"Being aware of your fear is smart. Overcoming it is

the mark of a successful person." - Seth Godin

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*Businesses are now anxious about how the roll-out of e-way bills will pan out under GST.

*Feb 01: all inter-State movement of goods worth over D50,000 will be tracked with the introduction of the e-way bill system

*All consignments moving more than 10 km from their origin will require prior registration and generation of an e-way bill through the GST Network, which will be valid for varying durations depending on the distance travelled.

*States must implement the bill system for capturing intra-State trade by June 1

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*Differing compliance requirements for inter-State trade and intra-State

trade.

*GST features, such as e-way bills and matching of invoices, will make tax

evasion difficult and bump up collections.

*Plugging revenue leakages is essential, and encouragingly, Karnataka’s e-

way bill experience in the first month saw very few glitches.

*Given industry’s nervousness, the government must simplify the onerous

rules proposed for e-way bills (a one-day validity for distances up to 100

km, for instance), ensure that the IT backbone is robust, and make

inspections the exception, not the norm.

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*Less theology today

*The new age terrorist seems to belong to an altogether different genre

of terrorism.

*Beginning with the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris in

January 2015, the major incidents at Brussels and Istanbul Ataturk

airports as well as the Bastille Day attack in Nice, France, all in 2016, to

the string of attacks in London, Stockholm, Barcelona and New York, in

2017 — are very different in structure and the morphology from attacks

of an earlier period.

*Past three years: IS and “NIHILISM” and “direct to home jihad”

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*Other terror networks have continued to be no less active.*November 2017: More than 230 were killed in Egypt

*Intelligence agencies today are well-versed in the latest techniques of intelligence gathering and analysis.

*The real problem is that when dealing with terrorism and terrornetworks, no two situations in the actual world are identical.

*“Intelligence gap” is different from “intelligence failure”.

*There is a case for far greater sharing of intelligence and informationamong intelligence agencies worldwide than it exists at present.

*Mumbai 2008: certain foreign intelligence agencies had additional information

*Terror and terrorism is a universal phenomenon.

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*99/182: A message for country and Congress.

*But much of the credit for the Congress’s performance goes to three young men who channelised the people’s discontent against the BJP and set the stage for the revival of the Congress in Gujarat

*A key question of this election is this: why did the BJP do so poorly in rural areas while retaining its hold over a majority of the seats in its urban strongholds?

*Focussing on agrarian distress in the country, the neglect of the socialsector (education and health), and the failure to create jobs is important. Simultaneously, it also needs to come up with a convincing narrative that will appeal to the aspirational, urban middle class.

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*The return of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) to government through a coalition caps a year of gains made by far-right parties across Europe.

*Its candidate Norbert Hofer was defeated by a narrow margin in last year’s presidential election.

*France, Marine Le Pen’s National Front

*Germany, the Alternative for Germany

*Netherlands, the Party for Freedom

*Far-right parties are gaining strength in several other European countries such as Italy, Greece, Sweden, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia.

*Common thing: hard line anti-immigrant view, belief in extreme nationalism and Euroscepticism.

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Govt. defends special courts for politicians

*Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday defended the government’s decision to set up fast track courts for dealing with criminal cases against politicians and said lawmakers should take the lead in setting an example.

*After Opposition members in the Rajya Sabha expressed concern over the decision, Mr. Jaitley, who is also Leader of the House, said he felt that like Caesar’s wife, lawmakers should be above suspicion.

*“As elected representatives, can lawmakers say their trial should be delayed,” he asked, urging the political parties to set an example. Earlier the Opposition parties raised the SC directive on setting up fast track courts.

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China a threat, India an ally: Trump

*Trump’s new National Security Strategy

*Promised support for India’s emergence as a “leading global power,”

while identifying China, Russia and Islamism as main threats.

*Quadrilateral Cooperation

*Many countries in the Indo-Pacific were looking to the U.S. for leadership

even as “Chinese dominance risks diminishing the sovereignty of many

states in the region,” it noted.

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U.S. partnership vital in Asia-Pacific: India

*The Indo-U.S. partnership helps maintain stability in the Asia-Pacific region, the External Affairs Ministry said here on Tuesday, hours after President Donald Trump announced the new National Security Strategy of the U.S. and described India as a “leading global player”.

*Common objectives, including combating terrorism and promoting peace and security throughout the world.

*Tuesday also marked the first dialogue between India and the U.S. on terrorism-related designations.

*India has been campaigning for banning Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed’s chief Masood Azhar at the UN but has failed in its goal due to China’s opposition.

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Govt. rules out apology from PM

*The government made it clear on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra

Modi will not tender an apology to former Prime Minister Manmohan

Singh for his comments during the campaign for the Gujarat Assembly

elections.

*Venkaiah Naidu asked both sides to talk and resolve the issue. He also

made it clear that he would not admit any adjournment motion on the

issue.

*In the Lok Sabha, Congress members staged a walkout after Speaker

Sumitra Mahajan refused to allow them to raise the issue and demand an

apology.

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Centre wants GST on fuel: Jaitley

*The Centre favours including petroleum products within the ambit of the

Goods and Services Tax (GST), but it would want a consensus among the

States before taking such a step, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told

the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

*Responding to the charge that petrol and diesel prices were not coming

down in line with global prices, Mr. Jaitley said it has to be kept in mind

that a large number of duties on these products were imposed by the

States.

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‘230% increase in ceasefire violations’

*In 2017, Pakistan violated ceasefire 771 times along the LoC while the figure stood at 228 last year.

*There were 153 violations in 2014. There were 110 violations along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir, the lowest in four years.

*The 740-km LoC is under the operational control of the Army and 192 kmof the International Border in Jammu is manned by the Border SecurityForce.

*The truce between India and Pakistan along the International Border, the Line of Control and the Actual Ground Position Line in Jammu and Kashmir came into force in November 2003.

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Bodies of 2 soldiers traced in Valley

*Two more bodies of soldiers, who went missing on December 12 at the forward posts in north Kashmir during heavy snowfall, were recovered on Tuesday.

*Both the bodies were retrieved by the Army’s Avalanche Rescue Teams (ARTs) and experts of the High Altitude Warfare School in Gurez, around 200 km from Srinagar. Three bodies have been recovered so far, said Defencesources.

*The body of 19-year-old sepoy Koushal Singh, a resident of Samba district in J&K, was found on Monday.

*Five soldiers went missing during heavy snowfall.

*The search for the remaining soldiers continued on Tuesday.

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China slams U.S. strategy as ‘Cold War mentality’

*hina and Russia on Tuesday decried President Donald Trump’s first

national security strategy — which pilloried both nations as challengers

to U.S. power — as a “Cold War mentality” with an “imperialist

character”.

*The two global powerhouses hit back hours after the Trump

administration unveiled its approach to the world with biting language

framing Beijing and Moscow as global competitors.

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‘Northeast policy to aid trade with ASEAN’

*The new Industrial Policy being framed for the development of industries

in the northeast would prove catalytic to the trade with southeast Asian

nations, according to the government.

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‘Centre planning strategy to boost services exports’

*The government is formulating a new strategy to boost services exports

by identifying new markets such as Latin America as well as services,

including healthcare and financial services, which have tremendous

potential in terms of exports and job creation, according to Commerce

Minister Suresh Prabhu.

*Mr. Prabhu said with manufacturing becoming increasingly automated,

services would contribute more to employment generation.

*“I don’t think we are just the back office of the world. We should be the

front office... providing services of all kinds,” he said.

*Uday Kotak, chairman, CII National Council on Services, said the sectors

which had the most potential for exports included health and wellness,

media and entertainment and leisure.

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CAG picks flaws in Centre’s accounting

*The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has highlighted

several flaws in the Union government’s accounting procedures for the

financial year 2015-16, which could have led to an understatement of the

fiscal deficit and revenue deficit for that year.

*Further, the report added that due to the misclassification of revenue

expenditure as capital expenditure and vice versa, the revenue deficit

was understated by D1,583 crore during financial year 2015-16. In

addition to this, D20,911 crore collected under levies and cesses were not transferred to the relevant funds, which led to an “understatement

of revenue/fiscal deficit by an equivalent amount” during 2015-16.

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1. Consider the following statements

1. The Queen of England was proclaimed Empress of India in 1858.

2. King George V and Queen Mary held a Delhi Durbar in 1911.

Which of the statement/s given above is/are correct?

A. Only 1

B. Only 2

C. Both

D. Neither

2. Annie Besant was

1. Responsible for starting the Home Rule Movement

2. Founder of the Theosophical Society

3. Once the President of the Indian National Congress

A. Only 1

B. 2 and 3

C. 1 and 3

D. All of these

3. Identify:

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PrashantTMavani