;pollution and the climate crisis;a decline in mental health;mass migration and population movements;statelessness;future skills for future work;data rights and online privacy; andonline misinformation.For example, so-called ‘deep fake’ technology uses artificial intelligence techniques to create convincing fakes of audio and video content, relatively easily.UNICEF has been piloting media literacy programme, such as the Young Reporters programme in Montenegro, aimed at teaching young people about spotting misinformation online, how to fact check online content, and the roles and techniques of responsible journalism.Recently, Odisha government joined hands with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to generate awareness against child abuse.UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund)It is a special program of the United Nations (UN) devoted to aiding national efforts to improve the health, nutrition, education, and general welfare of children.UNICEF was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1965. It is headquartered in New York City.Since 1996, UNICEF programs have been guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).UNICEF’s activities are financed by both government and private contributions.