UPSC PRELIMINARY MOCK TEST 165

A mains-oriented Question.

The 740-km LoC is under the operational control of the Army and the 192 km International Boundary (IB) in Jammu is manned by the Border Security Force (BSF). Ceasefire violations along the Line of Control have increased by over 230 per cent in 2017 compared to 2016.

For the first time in more than a decade, in 2017 the incidents in left-wing extremism (LWE) affected States remained below the 1,000 mark. A senior official of the Union Home Ministry attributed the decline to "attrition of various level cadres of Maoists" and the other to the possibility of Maoists "deliberately lying low."

TH (28^th December, 2016): http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/loc-intrusions-touch-4-year-high/article22290010.ece ;

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/incidents-of-maoist-violence-reduce-in-2017-govt-data-show/article22339697.ece ;

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The Global Tiger Forum (GTF) is the only inter- governmental international body established with members from willing countries to embark on a global campaign to protect the Tiger. Utilizing co-operative policies, common approaches, technical expertise, scientific modules and other appropriate programmes and controls the GTF is focused on saving the remaining 5 sub-species of Tigers distributed over 13 Tiger Range countries of the world
The GTF was formed in 1993 on recommendations from an international symposium on Tiger Conservation at New Delhi, India. The first meeting of the Tiger Range countries to setup the forum was held in 1994, in which India was elected to the Chair and was asked to form an interim secretariat. In 1997, the GTF became an independent organization. Bangladesh was Chair twice followed by Nepal. India was elected as Chair in March 2011, replaced by Bhutan in 2014. The GTF has a General Assembly meeting every 3 years and Standing committee meetings at least once a year. A Chairperson, usually a Minister from one of the Tiger Range countries heads GTF for a fixed tenure of 3 Years. The Secretariat of GTF is headed by a Secretary General and is located in New Delhi, India. "

India has 15,106.7 km of land border and a coastline of 7,516.6 km including island territories.

Country : Length of the border (in km)

Bangladesh : 4,096.7

China : 3,488

Pakistan : 3,323 (Including PoK)

Nepal : 1,751

Myanmar : 1,643

Bhutan : 699

Afghanistan : 106

Total : 15,106.7

• Bangladesh and Pakistan borders - BSF;
  - China border - ITBP;
  - Myanmar border - Assam Rifles;
  - Nepal and Bhutan borders - Sashastra Seema Bal;

Besides, Indian army guards land borders along the LOC on Pakistan border and LAC on China border. The Indian Navy and Coast Guard are vested with the responsibility of coastal borders, where the State (Marine) Police act as the second line of defence.

Annual Report, MHA: http://mha.nic.in/annualreports ; "

A mains-oriented question.

As per data provided by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, India invests about 0.8% of its GDP on research and development, and supports 156 researchers per million of population. The figures for China are 2%, and 1,113, respectively. China's investment is now comparable to any developed country, with Germany standing at 2.9% and 4,363 researchers and the U.S. at 2.8% and 4,231. In 2000, China had invested only about 0.9% of its GDP on research and development, but this was steadily ramped up and in 2010 stood at 1.71%. India invested 0.74% in 2000, and increased this to 0.82% in 2010. While China took it up to 2.1% in 2016, in India it came down to 0.63% in 2015.

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/first-the-basic-sciences/article23229395.ece ; "