5 THINGS FIRST SC to hear plea challenging clean chit to PM Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots; PM to address three rallies in Bhilwara, Kota and Baneshwar Dham in Rajasthan; Rahul Gandhi to campaign in Ajmer, Jalore and Jodhpur (Rajasthan); Tenth anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai attacks; Constitution Day 1. Is India's coast secure enough to prevent a 26/11? What: The 26/11 terror attack forced India to look at coastal security more seriously as well as ensure better coordination between intelligence and security agencies. A decade later, our coasts have become safer but delayed projects have ensured big gaps in security remain. Who: Our coastline is guarded by a three-tier security ring made up of the Navy, Coast Guard and marine police of the coastal states. While the respective state marine police guard up to 12 nautical miles from the coast, the Coast Guard does it from 12 to 200 nautical miles and Navy beyond 200 nautical miles. Why: The position of India's coastline (shared by nine states and four UTs) on one of the busiest traditional maritime trade routes and close to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Gulf countries makes it vulnerable (distance between Gujarat and the UAE is less than 2,000 kilometres). How: Under a coastal security scheme (26/11 forced the government to launch it two decades after it was proposed), coastal police stations are being set up, additional radar stations along the coastline have been commissioned, over 200 boats and vessels will be acquired and 60 jetties are to be set up to add muscle to our coastal security. But: Modernisation plans are running behind schedule. Coast Guard wants to turn into a 190-ship and 100-aircraft force by 2023 and has drawn up a Rs 2 lakh crore plan for the next 15 years (2017-2032) but given that the annual defence budget has seen only paltry hikes in the last few years, it's unlikely to get the funds it needs. A national maritime authority (NMA) promised by the NDA government in 2014 to coordinate the 15+ maritime agencies has not seen the light of day and the coastal security bill that will create it is yet to be debated. About 2.2 lakh smaller fishing vessels still do not have the planned identification system to ensure they can be tracked. It was a hijacked fishing vessel that slipped through the cracks to allow Ajmal Kasab others to reach Mumbai and unleash mayhem, which killed over 160 and injured over 300, ten years ago. Read more here 2. A corridor and 3 dams — How India balances its Pak act Pathway: A proposed corridor to ease the Sikh pilgrimage from India to Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan has given the two countries a common ground and an opportunity for diplomacy. Though India's external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, and Punjab CM, Amarinder Singh, have declined the Pak invitation for the ground-breaking ceremony, India will have its representatives at the function: two Union ministers (Harsimrat Kaur, Hardeep Singh Puri) and a state minister (Navjot Singh Sidhu). Blockade: But this being India-Pakistan relationship, a friendly overture is almost always accompanied by a pressure tactic. So the apparent bonhomie a road (corridor) aids in is balanced by the dams India is proposing to build to limit water flow from the Himalayas to Pakistan. India now wants to fast-track the construction of three dams — Shahpur Kandi dam project and a second Sutlej-Beas link in Punjab and the Ujh Dam project in Jammu and Kashmir — that will arrest the flow of unutilised water under India's share, as agreed upon by the Indus Waters Treaty, across the border. Water wars: Indus Waters Treaty, signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, allocated the waters of three tributaries — the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi — to India and those of Chenab, Jhelum and Indus to Pakistan. That gives India nearly 20% of the 168 million acre-feet of water in the Indus river system or nearly 33 million acre-feet. But India uses only around 93% of it; "the rest of the water remains unutilised and goes to Pakistan," an official said. The proposed dams would help keep this unutilised water within India. This will pressure Islamabad. Already, farmers in Pakistan complains India is not releasing the amount of water it should under the treaty. The 2016 attack in Uri, in which four militants attacked an Indian Army premise, killing 19 soldiers, amplified the voices within India to use the Indus water as a tool to pressure Pakistan. The threat has Pakistan so worried that new PM Imran Khan recently tried to crowdsource the fund required to build a dam in Pak-occupied Kashmir to store water for irrigation, even as his administration struggles with a faltering economy. 3. Why it's getting difficult to keep a secret on these islands The secret: The Andaman & Nicobar Islands (there are 572 islands of which 38 are inhabited) have been inhabited for several thousand years but the indigenous people who live there first came in contact with the outside world only in the 1850s. The Sentinelese tribe is one of the last ones with no contact with the outside world. Not just people, the islands are home to about 270 species and sub-species of birds of which 106 exist only here. Not-so-secret: North Sentinel Island, where an American was allegedly killed by members of the reclusive Sentinelese tribe last week, is one of 29 islands in Andamans where until June foreigners had to take special permission (the Restricted Area Permit) before being allowed to visit. That has now been withdrawn but tourists are still required to take permission from the forest department and the administration of the island as the island is protected under two other acts: protection of aboriginal people and forest acts. Foreigners have to inform the local Foreigners Regional Registration Office and take approval from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Who: Andaman & Nicobar Islands is a union territory and comes under the administrative control of the home ministry. Secret's out? Over 16 lakh tourists have visited the Andaman and Nicobar Islands since 2015. The archipelago has received 4,02,393 tourists, including 11,818 foreigners, this year till October while it received 4,87,229 tourists, including 15,310 foreigners in 2017. In 2016, as many as 4,00,019 tourists, including 15,467 foreigners, had visited the Andamans and in 2015, a total of 3,11,358 tourists, including 14,674 foreigners, had gone to the union territory. Read more here 4. What drives Modi's Mann Ki Baat? The drive: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed his 50th radio broadcast 'Mann Ki Baat' on Sunday (he called it the Golden Jubilee episode). Before the broadcast, the government released a survey that said 7 in 10 people listen to the monologues and it helps spread 'positivity'. That's not surprising given that one of the three sources for the survey was the NaMo app. Politics: "Mann Ki Baat is about people, not politics," the PM said. Though the monthly sermons have been about a wide variety of topics like cleanliness, khadi, tackling exam stress, pollution and drug menace, politics does slip in at times. So, when the opposition was going after the government over the land acquisition bill, 'farmers' became the theme of one of the broadcasts. When the government was on the back foot on Dalit-related issues, the PM spoke about BR Ambedkar's legacy. When ex-servicemen were getting restless over the one-rank-one-pension issue, they became the topic in one of the broadcasts. Money: Even though 7 in 10 Indians know about MKB (as the survey claims), the planned broadcasts need a bit of promotion. While the latest figures are not available, the government had in 2015 disclosed that it had spent Rs 8.5 crore in promoting the first 10 episodes (that's Rs 85 lakh for each). Business: The radio address has helped All India Radio make some money too — Rs 5.19 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 4.78 crore in 2015-16. History: Radio broadcasts have a rich political historyhaving been used by prominent political leaders. Franklin Roosevelt used it to explain his policies during World War II, Subhash Chandra Bose used it to stay in touch with his followers, Nehru and Sardar Patel used it extensively during partition to pacify people. Given that PM Modi is not known to give too many interviews to the press, this is a way of communicating directly with people. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has refused to say how much black money has been brought from abroad. The Central Information Commission had on October 16 asked PMO to provide the details within 15 days in response to an RTI query. Details here NEWS IN CLUES 5. A Pak military plot to infiltrate India was named after this place Clue 1: India in 2013 signed an agreement with the administration here to avoid double taxation. Clue 2: It is home to over 300 species of birds and 600 species of plants. Clue 3: It is a prominent exporter of oil. Scroll below for the answer 6. Is this India's deadliest pilgrimage? What: In this year's Char Dham yatra, which concluded on November 20, 106 people lost their lives while several hundred were taken critically ill and had to be rushed to medical facilities in the plains and even airlifted. Over 27 lakh pilgrims took part in the yatra this year, the highest in last six years. Where: The maximum number of deaths occurred in Kedarnath (52) followed by Badrinath (27), Yamunotri (24) and Gangotri (3). Last year, 112 people had died due to medical causes during the yatra season which lasts for six months from May to October. Similar pilgrimages like the Amarnath yatra in Kashmir also witness casualties but not of this scale. In Amarnath yatra this year, 31 people died. Last year, 29 people had died. Why: The deaths happen primarily due to heart attacks and other medical factors precipitated by the high altitudes ranging from 10,000 to 14,000 feet above sea level, where the shrines are situated. Inadequate medical facilities and non-enforcement of stringent rules of medical check-up also have a role. Pilgrims are asked to bring along a medical fitness certificate from their respective states but these certificates are rarely checked. The absence of an adequate number of doctors is also a crucial factor. 7. Why this airline wants you to crowd its airport counters What: IndiGo flyers checking-in over the web to skip long queues at airports will need to pay for the service now. The airline, which has 43% market share in domestic skies, has said it will charge 'for all seats from passengers doing web check-in.' Other low-cost carriers are likely to follow suit. How: The airline in a message to passengers said: "As per our revised policy, all seats will be chargeable for web check-in. Alternatively, you may check-in at the airport for free. Seats will be assigned as per the availability." That means passengers using the web check-in facility can't choose seats that don't carry any overhead cost. Why: Airlines in India are in trouble. Market leader IndiGo recently announced a loss for the first time in 12 quarters. Jet Airways, another big airline, is looking for a buyer as it cannot pay salaries. The industry body Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) has approached the government asking for more time to pay oil companies and airport operators. As competition has forced airlines to offer heavily discounted fares, they are coming up with innovative ways to make money while still advertising these low fares. Read the full story here YOU SHARE YOUR B'DAY WITH... 8. Facebook vs British Parliament Seizure: The British Parliament has obtained a set of internal Facebook documents the company was desperate to keep away from public eyes even as lawmakers demand CEO Mark Zuckerberg to depose before to answer queries on the Cambridge Analytica data harvesting scandal. The documents — which supposedly includes emails by Zuckerberg — were provided to a British firm, Six4Three, as part of a lawsuit it had brought against Facebook. Made aware of the lawsuit, British lawmakers used their power to force Six4Three's founder to share the documents with them — threatening him with imprisonment if he fails to do so. Shared dislike: The seizure could prove to be a turning point in a tough year for the social media giant, with the lawmakers from across the world increasingly sceptical of the company's outgrown influence on public discourse — and, thereby, elections and democracy. British lawmakers have been asking Zuckerberg to appear before them since it was revealed that a third-party, Cambridge Analytics, used user data on Facebook to target political ads and, thus, influence voters during the US Presidential election and Brexit referendum. But Zuckerberg has so far refused to budge, and has, instead, deputed other company executives to do the job. Beyond the UK: Facebook is now urging British Parliament not to read the document as it claims it is part of a lawsuit in the US. The reason for Facebook's panic is obvious: That Britain, a stickler for procedures, has taken such an extraordinary step could nudge other nations to do so. Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada are all seeking Facebook to share more on its workings. India heads to the general elections next year. Being unable to control foreign interference or even opaque political ads and posts on its platform could prove costly for Facebook. The Indian government has already been pressuring WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, on its failure to curb fake news on its platform. WhatsApp has been organising awareness campaigns across India since then. 9. A mission to drill Mars Tonight, NASA will attempt to land its probe, called InSight, on Mars. It is a manoeuvre fraught with problems. Safe landing a space probe on Mars means reducing its speed from nearly 20,000 kmph to 8 kmph, using a parachute and rockets. But that is easier said than done as Mars atmosphere is thin (1% in comparison with Earth's). More than half the number of probes mankind sent to Mars have failed to land softly. But NASA is hopeful the $800m InSight will fare better than others. It better as its mission is no less important: to study the seismic activity on the red planet. Once it lands, the probe will drill into Martian surface and deploy a seismometer to measure Marsquakes (you can't call it an Earthquake, can you?) and study the planet's interior. To make things smooth, NASA selected a plain topography on Mars — it is calling it Elysium Planitia — as the landing pad. InSight is expected to touch down on the Red Planet at 1.30 am Tuesday. Here's a step-by-step guide on Mars landing, in the meantime. 10. Stuff that forces a cop into early retirement Canine officers across the US are facing an employment crisis. For years, these four-legged officers wagged their tail, dropped their snout and went about their job, of sniffing out weed and drugs — in homes, vehicles, baggage... Now, marijuana is getting legalised across the US. But these canine officers were always told a 'good boy' (or a girl) doesn't differentiate marijuana from cocaine — flag (or bark) if you sniff either of these. "A dog can't tell you, 'Hey, I smell marijuana' or 'I smell meth. They have the same behaviour for any drug that they've been trained on," a police officer — a human cop, that is — told the New York Times. These dogs will flag a legal marijuana as well as an illegal cocaine, making them ineffective in their job. So they are being told to hand over their badges... or collars? In Illinois alone, 275 sniffer dogs are facing a threat to their job as the state contemplates legalising marijuana. And it is not a scenario limited to the US — their brethren in Canada too are losing their job. But worry not. Retirement life is not all bad, as all of these dogs are being put for adoption, if not already adopted by their handlers. Sniffing out marijuana or meth from under the couch then, perhaps, wouldn't be such a bummer. Follow news that matters to you in real-time. Join 3 crore news enthusiasts. GET APP Answer To NEWS IN CLUES Gibraltar. Spain said it will revive its bid for shared sovereignty over Gibraltar, a British overseas territory since 1713, once Britain has left the European Union. Pak military operation to infiltrate Kashmir in 1965 was called Operation Gibraltar.