1 UPSC Daily Current Affairs 06 AUG 2021 Umlingla Pass (Topic- GS Paper I –Geography, Source-The Hindu) Why in the news? • The Border Roads Organisation has recently constructed the world highest motorable road in India which passes through Umlingla Pass in Eastern Ladakh. More in news • It is a black-topped, 52-kilometre road that connects many important towns in the Chumar sector of Eastern Ladakh. • This road was constructed under Project Himank. About Umling La Pass • It is located at an altitude of 19,300ft in the union territory of Ladakh. • It stretched to a distance of almost 86km connects Chisumle and Demchok villages. • Both these villages lie close to the Indo-China border in the eastern sector. Significance • The important towns in eastern Ladakh’s Chumar sector will all be connected by this road, which comes as a boon for the local population. • The road provides the residents with an alternative direct route to Demchok and Chisumle from Leh. 2 • It will also increase the region’s socio-economic condition as well as promote tourism in Ladakh. • The road is at a very strategic point as the villages that will be connected by the road are very close to the India-China border in the eastern sector. Related Information About Project Himank • It is a project of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in the Ladakh region of northernmost India that started in August 1985. • Under the Himank project, BRO is responsible for the construction and maintenance of roads and related infrastructure in Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), including some of the world's highest motorable roads across the Khardung La, Tanglang La and Chang La passes. • Himank project ensures access to sensitive military areas including the world's highest battleground at the Siachen Glacier and Pangong Tso Lake (at 14500 ft), whose waters span the de facto India-China border. • It constructed the world's highest Bailey bridge at Khardung La, though this has been subsequently replaced by a causeway. About Border Roads Organisation • It was conceived and raised in 1960 by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru for coordinating the speedy development of a network of roads in the North and the North-Eastern border regions of the country. • It works under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence. • It has diversified into a large spectrum of construction and development works comprising airfields, building projects, defence works and tunnelling and has endeared itself to the people. Agalega island (Topic- GS Paper I –Geography, Source-The Hindu) Why in the news? • Mauritius has recently denied a report that it has allowed India to build a military base on the remote island of Agalega, no such agreement exists between the two nations. More in the news • Recently, News broadcasters reported on the construction of an airstrip and two jetties to house an Indian military base on Agalega, located about 1,000 km north of the archipelago’s main island. 3 Chagos Island • The report raised fears of a repeat of the 1965 decision by Britain to separate the Chagos Islands from Mauritius and set up a joint military base with the United States on Diego Garcia, the largest of the isles. • The decades-old move has sparked protests by Chagossians, who accuse Britain of carrying out an “illegal occupation” and barring them from their homeland. • Britain insists the islands belong to London and has renewed a lease agreement with the United States to use Diego Garcia until 2036. • Diego Garcia played a strategic role during the Cold War, and then as an airbase, including during the war in Afghanistan. About Agaléga island • Agaléga is two outer islands of Mauritius located in the Indian Ocean, about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) north of Mauritius Island. These two islands are a. The North island b. The South island About The North island • The North Island is home to the islands' airstrip and the capital Vingt Cinq. • The islands are known for their coconuts, the production of which is their main industry, and for the Agalega day gecko. India and Agaléga islands 4 • There is a Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of Mauritius and India to develop the Agaléga islands and resolve infrastructural problems faced by Agaleans. CJI recuses from hearing Andhra Pradesh’s plea against Telangana (Topic- GS Paper II –Governance, Source-The Hindu) Why in the new? • Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana has recently recused from hearing a petition filed by Andhra Pradesh accusing neighbour Telangana of depriving its people of their legitimate share of water for drinking and irrigation. • The Chief Justice, who had said that he hailed from both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, withdrew after Andhra Pradesh rejected the court’s suggestion to send the case for mediation. Why does a judge recuse? • When there is a conflict of interest, a judge can withdraw from hearing a case to prevent creating a perception that she carried a bias while deciding the case. • The conflict of interest can be in many ways — from holding shares in a company that is a litigant to having a prior or personal association with a party involved in the case. • The practise stems from the cardinal principle of due process of law that nobody can be a judge in her own case. • Any interest or conflict of interest would be a ground to withdraw from a case since a judge must act fair. • Another instance for recusal is when an appeal is filed in the Supreme Court against a judgment of a High Court that may have been delivered by the SC judge when she was in the HC. Process for recusal • The decision to recuse generally comes from the judge herself as it rests on the conscience and discretion of the judge to disclose any potential conflict of interest. • In some circumstances, lawyers or parties in the case bring it up before the judge. • If a judge recuses, the case is listed before the Chief Justice for allotment to a fresh Bench. • There are no formal rules governing recusals, although several Supreme Court judgments have dealt with the issue. • In Ranjit Thakur v Union of India (1987), the Supreme Court held that the test of the likelihood of bias is the reasonableness of the apprehension in the mind of the party. “ Can a judge refuse to recuse? • Once a request is made for recusal, the decision to recuse or not rests with the judge. 5 • While there are some instances where judges have recused even if they do not see a conflict but only because such apprehension was cast, there have also been several cases where judges have refused to withdraw from a case. • For instance, in 2019, Justice Arun Mishra had controversially refused to recuse himself from a Constitution Bench set up to re-examine a judgement he had delivered previously, despite several requests from the parties. • Justice Mishra had reasoned that the request for recusal was really an excuse for “forum shopping” and agreeing could compromise the independence of the judiciary. Do judges record reasons for recusal? • Since no formal rules are governing the process, it is often left to individual judges to record reasons for recusal. • Some judges disclose the reasons in open court; in some cases, the reasons are apparent. Compliance Information Portal (CIP) (Topic- GS Paper III –Economics, Source-The Hindu) Why in the news? • The Central Board for Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) has recently launched the Indian Customs Compliance Information Portal (CIP). About Compliance Information Portal 6 • It is a tool developed by CBIC to empower our business as well as any interested person with up-to-date information on the legal and procedural requirements of Customs and Partner Government Agencies (FSSAI, AQIS, PQIS, Drug Controller etc.) for carrying out imports and exports. • The portal would provide at the click of a button complete knowledge of all import and export related requirements for all items covered under the Customs Tariff thereby improving the ease of doing cross border trade. Features • It provides information about import and export through posts and couriers, import of samples, reimports and reexports of goods, self-sealing facility for exporters and project imports. • It has a pan India map showing all the Customs seaports, airports, land customs stations etc. • It also contains addresses of the regulatory agencies and their websites. United Kingdom moves India from 'red' to 'amber' list (Topic- GS Paper III –Science and Technology, Source-The Hindu) Why in the news? • The United Kingdom has recently moved India from its ‘red’ to ‘amber’ list, a categorisation created for international travel amid the Covid-19 pandemic. • The classification makes it easy for people travelling to the UK from other countries to understand the rules they must follow to enter the country. About UK’s traffic light system • It has been named, lists countries into three categories — red, amber and green. • The segregation is done based on “the risk posed by individual countries and territories”. • The UK says each country is “continuously monitored”, and the lists are reviewed every three weeks. These lists are: Red list • The UK has advised its citizens not to travel to countries on the red list. • Only British and Irish nationals, or those with residence rights in the UK, can enter the country from places on the red list. • On arrival in the UK, travellers are required to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days and take three Covid-19 tests, including one before departure from the origin country. 7 Amber list • After entering the UK from places on the amber list requires three Covid-19 tests — the first, at least three days before departure; the second, on the day of arrival or before Day 2; and the third, on or after Day 8.