Questions:

1.    Identify the correct statement/s regarding the National Pension Scheme: 
1.    A committee, headed by G N Raghvan, former chairman of the SEBI, set up by the pension regulator to suggest ways to energies the National Pension scheme (NPS). 
2.    The committee recommended that the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) should consider bringing down the minimum annual subscription of Rs 6,000 for the NPS to Rs 1,000 per year to expand its reach and coverage.
    (a)    1 only 
    (b)    2 only
    (c)    1 and 2 Both
    (d)    Neither 1 nor 2.

2.    Consider the following statements and choose the correct option:
1.    The Partition of Bengal took effect on 16 October, 1905.
2.    Most of the middle and upper class Muslims enthusiastically participated in Swadeshi and Boycott Movement.
3.    A National College was set up during Swadeshi and Boycott Movement, in Calcutta with Aurobindo Ghose as Principal.
4.    The leading role was played by B. G. Tilak in spreading Swadeshi Movement to the different parts of the country.
    (a)    2, 3 and 4    (b)    1, 3 and 4
    (c)    1, 2 and 3    (d)    1, 2, 3 and 4

3.    This Funds is a debt instrument being set up by the Finance Ministry of India in order to channelize long term funds into various projects which require long term stable capital investment. We are talking about which fund? 
    (a)    Corporate Debt Funds
    (b)    Industrial Debt Funds
    (c)    Infrastructure Debt Funds
    (d)    India Millennium Bonds

4.    Consider the following statements and choose the correct option:
1.    Rowlatt Act was passed in March 1919 even though every single Indian member of the Central Legislative Council opposed it.
2.    Rowlatt Act authorised the Government to imprison any person without trial and conviction in a court of Law.
3.    In February 1919, Gandhiji founded the Satyagraha Sabha whose members took a pledge to disobey the Act and thus to court arrest and imprisonment.
4.    The nationalist agitation against the Rowlatt Act had touched all the Indians alike and brought Muslims together in political agitation.
    (a)    1, 2 and 4    (b)    1, 2 and 3
    (c)    2, 3 and 4    (d)    1, 2, 3 and 4

5.    Tick the correct statement/s regarding the Green Bonds: 
1.    Green Bonds are tax-exempt bonds which are issued by qualified organizations and/or municipalities for the development of Green-field sites.
2.    Green-field sites are areas of land that are under-utilized, have abandoned buildings, or are under developed.
    (a)    1 only 
    (b)    2 only
    (c)    1 and 2 both
    (d)    Neither 1 nor 2.

Water wars : India needs an effective hydro - diplomacy

India is facing a serious water resource problem and the country is expected to become 'water stressed' by 2025 and 'water scarce' by 2050. Thus, India will have to balance its growing water needs and larger security concerns with effective 'hydro-diplomacy'.

Water shortages could hit the subcontinent in a few years because growing populations and increasing development are placing rising pressure on the Ganges-Brahamaputra-Meghna (GBM) and Indus Basin. In the last 50 years some 40 conflicts over water with weapons have been recorded.

As an active regional player, riparian issues for India will be crucial for settling many of the water-induced conflicts in the region. Both the GBM and the Indus basins account for two-thirds of India's water potential. Further, any water outlook will necessitate interdisciplinary approaches linking together natural sciences, politics and policy.

"The challenge for India will be to imbibe hydro-diplomacy in its overall regional diplomacy; not an easy task as India's diplomacy has traditionally been bilateral rather than multilateral," opine analysts.

According to officials, "Water has been a major issue in India-Bangladesh relations. Nearly 50 rivers flow from India into Bangladesh. Both sides signed the Ganges Water Treaty in 1996. While the treaty has helped them to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution on the sharing of the water of the Ganges; Bangladesh remains apprehensive about India's intentions with regard to several other water-related issues such as the sharing of the Teesta river waters, India's plans for the interlinking of the rivers and the construction of the Tipaimukh dam in the northeast."

Sharing his views with FE on conditions of anonymity, a senior army officer points out the urgency to upholster our northeast region. " We need to prepare for competitive relations in the northeast region on more than one ground and more so water resources."

China has strengthened its political and economic control over Tibet where India and China have a complex, unresolved boundary dispute. Thus, water has assumed higher priority in Sino-Indian relations in recent years. There are widespread fears in India that China's diversion of waters of the Yarlung-Tsangpo, to meet high demand in its arid north, will cause hydrological imbalance in the northeast part of India and shortage in Bangladesh, which in turn will impact riparian relations.

Rivers, a crucial source of water resources, physically link upstream and downstream users. While their flows offer ample opportunity for water harnessing, equally, they create barriers. The management of rivers does not take place in a vacuum but rather in a complex political and economic framework.

"The implementation of river policies, even when purely design-related to the linking of rivers or constructions of dams and barrages, are undertaken within a political context. Rivers, in effect, can no longer be viewed as a soft component of a country's foreign policy. Rather they are intricately linked to developmental goals and domestic needs and thus impact bilateral relations," experts opine.